February, 2016 Expressions of Unity The newsletter of Unity Intergroup www.overeaters.org Step 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Having a problem with food, weight or purging? Call our 24/7 hotline at 612-377-1600 and one of our volunteers will return your call. In this issue: Step Two Articles Tradition Two Article Unity Day Recovery Event February 27 OA Quick Steps workshop, Saturday March 12 & 26 Buffalo Retreat April 1-3 Big Book Study May 13-15 Unity Intergroup News - Page 8 If She Could Have Done It Herself... I recently had the opportunity to re-read Rozanne's story, the founder of Overeraters Anonymous. Rozanne thought the steps of AA were poorly written and that she could do a better job, having experience as a script editor. She also could not fathom that she needed a power greater than herself to relieve her compulsive eating. She thought she was " not so weak that I had to turn my will and life over to the care of any God. She even rewrote the steps removing all traces of the word God. Her friend Jim, who was a member of Gamblers Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, urged her to attend some AA meetings. There, Rozanne felt the love and caring present in 12 step programs, but she still struggled with a the idea of a power greater than herself. Her friend Jim, said to her " Listen, Rozanne, if you could have done it yourself, you would have done it yourself. But all your life you've depended on doctors, you, diet plans, fad diets and pills. These are all powers outside of you. Now, you have a meeting every week, and you talk to someone everyday, Don't you see these are all powers outside of you, too.? Suppose you take the capital P off the word Power and make it a small 'p'. Then you can say, I'm am powerless over food? Can you do that?" That statement helped open the door to a spiritual way of life for Rozanne. And that's what we are given in this program: a new way of living. There are many sources of a power greater than myself to help me along the way. I have learned to reach out to others for help with my food and with my life problems. That's one source of power. I start my day with page 84 of the Big Book of AA and ask that I be relieved of self pity, self centeredness, and I ask my Higher Power to show me the way. I ask that he relieve my obsession with food on a daily basis. I try to do my part by having a food plan, calling my fellows and reading and writing a little each night. And I can't forget my sponsor, the final power greater than myself who helps me navigate this program and calls me out when I fall into self will. I am so grateful for this program and the recovery it has brought to my life. ~Anonymous
Too Proud to Believe I always prided myself in being too smart or too cool for religion. I was never one of those people who thought God abandoned them, I just didn't think there was any such being. Having been a compulsive overeater as far back as I can remember, I now know I had a disease that told me some day this would all magically disappear and I could solve this problem on my own. Self-sufficiency, developed as a form of self protection, was such a way of life for me that relying on something outside of myself was completely foreign to me. When I crawled back to the program after many years away, however, I was desperate and hopeless. I was at the end of my power. Not yet ready to embrace a power greater than myself, I was just defeated enough to have a slightly open mind. I ignored it when people used the word God during meetings, which was the best I could do at the time. If anyone asked I was managing quite well, thank you very much. The reality of the hundred plus extra pounds I was carrying and the fact that all of the relationships in my life were in shambles was buried deep beneath the food. The true insanity, however, was thinking I could control my food and weight using willpower, when it had always been lacking. Or that having enough humiliating experiences or health consequences would finally convince me that I needed to stop. Nearly three years later, I can honestly say I have had a spiritual awakening. I have needed to build a case that there is a power greater than myself with many small pieces of evidence, many recognized in retrospect. Being lead to OA podcasts and online meetings was the first one, because I was too afraid to show up at a face-to-face meeting. I finally had the nerve to attend my first face-to-face meeting in many years, and really connecting with the person who led the newcomer group is the most compelling evidence I have that a power greater than myself placed me exactly where I needed to be. My higher power regularly speaks to me through my fellows, and especially my sponsor, who I met at that first face-to-face meeting. Most importantly, my life is much more sane than insane today, because my higher power is guiding my recovery. One of the rewards of working the steps and using the tools is that food is very quiet most of the time. I feel neutral about foods that used to control me. Damaged relationships are being mended and new, healthy ones created. I have a higher power that is working in my life and fellows who are there for me any time I am willing to ask for their help. The only time I am alone with my struggles is when I choose to be alone. I feel that I have a spiritual experience each morning when I get on my knees and say the first three steps. And again when I'm willing to weigh and measure my food, then send it to my sponsor. Definitive evidence presents itself regularly, however, when I am speaking to an OA fellow and my higher power speaks through them and through me. Sanity is returned to me, one day at a time, in direct proportion to my willingness to believe in and rely upon a power greater than myself. ~Anonymous in Minneapolis MORNING PRAYER God, today is a new day for me and with you it can be a day of abstinence. With you, I can handle anything. I ask for you protection today from anyone or anything that may interfere with my abstinence. I am asking now for your protection in case sometime during the day my desire to compulsively eat becomes stronger than my desire to abstain. I know I am powerless over food and my life can become unmanageable again. I do believe that you will relieve my compulsion and restore me to sanity. Please help me to know your will for me today and give me the willingness to carry it out. I turn my will and life over to you. Please guide me through another day of abstinence. God, I need you. Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 2
