I went to an online abstinence workshop and this article from Lifeline was mentioned so I figured I would share it. Have a wonderful abstinent day:)

Anne B.

Just Food

5/7/2013

“Food is not my best friend, my confidante or my lover. Food does not fix broken promises, broken hearts or broken dishwashers. It doesn’t clean my house, organize my life or organize my mind. Food won’t hold my hand and walk me through the dark when I’m afraid or whisper good advice in my ear when I’m about to screw up. Food does not carry a tissue in its back pocket to wipe away tears, nor does food have a shoulder to lean on when I just can’t go another step. It does not fix any of my problems.

Food is not my advocate when I am treated unfairly or my spokesperson when I can’t speak for myself. Food does not make right old wrongs, does not erase childhood trauma or make past abuse finally okay. It does not eliminate long-standing grudges, old mistakes or pain. Food does not make the disappointment go away or play games with me when the boredom sets in. Food does not help me deal with a job I hate, a person I hate or my own self-hate. Food does not give me things, will not make me prettier or smarter or thinner (especially not thinner).

Food will cover up the truth, food will distort reality, and food will pretend to do all the things that food really can’t do.

Food, I am learning my friends, is just that. It’s just food.”
                                                  – Bianca W., Woodstock, Georgia USA. Lifeline Magazine November 2012

1. The opposite of fear is faith.
2. Easy does it.
3. Keep it simple.
4. Live and let live.
5. Let go and let God (HP)

1. I have the RIDS – restless, irritable, discontent
2. NUTS – not using the steps
3. EGO – edging God (HP) out
4. Three A’s of OA – Awareness, Acceptance, Action
5. FEAR – false evidence appearing real

1. A critical spirit is poisonous. Bitterness cannot grow in the soil of a grateful soul. When you have gratitude in your soul–bitterness cannot get rooted in that space.
2. Comparison is a killer!”
3. I can’t. God can. I think I’ll let God!” (OA 12 and 12)
4. We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.” BB p30
5. A sponsor said, “Why” is a management question and you aren’t management.

Fifth Step Prayer

Higher Power,
My inventory has shown me who I am,
Yet I ask for Your help
In admitting my wrongs to another person & to You.
Assure me, & be with me, in this Step,
For without this Step I cannot progress in my recovery.
With Your help, I can do this, & I do it.

Yes it’s back! Those pearls of wisdom heard in meetings. Everyone is welcome to submit anything. Just let me know. Anne B

Happiness is loving what I have.

We are ego maniacs with an inferiority complex

My sponsor says that when I slip to read the Doctor’s Opinion

When I’m beating myself up, my sponsor says you are a precious fallible child of God.

No HP no peace. Know HP know peace.

Sarcasm tears at us.

I want to be around people who celebrate me not tolerate me.

If you spot it, you got it. If it makes you mad you got it bad.

You’re only as sick as your secrets.

Working the steps will to change you. Work the steps and you’ll be changed.

Abstinence to me is not a thing but a process.

God chooses when you suffer and when you don’t.

My abstinence will slowly slip away if I don’t attend meetings

Life is hard but harder if you’re not abstinent.

My Higher power doesn’t give me power to self-destruct but power to self-construct

Self-centered or GOD CENTERED

How can you surrender if you don’t trust?

Service is slimming of the ego.

Abstinence is a state of mind.

Don’t put your wishbone where your backbone should be.

Hello OAers!

Hope you’re enjoying this weather. In Baton Rouge, it’s really cold. Just kidding it’s hot. The only difference is that the humidity is not high. I was talking among my other OAers and evidently there’s a saying that you know you’re working your program by how worn out your Big Book is. So I took pictures of a long-timer’s Big Book. Have a nice day.

Did you know that there is a prayer for each step. Since this is the fifth month I’ll post the fifth step prayer:

Fifth Step Prayer

Higher Power,
My inventory has shown me who I am,
Yet I ask for Your help
In admitting my wrongs to another person & to You.
Assure me, & be with me, in this Step,
For without this Step I cannot progress in my recovery.
With Your help, I can do this, & I do it.

A post from Atiya:

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood ….”

I was out walking and the above came to mind in part because of the weather. It is simply gorgeous out. And also, because I recently heard someone share about the recovery quip: “Your mind is a dangerous neighborhood; don’t go into it alone.”  Yet, because of my daily spiritual practices, which this morning included attending meetings, my mind is cleared of dangerous thoughts. Right now, it is a safe place for me to be.

For many years, I have understood sanity to be not an elimination of unhealthy thoughts but the ability to distinguish healthy thoughts from unhealthy ones.  What makes the neighborhood of my mind beautiful today is that through my spiritual practices, I can recognize any unhealthy or dangerous thoughts. I am not responsible for my first thought. I am responsible for my second thought and my first action.

The daily work enables me to recognize my thinking as my own and to avoid being frightened by it, even when dangerous or unhealthy thoughts may come. 

Thank you for reading me today. May we all be well and have a beautiful day!

Atiya M.
Durham,  NC, USA