M a r c h 2 0 1 5

LifelineLifelineA Meeting on the Go

S ponsorship Having a Sponsor, Being a Sponsor

STAFFDeDe DeMoss Publications ManagerSummer Russo Periodicals Editor/DesignerKevin McGuire Associate EditorMary Young Publications Assistant

Please direct submissions toLifeline, PO Box 44020, Rio Rancho, New Mexico 87174-4020 USA, or email info@oa.org

Overeaters Anonymous Preamble

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recov-ering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our pri-mary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

OA Lifeline The international magazine of Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc.

Lifeline presents experiences and opin-ions of OA members. Opinions expressed herein are not to be attributed to Overeaters Anonymous as a whole, nor does publica-tion of any article imply endorsement, either by Overeaters Anonymous or Lifeline. Manuscripts are invited, although no payment can be made nor can contributed matter be returned. Please include your full name and address with your letter or manuscript. For writers desiring anonymity in publication, indicate specifically whether this applies to name, city, state, and/or country. Manuscripts and letters sent to Lifeline are assumed to be intended for publication and subject to editing. All manuscripts and letters submitted become the property of Overeaters Anonymous, Inc., and are, therefore, unconditionally assigned to Overeaters Anonymous, Inc., for publication and copyright purposes. Back issues are $3.

Lifeline, ISSN No. 1051-9467, is published monthly except June and December by Overeaters Anonymous, Inc., 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144-6424 USA. Subscription rates US, US Possessions: one year $23. Canada priority air service: $29 per year. Outside US/Canada priority air service: $38 per year. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Lifeline, PO Box 44020, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA. Printed in the United States.

© 2015 OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS®, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Registered OA service bodies may reprint individual articles from Lifeline for limited personal and group use, crediting Lifeline and Overeaters Anonymous. Material from Lifeline may not be revised, recom-bined into other publications or resold. All other uses require written permission from OA, Inc. Misuse of this material con-stitutes copyright infringement. Contact the WSO editorial office: 1-505-891-2664.

®

Moving? Let us know! Contact OA: telephone 505-891-2664; fax 505-891-4320; email info@oa.org; mail Overeaters Anonymous, PO Box 44020, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA.

pg. 2

pg. 7

March 2015 Vol. 43, No. 3

pg. 10

Having a Sponsor 2With the help of another person to guide them through working the OA program, these members found the recovery they wanted.

A Hand to Hold 3Trust and Connection 4What a Miracle 4Diversity and Gratitude 5Teachable Heart 6Trail Wisdom 6The Right Sponsor 8

Pay It Forward 9They learned about the importance of sponsorship from their sponsors then met the challenge to sponsor others up to the level of their recovery.

Vulnerable and Authentic 9Do as They Ask 10Guided and Inspired 11

Being a Sponsor 12Through ups and downs with their sponsees, these members’ programs are invigorated bybeing a sponsor.

Journey into Sponsorship 13Twelve Tips 13A Wonderful Boost 14

Gems from My Sponsor 15A few simple words of guidance often becomethe touchstone for a lifetime of recovery.

One Sponsor’s Wisdom 15Pray Then Act 16Deft Ways 16Cementing the Tools 17

Working All Twelve Steps: Path to Recovery 18With the help of her sponsor, she pushed through the Steps that scared her and found recovery wait-ing on the other side.

DepartmentsLiving Traditions 19Web Links 19Stepping Out 20Ser vice with a Smile 21Send Us Your Storie s! 21 Taking the Spiritual Path 22Newcomers Corner 23For Discussion and Journaling 23Ask-It Basket 24Share It 25

2 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Having a Sponsor

March 2015 www.oa.org 3

A Hand to HoldIn November 2011, I weighed over 280 pounds (127

kg), down from an all-time high of over 300 pounds (136 kg). I felt desperate because my weight was about to go up again. I knew I was a compulsive overeater and my life was out of control. I had borderline diabetes, chest pains, and sleep apnea. My relationship was a mess. I cried all the time and barely functioned at work. Some days I just wanted to die.

Somehow, I remembered OA; I had heard of it once maybe twenty years ago. I found OA online and read everything, including the Big Book and the OA Twelve and Twelve. I found a meeting ten minutes away. I was scared out of my mind, but I asked my God to help me. When I got there, I knew I had come home.

I knew I needed a sponsor, but I was not good at letting people see the real me. Because I worked as a professional counselor, I knew how to sound as if I was sharing myself while never being intimate. And my abandonment issues were well hidden, so I knew my potential sponsor would have a task on her hands.

I made a list of qualities for my sponsor: abstinent, good recovery, kind but clear, able to challenge me and cut through my crap, spiritual but not preachy, sense of humor, won’t judge me, and not a friend. I turned all that over, and God told me who to ask. She met all my crite-ria and more. God did for me what I couldn’t do for myself.

My sponsor’s expectations are very clear: Abstinence comes first. I hand my food over to God and my sponsor every day. I email her daily with Step work, thoughts, feelings, and questions. We meet to do Step work, but she doesn’t do it for me. She supports me and shares her program. She asks pertinent questions. She suggests I pray or ask God for answers. She asks me if I asked God what to do. Often the answer is no. Then there is silence on the phone, or she laughs.

What have I gotten from my sponsor? I have received clarity about my program and the Steps, reminders not to get obsessive, and recog-nition of my other addictions. She has taught me to do the first three Steps on those too. I have learned how to do an inventory and give away Step Five. I have shared things I never thought I would say out loud, and it has been fine. She is a key part of my action plan.

In five months, I have lost 38 pounds (17 kg). My relationship with my partner has changed from fighting and misery to kindness and fun. I am lighter and fitter, and I don’t snore anymore. I join events and

4 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

projects, and I am enjoying my job again.To keep my recovery I have to give

it away, which means being a sponsor myself when the time is right. Sponsor-ship means I have a hand to hold, and I am grateful.

— Julia, United Kingdom

Trust and ConnectionIn OA, I have found that the action

of finding sponsors I can trust for food planning and daily living situations has increased my ability to trust. Until my ability to trust was restored, I didn’t even recognize I had problems trusting any-one, and lack of trust is a huge roadblock to recovery. Thanks to opening up to a variety of trustworthy sponsors, my ability to trust God, others, and the Twelve Steps has increased.