Sponsored by OA Unity Intergroup Twelve Step Within Saturday, February 27, 2016 Registration opens at 9:00am Full day of workshops 9:30am to 3:00pm!!!! (BYOL bring your own lunch refrigerator available) Building fully handicapped accessible. Coming together for a day of encouragement, sharing our experience, strength and hope. $5 suggested donation for the event at the door! IN CASE OF INCLEMENT WEATHER CONTACT 507-676-0903 or 507-363-6574 CLOTHING EXCHANGE!!! Please bring any gently used clothing you would like to donate. RAFFLE AT THE END OF THE DAY Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church For more information 1500 18 th St. SE call 507-363-6574 Owatonna, MN 55060 Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 3
5 Life -Changing Notes from Unity Day 2015 On my way to relapse, I was fooling myself (lying to myself) about working a clean program. I didn t eating sugar, but I did program light. The other day I ran into my notes from the Unity Day Event in Owatonna last year. Let me share just a few. Sometimes you have to borrow other people s spirituality. If a half cup of something in your food plan screams DEPRIVATION to you, don t include it in your food plan. Q-Tips = Quit taking it personally Science tells us that neural pathways in the brain established through repetition don t go away when we establish different pathways. That s why relapse can happen easily if we give in to the first compulsive bite. The compulsive eating pathway is still there! Anonymous Unity Day 2016 Saturday, February 27 I Came. I Came To. I Came to Believe Came. Came to. Came to believe, Donna M., a wise oldtimer in our group always used to say when she shared on Step 2. The first time I heard that, I knew it told my story in 6 simple words. I came. I came to OA full of pain earned through daily battles with food. Each night I would tally whether it was a good day or bad day based on the food that I had eaten. 98% of the days were bad days. The other 2% were days so filled with white knuckles that I couldn t enjoy any part of my life. I came to. I started to put down the food. The mental fog and physical pain from excess food began to lift. I was working the steps, learning a new way of life, taking responsibility, leaving behind some of my self loathing and looking outside of myself. The world was going from black and white to a beautiful palette of color. My life since coming into OA in 1990 has been like another old saying that I heard at that meeting I came for my body, stayed for my mind, and found my heart. Since OA is a spiritual program, I get to live in the sunshine of the spirit as long as I work the program. By working the steps, reading the Big Book, and using the tools, I am restored to sanity. I came. I came to. I came to believe. Has it always been perfect? Absolutely not! But I have my higher power to remind me that I am not in charge, and to guide me through whatever my life brings me. Signed, Anonymous I came to believe. I left behind the God of my childhood and shook off my cloak of shame. I found a higher power filled with love and support, an energy filled with possibilities and forward thinking. I worked the 12 steps and enjoyed a spiritual awakening as the result of the steps. Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 4
Tradition 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 ser vants; they do not govern. Principle: Trust I was terrified of authority when I walked into this program. I associated authority with being subjected to shame. All anyone would have to do is act like they were the authority (whether they really were or not), and they knew better than me (whether they really did or not), and I would cower into my own little small self. And, of course, what a great excuse that would be to eat! Oh my goodness, how healing it was to see authority in such a different light! No one person is an ultimate authority. We can each only share our own experience, strength and hope. And a new source of information and authority comes from the magic that happens when we all allow everyone, especially those with differing opinions, to share their thoughts. It s a process that I certainly never experienced in my own family. In fact, when I couple this tradition with Steps 2 and 3, I discover that what anyone else thinks is none of my business! I no longer need to react to what anyone else says or does. What freedom! That just goes to show that the Traditions are also really important to my recovery and to my abstinence. Anonymous OA Quick Steps Workshop Two-Session Format Workshop Saturday from 9:00am-12:00pm, March 12 & 26, 2016 One of the promises in the AA Big Book is that before you re done with Step Nine, the obsession is lifted. Increase your chance of success join the OA Quick Steps series, get abstinent and work through the 12 Steps in just two weeks! Sumner Library 611 Van White Memorial Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55411 To register, contact Gene O. at 952-835-0789 or oaquicksteps@gmail.com. Registration mandatory. Numbers are limited. There are no fees for this workshop, but we will be collecting a 7th Tradition donation. Time commitment is For people who are new to OA or just need help getting through the Steps The purpose of this workshop is to get people through the 12 Steps quickly, to help people obtain a successful, life-long recovery, and aid in retention and growth of recovered compulsive eaters in OA. Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 5
