Step One is the first step in our OA journeys, and remains a critical step for continued recovery. This workshop took participants through Step One using the Big Book. Click the button below to hear all 5 parts to this inspiring workshop. | |
|
Creating an action plan is the process of identifying and implementing attainable actions to support our individual abstinence and emotional, spiritual, and physical recovery. This Tool, like our plan of eating, may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted as we progress in our recovery.
Source: oa.org
| |
|
Forgiveness has never been easy for me. Before coming to Overeaters Anonymous I held on to every resentment and never forgave anyone. When I started working on my 4th step I saw just how many resentments I had. After working this program for many years I see how I make the same mistakes as anyone else. I am human, a child of God. When I forgive someone else, I am forgiving myself. I am so grateful for this program. I do a 10th step every day and look at my defects. When a resentment comes up, I look at my part. When I am having a hard time, I say a prayer wishing what I would want for myself, for who I am resentful at. Sometimes I have to say a prayer for people for years. It really works. Letting go of resentment gives me serenity.
— Shari T
Source: Northern New Jersey Intergroup of Overeaters Anonymous.
| |
The quote above is just one of many written in the margins of one longtime OA member's For Today Book. They were kind enough to share with us. Enjoy. | |
- Steps 1→3 is like puppy training: STOP, SIT, LOOK AT ME
- JUNK FOOD: Either it's food or it's junk (member share)
- Whatever we turn to in times of trouble is our Higher Power (OA Brown Book)
- Let Go and Let God or Be Dragged (June 2013 Lifeline)
- I don't know if I have another abstinence in me
- Live in the joy of each day
- I want to live a surrendered life
- Obsession robs me of the present moment
- The Truth is outside of the kitchen
- Courage: Exquisitely okay with uncertainty
- SILENT and LISTEN have the same letters
- 5 P's: Practice, Perseverance, Patience, Prayer, Progress (Voices of Recovery 1st Edition: p. 342)
- Be without judgment
- Radical unconditional acceptance
- Surrender to the joy
- With all humility we become the message
- PRIDE: Please remember I direct everything
- "I didn't know how depressed I was when I walked in" (member share: 8.25.20)
- God expresses himself through beauty--it's important enough for me to observe, important for me to be awake
- Your thoughts are your future (member share)
- HELP: Halt, Exhale, Let go, Pray
- AFGO: Another F***ing Growth Opportunity (member share)
- PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens
- TRUST: Try Really Using Step Three
- "Figuring it out" is not one of the Steps
- If I am taking care of myself, then you have a chance (member share)
- I'm getting ready to learn what I think I know (member share)
- You can eat anything you want as long as you love yourself after
- That this is a spiritual program is no game
- I need a power greater than myself
- The quality of my food is the quality of my life
- You ain't so hot either
- Oh, well
- If I blame others, I don't have to take responsibility for myself
- If I break my abstinence I will not be there for anyone to help. I cannot give to another something I do not have.
- Having the courage to forgive myself
- Everything was of major proportion; I had no priorities
- I can easily make myself upset so I can overeat. Lord, help me to know that I have a choice
- Abstinence is freedom, not penance
- Can I allow myself to be happy?
- I flow easily and gently with life
- Stop focusing on the negative; focus on God and His love to get out of the "black hole"
- Resentment: Taking poison and hoping the other person dies
- I have a chance to go climb mountains
- Living the way I want to become
- Let me see it through your eyes
- Learning from your parents is possible, even if it is painful
- Help me get out of my own way
- Choices have consequences
- FEAR ≠ FAITH
- Fear and Faith cannot co-exist
- Be here now
- I want to grow with my OA friends
- Acceptance is the beginning of forgiveness for me
| |
Statement of Support for The Rainbow (LGBTQ+) | |
Specific Focus Service Board of Overeaters Anonymous | |
Who We Are
The Rainbow provides a supportive environment and information to everyone and anyone who needs it within Overeaters Anonymous. We are proud to be a reliable source of information for LGBTQ+ members of Overeaters Anonymous.
May 15, 2024
RE: Overeaters Anonymous Supports The Rainbow (LGBTQ+) Specific Focus Service Board.
To Overeaters Anonymous members and groups:
The Board of Trustees, the Unity with Diversity Conference Committee, and the Region Chairs Committee stand hand-in-hand with all our specific focus service boards. We regret to report that OA’s Rainbow (LGBTQ+) Specific Focus Service Board has received some vicious, attacking emails from individual OA members. We are taken aback by the hostility directed at The Rainbow (LGBTQ+) Specific Focus Service Board.
While OA welcomes a free exchange of ideas and criticisms, we also want to say clearly: There is absolutely no place for hate speech in the loving Fellowship of Overeaters Anonymous. We are here to support each other in love, tolerance, acceptance, and recovery.
As noted in the OA Twelve and Twelve: “When we apply OA’s Tradition Three, we find the treasure of friendship often where we least expect it, with people we once would have excluded from our lives. Such treasure is all around us, and all we have to do is open our hearts to receive it. OA is where we learn to open our hearts, because it is here that most of us first experience unconditional acceptance” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition, pp. 111–112).
For further reading and discussion, our policy statements related to Unity with Diversity can be found in the Document Library at oa.org. This statement was unanimously endorsed by the 2024 World Service Business Conference.
Please contact your Region Chair or Trustee if you have any questions.
