For Today: September 4th

The present time has one advantage over every other—it is our own.

Charles Caleb Colton

I have all the wealth in the world right now, in this moment, when I can live free of anxiety about the future and the pain of the past.  There is power in the present moment.  It has the strength and substance of reality, not the will-o-the-wisp of illusion.  When I live in the world as it is, one minute, one hour, one day at a time, I lose all thoughts of plans and blueprints.  The present is mine today, and I claim it without hesitation.  I open my mind, take leave of worry, and free myself of all that keeps me from enjoying the beauty of the world.

For Today:  Nothing that happened yesterday or that may happen tomorrow is more important than NOW.

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OA has taught me to live in the moment & to appreciate NOW.  I've always lived for tomorrow.......when things would be perfect, when I would be thin & happy, etc.  Living for the future prevents me from accepting the reality of NOW......it keeps me living in fantasy-land, too.

For today, I recognize the power of the present moment. I will enjoy today without worrying about tomorrow or dwelling on yesterday.  

For Today: September 3rd

Indecision is like the stepchild; if he doesn’t wash his hands he is called “dirty,” if he does, he is wasting the water.

Madagascan proverb

Indecision stems from fear of doing wrong—with dire consequences.  Oh dear!  I must make the right choice, but what is it?

I am so used to being in charge, I forget that I turned over control of my life to God; that my rule is to try to know God’s will for me and then do it.  To keep indecision from throwing me into a panic, I keep repeating, “Thy will be done, not mine.”  Always, my burden is lifted.  I feel lighter.  I realize that God’s will for me is not to make the “right choice, but to feel free to make mistakes; to be sane.

For Today:  Beginning this very moment, I turn my life and my will over to my Higher Power.

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My old way of thinking led me to believe that making a mistake was disastrous.....that I'd never recover from it...that 'all-or-nothing', black & white thinking, which is killer.

Today, I don't have to wring my hands & worry over every decision I make......because I feel that God is directing me at every turn. 

When it comes to making food decisions, I keep things super-simple. If I am in a restaurant & faced with indecision, I will chose the lower calorie item........that's my rule of thumb.  Do I want a pork chop or a piece of tilapia?  Tilapia wins out because it's healthier.  All I have to do is pray for the willingness and then allow God to take over.

I repeat the 3rd Step prayer several times a day:

God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me, and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help
Of Thy power, Thy love, and Thy way of life.
May I do Thy will always.

Repeating this prayer calms me down & sets me in the right direction, every time.

For today, I pray to put MY will aside & enjoy whatever surprises God sends my way!

For Today: September 2nd

Noble be man,

Helpful and good!
For that alone

Sets him apart

From every other creature

On earth.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One person helping another is a practice as old as humanity.  Help is not telling another what to do, or even suggesting it.  Help is being there for someone to share experience, to lend support, to do what needs to be done when a friend’s burden becomes crippling.  I need the awareness to keep my ego, my advice, my good intentions out of another’s life, even though they appear in the guise of help.  If I want to help others develop their own strengths and realize their full potential, I cannot do it by telling them what to do.

For Today:  I am an instrument of my Higher Power.  I carry the message, but I do not interfere with it.

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In OA, we share our experience, strength & hope.  Sometimes, the best thing we can do for one another is to just listen.........give no advice, no guidance............nothing but an ear.

For today, I pray for the ability to Listen without saying anything at all!

For Today: September 1st

Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought.

Henry Adams

We OAs sometimes feel defensive that our best friends are in OA.  But what is so strange about that?  Where else can I find people with whom I have so much in common?  Who else do I know whose purpose is the same as mine?  Do any of my other friends and associates know the bottomless despair of compulsive overeating?

Yes, I am grateful for my friends in OA.  I have traded loneliness for closeness, standoffishness for warmth, and selfishness for giving.  I am grateful to OA, not only for my abstinence and growth, but also for my friends.  May I treat them with the consideration and care they deserve.

For Today:  I cherish my OA friends; because of them, all my relationships are improving.

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This is very true! My entire life has improved because of the relationships I’ve developed within OA.  I am most comfortable with my fellow OAers because they, more than anyone else on earth, understand ME.  I have so much in common with them and through that commonality, a strong bond is developed.  

Together  we share our experience, strength and hope, and together we learn how to deal with the burden of compulsive overeating behavior.  We share tips, we share ideas, but most of all, we share our SELVES with one another.  When one OAer discusses her history of pain and suffering, many others come forward to discuss THEIR stories of pain and suffering.  That way, we each realize we are NOT alone with our struggles.  And that, one day at a time, we CAN overcome the disease and start managing IT instead of having IT managing US.

For today, I am thankful to God for putting me in contact with a supportive, loving and familiar crowd of fellow compulsive overeaters who are all on a journey to find recovery through abstinence.

For Today: August 31st

Man is as full of potentiality as he is of impotence.

George Santayana

Hope and hopelessness are part of my disease.  Hope tells me there is a better way; hopelessness says, “What’s the use?” I recognize hopelessness for what it is:  my mind preventing me from disappointment.  Hopelessness served at the time, but I don’t need that device today.  I have a Higher Power that gives me everything I need. I am willing to continue to cast out old ideas, to keep turning my life over to the care and protection of God.  Therein lies hope.

For Today:  My potential is in direct proportion to my willingness to let go the shackles of self-will, to get out of my own way.  On one end of the scale, I accomplish wonders; on the other, I am powerless.

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~ HOPE ~

Hope is the feeling you have
that the feeling you have isn't permanent.


Jean Kerr

I pray for hope today, and I am receiving hope today. Hope is something that comes more and more readily to me as I stay abstinent and continue working my program of recovery.

In the past, many of my feelings of hope were centered around the next diet or the next fix for my bingeing. However, now that I am abstaining and practicing the Twelve Steps, I have been freed to hope for bigger things. There is now space in my head where the food and diet obsession used to be!

One Day at a Time . . .

I will abstain. One day at a time I will direct my attention to the Steps when I am in need of a solution.

~ Christine ~

For Today: August 30th

People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground.

Marcel Proust

Only be being willing to give up the safety of the old can I find out what the new has for me.  Uncertainty, confusion and fear of leaving the safety of my old ways behind me are natural, but the need to save my life pushes me on.  I move beyond  my fears and prejudices and learn that I don’t have to act on them, that, one day at a time, I can face whatever must be faced.

I may think nostalgically of my old hiding place from time to time, but the truth is, nothing that could possibly happen today can make me go back.

For Today:  The direction God gives me is forward.  I am not afraid to take it.

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Actually, some days I AM afraid to move forward. There is something that feels safe about familiarity, about hiding OUT in a big sea of FOOD.

Sigh.

Change can be difficult. Some days, I fight it tooth and nail, while other days I surrender my fears and I allow God to stay in control.

But some days are particularly brutal.  I suppose that's part of Recovery and the price I have to pay to stay abstinent.

For today, I feel like keeping one foot on the ground, but I will push forward instead, jump into the water & pray to God it's not ice cold or full of sharks.