OASVadmin
May 31, 2024
OASV Newsletter: May 2024
The Many Ways OA Members Find Inspiration & Motivation: Cherished Quotes, Poems, & Prayers
In Overeaters Anonymous meetings, members often share how they cope with major life challenges as well as how they deal with the day-to-day ups and downs of living. Given we tend to be a very creative and inspired group of people in recovery, there is much to learn from within our membership on what can be done when facing problem or difficulties and in need of some inspiration, motivation, or helpful guidance.
Many members with long-term recovery and strong abstinence often turn to our OA literature or reach out to their sponsors or other members with strong recovery for needed support and direction. As helpful alternatives, some members recall a favorite quote, a line in a favorite book, or a special poem.
Here is a brief selection of favorite OA member quotes, poems, and prayers (from both inside and outside of our program-approved literature):
The Acceptance Prayer
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, situation — some fact of my life — unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.”
– Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book), pg. 417
“The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us.”
— A. W. Tozer
“You cannot fulfil God’s purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans.”
— Rick Warren
“Our suffering is the spiritual sandpaper that helps us come awake.”
— Ram Dass
“Life is not to make you happy. It’s to make you conscious.”
— Eckhart Tolle
TRIPPING OVER JOY
What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?
The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”
Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.
— Hafez
“The hardest part of faith is not in the believing, but in the surrendering.”
— Allene vanOirschot
“You lose nothing when you loosen your grip on what is not yours to change. Sometimes releasing the desire for control is the only way to win.”
— Marta Mrotek
“Giving up your goal because of one setback is like slashing your other 3 tires because you got a flat.”
— 12th Stepper
“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”
— RUMI
“Most human suffering is caused by avoidance.”
— The Therapist of an OA member
“The only difference between a flower and a weed is judgement…”
— Wayne Dyer
“We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be.”
— pg 68, Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous
“Acceptance means acknowledging what is happening in the present moment and allowing it to be as it is, without fighting reality.”
– Erin Olivo
“Acceptance doesn’t mean you agree with, condone, or give up. It simply means you stop fighting reality.”
– Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Why Do We Use Slogans?
Have you ever wondered why we have slogans in our Twelve Step program? What purpose do they serve?
Interestingly, in researching this topic, I learned that “slogans” actually arose from a heated discussion between some original A.A. members who were talking about using the GOD word and concern arising as to how that might be interpreted. Someone came to suggest that they “keep it simple” by adding little sayings to make the program easier to understand. It worked!
Much like A.A., members in Overeaters Anonymous found slogans to be extremely helpful tools! Slogans can be used to interrupt negative or fearful thoughts that can lead to relapse and emotional stress. They can be especially helpful when facing everyday annoyances that tend to come with negative emotional pulls. When we choose to focus on the positive message of one of our slogans, that slogan can serve as a helpful bit of uplift, guidance, and inspiration.
OA Members have learned that our simple slogans can offer us a much needed boost of extra help towards forming healthy perceptions and attitudes. These slogans help remind us to view our mistakes and setbacks as learning opportunities, while offering us comfort that there is nothing that we can’t learn from – that everything offers us the chance grow and improve along with helping us to build or strengthen our character and our resilience. Our slogans can provide the support and help we need to move us out of slippery places (or old, stinking thinking) and into solution!
Here are some common slogans OA has either adopted from A.A., or originated to help ourselves and our members better grasp our Twelve Step program of recovery from compulsive eating, while also improving our attitude and growing our spiritual connection:
- First things first
- This too shall pass
- Live and let live
- Let go and let God
- One day at a time
- Principles before personalities
- None is easier than one
- Choose a Higher-Powered, rather than Self-Powered program!
- Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
- Misery is optional
- God never made junk
- Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less
- Live life on life’s terms
- You can’t think your way into a new way of living…you have to live your way into a new way of thinking
- It’s a simple program for complicated people
- Keep coming back, it works if you work it
- Learn to listen and listen to learn
- To keep what you have, you have to give it away
- If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got
- Progress, not perfection
- Think…think…think!
- Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die
- Keep it simple
- Stick with the winners
- Recovery is a journey…not a destination
- Willingness is the key
- Although we are not responsible for our disease, we are responsible for our recovery
- Just for today
- Pass it on
- Don’t quit before the miracle happens
- When all else fails, follow directions
- I was sick and tired of being sick and tired
- Surrender to win
- You can only keep what you have by giving it away
Did I miss any slogans you use often? If you have a slogan to share that didn’t make it on this list, please send email to blog@oasv.org, and be sure to describe how this slogan has helped you in your recovery so that it can be shared with others in the next newsletter.
