For Today: December 16th

You may strive to be like [your children], but seek not to make them like you.

Kahlil Gibran

One of the highest goals I can set for myself is to be as a child.  Everything good that happens is a result of allowing myself to be open to every possibility, every secret nuance of the natural world.

To seek to burden a child with the artifices and trappings of the adult mind, on the other hand, is both foolish and oppressive.  To live the long, wonder-filled days of childhood is a God-given birthright, and child's play is a most serious and necessary occupation.  It is a sad injustice to infringe upon an already too-short childhood with heavy schedules and inflexible routines that conform to adult standards of appropriate activity.

For Today:  The freedom to be themselves is as necessary for my children as it is for me.

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It's so easy to allow adulthood to strip away the joy from life, and to harden me into a non-believer, with rigid thoughts & a closed minded attitude.  The OA program has allowed me to recapture my joyful youth, & to celebrate the small miracles that take place on a daily basis.

To 'be as a child' is to feel wonder & amazement again.......to appreciate the beauty around me, and to feel awed by it.  Nowhere is it written that I have to be hard-nosed and serious all the time. 

I am allowed to feel good.  Abstinence has opened up a whole new world to me, one where I can be myself, and I can laugh & play & be silly..........it's OK.

I am grateful for not having burdened my own children down with my issues; that I've allowed them to be joyful & free, with no heavy schedules to adhere to when they were young.  As many mistakes as I've made on my own behalf, I didn't push my issues & twisted thinking onto them.

For today, I will thank God for the progress I've made in this wonderful program, and for my two wonderful children who I can learn even more from.  For today, I will borrow some joy from my daughter who's on college break for a month...........I will allow her joy to rub off on me!

For Today: December 15th

Don’t fight your problem. Know that there is a solution.

Joseph Murphy

When I fight, or resist, a problem, I am actually giving it strength and weakening my chances of finding a solution. 

If I think constructively about a problem, a course of action will present itself. Constructive thinking is to know that a Power greater than myself is directing me, and that this Power already has the answer.

In asking God’s help with a problem, I take whatever action is possible, knowing that every step brings me closer to the solution.

For Today:  There is no problem I cannot take to God, and none for which God does not have a solution.

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 When I fight a problem, I DO give it strength, thereby weakening my chances of finding a solution.

Just like when I fight my disease of compulsive overeating............I give IT power instead of ME and God.

When I try to change my food plan, 'just this once', I am fighting instead of surrendering.

When I try to make decisions about which foods to eat, I am fighting..........I am arguing with a disease that does not compromise.

I leave my life in God's hands, I keep my food plan written in stone & not subject to change, and I work my program to the best of my ability, knowing that guidance WILL come when I ask for it.

For today, I surrender my powerlessness over food and allow God to direct my life.

For Today: December 14th

Do not peer too far.

Pindar

It would be a frightening thing to be able to see into the future.

Equally joyless and disquieting, however, is the all-too-familiar habit of Someday.  “Someday, I will take that tap dancing class….sign up for volunteer service at the hospital….go on that cruise to the Greek islands.”

I have lived in the future too long.  My life is going on now, and there is only one way to live it: now.

For Today:  I neither want to know the future, nor to live in it before it arrives.

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This reading perfectly summarizes the "One Day at a Time" mentality of OA. 

In the past, I was SO concerned with the quality of my future that I was paralyzed to live for today.


All the 'what if's' immobilized me.........prevented me from accepting or embracing change..........kept me locked into the dysfunctional lifestyle of addiction.


There can be no personal growth when I refuse to change.  I stay locked into a childish mentality that insists I get what I want, when I want it.  My inner child rules with an iron fist and forces me to have MY way, all the time, no matter WHAT.


When it comes to food, my inner child tells me it's perfectly OK to overeat because I 'deserve' to.  In reality, the only outcome of that behavior is obesity & slavery to addiction.


For today, I will stay abstinent and act like a grown-up.  When my inner child starts carrying on and telling me what I'm 'entitled' to eat, I will put her in time-out, where she belongs.


For today, I will not utter the words "Someday".............today IS my Someday.