Another surprise is the more I discuss my weaknesses with a trusted sponsor, the more I am able to connect. Connecting to other people and God is paramount to my recovery from food addiction. I falsely and fearfully believed that admitting weak-nesses to another would result in the per-son distancing herself from me. Instead I became closer to my sponsors once I discussed my vulnerable self with them.

I never look for the perfect sponsor. I can just reach out to the person who seems best when I need someone.

My understanding of a sponsor’s value started when I shared about what I ate with my first sponsor on January 21, 1974. At that time, OA recommended that we call someone to report our food for twenty-one days. This sponsor took my calls for those twenty-one days, even though she quit coming to OA meetings before my twenty-one days ended. Rather than being dismayed by her decision to leave, I kept coming back and focused on

gratitude for the things she shared when she took my calls. It’s amazing—since then, I have always found the right person for whatever difficult situation I faced.

The Twelve Steps work in every situa-tion and difficulty, whether it is obsession with food or a problem with family or the workplace. If I am willing to reach out to a friend in OA, even if I haven’t designated them a sponsor, I find the support and recovery I need.

I have had many sponsors over the years (through the telephone and Inter-net) and every one of these sponsors has helped me travel this Twelve Step road of recovery one day at a time. I am so grate-ful I keep coming back to celebrate forty years of blessings through OA Fellowship, meetings, and especially my sponsors.

— Edited and reprinted from OA Today newsletter, St. Louis Bi-State Area Intergroup, March 2014

What a MiracleI am bulimic and anorexic and have

been in OA twice. The first time, I asked someone to sponsor me so I could just tell everyone that I had a sponsor, but I never called her.

The second time, I went to a new-comer’s meeting because I knew it was a great meeting with so much recovery. The list was passed around, and I decided if OA was going to work for me then I needed to get a sponsor and actually call her. I looked down the list. One woman checked that she would sponsor and wrote next to her checkmark the word “bulimics.” My HP had given me a nudge. After the meeting, I found her in that large room full of OA members. I asked her if she would be my sponsor, and miracle of all miracles, she said yes. She was a gift to me.

March 2015 www.oa.org 5

Two and a half years later, as she was leaving Nash-ville, she gave me a one-year medal-lion and told me a story. She said she was not abstinent when I asked her to sponsor me, but through my con-sistency in calling and working the Steps, she became abstinent. What a miracle OA has been for both of us.

— Sarah G., Nashville, Tennessee USA

Diversity and GratitudeI am grateful to be abstinent today

and grateful my energy is going toward living on a spiritual plane and not to-ward food.

On the topic of sponsorship, I think about diversity and gratitude. I have been in OA for almost four years, and I’ve had five sponsors. They were different in their own ways: One sponsor believed in a structured and fixed food plan, an-other none at all. One sponsor did lots of service work in OA, and another hosted events at her house so no OA members had to be alone and tempted on holidays.

What they all had in common was a love for the Fellowship, a desire to be of genuine service, and an understanding of the Steps and how to work them. They suggested tools for living life without hurting myself with food, meaning they helped me learn to live with discomfort and to make changes if my behavior was the cause of discomfort. I had to trust that I could tell them everything, that they wouldn’t criticize or judge me, and that

they would offer up the Steps and Tradi-tions as a solution. My sponsors have all been abstinent and had spiritual prac-tices of their own. It was also important to find sponsors who had the willingness and time to give me a lot of support.

When I stopped eating compulsively and stuck to a daily food plan, a lot of in-tense feelings and fears came up. I sought help from a therapist, but I also needed to be able to call my sponsor every day. When I found my current sponsor, I told her I would probably need a lot of sup-port, meeting once a week and calling every day. She said she could handle that, so I got to trust that she was being honest.

I am so grateful for my sponsors. They gave me ideas “to practice these principles in all our affairs” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 60), to practice honesty, integrity, patience, tolerance, love, and service. My current sponsor reminds me to stay in the day and to be a person among persons. All my sponsors have encouraged me by saying, “Don’t eat no matter what; no matter what, don’t eat.” Since I am recovering from anorexia and bulimia, I also translate this to not restricting or changing the amounts

6 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

or types of food because of emotions. In a variety of ways, sponsors listen to me, guide me, inspire me, and help me incorporate the Steps and Traditions into my life. It has meant letting go of old ideas and getting a better life instead.

— Anonymous

Teachable HeartI’ve come to a new view of sponsor-

ship: I now see a sponsor as someone to whom I can be accountable but who is not necessarily wiser than me nor has the answers for me. As I grow more in tune with my Higher Power, I realize the answers are within me. So a sponsor is a guide, someone who suggests ways I can grow in the program.

My current sponsor gives a lot of suggestions and advice, at times when I would prefer that she just listen and guide me to my own answers. I have learned, though, that she is good at listening without giving advice if I am clear this is what I need her to do. Three things I love the most about my sponsor are: 1) She is warm, kind, and nonjudgmental; 2) She is unfailingly available and always responds to emails and calls; 3) She has been absti-nent for a long time and works very hard at her recovery. She is a good example.

Once, I had a sponsor who helped me grow spiritually and who felt like a sister. However, she was not always available, sometimes for lengthy periods, which made it difficult to feel safe in the relationship. Another sponsor was always available but often seemed abrupt or ir-ritated with me. That also didn’t feel safe.

As I grow in faith that in God’s universe there is really enough for me, what I find is there is more than enough. My sponsor is more than enough when I receive her help

Trail Wisdom“I don’t know which way

to go,” I said to my sponsor. “You’ve walked this path many more times than I have. You take the lead.”

This may sound like many conver-sations between sponsee and spon-sor, but those words were about the hiking trail where my sponsor and I had met to talk about recovery. We chuckled at the parallel meanings.

We started side-by-side since the path was broad and flat, and I started with a physical, emotional, and spiri-tual check-in. Descending down the first hill, the conversation went a little deeper. This is how we meet: We start on the surface and then travel deeper, figuring out how to navigate the changes and challenges I face using the Twelve Steps as our guide.

“We have a choice,” my sponsor said when we reached a fork in the path. “We can walk the river’s edge or go up that hill. It’s a loop, so either way we’ll end up back here. I find taking the hill at the end of the loop easier, but it’s your choice.”

I chose the river route. I could have taken a more difficult route to the same destination, but my journeying partner had already walked both.

What came next was a very muddy path.

“Careful. It gets slippery down here,” my sponsor said.

