For Today: March 15th

For Today: March 15^th

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window…..but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
Mark Twain

The story is told of the newly self-aware member who, wanting to be rid of a particularly troublesome defect, prayed,  “God, please give me patience---now!”

Waiting for what I want is difficult. That’s why all the magic diets and quick weight loss schemes had so much appeal for me. I wanted to be rid of my excess weight now.  I didn’t want to hear about the dangers of crash dieting or its short-lived results.

In OA, change comes from the inside out. Eating is moderated to a satisfying, healthful intake that becomes part of a new way of life. Where once I made graphs and charts projecting the rate and amount of weight loss over the weeks and months, in OA the weight takes care of itself.

This process works equally well on habits I want to be rid of. I subject them to the OA program, one step at a time, and gradually they loosen their hold and fall away. I am not the same person I was when I came to OA.

For Today: There is help in the OA program for dealing with habits I wish I didn’t have. Am I using that help?

What overweight or obese person isn’t terribly impatient?  The quest for instant gratification extends its tentacles to every facet of life. 

I want to eat whatever I want AND stay slim.

I want to go on a diet & lose a TON of weight OVERNIGHT.

I want what I want when I want it. WAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

To learn patience is to grow up & acknowledge adulthood.

To insist upon instant gratification is to stay a child & to refuse to accept responsibility for my own actions.

While I was losing weight, I put the scale away & weighed myself once a week ONLY. I taught myself patience that way, and I learned that no matter WHAT I did or did NOT do, weight loss took time, patience, commitment & perseverance.

I COULD wait for results, as it turns out. I had to learn to just sit there and BE; without distracting myself. 

 That was one of THE toughest things I had to learn, oddly enough. 

The ability to just BE. Sit there and do nothing. Turn off the racing brain, get composed, pray, meditate, get centered.

When I finally learned the fine art of Patience, my road to freedom from compulsive overeating became smoother. That’s not to say it became Easy & Trouble Free; it didn’t.

 I will always struggle with my addictions.  Once an addict, always an addict. And I am but one step or one sip away from total ruination once again. One step away from enslavement.

For today, I pray to recognize the fact that I AM but one step away from insanity without my Programs to guide me.

For today, I pray for the Serenity to Accept the Things I Cannot Change;

The Courage to Change the Things I Can;

And the Wisdom to Know the Difference.