A
friend in my Intergroup went to the OA 59th Birthday Party in Los Angeles last
weekend. She shared her best "take away" quotes and they are
worth absorbing!
...
"The first thing that goes through
an addicted brain is, 'how can I get my way.' The first thing that goes through
a recovered brain is, 'I should make an outreach call.'"
"You must realize deep down that
you don't get away with anything."
"Weight... body size... food... dealing with
that (ie. using a food plan) is NOT the solution to our problem. The solution
is the 12 Steps, which help me deal with the feelings that life brings up in
me."
"My excuses kept me from OA for many years.
Don't let your excuses keep you from Abstinence!"
"There comes a point in this
process (usually right before surrender) where it's so uncomfortable and
foreign that it feels like you're walking into a bonfire. You can walk through
fire tonight or tomorrow morning, but eventually, you need to walk through that
fire. Recovery is on the other side, and there's no other way to get to
it."
"You can always feel free to test the food one
more time to see if you can beat it – but you neverwill!"
What I've learned is that we are all newcomers
until we have 10 years of continuous, back-to-back abstinence in Program."
"To eat my alcoholic foods is to
die: the mind, soul, and spirit go first; the body catches up later."
"When I started doing what I was told, that's
when Program and recovery really started happening at speed."
"The most sacred thing you will
encounter today is another person."
"Is what I'm thinking right now MY thought or
GOD'S thought?
"What I'm releasing is less important than
what I'm releasing into."
"God, help me see this as you see this."
"Before Abstinence, I had no idea
what it felt like to be imprisoned because I had no idea what it meant to be
free."
"When it came to the Big Book, I
had trouble identifying with the content until I considered this: do I think
like Bill thinks? do I act like Bill acts? Do I eat like Bill drinks?"
"Don't put people on pedestals in Program;
that's an unfair thing to do to anybody. We must remain
right-sized and humble to recover!"
"I was taken to a place of
willingness – and I was willing to be taken."
"In recovery, I don't have things I 'need to
do;' instead, I have a new way of life."
"We're all lamps. And unless we're plugged
into Program, we can't light up!"
"If you take issue with 'God', consider
this: if you need to let go of something, does it really matter who catches
it?"
"12 Step work is anything done
in service to another fellow in Program."
"If you're feeling alone,
isolated, and needing help, go to meetings and share where you're at so that
the people who can help you can find you."
"I can use any story
to justify going back to food because that how I'm wired. I can't trust my
broken brain, therefore I don't make food decisions on my own."
"The first 90 days of abstinence is hard!
It will be painful! But it will end! It's going to be a dog
fight but you won't be alone!"
"Only an addict fights to the death to keep
doing something that is killing them."
