For Today: December 6th

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.

George Sand

A sense of loving and being loved is not restricted to one’s spouse, children, parents, friends or associates.   It can be applied to everything and everyone in God’s world.  To love and feel loved is nothing less than to have a reverence for life.

Recovery in OA means regaining the freedom to love without conditions and without expectation of return.  As a speaker once put it, “I love you; I don’t care whether or not you love me!”

To love unconditionally is a difficult concept for many.  Only spiritual recovery can give us an understanding of what it means.

For Today:  Has my thinking about love changed in OA?

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By following the principles & practices of the OA program, I have learned to separate the person from his behavior.

I may not like your behavior at a given moment, but that doesn't mean I don't like you.

I am not my behavior.  Because, if I am my behavior, then I am not lovable or worthy of being loved. 

In OA, I've learned to follow a food plan of abstinence.  Abstinence from sugar & refined carbohydrates.  Following a plan of abstinence allows me to be all I can be, instead of just an addict behaving like an addict.


I am, therefore, capable of feeling unconditional love for myself and for others.  I am able to forgive myself as well as others, for mine & their perceived imperfections.  As human beings, we are not expected to be perfect, yet, we tend to force that impossible task upon ourselves.


And thus, we continually fall short.  We're never 'good enough' because, when held up to standards of absolute perfection, such a thing is not possible.


In OA, I am able to love myself in spite of the fact that I'm not perfect.  God loves me no matter what & that means I am good enough, even when my behavior may say otherwise.


Bad behavior can be fixed; when I follow the 12 Steps, I have a proven plan of action in place to deal with myself & others, and a sure-fire way to keep my behavior & thought processes in a good place.


For today, I will love & feel loved in return.