Food for Thought for Over Eaters Anonymous

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 8

Learning from Mistakes

We can learn from our mistakes so that we do not have to make the same ones over and over again. If a particular attitude or situation consistently makes it difficult for us to follow our food plan, then that attitude or situation needs to be changed. Slips do not just happen. They indicate that something is wrong with our program and that we have not yet learned what we need to know about ourselves.

Being aware of the circumstances, which make us vulnerable to overeating, helps us to be prepared for temptation and to find ways to avoid it wherever possible. If there are certain foods, which we cannot resist, then we should not have those foods available. If trying to do too much makes us tired and emotionally upset, then we need to be less ambitious and learn to delegate responsibility. Compulsive overeating or emotional bingeing indicates that we are not living in a way, which satisfies our basic needs.

Lord, may we learn from our mistakes.

[MajestyJo]

Thought for the Day
Wednesday, OCT 11

From the book: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thought for the Day


How good a sponsor am I? When I bring new members to a meeting, do I feel that my responsibility has ended? Or do I make it my job to stay with them until they have either become good members of A.A. or have found another sponsor? If they don't show up for a meeting, do I say to myself: "Well they've had it put up to them, so if they don't want it, there's nothing more I can do?" Or do I look them up and find out whether there is a reason for their absences or that they don't want A.A.? Do I go out of my way to find out if there is anything more I can do to help? Am I a good sponsor?

Meditation for the Day


"First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift to God." First I must get right with other people and then I can get right with God. If I hold resentment against someone, which I find it very difficult to overcome, I should try to put something else constructive into my mind. I should pray for the one against whom I hold the resentment. I should put that person in God's hands and let God show him or her the way to live. "If a man say: 'I love God' and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may see something good in every person, even one I dislike, and that I may let God develop the good in that person.

They say that this is a program of reflection. For me, that means if I see goodness in someone, it is a reflection of what is within me. The same goes for the not so good.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

Moving Forward

Time past is gone forever, and we can never go back to it. Even our disease progresses forward. We cannot expect to control it by a return to measures, which may have worked for a time in the past. Those methods eventually failed, and trying them again will only bring us to the same point of failure.

The only way to avoid repetitious failure is to move forward creatively as our Higher Power leads us. Each day is a new creation, and each day brings new lessons and opportunities. We build on what is past, but we do not need to repeat it.

Moving forward involves risking what is unknown. The old, familiar rut, depressing as it is, is a known quantity. Moving out of it requires that we have courage and that we trust in One who knows and cares. To move on, we must act. Insights do not produce growth until they are accompanied by specific actions.

May I risk new actions as You lead me forward.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 13

Rigorous Honesty

As we work the OA program, we find that we cannot be rigorously honest about what we are eating unless we are rigorously honest about our other actions as well. Once our Higher Power takes charge of our lives, a general housecleaning occurs. Gradually, we see that the attitudes and activities, which undermine our integrity, have to go.

The housecleaning process can be painful. It involves facing aspects of ourselves, which we would prefer to remain hidden - our dependency, pride, selfishness, and avarice. Sex and money are often areas where our attitudes and practices need revision. What we are doing is shifting from an ego-centered to a God-centered orientation, and the shift is not always smooth.

Rigorous honesty shows up harmful relationships for what they are. It illumines our motives, which are not always the best. The love and care of our Higher Power support us as our weaknesses are exposed. Through His healing power, we are strengthened and made whole.

Grant me the ability to practice rigorous honesty in all areas of my life.

Honesty is so important for the first Step. Self-honesty by the time we get to Step 4, helps to take away the fear. At least it did for me, as I became aware, I couldn't hide behind the excuses and denial that kept me sick

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 14

Surrender

Continuing to take the first three Steps enables us to become increasingly surrendered to our Higher Power. Our goal is to let our egotistical selves be dissolved in a greater Self, so that the Higher Power lives through us. The loss of ego frightens us and attacks our illusions of self-sufficiency.

Here is where we can be grateful for our disease. If we were not convinced of our helplessness in the face of our obsession with food, we would not be desperate enough to surrender to a Higher Power. Only after we have tried and failed over and over again in our battle with compulsive overeating are we willing to accept the OA program.

We surrender in order to stop eating compulsively. We gain infinitely more than we had expected. Not only does our Higher Power give us abstinence from compulsive overeating, but also more than that He gives us Himself. No longer do we live as an isolated, weak self, but in us lives the Power of the universe.

May we surrender completely to Your power.

Surrender, not giving up, but giving over to our Higher Power.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 15

Cutting Cords

Often we are bound in unhealthy ways to parents, husbands, wives, children, and friends. When dependency and manipulation are masked as love, it is difficult to cut the cords that bind us. By ourselves we are unable to break free.