I was grateful I chose the river option. Otherwise, my legs might not have been strong enough to deal with

Continued on page 8

March 2015 www.oa.org 7

the mud. The path tapered, so we walked single file, and I took the lead. My spon-sor often encourages me to lead; it helps me explore my own life rather than just mimicking hers.

“Hey,” I thought to myself, “This is not so bad. I don’t think I need to be as care-ful as she said.”

Filled with pride, I picked up the pace . . . and slipped! I was glad she was there to help me up and grateful she didn’t berate me for not heeding her caution.

I began to notice times when I reached drier ground sooner than my sponsor, and sometimes I could turn around and help her through the tough spots. Even this is a metaphor for our relationship. Now that I have experience, sometimes I have strength to extend my hand. She never balks; she reaches out for her own recovery and accepts support on any terms, even when it comes from someone with less time in OA.

I am grateful for that memorable walk in the woods with my sponsor and for the ways I learned about recovery and sponsorship. We journey together, shar-ing stories, learning from each other, and gaining strength and hope for this thing called life. What a blessing it is to have a relationship with my sponsor!

— Lauren K. Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA

8 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

in combination with all the other people I call and the meetings I attend and when I keep close to God, seeking him and wait-ing for his guidance and answers.

I used to change sponsors the minute one didn’t feel like a perfect fit, but I have learned over two and a half years in program that there rarely is a perfect fit. When I accept a sponsor who is less than perfect, I am learning to accept imper-fection in others and myself. When a sponsor’s answers are wrong for me, I am encouraged to seek God myself. I am also reminded to wait for times when what my sponsor says is just what I need to hear, and those times come when I listen and wait with a teachable heart.

— Edited and reprinted from Road to Recovery newsletter, South Central Pennsylvania Intergroup, November/December 2011

The Right SponsorWhen I first came into OA, I heard at

the meetings, “Find a sponsor who has what you want and ask how he or she is achieving it.” I took this directive to heart but realized the first part was to find out what I wanted. So I listened and watched, and I learned there are many ways to work the program.

I decided I wanted to be healthy. I was willing to admit I was powerless over food, but I was afraid of giving up control. I did not want a sponsor who would tell me what to do, but who would instead let me explore my own solutions.

When I heard J.K. say, “Today I choose to be abstinent,” I knew I had found a sponsor. J.K. was joyous. She knew what it was like to be obese. She shared with an air of grace and gratitude. I asked her to be my sponsor. She responded, “I am

really busy, but I am willing to help you in any way I can.” I thought she had said yes, so I started calling her with my questions. J.K. was in college, and I was in graduate school, so when she was having a hard time writing a paper, she was grateful to have my help. She welcomed my calls, and we helped each other.

At the time, OA did not distinguish between abstinence and a plan of eating, so I defined my abstinence as “not eating for emotional reasons.” I told her I still wanted to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol while maintaining my abstinence. She laughed and said it hadn’t worked for her but to go ahead and try. It didn’t work for me either, so I began abstaining from drugs and alcohol.

We discussed my concept of a Higher Power, which I decided was the Twelve Steps. So I turned my will and my life over to the Twelve Step program. I wrote my first Fourth Step at a workshop, and after-ward the workshop leader told me to do a Fifth Step with my sponsor or another trusted person in recovery.

I said to J.K., “I need to do my Fifth Step, and since you are my sponsor, I thought we could set up a time.”

J.K. said, “I am? I thought I said no when you asked me to sponsor you! Ap-parently, God meant for you to be in my life because you have really helped me, so I guess that means I am your sponsor.”

J.K. had what I needed to work the Steps for the first time. Since then, each time I have chosen a sponsor, my Higher Power has provided one with something deeper to offer to take me to the next level of recovery. Now I know that HP gives me what I need if I am honest, open-minded, and willing.

— Lisa J., Albuquerque, New Mexico USA

Continued from page 6

March 2015 www.oa.org 9

Pay It

Vulnerable and AuthenticSponsorship is the

cornerstone of my recovery in Overeaters Anonymous. A sponsor is someone who walks with me as I get sober with the food and work through the Twelve Steps.

Forward

I have been an OA member since 1977, and I have two sponsors. Most days since 1986, I have reported my food plan to one sponsor. I have done Step work with the other sponsor since 1998. These compassionate women model for me many recovery Prin-ciples: honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, spiritual awareness, love for others, and service.

Though I am a compulsive overeater and a food addict, I did not have a lot of weight to lose when I joined OA. In the beginning, I put on a mask at meetings and never really shared honestly. That kept me in the food until I started over in 1986.

Sponsorship is an interesting proposition: I am offered a chance to discover who I am and what makes me tick through sharing honestly with someone I have just met. This person is a stranger to me, doesn’t get paid, and is not a professional counselor. I do not even know her last name, and yet I feel comfortable being vulnerable and sharing inti-

10 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

mate details of my life. As I form probably the first honest and authentic relationship in my life, I learn about being account-able, trusting, listening, being available, loving unconditionally, and also the love of one addict for another. I am grateful for the women who have been my sponsors.

Getting and staying sober with the food through Step work allows me to live life

on life’s terms. Because of sponsorship, I am a better wife, mother, family member, friend, and worker among workers. As I become a woman of grace and dignity, I have a chance to pay it forward and journey with someone else as she gets abstinent and works the Twelve Steps.

I have sponsored several women over the years. Not all were a good match, and I have made my share of mistakes; but the program gives us Step Ten, so we are able to continue on. I learn so much from the women I sponsor and am happy to share why OA works for me. For twenty-eight years, I have remained abstinent, one day at a time, because I have a sponsor and I am a sponsor.

— Jeanne D., Rhode Island USA

Do as They Ask“To be anonymous in OA means to

be one among many, to accept ourselves

as no better or worse than our fellows. This acceptance places us in a state of humility. It makes us teachable” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, p. 200). In the beginning, I thought I was teachable. I came in thinking, “Just show me what to do, and I’ll do it (and then I can leave).” I thought I would learn what diet would

work for me because it worked for everyone else. I wasn’t aware my whole life would change!

The first bump in the road was admitting I had a problem with food, not my weight. I didn’t want to admit this because then I would have to admit that there was something wrong with me. I wanted it to be about the weight.

