Spiritual Principle: Courage | |
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Everyone is invited to listen and/or share on favorite passages in the Big Book and how to use the Big Book in recovery!
April 10, 2023, 7–8PM, Fellowship after Zoom link:
CLICK HERE TO JOIN BY ZOOM
Meeting ID: 817 4195 8563 Password: 048782
Dial in: 1-646-558-8656
In Person: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 15 Pearl St., Mystic, CT
Hosted by the Ocean & Bay Big Book Celebration Meeting
Questions: Contact John @ 860-304-7210 (call or text)
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Saturday, April 22, 2023
9:30-11:00 am
In Person Meeting
YANA of Newport County, 770 Aquidneck Avenue, Middletown, RI 02842
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS
Two guest speakers
People may bring their own beverages
Door prizes of literature
Live performance of funny OA songs
Click here to download the PDF
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WHEN: Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern time,
room will remain open until 9 PM for additional fellowship
ZOOM INFO: https://zoom.us/j/84747457308
MEETING ID: 847 4745 7308
PASSCODE: 796200
DIAL-IN: 1-646-558-8656
IN PERSON: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 15 Pearl St., Mystic, CT
QUESTIONS: Margie 304-615-4336 (calls or text), email: mom1925j@gmail.com
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My sponsor taught me “Abstinence no matter what,” and for me, it all begins with willingness. I have severe and persistent mental illness, or SPMI. I don’t see myself as a victim, but I do feel anger regarding my symptoms. I’ve learned, though, that everyone in OA has challenges in addition to their overeating illness that make it difficult to remain abstinent.
I started out weighing 310 pounds (141 kg), but I’ve been abstinent now for ten years and have maintained a 100-pound (45 kg) weight loss, only by the grace of my Higher Power.
I started working the Steps immediately when I came to OA. I wrote out Steps One, Two, and Three fairly quickly and turned them over to my sponsor. But writing out the list of resentments for Step Four, as recommended in the Big Book, took much longer. I was determined to be as thorough as possible, but every time I worked on it for longer than five or ten minutes, I would experience a severe episode from my post-traumatic stress disorder. I had painful flashbacks and severe anxiety as I wrote of the abuse I’d suffered at the hands of my parents during my childhood. Often, I would have to let three weeks pass before I could spend another five to ten minutes putting my resentments down on paper. But I did not give up!
I used a chart-based inventory format, the briefest method possible, instead of writing out extended paragraphs about each incident. At the end of five years of persistent Fourth Step action, I’d completed my list of resentments. The chart included a column labeled “Fourth Step Resentment Prayer,” which I was to check off once I’d prayed on that resentment enough to feel fully forgiving of the person or circumstance.
It was just at that time that my HP gave me a beautiful new sponsor, whom I’m still lucky to speak with once a week. It took me two years of weekly visits with her to fully turn over my resentment list. She worked her program by patiently listening to everything about me, every detail of the horrific and twisted abuse I’d been through, which I’ve learned from listening to people in the program is not that uncommon. The emotional and spiritual healing I received from working Steps Four and Five was deeper and more profound than anything I’ve experienced in more than thirty years of psychotherapy.
As I said, I do not consider myself a victim. I don’t blame my circumstances on my parents or my SPMI symptoms. I remain willing, one day at a time, to be abstinent. Whenever I feel that willingness begin to wane, I call a fellow OA member. Just today, I made an outreach call to a woman I didn’t know. She, too, is abstinent in OA and has SPMI. HP had offered me a person to talk to who spoke my language—the language of OA and recovery from dual diagnoses: mental illness and food addiction.
No matter what.
— Julie C., Brooklyn, New York, USA Source: oalifeline.org
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Who knew that a cell phone could feel like it weighs 1,000 pounds? Well, that's what some say.
To sound like an old-timer, years ago, before the age of cell phones and texting, the only option was a home, work, or pay phone with a cord connected to the wall.
Fast forward to today. The evolution of the phone and its portability has opened more options for connecting. Cell phones make calls possible nearly anywhere (except those nasty dead zones) and anytime (um, and eliminate a lot of excuses).
Enter the life changing option of texting! Let me share with you about what some local OA members are doing. They have created a "group text" with fellow home group members as a way to communicate outside of meetings. They use it to touch base when challenges come up, to ask for support and prayers, to offer encouragement, and to recommit to their own abstinence for the day. What a great way to use the tool of telephone.
In the end, however and whenever you use the phone, the key is to pick it up and use it -- after all, it only weighs five ounces.
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All are welcome in OA. When we say or hear that only one piece of literature is the way to work the Steps, the way to carry the message, the way to find recovery, OA stops being accepting, inclusive—welcoming.
Read and share Embracing Our Differences, a timely reminder that OA is a Fellowship of unity and diversity, and recommit to embracing all who want to stop eating compulsively.
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Every Sunday at 2 pm EST. “A Plan of Eating” Telephone Meeting | |
Every Sunday at 2 pm EST there is an OA phone Marathon meeting. The topic is always “A Plan of Eating.” At this meeting you can mention food. Phone: (712) 432-5200 • Access code: 4285115 | |
Now Ocean and Bay is on Facebook
If you're a member of Facebook, please consider dropping by our Facebook page and giving us a like. The more likes we get, the more people will see us. That means more chances to help the still sick and suffering compulsive overeaters out there.
You can find us at: https://www.facebook.com/oceanandbay
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Let's invite the world to rip us off
The Ocean and Bay Intergroup has created a beautiful outreach flyer to carry the message and attract those who are sick and suffering from compulsive eating. Please consider doing service as suggested in our 5th tradition by taking a flyer(s) and hanging it in your local community. Places you can post are the library, grocery store, your doctor’s office or anywhere that has a community bulletin board. Download the poster and print it out on your own printer. Please remember to cut the little tabs at the bottom so people can easily tear off that information. To view or download the flyer, click here. Also, you can have a poster sent to you by emailing your full name and address to: nancy@oceanandbay.org.
Thank you!
Nancy H., Chair of Ocean and Bay Intergroup
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Now Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts and Southeastern Connecticut OA fits into your pocket
We have a new website! It takes a lot of time to do this; thank you to all involved for your service and look forward to sharing the new look farther down the road. The meetings are much easier to access from a cell phone as well.
Give it a try: https://oceanandbay.org/
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Ocean and Bay Intergroup Mtg
April 4, 6:30-7:30 pm
ALL ARE WELCOME
Zoom Meeting Link
Meeting ID: 831 1095 1408
Passcode: 247365
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OA PROMISE
I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.
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Twelfth Tradition
"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities..."
We appreciate your contributions which help support spreading the message of recovery.
Please mail donations to:
Ocean and Bay Intergroup
Attn: Treasurer
PO Box 2243, East Greenwich, RI 02818
Note: Make checks payable to Ocean and Bay Intergroup
OR
Donate via Paypal
OR
Donate to our Venmo account:
@OceanandBayIntergroup
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SPECIAL FOCUS MEETINGS
You are welcome at any OA meeting, and we hope you’ll try many of the meetings on our Connecticut 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 pm 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://oa.org/young-people/
For more special focus meetings, you can go to OA.org:
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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
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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
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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
You are also invited to be one of the members who provides answers for a Q&A.
Again, just send us a note to: newsletter@oceanandbay.org
*May be edited as space allows.
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Ocean and Bay Intergroup
PO Box 2243, East Greenwich, RI 02818
Note: Make checks payable to Ocean and Bay Intergroup
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