Thank you for your attention and support,
OA Board of Trustees
Region Chairs Committee
Unity with Diversity Conference Committee
Download a copy of this statement
| |
OA Virtual Region Assembly June 22-23, 2024 | |
|
Saturday, June 29, 2024, 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET / 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. UTC. We will demonstrate a two-way prayer method, have a short writing time, offer guidelines on reflecting and then go into small breakout rooms to share our writing.
Please join us!
Open to all who wish to stop eating compulsively - no registration required.
Zoom info: Meeting ID: 827 6071 2446
Passcode: 247365
questions@oceanandbay.org
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FLYER
| |
|
November 15 - 17, 2024
in person only retreat
Location: St. Edmund’s Retreat Center at 1 Enders Island in Mystic, CT
| |
|
REGION 6 FALL ASSEMBLY • SEPTEMBER 21, 2024
May 24, 2024
Dear Region 6 Intergroups, Representatives/Alternates and Guests:
The OA Region 6 Fall Assembly is scheduled for Saturday, September 21, at the Hilton Garden Inn Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York.
Registration will open August 7th - ONLINE only. EVERYONE NEEDS TO REGISTER FOR THIS ASSEMBLY, even if you have attended in the past or were a registered Representative or Alternate for previous Region 6 Assemblies.
PLEASE NOTE: All Representatives/Alternates are required to have six months of current continuous abstinence.
If your Intergroup wants to send a representative but needs some help, Region 6 has financial opportunities:
- to help fund a Representative's travel expenses to the Fall Assembly in September.
- to offer financial support through PI/PO Blitz requests for your Intergroup to get the OA word out.
There is money budgeted for these initiatives, so please take advantage of the resources available.
Below is the list of documents you can use to apply for funding assistance from Region 6, along with New Business Motions and Bylaw and Policy Amendments. Click on the name of the document you need to download.
All documents must be sent to the Region 6 Coordinator by email at the following address - coordinatorregion6@gmail.com - by the deadlines listed below:
Other notable dates:
-
Assembly Registration Opens: Wednesday, August 7th
-
Spring Assembly Packet: Available Wednesday, August 7th
-
Hotel Booking Opens - To be announced
-
Mileage Reimbursement: for Intergroup member travel to the Assembly - due Monday, October 21st by email to: Treasurer@OARegion6.org
Be sure to email documents to coordinatorregion6@gmail.com by the due dates listed above.
Should you have any questions, please email me at coordinatorregion6@gmail.com
Wishing each of you a peace-filled and abstinent day!
In humble service,
Lynda B.
Coordinator
| |
IMPORTANT information from Region 6 regarding new Zoom scenario | |
Please consider sending a rep from your group to Intergroup | |
|
Please email Nancy at chair@oceanandbay.org if you have any questions and/or if you would like to VOLUNTEER for any of the following projects and endeavors:
- Chair for PIPO (Public Information/Professional Outreach)
-
Zoom Security. For more information on Zoom host training contact Robin at robinmcallister@verizon.net
| |
|
SPECIAL FOCUS MEETINGS
You are welcome at any OA meeting, and we hope you’ll try many of the meetings on our Intergroup and oa.org meeting lists! Some of our members find they also benefit from OA meetings with members who share similar experiences, so we are sharing this list of some of the special focus resources that are available in OA.
100 Pounders: Click Here
American Sign Language & Closed Caption – This meeting offers ASL interpretation Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern: ASL Tues 8pm
Anorexics and Bulimics in OA – special focus meetings: Anorexics/Bulimics in OA
Asian-Pacific Islander OA: Click Here
Atheist, Agnostics, Secular - special focus meetings: Click Here
Bariatric Surgery: Click Here
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Color) – special focus meetings: BIPOC Intergroup
Health Issues: Click Here
LGBTQ special focus meetings for OA: bit.ly/ckslist and Click Here
OAMen.org is dedicated to distributing information about meetings, resources, and support for men in OA: Men in OA
Young People in OA – resources for those under 30 who suffer from compulsive eating include Meetings for young persons and https://oayoungpeople.org/
For more special focus meetings, you can go to OA.org:
-
go to Find a Meeting
- select a type of meeting (face-to-face, online, telephone, or non-real-time)
- click on "additional search options" and select the desired special focus
| |
|
Mission & Vision Ocean & Bay Intergroup is dedicated to supporting individuals in need of recovery from compulsive eating (e.g.: overeating, bulimia, anorexia) through carrying the OA message and empowering all meetings within the Intergroup.
Strategic Goals
1. Help members strengthen their personal recovery
2. Increase the number of sponsors
3. Increase the number of newcomers
4. Increase the retention of newcomers
5. Help those in relapse
6. Inspire people to give more service
7. Increase outreach activities, including outreach to members and healthcare professionals
| |
|
Please note that every effort has been made to adhere to OA's policy for newsletter publications. Opinions and experiences expressed within are those of the individual writer and not OA as a whole.
SUBMISSIONS: This is your newsletter! We welcome your contributions of news items or commentary.* Deadline: 1st of each month. Example: Deadline 6/1 for June newsletter.
Please email : newsletter@oceanandbay.org
*May be edited as space allows.
| |
|
Ocean & Bay Intergroup
PO Box 2243, East Greenwich, RI 02818
Note: Make checks payable to Ocean and Bay Intergroup
| | | | |