Listening to other compulsive overeaters helps us to see our own situation and ourselves more objectively. Working the steps builds emotional and spiritual maturity. Abstaining from compulsive overeating gives us the perception we need to see unhealthy relationships for what they are. Our growing self-respect motivates us to make changes.

We ate because we were too weak to face our problems. Now that we see where we have been manipulated and where we have manipulated others, we need the strength to cut the cords of unhealthy dependency. This strength comes from our Higher Power. Since we recognize our complete dependency on Him, we are no longer weakened by pseudo dependencies on those close to us. We learn to relate to them positively, out of God's strength rather than our own weakness.

By Your power, may I cut the cords that bind me.

So vital to healthy thinking and actions. Recognizing thoughts and habits that no longer serve us is a vital part of recovery.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 16

Admitting Wrongs
Step Ten reminds us to continue to take daily inventory and to promptly admit when we are wrong. By admitting our mistake out loud to the person we have harmed, we clear away bad feelings and guilt. The relationship is healed, and we are able to put the error behind us. Admitting that we are wrong helps us even more than the person we have injured.
Since it usually takes two people to disrupt a relationship, the entire blame may not be ours. Admitting our share of wrong, however, relieves us of guilt and opens the way to reconciliation.
Being able to apologize simply and sincerely means that we are not bound by pride and egotism. We do not always have to be right. By accepting our human fallibility, we are free to be ourselves, to make mistakes, to correct them, and to make amends.
Admitting wrongs keeps us honest with ourselves, with others, and with our Higher Power. We stay anchored in the real world and we practice healthy humility.
May I not be too proud to admit I am wrong.

Had the thought yesterday about how I have always liked to bend or break rules. I went with my Fibromyalgia group for dinner at this restaurant and everyone ordered decaf coffee. I ordered the real thing. Like sour cream, I don't want the 1% or 2%, I may settle for 5%, but most times I get 14%. I haven't always done what was good for me.

[MajestyJo]

October 17

Food For Thought

Seeking the Best

We will never be satisfied with less than the best. When we were overeating, we may have settled for less than we were capable of being and achieving, but we were not happy about it. There is something in each of us that hungers for maximum growth and development.

When we stop drugging ourselves with food, we become aware of new possibilities and areas of growth. By controlling our disease, we release potential that had been buried under our obsession. As we come to know our Higher Power through this program, our appetite for the best is reawakened. Though we realize we will never achieve perfection, we are challenged to be and do the best that we can, just for today.

The best force there is directs lives that are committed to the care of God. Only by dedication to knowing and doing His will is our search satisfied.

We seek You, Lord.

We put ourselves into God care, that doesn't mean He will do our recovery for us. It just means He will direct our path and give us what we need to get through the day, whatever comes our way.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

Relying on God

As compulsive overeaters, we relied on food to pick us up, calm us down, console us, excite us, help us, and sustain us. Since food was inadequate to do all of these things, we had to eat more and more until we became physically and emotionally addicted.

Recovery from our disease requires that dependency on food be replaced by dependency on a Higher Power. Only God, as each of us understands Him, is capable of supporting us at all times and in all situations. Food simply will not work. If we are not controlled by our Higher Power, we will be controlled by our addiction to compulsive overeating.

At first, we find it difficult to rely on a Power we cannot see. Our materialistic orientation makes us distrustful of the things that are of the spirit. Gradually, we come to believe as we witness the work of God through OA. We see evidence of His activity in our own lives, and we sense the peace and security that He gives. Reliance on God is our strength.

I depend on You for recovery.

F.R.O.G. Fully Relying On God. I can, my God can, just for today, I choose to let Him.

[MajestyJo]

Thought for the Day
Thursday, OCT. 19

From the book: Food for Thought

To Abstain Is to Live


If we do not abstain from compulsive overeating, we do not live - we merely survive. Without abstinence, joy and creativity fade and we are left with only the effort of getting from one day to the next. We remember the despair of living without the OA program, and we are grateful that we have been given a reprieve from our former misery.

Abstaining is what we do each day in order to live the life our Higher Power intends us to have. There are good days and bad days and mediocre days. As long as we abstain from compulsive overeating, we are able to accept our passing moods and the events of each day with inner serenity. We make progress in our activities and in our understanding. We are alive to the possibilities of each moment.

To abstain requires that we choose a long-term satisfaction rather than a short-lived indulgence. To abstain is to walk with our Higher Power in the way He shows us.

Thank You for the power to abstain.

