For Today: January 1st

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

Hal Borland

Whether it is the beginning of a new year or a new month, week or day, it’s tempting to make resolutions, to swear off, to promise to reform.  Before OA I did not know that these pledges were misguided attempts to be in control, to try yet again to make a normal eater out of myself.

Do I want abstinence with peace of mind?  Have I been able to achieve it on my own?  I can admit my powerlessness now or I can wait for another calendar “beginning.”  But the best time to give up my will, my old ideas, my defects is any time I am ready to grow.

For Today:  Instead of resolutions, promises and vows, I mark this day as I do all others: by surrendering my will and my life to God.  I give up trying to handle my food and my weight.

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 When I promise & resolve to 'behave' myself  forever with regard to my food intake, that's when I set myself up to fail.

What I do promise is to surrender my powerlessness over food on a daily basis. I give my life and the running of it over to God, and I stay committed to my food plan.

I do the footwork; God does the rest.

I don't have to worry about next week or next month or next year.......when the 'diet' will be over with & when I can eat whatever I want.................

Abstinence has shown me the error of my old ways; the futility with the dieting mentality.

Abstinence prevents me from being a slave to the scale, a slave to making decisions about what to eat or not eat, and a slave to the appearance of my body. 

If my soul and my spirit is healthy, so is my body.

I wish you a happy new year, filled with peace & serenity, not empty resolutions and promises that make us feel like losers once they are broken. 

We are all lovable, we are all winners, we are all children of God who loves us exactly as we are right now, today, fat or thin.