Summer Days!
July/August 2023
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HAPPENINGS AROUND
CONNECTICUT

Event Recordings & Podcasts:
Did you miss any of our Workshops in 2022?
Would you like to hear OA's founder Rozanne talk about how OA was founded?
Click here for event recordings and podcasts available on our website!

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Happening Now:
In-person meetings are happening again - here are a few:
-New Britain MON/6:30 PM *(NEW)
-Cromwell MON/6:45 PM (Mask required)
-Danielson WED/6:30 PM
-Windsor WED/7:00 PM (Hybrid)
-Avon WED/7:10 PM *(NEW)
-Litchfield THURS/7:00 PM
-West Hartford SAT/9:30 AM

Please note that the Lakeville and Vernon meetings have closed. To get the most up to date meeting information, click here for the current CT Meeting List
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Upcoming Events:

-August 5/Saturday from 1-4 p.m. - CTIG’s first “Fun & Fellowship Summer Gathering” - join your fellows for a casual afternoon of fun outside on the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford. *Click here for flyer with more information

-August 13/SUN from 2-4 p.m. - CTIG Workshop “The Wisdom of ....” Three Speaker Panel Q&A @ St. John's Episcopal Church, West Hartford *Click here for flyer
 
-October 13-15 - The OA Region 6 Convention IN PERSON this year in White Plains, NY! More information is available HERE (link to https://oaregion6.org/2023-convention-welcome-home/)

-Region 6 Raffle - fundraiser with chance to win: 1st prize = Convention registration/hotel room, 2nd prize = full set of convention recordings, 3rd prize = convention registration. *Click here for flyer
 
-In addition, we're offering Newcomer Orientation Meetings
*By Request - Contact [email protected]


 Receiving this Newsletter from a friend? Click here to sign up to get your own copy every two months and also read some of our previous newsletters: Newsletter - CT Overeaters Anonymous (connecticutoa.org)

Freedom
The fourth of July is always a good reminder to think of the freedom that has come to me as a result of rebuilding my life through the 12 Steps. Here’s part of a list that I wrote 20 years ago (!); I was going to update it but it’s as meaningful to me today as it was then. 
 
1. Freedom from the prison of obsession and compulsion. 
2. Freedom from the need to use food as a mood-altering drug.  
3. Freedom to change, free to change my mind, to be flexible rather than rigid. 
4. Freedom to not need to figure everything out, to let go of endless analysis (analysis paralysis), to accept the mystery of life. 
5. Freedom to be who I am, to align my actions with my values, to say what I want to say rather than what I think you want me to say.
6. Freedom to love and to accept love. The wall is down. I can be vulnerable. 
7. Freedom from paralyzing resentment. Freedom to deal with the world as it is. 
8. Freedom from paralyzing fear. Do it anyway. Trust that God will not give me more than He and I can handle. 
9. Freedom to live life fully rather than just endure. Go for it. Proactive rather than reactive. 
10. Freedom from perfectionism. Freedom from everything needing to be neat & tidy & finished at the end of the day. 
11. Freedom from paralyzing doubt. Find God, listen to what he has to say, then do it. 
12. Freedom from selfishness (more often than not). 
13. Freedom to let others be who they want to be. Live and let live. 
14. Freedom to begin again always, until I’m 6 feet under. I don’t drown by falling into the water, only by staying there. 
15. Freedom to make choices. I have choices I didn’t know I had. No longer a victim, a prisoner. 
16. Freedom to feel pain, and then move on without wallowing. 
17. Freedom to be average. 
18. Freedom to fail sometimes. 
19. Freedom from the need to pretend – phoniness. 
20. Freedom from the need to place blame. Accept what is. Focus on solution alternatives. 
21. Freedom from shame. 
22. Freedom from procrastination. 
23. Freedom from envy. 
24. Freedom from needing others’ approval in order to feel okay about myself. 
25. Freedom from the illusion of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. I need others.
26. Freedom from lack of purpose. Love and service is the purpose of life. 
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July & August
Steps

Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

"The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, 2nd edition, copyright Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.”

Living the Step Principles

Step 7. Humility: Be teachable, be right-sized, be open-minded – no better than, no worse then, a simple child of God. Let go status seeking, pride, thoughts or actions belittling myself or others, trust God to change me. Wear the world like a loose garment.

Step 8. Forgiveness & self-discipline: Practice self-discipline in my words & actions toward others so as to not hurt them. I have no right to hurt others to salve my own ego. Apply the daily discipline and structure I need to stay abstinent and in recovery. Practice forgiveness of self and others. Hold no grudges. Give up blaming. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

-Don C.
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July & August
Traditions

The OA Traditions - Am I Practicing These Principles, too?
 
Tradition Seven: Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

*When contributing to the Seventh Tradition, do I remember how much I spent on each binge? How much money I spent on attempts to lose, gain or maintain my weight? 

*Doing our share of the service work is also part of being fully self-supporting. Do I take my turn at doing service in my meetings?

*Do I do service above the meeting level, whether as a Rep to Intergroup, helping on a committee or going to Region 6 Assemblies?

Tradition Eight: Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

*Do I think I have to wait until my recovery is “stronger” or “better” do do more service, or do I acknowledge all I need is willingness and a commitment to OA's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions?

*Do I sometimes try to “fix” other people in OA by giving them my “expert advice," or am I content to share my own experience, strength and hope?

*Do I ever treat some of my fellow members as professionals or experts, forgetting that they come to OA for their own recovery? Do I make other people responsible for my abstinence or other aspects of my recovery?

"The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, 2nd edition, copyright Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.”
A True Gift: Freedom

FREEDOM!!! That's what I'm promised when I work the 12 steps....freedom from the obsession with food. 

I'm almost 60 years old and have been obsessed with food for as long as I can remember. My first diet was at the age of 11, and I struggled with food the next 40+ years of my life - even after I walked into the rooms of OA. 

This is a beast of a disease, the physical allergy (abnormal reaction to certain foods and behaviors), along with the obsession of the mind. A food plan that doesn't contain any of those foods or behaviors will take care of the physical allergy, but the obsession of the mind, which is the biggest part of the disease, isn't addressed by a food plan. 

Only working the steps while I'm abstinent will address the obsession - that's the only way I ever got free from the obsession. I don't "get rid" of the obsession - only a power greater than myself can do that - I still don't understand (and I don't really care) how it happens. 

All I know is that I'm no longer obsessed with food, and I'm SO GRATEFUL for that! I don't fight food anymore - what a gift that is - what FREEDOM that is. I'm still responsible for planning my food EVERY DAY - it's just no longer a fight!!!

Today, I have a life that I love - a life I never expected to have. In hindsight, I can see that I didn't really have much of a life...I was living a pretty miserable existence. That's no longer my experience, but freedom isn't free....I need to keep doing the footwork necessary to maintain this freedom. 

Gratefully, I'm given instructions on what I need to do in Steps 10, 11 and 12 and when I've consistently done what is suggested (I use the Big Book instructions as my foundation), I continue to be free....thanks to the grace of that Power!

Yvette L.
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