The next problem was the sug-gestion to get a sponsor because I intended to eat whatever I wanted

and not be accountable. I didn’t want anyone messing with my food. All I wanted was to lose weight.

Once I got a sponsor, she wanted me to call at a specific time. I intentionally called her four minutes late. I told myself I didn’t want to seem eager, but really I was testing her. Those four minutes got me in trouble. When she spoke to me about it, I thought, “I don’t need this!” I didn’t want a sponsor I perceived to be inflexible, so I decided to drop her.

I said I was looking for my next sponsor but ultimately decided not to work with anyone. I was looking for an easier, softer way, so my disease took over. I kept going to meetings, but I was miserable.

Eventually, the weight gain made the decision for me. I went back to the same person and asked her to sponsor me again. I was willing to call on time and do whatever she asked.

March 2015 www.oa.org 11

Over the years, I’ve found this to be true with all of my sponsors: If I question or balk at everything a sponsor suggests, I don’t learn anything. But if I open up to their words, then peace, joy, serenity, love, laughter, and friendship are all available to me. Therefore the secret is not to sit in judgment; it’s to do as they ask. Their words are my Higher Power in action.

My Higher Power knew what he was doing when he introduced me to my first sponsor. When I met her, she was in a wheelchair with quite a bit of weight to lose. In recovery, she lost the weight and no longer needed the chair. She was the first miracle I saw in program.

Back then, she was part of a group we called “the Big Book thumpers.” I have a huge appreciation for that group. They gave me a great respect for OA and helped me to become the sponsor I am today.

— Norinne M., Fort Myers, Florida USA

Guided and InspiredOur group’s meeting script suggests

finding a sponsor by looking for someone who has what you want and asking him or her how they achieved it. For the next few meetings after hearing this, I observed members and finally got the courage to call a woman and ask her to sponsor me. That’s how my journey began.

She explained to me that she wasn’t my friend; she was my sponsor. She guided me with grace, patience, and fortitude during my five-year journey through the Steps. She was a cheerleader and a drill sergeant when the occasion called for it. She reminded me that HP had brought me this far, so HP wasn’t going to drop me now. Her reminders to look at what HP had done for me and realize what HP will continue to do for me

were a blessing. To say I’m grateful for my sponsor wouldn’t begin to describe the feelings I have.

My sponsor planted a love of our literature in me. She reminded me that today I have a reprieve contingent upon my spiritual condition and that acceptance is the answer to all my problems. She inspired me to live in the solution. She encouraged me to give back what has so freely been given to me, and the ways I give back include service at the group and intergroup levels, attending meetings regularly, making outreach calls, and sponsoring others.

Sponsoring others challenges me to keep looking at the Steps and uncovering the layers of deception my disease has created. As a sponsor, I am humbled to be able to share my experience, strength, and hope with another compulsive eater. I am honored to witness how HP moves in my sponsees’ lives. I am filled with gratitude to listen as a trusted servant. I learn how to love and accept people as they are. I am able to practice detaching with love, allowing sponsees dignity and space to make their own way through the Steps.

Sponsoring is a gift that I treasure, and I am inspired by HP to review all the resources available to me: OA literature, phone meetings, retreats, recorded speakers, and events. Exposure to all these resources is truly a gold mine, increasing my connection with OA members and HP.

Doing the footwork to learn how my disease baffled me and how my character defects served and hindered me and knowing that I am not alone on this journey are the best ways I can stay in recovery and serve my sponsees.

— Jeanne O., Elk Grove, California USA

12 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Being a

March 2015 www.oa.org 13

sponsor, but no one asked. Then one day a stranger called. She got my name from someone at her meeting, and we commit-ted to trying it for a month. She became abstinent, we worked the Steps, and we became very close friends. We worked to-gether for a couple of years, but she went back to the food. It was discouraging, but I learned the best I can do for any sponsee is to stay abstinent and work my program to the best of my ability.

Since then I’ve sponsored several people. Some quit, some were unwilling, and some relapsed. Some do not call or show up very often and are not abstinent, but I am here if they want to work the Steps. But, two of my sponsees are work-ing on their Fourth Steps right now! And last summer, two of my sponsees became sponsors themselves.   

Despite disappointments, sponsoring is rewarding. When a sponsee tells me I said just what she needed to hear, it feels wonderful. But I am just the vessel, and HP speaks through me. It is a privilege to serve through sponsorship. I not only give but also receive this priceless gift that helps me stay in recovery.

Almost six years after joining OA, I can still say I love OA. There is sadness sometimes in this program, but it is out-weighed by the joy. I am very grateful!

— Norma B., Michigan USA

Twelve TipsI work with my sponsees the way my

sponsor worked the program with me. Here’s how:

SponsorJourney into Sponsorship

After I was in OA about five months, the members who mentored me suggested I become a sponsor. They gave three guidelines to decide if I was ready. 

The first was having thirty days of ab-stinence. It took months to understand abstinence, but once I got a food plan from a dietician, I became abstinent.

The second guideline was having my own sponsor, which was challeng-ing since there were few sponsors around. My first sponsor was too busy. My second quit OA, but that same day, a lady I had long admired sat next to me at my meeting. I knew God was telling me something. I asked her to sponsor me, and we’ve been together about three years now.

The third guideline was completing my Fifth Step. I didn’t have a spon-sor when I was ready for this Step, so I asked a program friend I knew I could trust. We both survived!

Six months after joining OA, I was ready to sponsor. I had lost a lot of weight and was absorbing program like a sponge. Abstinence had become a way of life, and I had developed a strong relationship with my HP. I was so happy when my mentors introduced me as a new sponsor.

Every week, I offered myself as a

14 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

9. I keep healthy boundaries by taking time before I commit to something. I say, “Let me pray on it and talk to my sponsor and get back to you.”

10. I work the first three Steps around my role as sponsor: (1) I can’t help this sponsee; (2) an HP can help this sponsee; (3) I’ll show up, take the next right action, and let HP handle it.

11. I call lots of people and ask how they sponsor or would handle a sticky situation.

12. When it’s my sponsee’s time, I show up with a compassionate heart. My job is to love them until they can love themselves.

— Elizabeth B., Santa Ana, California USA

A Wonderful BoostSponsoring others in Overeaters

Anonymous has been a blessing in my recovery. I am learning to be humble and say, “I don’t know” and “Let me get back to you” when a sponsee asks me some-thing I don’t have an answer to.

