Food for Thought: August 31st

Accepting Guidelines

Some of us have gone through life thinking that we did not need to follow any guidelines. Somehow, we got the idea that special circumstances placed us above the rules. We looked for shortcuts and rebelled against the tedium of discipline. Considering ourselves exceptional, we decided to make our own guidelines. These were usually based on doing what we felt like when we felt like it.

When we get to OA, we may spend a short or a long time experimenting with the program, adjusting it to suit ourselves. Sooner or later, we discover that our adjustments do not work. The OA program works, provided we follow the rules and work it as it is, not as we might like it to be.

Once we accept the rules at a gut level, they lead us out of negative restraint into positive freedom. By following a few simple guidelines, we become free from slavery to compulsive overeating and self-centered confusion.

Thank You for Your guidelines.

From Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters by Elisabeth L. ©1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation.

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Structure Prevents Chaos.  In the days when I was in charge of running the world, I did what I wanted, when I wanted to. And look where it GOT me! Fat and sickly and drunk, too!  Since I was so 'exceptional', I didn't have to follow any stupid rules! Nope.  

 

By doing things MY way, I wound up enslaving myself to food & booze.  Giving UP and surrendering MY way has given me freedom.

 

Today, I wonder how I functioned WITHOUT rules! And then I remember: I didn't.

 

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”