For Today: December 13th

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

John Newton

Nothing could better describe what so many of us in OA feel than the words of “Amazing Grace.”  For us, however, the experience is not a religious but a spiritual one.

Whatever our religious beliefs, or non-beliefs, spiritual recovery is felt as a profound inner change; a dissolving of the attitudes and opinions that kept us chained to compulsion.

Spiritual awakening heals us of self-willed blindness to the truth about ourselves and our condition.  We are no longer wandering, alone and lost.  We are found.

For Today:  That people so deep in the clutches of compulsive illness can recover is truly evidence of Amazing Grace.

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When I came to OA, I had hit rock bottom.  I thank God for that fact, because rock-bottom was where I needed to be in order to accept the terms of the program.

Dieting chronically for 40 years had taken its toll on me, physically, mentally & spiritually. I was lost.......my disease of compulsive overeating had ruined the quality of my life & I had no idea what to do.  

When I read Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over food---that our lives had become unmanageable..........I felt a huge sense of relief wash over me.  Yes, I was powerless over food and my life had become unmanageable! 

Finally! Finally I could give up control of a situation I was powerless to control!!

I committed to The Food Plan of abstinence and my life finally began, at the age of 50..........and after 40 years of riding the diet roller-coaster.

Amazing Grace doesn't begin to describe the experience I've been rewarded with here in OA. 

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

Now that food is no longer in charge of my life, God is, because I've allowed Him to be. 

There is not one moment of my life when I'm not grateful for this amazing program of recovery.

For Today: December 12th

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only one person can make me do what I am capable of doing: myself.  But I need as much support as I can get from friends, sponsors and every single one of the OA members who go to meetings weeks after week.

It is important to be clear in my mind that other people have only their love and support to give to inspire me to work the program and to achieve abstinence; they cannot do these things on my behalf.

The strongest and most dependable support I have is my Higher Power, which is there for me at all times and whose will for me is to do the best I can.

For Today:  I am putting my God-given abilities to more and better use in this program, thanks to the presence of God in my life and of my fellow OAs who are following the same path.

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This is true; I can only rely on myself to stay abstinent........nobody can force me to stay on track or do it for me.  With the help of my Higher Power, I can achieve anything.

The support from my fellow OAs is vital...........when we share our experience, hope & strength, we realize how important we are in one another's lives.  


I draw inspiration from my fellow compulsive overeaters, and it comforts me to know I am not alone with my disease.  I don't have to hide out & isolate.......pretend that everything is fine when I'm struggling.  When I allow others to come into my life, I am taking an important step to admitting powerlessness over food and the disease itself.


For today, I will share myself with my fellow OAs, I will stay the course with my food plan, and I will lean on my Higher Power to guide me.

For Today: December 11th

Nature does nothing uselessly.

Aristotle

What does it take for any living thing to grow straight and true to itself?  And if survival is threatened or growth interfered with, what further measures are needed?

There is a natural force in all things that keeps pushing to make them as true to the original plan as possible.

If compulsive overeating meant survival for me, it did indeed serve a useful purpose, and I am thankful it was a recourse that was open to me.  To regret what was necessary to save my life is to fail to appreciate the value of that life.

For Today:  I cannot regret my past, for it allowed me to endure to the present.

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I like this reading because it’s true; compulsive overeating was a survival tool that I needed to cope with my life for a number of years.  It was a necessity for me at one time………but I recognize the fact that it’s no longer a necessity. 

I had a rough childhood and food helped to soothe my wounded soul.  I had a rotten marriage for a very, very long time and excess food and drink helped me to cope with THAT life so I could raise my children in a 2 parent home.

Once I grew up, and once I decided to get a divorce, compulsive overeating and drinking no longer served a useful purpose in my life and it was simply a bad habit by then.

By sticking to a strict, regimented Food Plan where I ate 6x per day, every few hours, I changed my bad habits into new, good, healthy habits.

Nowadays, I practice these good eating habits every single day...........because, the alternative is to go back to compulsive overeating and for me, that is NOT an option. 