My sponsees keep my head in recov-ery by staying in touch with me through phone calls, emails, text messages, and social networks. It’s difficult for me to forget I have a program when I have a sponsee reminding me.

As they work their Steps, I rework my Steps with them. I am reminded of the nine Tools of recovery when I suggest they use them.

I am developing a network of love and support via my sponsees.

If you haven’t started sponsoring, I sug-gest you start. It can be a wonderful boost to your recovery. Remember, we can’t do this alone. We have to give it away to keep it.

— Susie T., Frederick, Maryland USA

1. I call or meet new sponsees and tell them how I work my program and how I sponsor. For example, I use all nine Tools every week, and I suggest my sponsees do the same.

2. I set up a regular time to meet or call. Once a week for forty-five minutes works. If I get more sponsees, I may cut it to thirty minutes or every other week.

3. I tell my sponsees that I will fail them and sponsorship is only one Tool of nine. I say, “If you can’t reach me, pick up another Tool.”

4. I use The Twelve-Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous to work the Steps with my sponsees. I recom-mend answering one to three ques-tions per week. Usually we can only cover three questions, nine Tools, and a prayer in forty-five minutes.

5. If my sponsee shows up with unfin-ished Step work, I ask her to write for ten minutes. That time is taken out of our session, but it helps keep the sponsee on track.

6. I read and reread all the For Today pages that are listed in the index under “sponsor.” I try to model my sponsorship on them.

7. I pray before sponsee sessions, “HP, walk with me and please talk through me.” At the end of the session, we pray a prayer of the sponsee’s choice to remind us that HP is in charge.

8. I recommend sponsees make at least one outreach call per week because in six months the sponsee will have a handful of safe people to call. I also suggest they make outreach calls to newcomers to introduce themselves and offer to answer questions. If the sponsee doesn’t know the answer, she can call me or someone else.

March 2015 www.oa.org 15

Gemsfrom My Sponsor

One Sponsor’s WisdomHave low expectations of yourself. I was completely confused

when I heard my sponsor say this the first time. Wasn’t I supposed to have high expectations? To shoot for excellence? Well, as she pointed out drily, that hadn’t worked for me.

When I started trying low expectations, a lot changed. It took the pressure off so I could relax. I could do enough and then stop. I could breathe. And you know what? Everything that needed to get done got done.

OK, you had a slip. My sponsor said this when I called tearfully after overeating. I expected her to be horrified or upset or sympathetic or punitive. But she was none of these things. Instead she was brisk and told me to take action right away. “What’s go-ing on?” she asked. “Write about it. Pray about it. Commit your food for today. If you overeat again today, you’re in relapse; if you don’t, it was just a slip.” From this I learned not to wallow in self-pity but just to pick up the Steps and Tools as fast as possible and get back to work. 

Breathe. Relax. Remember you are loved. She used to make me crazy by saying this when I felt like I was in a crisis. Couldn’t she see that I needed to do a million things at once? But now I know that she was right. Recovery starts when I center myself, relax my crazy mind, and remember that my Higher Power is loving me and taking charge. It works.

16 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

because she will remind me I cannot think my way out of compulsive eating—and I will continue to think that I can.

I just celebrated my sixth anniversary in OA. I returned to the program in October 2008 after a very long relapse. This time around, however, I was struck willing. Not long after my arrival, I connected with my current sponsor and began working the Twelve Steps, attending meetings regularly, and using the other Tools with discipline and regularity. I was granted my current abstinence four months later.

With all these gifts and a lot of hard work, I expected the noise in my head would settle down. I thought, or fantasized, that with abstinence I might become a saner person. I am so tired of thinking, “Do I look alright? Do I need to lose more weight? Do people like me?” The thoughts go on and on. I want to be relieved of this obsession, but what

Now I say these things to my sponsees, grateful to my sponsor who helped me so much with her wisdom!

 — Joan P., Mountain View, California USA

Pray Then ActI was driving, the kids were fighting in

the back seat, and a fast-food restaurant was calling my name. Would I take the next exit off the highway? God intervened, “Call your sponsor.” So I dialed her num-ber and told her I needed an ice cream cone. Guess what she said? “You can have one tomorrow.”

I’m so happy I picked a sponsor early in my recovery. My relationship with my sponsor teaches me healthy ways to relate to others. I have learned how to act upon life rather than react to it. If you are think-ing about getting a sponsor, pray and then act. It’s guaranteed to improve your program.

— Edited and reprinted from Out of the Cocoon newsletter, Milwaukee Area Intergroup, March/April 2012

Deft Ways“Thinking is not a Tool,” my sponsor

reminds me for perhaps the hundredth time. There appears to be no arguing with her about the importance of my thoughts

am I really willing to do? I have tried, albeit sparingly, to pray, take contrary action, and let go, but the crazy thoughts still come, sometimes with alarming frequency and force.

So I turn to my sponsor to complain once again. With her deft way of cutting through my chatter, she reminds me that

Try it and see how it feels.

Write about it. Pray about it.

March 2015 www.oa.org 17

Another suggestion was not to eat any flour for two weeks. Sometimes I thought she was crazy, but I wanted what she had, which was twenty years of abstinence and a strong program. So I became more will-ing as time went on.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was being led to cementing into my life the Tools of the program. She encouraged me to give service at the intergroup level and service of any kind, like leading a meeting.

At one point, she suggested that I was ready to sponsor. Guess what? I now sponsor three people the way I was sponsored. Over the years, I have found that both being a sponsor and having a sponsor are essential for maintaining my honesty.

I have had four sponsors, and they all appeared in my life at the right time, leading me where I needed to go at that point in my recovery. One took me through the Big Book. Another systematically helped me work the Twelve Steps the first time around. Another stressed daily Tenth and Eleventh Step work. I gained from each and every one of them and have learned the gift of giving back to those who still suffer.

— Susan C.

the authors of the Big Book knew about this part of the disease too. She reminds me of the power of action, especially ser-vice, to relieve me of my character defects.

She has said all this before. I don’t like what she has to say. Maybe one day I will

let go and give it to God. Until then, I will be grateful for everyone who is cheering me along, especially my sponsor.

— Deborah S., Orange County, California USA

Cementing the ToolsMy first sponsor had me read with

her the first 164 pages of the Big Book and highlight the promises, warnings, prayers, and instructions. She required that I com-mit my food to her each day in the morn-ing. She suggested I attend three meet-ings a week, in person or on the phone, and she had me commit to making at least one outreach phone call per day. I thought it was very demanding of her, but I was willing to follow directions.

