Help for Compulsive Eaters, Bulimics and Anorexics in Eastern Wisconsin

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Heard in a Meeting: Sayings, Slogans, and More

The wit, wisdom, and human-ness of OA is captured in the sayings we share with each other at meetings.

OA SLOGANS

The slogans have been called the handrails to the Twelve Steps.

  • One day at a time
  • Let go and let God
  • Easy does it.
  • First things first.
  • Live and let live.
  • But for the grace of God.
  • Think, think, think.
  • Came in for the vanity, stayed for the sanity.
  • When I stopped living in the problem, the problem went away. Acceptance is the answer… AA Big Book
  • If you pray, don’t worry. If you worry, don’t pray.
  • Holding a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
  • Expectations = Resentments under construction.
  • Release what does not bless you.
  • Imperfect but trying.
  • Progress, not perfection.
  • I don’t think less of myself, I think of myself less.
  • Sobriety is not about getting sober, it’s about staying sober.
  • Recovery = a lifetime of work. That’s why we’re given a lifetime to do it.
  • Serenity is a feeling of stability within.
  • Don’t give up until the miracle happens.

OA Member Virginia W. brought the following list to our attention.

ABSTINENCE

  • Abstinence frees me to choose healthy foods, healthy friends, and healthy thoughts.
  • Abstinence is a life style.
  • Abstinence is a state of grace by which I am balanced physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
  • Abstinence is all GOD is asking of me today.
  • Abstinence is the #1 action in my life, so that GOD can be in the center.
  • Abstinence keeps me present for life and joy.
  • Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.
  • Abstinence takes care of the fat on my body.
  • My abstinence becomes three meals a day with “life” in between.
  • Remember: GOD has done abstinence for us.
  • Since abstinence; my only “To Do List” is life!
  • The only time I have ever been satisfied is when I am abstinent.
  • To be or not to be abstinent? That is the question. GOD is the answer.
  • To keep abstinence alive, I have to be constantly aware of it.
  • When we are abstinent, we can truly be present for other people who are in pain.

OA ACRONYMS & SLOGANS

  • GOD = Good Orderly Direction
  • GOD = Gift Of Desperation
  • FEAR = F— Everything And Run, OR
  • FEAR = Face Everything And Recover
  • FEAR is not fact!
  • FAT HEAD = FAT THINKING 
  • AMENDS = CHANGE
  • SORRY = SAME
  • SHIT = Special High Intensity Thinking
  • Full of Food vs. Full of God
  • Spread the message not the mess.
  • AM vs. FM Dial?  Is my dial Against Me or For Me?
  • Let go or get dragged.
  • ACT myself into ways of thinking.
  • Disease feeds the disease.
  • Isolation is the dark room where I develop my negatives.
  • Tough shit. Don’t eat!
  • Together we get better.
  • Head Trip = my head, thoughts, and unfinished issues that lead me to food.
  • Life becomes more than food.
  • Food is fuel. It is not my lover or friend.
  • Before 12 Step Recovery, I was a piece of shit that the world revolved around.
  • Being right is not as important as being FREE!
  • There are two times when you go to an OA Meeting: when you want to and when you do not want to!
  • Don’t believe everything you think!
  • Focus less on food and more on people.
  • How I feel about my body has nothing to do with how I look.
  • When the pain of where I am, overwhelms the fear of where I am going; then, I am ready and willing to grow and change in OA.

GOD, HIGHER POWER, SPIRITUALITY

  • God’s will is a loving thought and a loving action.
  • GOD is more powerful than _________________________! ! !
  • Don’t tell GOD how big your problems are, tell your problems how big GOD is.
  • GOD, if you can put the stars in the sky with the sweep of your hand; then maybe you can help me with my compulsive eating.
  • Wait on GOD! And, GOD will bless your weight.
  • I no longer serve GOD in an advisory capacity.
  • GOD is interested in how I trust GOD, not in what I weigh.
  • GOD has great plans for us, and it is not having our heads in the toilet.
  • It is not in finding GOD or in naming GOD, but in pursuing GOD.
  • I need a practical GOD that will come between me and the food.
  • Resentment is a deadly hazard.
  • The compulsive eater clings to the times when compulsively eating used to work.
  • Coincidence is our Higher Power remaining anonymous.
  • If you feed your faith, doubts will starve.
  • OA is not drive-through recovery!
  • The key to the future is forgiveness.
  • OA recovery has given me a relationship with the mystery of life!
  • Impression Management vs. honesty with GOD, self, and others.
  • The ME version of the Serenity Prayer:God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change
    the courage to change the people I can 
    and the Wisdom to know that the people is me.

SUGAR, SUGAR, AND NO MORE SUGAR!!!

  • SUGAR is like a grenade.
  • SUGAR is the vampire of the spirit.
  • SUGAR is like adultery; it betrays you and everyone else.
  • I do not eat paint, Styrofoam or SUGAR! I do not envy those who do.
  • I do not drink alcohol because it is highly refined SUGAR!
  • It is not fruits or vegetables that brought us to OA!

OA RECOVERY

  • Compulsive eating is an equal opportunity disease.
  • In OA, my job is to serve other people.
  • Before OA, there was never enough to satisfy me; in OA, abstinence satisfies me now.
  • Through OA Recovery, I experience more days of grace.
  • OA allows me to “be.”
  • In OA, we leave the results to GOD.
  • My life must illustrate OA Recovery.
  • Before OA, I had a hole in my soul not a whole soul.
  • Before OA, I was constantly engaged in the “pursuit of never enough”.
  • Being right is not as important as being FREE!
  • OA has taught me how to keep company with my feelings rather than eat over them.
  • My old life before OA, depended upon hanging onto my defects and my old survival skills.
  • Find the blessings in this disease through the OA Fellowship.
  • In OA, I am learning to take care of myself and others.
  • Before OA, I had a head full of knowledge and a heart full of nothing.
  • Codependency was a sport in my family.
  • I need boundaries around food or I would bury myself alive with food.
  • OA is a camaraderie and fellowship among people who understand.
  • OA Meetings keep us connected to our own kind.
  • FOOD kept me neutral so I would not feel pain or joy.
  • The honesty is healing me.
  • The old solution before OA was to feed the voice.
  • OA is not drive-through recovery.
  • The less I come to OA Meetings, the less I want to come!
  • When I want to eat between meals, then something is going on, and it is not hunger.
  • The mental twist is what leads to the first compulsive bite.
  • A queer mental condition surrounds the first compulsive bite.
  • To pass it on to others plays an important role and a vital part in our own recovery.
  • Courage and compassion are needed when I miss the mark.
  • OA is the bright spot of our lives:
    • we watch loneliness vanish,
    • we see the fellowship grow,
    • we have frequent contact with newcomers,
    • we carry the message of hope and recovery; and
    • we help when no one else can!
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