Have You Checked out the Latest OASV Blog?
Are you searching for recovery inspiration or wanting to learn more about OA members and their unique experiences, strength, and hope (ESH)? Then be sure to check out our most recent blogs on the OASV home page (to view them, scroll down towards the bottom of the home page) or link directly through to the blog archive (known as The Chronicle) and search for a topic of interest.
For your reading pleasure, look below for a few quick links to our most recent blogs. Share these new blogs, as well as this May 2024 Newsletter, with anyone who may need some support, encouragement, or inspiration!
Have you ever suffered with compulsive night time eating? If you can relate to the struggles, then read how this OA member found relief in working the Twelve Step of OA and finding abstinence:
Within OA, many talk about willingness, but this OA member discovered that the key to recovery for her was all about taking action!
Submit A Recipe with Your Recovery Story and Plan of Eating
OASV Intergroup hopes you’ve been enjoying the new section of its website, titled Healthy Eating, intended to be reflective of our members various plans of eating. We invite you to submit your recovery story and plan of eating so we may illustrate the various plans of eating adopted by our members. To submit some of your favorite abstinent recipes, please send email to: webmaster@oasv.org. Make sure to include a brief description of your plan of eating (and/or a bit about how you came to join OA) so that other members can come to appreciate the diversity and growing options for abstinent eating.
We hope you enjoy the latest recovery stories, plans of eating, and recipe contributions from our members:
- Page 7 in the OA 12×12 Arrested My Bulimia + Quick & Easy Garlicky Salmon & Asparagus
- A Bay Area OA Member’s Plan of Eating: An Evolution + Julie’s Broccoli Hash
Calling All Men in Recovery: Sign-up for the OA Men’s 2024 Retreat
DATES: Friday, October 25 – Sunday, October 27, 2024
LOCATION: Villa Maria del Mar, Santa Cruz, CA (featuring a beautiful backyard beach)
Hosted by East Bay Overeaters Anonymous, this men’s retreat has been around for twenty years and attracts many members from Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and regions beyond and in-between.
For further details, please click here or to register, click here.
Please direct your questions to: mensoasc20@gmail.com
NEW OA Literature – Diverse Voices: A Common Solution
Diverse Voices: A Common Solution (#954) is a collection of member stories intended to both honor the incredible variety within our membership and illuminate how that variety shapes individual journeys to healing through our Twelve Steps of recovery. Compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors are the great unifiers of our Fellowship, and it is our hope that readers will recognize themselves in the experience and hope detailed in these pages, no matter how “different” the voice may seem. After all, “Whatever your race, religion, spiritual path, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, body size, or any other attribute, you are welcome in OA.”
Diverse Voices is now available in print (or as an e-book from your favorite retailer). To purchase from the OA bookstore, click here!
World Service Business Conference 2024 Wrap-Up Report: Now Available!
Are you looking for complete details about the status of all New Business Motions and Bylaw Amendments considered at the World Service Business Conference (WSBC) 2024? Look no further than the Wrap-Up Report, now available.
The report also includes a summary of representation among OA’s service bodies and which OA regions are eligible to send additional delegates next Conference. Many thanks for the service that was provided by our delegates!
Help Make this Newsletter a MUST READ – Share Your Recovery!
The goal of the OASV Intergroup is to make this newsletter something you look forward to receiving and reading regularly by filling it with content that resonates with our OA membership.
Please consider contributing to a future OASV newsletter: your recovery story, art, poetry, a favorite slogan or healthy recipe with a bit of your story, an upcoming OA event, or something special shared with you by a fellow OA member or your sponsor. Be sure to send an email with your proposed content to info@OASV.org by 4pm the last Monday of the month. Don’t worry about any needed editing or grammar issues – our Newsletter Editor is happy to help polish up your contribution and send it back to you for your review and final approval.
Your feedback regarding our Newsletters, and any suggestions, special contributions, or unique ideas for future issues (or the OASV website), is greatly appreciated!
– Francine, Your OASV Newsletter Editor
Special amends: This newsletter is late due to serious health issues with my aging parents – please accept my amends for the delay!