Another sponsor down the line chal-lenged me by making suggestions. She would say, “Try it for two weeks and see how it feels.” One suggestion was to weigh and measure every meal. Another was to attend ninety meetings in ninety days.

Rememberyou are loved.

Thinking isnot a Tool.

Working AllTwelve Steps

Path to Recovery

18 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Q Have you been stuck on a Step? What is holding you

back from completing it? What is the worst that can happen? What would it feel like to move through the Step, complete it, and move on to the next?

I have been in program since January 1992 and have maintained a 210-pound (95-kg) weight loss. Four

months into program, my sponsor told me it was time to work the Steps.

My thought was I could do Steps Two, Three, Seven, Eleven, and Twelve. My sponsor said I needed to start with Step One and work them in order through Step Twelve. That was not what I wanted to do.

I wanted to have power over food, but the reality was I didn’t, as evidenced by my weighing 359 pounds (163 kg). I didn’t believe that my life was unmanageable, but it was. So I started with Step One, and at the end of Step One, I made a commitment to believe.

Step Two was difficult; I learned that I was not God, but God did care about me.

At Step Three I made a decision to turn everything over to God. Changes were beginning to happen, and I was losing weight, so I needed to continue.

My sponsor said move on to Step Four. I never wanted to put anything on paper, because it would make everything real.

Step Five: Read everything to a live human being? How could I face that person ever again?

At Steps Six and Seven I thought, “I just can’t do this.” But I did.

Steps Eight and Nine: Go to someone to make an amends? Again, I thought I couldn’t, but I did.

For Step Ten, I continue to look for my part in all instances.

Step Eleven: I so wanted to have that spiritual experience.

For Step Twelve, I carry the message to others.

If I had stopped out of fear, anxiety, or depression, I would not have maintained my abstinence for twelve-plus years (minus one relapse when I forgot who’s in charge), and I would not be living the life I have today.

I have worked the Steps multiple times because I am not the same person as when I last did the work. The Steps are actions to take toward recovery.

Today I know that no matter how much I fear what will be revealed, God will provide the love and care for me

to move through the Steps and again experience the spiritual awakening of Step Eleven.

If I had not worked the Steps, then I would have been on a diet, and I surely would have eaten. My disease is threefold—physical, emotional, and spiritual—and the Steps offer the path to recovery on all three levels.

— Karen C.

Editor’s Note: As part of the 2015 Strate-gic Plan initiative to increase focus on the Importance of Working All Twelve Steps, members of the OA Board of Trustees and region chairs are contributing one article per issue to share their experience, strength, and hope on this theme.

March 2015 www.oa.org 19

LIVING TRADITIONS

Tra d i t i o n

3The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.

Web LinksDiscover interesting and helpful OA website links.

NEW! Tune in monthly: Hear virtual workshops on The Importance of Work-ing All Twelve Steps. See oa.org/datebook-calendar for instructions how to join live on the second Sunday of each month, 3–4 p.m. EST. Or, listen later at oa.org/oapodcasts/#workshops.

2015 World Service Business Conference: “The Miracle of Abstinence!” will be held April 27–May 2. Second Conference e-documents are posted online and include the Agenda Questionnaire, Questionnaire Summary, New Busi-ness Motions, and Bylaw Amendments. For these and all Conference docu-ments, visit oa.org/world-service-events/world-service-business-conference.

Open for GrowthI am so thankful for the simplicity

of this Tradition. If there were any added conditions, many, including me, might miss out on the path to recovery.

For example, when I first considered OA, I was frightened. I thought people would not accept me because I was not visibly overweight. When I became desperate enough to face that fear, the members practiced Tradition Three and accepted me as one of their own.

I treasure the diversity in our rooms. People from all walks of life share their experi-ence, strength, and hope with me. They are people I likely would not meet otherwise—in fact, my first sponsor and I were opposites in personality and life experience. But her experience with the disease of compulsive overeating helped lead me toward sanity and trust in a Higher Power.

The simplicity of this Tradition does two very important things. It keeps OA open to the greatest number of people, and it allows each of us the greatest amount of growth because we are challenged constantly by those around us to see other ways of thinking, doing, and being.

I thank HP for Tradition Three.— Audrey H., Michigan USA

20 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Stepping OutS t e p

3

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Let God DriveSoon after coming to OA and finding

the right sponsor, I began working the Twelve Steps. Steps One and Two were simple. I had Step One under control when I stepped into my first OA meeting. By then I was well aware that I was in a losing battle against food and my obsession with food was controlling my life.

Time and time again, I would suddenly become aware that I was driving and God was riding shotgun. Our changing seats happened so easily and quietly that days and sometimes weeks passed before I realized I was following my own path instead of God’s will. I soon became frus-trated by the fact that all of the willingness in the world was worthless if I couldn’t remember to let God drive.

I decided I had to come up with a plan, some way to remind myself to seek God’s guidance with every decision. I then remembered the concept of a prayer bracelet. Its purpose is to remind you to pray whenever you look at it. I went on the hunt for the perfect bracelet, some-thing simple and nonreligious so I wouldn’t have to explain it to anyone unless I chose to do so. I found a bracelet that met my needs and began calling it my “God bracelet.” It sits wrapped around my wrist as a constant reminder to “Let go and let God.”

Now that I have all the willingness I need and a way to remember, it’s my turn to ride shotgun.

— Christina S., Laveen, Arizona USA

Step Two came easily as well. Several years ago, I struggled with my concept of God. I spent countless hours redefining God for myself. By the time I was done, I had an excellent understanding of my Higher Power, and when I came to OA, I fully believed he would be the force that would relieve me of my food obsession.

As I began working Step Three, I quickly found my willingness to give God total control of my life. I had plenty of examples of God working in my life whenever I put my trust in him. He made things possible that I couldn’t have ac-complished on my own.

I have proven more times than I can count that my self-will alone is not enough to stop my compulsive overeat-ing. Continuing with my work on Step Three, I realized I needed God’s strength to resolve my food issues. I knew if I let him control all aspects of my life, I would be under less stress and be less tempted to eat emotionally.

Although I had easily found willing-ness to turn my life over to God, one huge problem stood in the way: remembering to consistently turn my life over to him.

