For Today: August 15th

Few people can fail to generate a self-healing process when they become genuinely involved in healing others.
Theodore Isaac Rubin

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes one of the great early discoveries of that Fellowship.  In looking for a key, a common pattern among those alcoholics who recovered, it was found that the one action taken by all of them was helping another alcoholic.  In each instance, the newly sober AAs, some just released from the hospital, went out and tried to help an alcoholic who was still suffering.

For Today:  OA doesn’t hand out degrees that qualify one to help another compulsive overeater.  I have all the inner resources I need to do it now.

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In order to help another compulsive overeater, all I have to do is share my story; share my pain & suffering, to let him know he is not alone with his struggles.  If I tell him that I have found ‘the answer’ and that I ‘never struggle at all’, I am not helping him in the least.  I do not have all ‘the answers’ and I DO struggle with my disease.  I will never ‘have this’ completely…….to be a compulsive overeater is to ALWAYS struggle to some degree, at least in my case.

My disease rears its ugly head when I least expect it.  I can be perfectly abstinent for long periods of time & then struggle mightily when I least expect it.  The self-pity routine begins…..the Why-Oh-Why-Can’t-I-Eat-Like-A-Normal-Person questions start, and can head down that road to excess quite rapidly.

I may rationalize why it’s OK to take that first compulsive bite………and then have the dickens of a time finding my way back to abstinence. 

When I share myself truthfully & open myself up completely, I GET more than I GIVE.  I reach out to other fellow sufferers and together we find compassion & understanding for ourselves, rather than self-loathing & intolerance.

Being made to feel like I never measure up is NOT the way to live!  “If only I’d gone just a little further, I could’ve been Just Right”  has GOT TO END.  Many compulsive overeaters feel exactly that way……..almost good enough.

For today, I AM good enough exactly as I AM.  For today, YOU ARE good enough, exactly as you ARE.  If I ate something that wasn’t part of my food plan, I am STILL good enough.  If I didn’t exercise as much as I should have, I am STILL good enough & I will not beat myself up for NO GOOD REASON.

For today, I am grateful for the fellowship of OA and for the lack of judgment that I’m shown by my peers.