I value the beauty and serenity of my life as it is today.........I value life without the burden of addiction weighing me down, physically, mentally and spiritually.

For today, I value my new, abstinent lifestyle WAY too much to risk it.

For Today: December 10th

There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.

E.B. White

One thing can lead to another only if I allow it.  Celebrations needn’t be the same from one year to the next.  Festivities can be simpler, there can be a switch in emphasis, a change of values.  Who says holiday meals must be heavy and elaborate?  Why not a simple, satisfying dinner with only the company of those I care about?  If I stop and think about what is important, I can put aside the useless, the heavy, the habit.  I can plan the holidays so as to be closer to my OA family as well as my own.

For Today:  The true spirit of giving to myself and to others is in keeping it simple: to let nothing complicate my abstinence and my OA way of life.

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If I allow something or someone to complicate my abstinence & OA way of life, then one thing WILL lead to another & I'll be eating compulsively for God knows HOW long.

Once I open the door to trigger foods, THEY rule me instead of my program.

As a compulsive overeater, there is no such thing as 'just this once'............if I make an elaborate meal on Christmas day (or any other day for that matter), then I will feel compelled to eat that meal.  I'll tell myself, of course, that it's a 'special occasion' and I'll overeat 'just this once.'  When I wake up the next morning, I'll feel bloated, hung over and HUNGRY...........true stomach hunger (from eating so much more than I normally do).  

The cycle will begin AGAIN........where I am obsessing about food........what to eat/when to eat/how much to eat, etc etc.  I've woken up the sleeping giant by making an exception to my plain & boring food plan and voila, I'm in deep trouble.

Again.

This year I choose to stay strictly abstinent during the holidays, No. Matter. What.  I've lived through the past 3 holiday seasons without overeating, and I shall live through THIS holiday season without overeating.

There is no food on earth I "must" eat.  There is, however, a program I "must" adhere to if I am to preserve my sanity, my health, and my new lifestyle which I've grown to cherish.

For Today: December 9th

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

Jean Jacques Rousseau

To paraphrase a well-known saying, I have met wisdom and I have met kindness: kindness is better.

Wisdom is profound and we are impressed by it, but kindness is both profound and simple.  It warms the soul long after it is experienced.  Kindness is at the very heart of what it means to be human.

If we are not kind to one another in Overeaters Anonymous, where, then, can we expect kindness?  Whether we are abstaining and working the program to the best of our ability, or we are not, we belong in OA and have a right to be treated with kindness.

For Today:  Kindness to myself and others is a hallmark of recovery.

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Abstinence has enabled me to be kind to myself, which, in turn, enables me to be kind to others.  If my eating is out of control, I am unable and unwilling to feel kindness towards anyone, including myself.

One of the things I love most about the fellowship IS the fact that we're kind to one another, regardless of whether we're working our programs or not.  If we are struggling, a kind word goes a whole lot further than an unkind word.  We encourage our fellow OAs to have trust and faith.........to believe in themselves and their Higher Power. 

With faith and kindness, we can move mountains.  We can turn ourselves around and start again today if yesterday was full of mistakes.  We find recovery in these rooms, with lots of support and love, one day at a time.

For Today: December 8th

Laugh and be well.

Matthew Green

We will never know how many people have been cured of both major illness and minor indisposition through laughter.  If prescriptions for laughter could be written---and filled---there would undoubtedly be a sharp rise in the health and wellbeing of the population.

The best OA meetings are those in which there is the most laughter.  To those irrepressible souls who find humor in their experience---and share it with us---we owe a large debt of thanks.

For Today:  Bless the comedians and humorists in our midst.

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 Putting a humorous spin on any situation makes life a whole lot more pleasant.  When I walk around with a long, serious face is when the self-pity threatens to overtake me.  


For a compulsive overeater who's surely cried enough tears, laughter is the best medicine on earth!


When I stop taking myself so seriously is when I allow myself to live a happier life.  That's not to say my disease isn't serious...........because it is deadly serious..........but the ability to laugh at myself goes a long way toward healing.


For today, I will be happy, joyous and free, and I will make a point of smiling and finding laughter in my day.