March 2015 www.oa.org 21

Service with a Smile

A Tool and a GiftI have hit that dreaded plateau

in my program. My goal weight is in sight, but I’m stuck. I’m blinded by the numbers and can’t seem to get ahead in working the Steps.

I pretend it’s just about the weight loss, but really I like the loss of my defects even more! The clarity I’ve seen in myself and my life makes me realize how the gifts of this program extend to all those around me. The promises are being fulfilled in my life.

But to move forward, it’s time to step up my program. What better way than to use the Tool and gift of service? Setting up or putting away chairs, leading a meeting, participating in the reading, making outreach calls to newcomers (especially since I remember how delighted I felt when getting that first call), staying and talking to someone who needs encouragement—these are easy ways to serve and give back to the Fellowship that has helped me so much. Plus, I feel more a part of the program and active in my own recovery.

I’m so thankful to those who serve OA in other ways by their OA journey and serving on boards and committees so that we may have workshops, conventions, and retreats. I appreciate members who maintain the literature table at meetings and those who contribute articles to local publications and Lifeline.

The most miraculous thing is that when I do service, I provide a gift to my own growth and recovery. Thank you, OA, for the gift of service.

— Edited and reprinted from The Butterflyer newsletter, Chicago Western Intergroup

Save the Date!World Service Convention 2016

“Recovery: The Trail to Freedom!”

Boston MarriottCopley Place

Boston, Massachusetts USA

September 1–4, 2016

Lodging reservations open September 2015.Convention registration

opens January 2016.

Send Us Your Stories!The next deadline for Lifeline magazine is . . .

April 15My First OA Meeting What finally got you to your first OA meeting?Strong, Healthy Meetings What are the hallmarks of a strong, healthy meeting?Meeting Inspiration Share your favorite meeting moments.

For more information about these and other upcoming Lifeline topics, refer to the July 2014 Lifeline, or visit oa.org/lifeline- magazine/monthly-topics/.

22 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Spiritual PathTaking the

Scientific ApproachBefore program my top weight was 430

pounds (195 kg). At my first meeting 30 years ago, I weighed 380 pounds (172 kg). I reached my goal weight of 200 pounds (90 kg) and maintained that approximate weight for many years. Later I relapsed to a new top weight of 460 pounds (209 kg). Now with four years of abstinence, I am back to within 20 pounds (9 kg) of my goal weight. I am grateful for OA.

I almost didn’t stay in OA because I was an atheist who felt he could prove God didn’t exist. When I asked questions at my first meetings, such as, “How can an atheist work this program?” I was told I did not need to believe in God. I could use the group as a Higher Power because the group was comprised of people with recovery from compulsive overeating. Reading the chapter “We Agnostics” in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 44-57), I got the message “if you stick with us, we will convert you.” I did not want to be converted.

I procrastinated working the Steps because they mentioned God. I was lucky to get a Step sponsor who was cut from the same cloth I was. He was an over-100-pound (45-kg) loser and also came to program as an atheist.

Straight away my Step sponsor asked me to give up the God debate. He said proving God didn’t exist did not improve my life. If I could come to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore me to sanity (Step Two), my life could experience great improvement. My spon-sor asked me to “act as if” by praying

even though I didn’t think I was praying to God. To my horror and disgust, prayer worked! If I said the Serenity Prayer, I became more serene.

After starting out by “acting as if,” I went on a spiritual quest and found a Higher Power that works for me. My current Higher Power is not like the rejected God of my youth. My Higher Power is the God within, higher self, or intuition. Most im-portant, I need to remember I am not my Higher Power. The “I” writing this story is the self-centered consciousness that is powerless over food. “I” is the loud voice in my head that makes constant com-ments on and criticisms of the world.

A “still, small voice” within me (my Higher Power) has the power to help me not take that first compulsive bite, one day at a time. This Higher Power knows how to live the Serenity Prayer. I don’t say I believe in my Higher Power. I have too much scientific background to use belief as a source of knowledge. Instead I say I have evidence for my Higher Power’s existence because my life is better if I as-sume my Higher Power exists.

— Frank H.

March 2015 www.oa.org 23

Newcomers: Send your experiences and con-cerns to Newcomers Corner. See the table-of-

contents page for contact information.Newcomers Corner

Are you finding Trust and Connection (p. 4) in the program as a sponsee and sponsor? What can you do to increase your ability to trust and connect in this area?

For Discussion . . . AND JOURNALING-

This Love AloneWhen I walked into my first

meeting nine months ago, part of me had made a vital deci-sion. For thirty years I tried to do it my way, and for a year my counselor had told me I should go to OA, but I resisted and resisted. I was full of self-

righteousness and an “I know better” attitude. I clung to the idea that I was my own god while my life was sucked away, bite by bite and binge by binge. I went to that first meeting broken, with nothing left to fight against and nothing worth fighting for.

I have continued handing my will over since that day. I do what my sponsor sug-gests even if I don’t want to. I stick to my food plan even when a little voice says, “Oh wouldn’t that be much nicer than what you are having?” I read, write, make calls, and go to meetings even when I am tired.

The results are miraculous. Not only am I seven and a half months abstinent, but more important, I have growing inner peace, serenity, and feelings of belonging and wanting to be alive. For many years previously, I had wished for my death.

I know I regularly take back my will. But my Higher Power’s love for me means I love myself and am more accepting of my human failings—accepting enough to talk about them so they aren’t shameful, toxic secrets. My Higher Power always takes me back when I turn to him. It is such a joy to have this unconditional acceptance and to believe it with every fiber of my being. This love alone transformed my life.

OA has opened up my heart and my soul. I feel blessed to be in this Fellowship of people who understand me and who are there for me even when I am not there for myself.

By working the Steps and using the Tools, I opened myself up to my Higher Power. I see now that he was always there, waiting for me to reach out. My Higher Power helped me get to that first meeting, and I am grateful for the world that has opened up for me.

— Rachael H.

24 Lifeline A Meeting on the Go

Ask-It Basket

To read previous Ask-It Basket questions and answers, visit oa.org/membersgroups/service-body-support/ask-it-basket-and-archive/.