My power comes from my God. When I surrender my day to Him, I am empowered to do what I need to do to abstain from eating disorder. I have to give it to Him. As I like to say, "Surrender isn't giving up, it is giving over." It is an action word. It isn't a thought, it is about me surrendering my disease to Him daily.

Better to fill up with blessings instead of food.

[MajestyJo]

October 20

Food For Thought

Physical Restraint

Self-control is hard work. When the urge comes to do something, which we know is not in our best interest, we physically restrain ourselves from performing the destructive action. This often requires hard, physical effort.

We may want to eat when we should not be eating, we may want to lash out in anger, we may want to retreat from a difficult task, we may want to continue a harmful relationship. Whatever the urge, if we know deep down that it is contrary to God's will for us, we need to control it and not act on it.

Time spent with our Higher Power each day builds the strength and integrity, which can control our destructive urges. Alone, we are powerless, but with the OA program supporting us we find strength we never had before. With abstinence comes the clarity of mind necessary to evaluate our urges and desires.

May I have the moral strength to physically restrain myself when necessary.

When I see the word 'moral' it reminds me that I know right from wrong, and I have freedom of choice, so it is up to me to make the decision to be healthy or feed my addiction instead of my spirit.

[MajestyJo]

October 21

Food For Thought

New Memories

If certain times of the year and certain activities are associated in our minds with overeating, we need to create new memories to blot out the old ones. If we are hung up on past loves, hates, and hurts, we need to let go of them so that we can live in the present.

Old eating habits keep alive old wounds and frustrations. Even after we have maintained abstinence for a significant length of time, we may be troubled by unresolved conflicts from the past. The fact that we are abstaining from compulsive overeating gives us a chance to see the problems more clearly and to then walk away from them when we have done all that we can do to resolve them.

The past and the future are in the hands of our Higher Power. If we work our program now and live the best we can today, we are creating good memories, which will sustain us in the days to come.

Take charge of my memories. Lord.

[MajestyJo]

Thought for the Day
Sunday, OCT. 22

From the book: Food for Thought

Healing


God, as understood by each of us, has the Power to heal our bodies, minds, and hearts. Once we realize that we are sick, we can open ourselves to the Power, which will affect our recovery. As we delve more deeply into the OA program, we see that it is not only the body, which suffers from the disease of compulsive overeating. Mind and emotions are also muddled and in need of God's cleansing.

The healing process can be painful. Sometimes we have to get worse in order to get better. Sometimes we have to be more devastated by overeating, by pride, by fear and selfishness before we are willing to turn ourselves over to our Higher Power for healing. We do not make the effort to work the Twelve Steps until we see how desperately ill we are.

God heals, but He requires our cooperation and effort. The extent of our recovery is determined by the intensity of our desire to get well. When our desire is focused on the source of health and held there steadily, we can become whole.

We pray for healing.

The 12 Steps are a healing tool that leads to recovery. We pray for the healing, but we need to do our part too. First and foremost for me was the willingness to change.

[MajestyJo]

Food For Thought

October 23

Tomorrow Is Another Day

As compulsive overeaters; we can be tormented by the urge to finish everything right now, today. That was the way we used to eat, and it may still be the way we try to operate in other areas of behavior. It is possible to exchange our addiction to food for an addiction to work or perfection.

Trying to do everything today is just another example of self will run riot. We are not super people and we cannot perform miracles. It is our Higher Power who makes possible our accomplishments, and His work is done slowly and gradually. God never expects more of us than we are able to deliver. It is our own pride that entices us to tackle the impossible.

As long as we are alive, our work will not be finished. Each day we are given new tasks to do and new experiences to enjoy. What we do not complete today can be continued tomorrow, according to the will of our Higher Power.

I leave tomorrow's tasks for tomorrow.

My drug of choice is more. That applies to food too, sometimes there doesn't seem to be enough. No thoughts of saving for tomorrow, it had to be eaten no.

[MajestyJo]

October 24

Food For Thought

Accepting God's Will

Disappointments and hurts can send us into an orgy of self-pity if we are not willing to accept them as part of our Higher Power's plan. We do not understand why we must suffer disappointments and frustrations, but trusting God means that we accept our share of this world's pain.

When we look back on former disappointments, we are often able to see that what we so desperately wanted at the time would not have been the best thing for us. Our vision and judgment are limited. Faith that God is managing our lives according to His purposes can relieve us of unnecessary hurt and frustration.

To accept God's will is not to passively absorb all that happens to us like an inert sponge. It is to actively seek knowledge of His plan for our lives and to purposefully work according to the knowledge we receive. Acceptance is positive and cooperative.

Your will is what I seek to accept.

Acceptance is the key to my recovery.