TSW Corner Welcome to the TSW Corner, a place where you can come to find Twelfth Step Within ideas ideas on how to carry the message to the still suffering compulsive overeater already in our rooms. Twelfth Step Within because Together We Can Do What We Could Never Do Alone! For more information about Twelfth Step Within go to: www.oa.org/membersgroups/twelfthstepwithin/ If you have ideas to share in this Corner, send them to Annette at aryan52@comcast.net. Let s talk about the still suffering overeater in our rooms. Who exactly are these people we should be carrying the message to? My guess is that most meetings can easily identify a certain number of members who attend regularly and whom we know have not yet received the gift of recovery. Those are the easy ones to identify. But my guess also is that within our rooms there may be those who are still in the disease but for whom it does not show on their body, or those who are struggling emotionally and are or may be hanging on by a thread. These are less easy to identify simply because, if my experience is at all representative, we don t like to talk much about the struggle. But there is a whole other group of people out there who need support. These are the people that live in remote areas that have no or few (and typically quite small) meetings. This is a group of people that also needs to hear about recovery. The electronic age has been a blessing in this area, but how many of the members are even aware of these resources and/or can actually access them. The numbers of overeaters we can reach out to is huge to say the least. Now that I have totally overwhelmed you with numbers, let s talk about what we can do to carry our message to those still struggling members. Here are three (of many) ideas. 1. Go to meetings regularly. We are never safe from our disease, we can t keep it unless we give it away, and struggling members need to hear a message of hope. 2. Jump on an OA phone meeting. You may have the message that someone needs to hear (who knows, it may be you that needs to hear it!) 3. Take a road trip to visit one of our smaller meetings. There are many in Unity Intergroup and in our region. You can get more information on meetings at overeaters.org (Unity Intergroup) and oa.org/membersgroups/ find-a-meeting (world OA). It is recommended that you call the meeting contact ahead of time to be sure the meeting is still active. There was a good turn out at Unity Intergroup on January 9th. There were 35 people, representing 22 meetings. The Buffalo Drawing is for TWO FULL SCHOLARSHIPS (Shared Room). The winning meeting will receive two certificates that can be used by two fellows chosen by th e meeting toward a shared room. And the winning meeting is... Sun 7:00 pm St Louis Park # 46492! Congratulations! Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 6
Location: Christ the King Retreat Center 621 First Avenue South Buffalo, MN 55302 Times: Check-In: 6 to 7pm on Friday Check-out: 2pm Sunday Shared Rooms: $178 by March 11; $198 after Private Rooms: $250 limited availability will go fast reserve NOW Deadline: March 25, 2016 Includes: Two nights lodging, 3 meals on Saturday, 2 meals on Sunday Partial Scholarships are available Contact Amanda S 402-889-5196 *** Register online: www.overeaters.org *** Your reservation will be confirmed via email, unless you enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for confirmation by US mail. If you must pay by check please follow these directions carefully: Make Reservation and Mail Check immediately. Checks MUST be recieved at the address below by March 1st to hold your space. Make check or money order payable to Unity Intergroup. Mail registration form and check to: Buffalo Retreat Registration P.O. Box 6512, Minneapolis, MN 55406 Questions: Amanda S 402-889-5196 email: oabuffaloretreat@gmail.com FULL NAME: NAMETAG TO READ: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: ZIP: PHONE: EMAIL: HOME MEETING: MALE ( ) FEMALE ( ) ROOM: PRIVATE SHARED: Roommate: If you do not sign up with a roommate, one will be assigned to you. If you REQUIRE a special needs or single room, please contact Amanda. Special Accommodations: Circle those that apply: Vision Hearing Mobility Other: Service Opportunities: Circle all you are willing to do: Registration Check-in Timer for speakers Lead a small group Hear a 5th step Whatever needed Partial Scholarships are available: Contact Amanda S 402-889-5196 Donations to support the Scholarship Fund for this retreat. Please include any extra amount with payment and indicate scholarship $ amount in memo. Thank you for your support of this service! Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 7
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Expressions of Unity The March Expressions of Unity will focus on Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him and will be sponsored by the Rochester Monday night meeting. Although one meeting or group generally sponsors each newsletter, we welcome articles from anyone. Please indicate if it is okay to print your name with your article and email your contributions by February 18th to ExpressionsofUnity@gmail.com. All articles written are the opinion of the writer and not of OA as a whole or of the Expressions of Unity newsletter. Come and join the newly elected Unity Intergroup in action. All members of OA are welcome at Intergroup meetings. Next meeting: February 11, 2016 12:30-2:30 Sumner Library 611 Van White Memorial Blvd. Minneapolis, MN 55411 Intergroup Board Chair Mary T 612-940-7654 marytaylor1225@gmail.com Vice Chair Dawn S 612-310-1703 dawnspielman@mac.com Treasurer Suzanne J 952-220-5358 SuzanneJ.unityig@gmail.com Secretary Jill S 651-739-0212 jshortreed@centurylink.net Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 432-0360 M ark Your Calendar... February 11 Unity Intergroup meeting Web submissions are due the first Saturday of each month. UIG Meeting Participant Access Code: 468702# Details of the telephone system and keypad options; http://www.overeaters.org/ conferencing.html February 19 & 20 February 27 March 12, 26 April 1-3 May 1-3 Women s Expo volunteers needed Unity Day Recovery Event OA Quick Steps Buffalo Retreat Big Book Study Unity Intergroup meets the second Saturday of each month at Sumner Library. Newcomer Meeting is the third Saturday of each month at Sumner Library. All are welcome. Newsletter articles are due the third Saturday of each month. Expressions Of Unity - Unity Intergroup Page 9