I attended a couple of OA meetings a few years ago. At the time, I decided it wasn’t for me; but the fact is I cannot control my eating. I had a heart attack in 2008, but still I am unable to execute any control. I don’t understand how someone can be addicted to food! Everyone has to eat! Because I am diabetic and insulin dependent, I cannot abstain from carbohydrates. What if I become hypoglycemic? But I have an idea. Can I get a meal plan from my doctor and have abstinence by sticking to that plan?

Your insight to get a food plan from your doctor is right on. We recommend members with a medical condition consult a medical professional for a plan of eating that can work.

A plan of eating is one of nine Tools in OA to help us to recover from compulsive eat-ing one day at a time. It is not the same as abstinence, but a Tool to help us be absti-nent. See the pamphlets A Plan of Eating and The Tools of Recovery, which are available at some meetings and at bookstore.oa.org.

In OA, “Abstinence is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compul-sive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight. Spiri-tual, emotional, and physical recovery is the result of working the Twelve Step program of OA” [Business Conference Policy Manual, 1988b (amended 2002, 2009, and 2011)].

When I first came to OA, I was hypoglycemic, so I couldn’t do what seemed to be the norm at that time: three meals a day with nothing in between. I also couldn’t diet, because I was a yo-yo dieter who lost weight only to gain it back plus more. So instead I asked my medical professional’s advice for a plan of eating, which I could follow only with the help of OA meetings, other members, my sponsor, and my Higher Power.

Working the Steps helped me to be abstinent and live well one day at a time. As it is stated in Our Invitation to You: “We have found that the reasons for the illness are unimportant. What deserves the attention of the still-suffering compulsive overeater is this: there is a proven, workable method by which we can arrest our illness.”

I hope you read our literature and keep coming back to meetings. There is nothing like another compulsive eater to understand what you are going through. Together we can do what we could never do alone.

— Members of the Board of Trustees provide answers to these questions

March 2015 www.oa.org 25

SHARE ITLetters must have a complete name and address. Please specify if your name, city, state, province, and/or country should remain anonymous if published.

We received no Share Its for this issue. We welcome your comments.

“I have learned more from sponsoring than from any other Tool. One of my first sponsees taught me to be grateful for a body that works, and this prayer has helped to release me from my most severe body image issues. Sponsoring has also helped me to be much kinder to other people in and out of the rooms, as well as to myself. I have learned valuable lessons from every person I have worked with, and I am grateful I had the courage

to say yes to this service.”from “The Turning Point Came,” Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, p. 83–84

To purchase Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, go to bookstore.oa.org (#980/$13.50; #981/$303.75, box of 25). E-book available from popular online retailers. For expedited

orders, call 1-505-891-2664.

Goal: 13more members joining

OA’s AutomaticRecurring Contributions

system, for a total of125 users in 2015!

60,000OA members

worldwide6,504

registered OA meetings

worldwide 8–9members per

meeting on average

112members already

give Automatic Recurring

Contributions

Help Add Leaves to the Tree!

OA’s tree will grow one new leaf with each new Automatic Recurring Contribu-tor in 2015.

Help OA reach itsgoal of signing up 125Automatic Recurring Contributors in 2015. All funds help sustain OA’s primary purpose, and no contribution is too small to help carry the message. Visit oa.org and sign up on the “Contribute” page.

Call the WSO at 1-505-891-2664 today and say

“I want to Be a LifeLine Rep.”

Being a Lifeline Rep is a simple, rewarding service opportunity. Lifeline Reps announce the magazine in meetings, take subscription orders, collect subscription funds, and send the orders and funds to the World Service Office.

To be a Lifeline Rep, you must sign up with the World Service Office. Email info@oa.org or call 1-505-891-2664.

Carry the OA message. Keep OA strong. Become a Lifeline Rep and share your knowledge of this valuable OA resource to support your fellow OA members’ recovery—maybe even save a life.

g i v e s e r v i c epRomote RecoveRy

Available at bookstore.oa.org (#980/$13.50*; #981/$303.75*, box of 25)

E-book available from popular online retailers For expedited orders, please call 1-505-891-2664

*Shipping not included

40 all-new stories of recoveryNew Foreword by Eating-disorder Treatment Professional

Classic OA texts “Keep Coming Back: Rozanne’s Story,” “Our Invitation to You,” plus all appendices from previous editions

The New Brown Book!

It’s Here!

Add Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition for $9.00 more (#972/$22.50*)

new appendix Discusses role of a Plan of eating

®

Support LifelineLifeline is a meeting on the go.

Give service to this meeting by subscribing. Thank you!

Subscribe for yourself, a friend, a newcomer, a library, or a doctor’s office.

Your personal Lifeline is your best friend.

Name___________________________________________Phone __________________Street/PO Box____________________________________________________________City ____________________________________________________________________State/Prov/Country_____________________________________ Zip ______________This is a gift from_________________________________Phone __________________

Credit my Lifeline Rep ____________________________________ (Full name, please)

Billing Address: ❑ Same as above Name___________________________________________Phone __________________Street/PO Box____________________________________________________________City ____________________________________________________________________State/Prov/Country_____________________________________ Zip ______________

Lifeline is published 10 months a year, with the combined May/June issue published May 1 and November/December published November 1.

Send exact amount, US funds only; all other funds will be returned.Enclosed is a check ___ money order ___ in US funds made out to World Service Office.Charge my VISA ____ MasterCard ____ Discover _____Card # ________________________ CVS # ______Expiration Date _____________________________Signature _________________________________

Lifeline OrderNo. Yrs. US Canada Outside US/Canada1 yr. ❑$23 ❑$29 ❑$382 yrs. ❑$44 ❑$56 ❑$743 yrs. ❑$63 ❑$81 ❑$108

Total Enclosed: ____________ New ❑ Renewal ❑Allow six weeks for delivery; mailed in plain, unmarked envelope.

Send to: Lifeline, PO Box 44020, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA • FAX 1-505-891-4320 • Tel. 1-505-891-2664

Save Online! Save $10 by subscribing to e-Lifeline magazine. Instead of paying $23 to receive Lifeline by mail, pay $13 to view it online. E-Lifeline has everything found in the print version plus a one-page Lifeline Weekly delivered via email and 10 issues of archives online. Subscribe at www.oa.org.

Cu

t

The Twelve Traditions 1. Our common welfare should come

first; personal recovery depends upon OA unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for OA membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.

6. An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9. OA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the OA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

The Twelve Steps 1. We admitted we were powerless

over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Permission to use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.