For Today: June 2nd

Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced---Even a proverb is no proverb to you till your Life has illustrated it.

John Keats

What do the OA sayings and “program talk” mean to the compulsive overeater I am trying to twelfth-step?  Probably very little, though it may depend on the person’s state of readiness to hear and assimilate.

But would it have meant anything to me, in the throes of my disease, to hear that “Nothing tastes as good as abstinence feels”?  I had to be abstinent to experience that surpassing sense of well-being and the joy of finally treating myself with love.

The pain of compulsive overeating is real only to those who have experienced it, and the quality of recovery in OA is real only to those who are abstaining and working the program.

For Today: There is no reason to be discouraged if newcomers express doubt that the recovery they see will happen for them. Their experience of the disease is propelling them toward experiencing recovery.

Getting abstinent requires a leap of faith. I cannot experience abstinence and all its joys unless I get abstinent. Only then am I able to finally see & feel the freedom that comes along with it.

I can’t think myself into a new way of acting;

I have to act myself into a new way of thinking.

If I am unable to give up the momentary pleasures that come with eating to excess, how can I expect to uncover the joys that come along with not eating to excess?

This is where Willingness comes into play big time. When I pray for the willingness to give up the excess is when the miracle begins to unfold.

Being active on a weight loss website for the past 3 years has taught me about denial & what it looks like. The vast majority of people are unwilling to give up their disease to rely on God to show them a better way. To say it’s not disheartening & discouraging is untrue. 

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Until then, all the OA sayings & slogans in the world fall on deaf ears because compulsive overeaters are unwilling to do what must be done in order to find Recovery.

I speak my truth in OA meetings & on the weight loss website, and pray for others to want what I have. OA is a program of attraction and so, my serenity may attract others who are seeking it.

For today, I hope to set an example for others who are struggling with abstinence, so they can see what abstinence looks & feels like. If they want it for themselves, I pray to help them achieve it.