Welcome to your New CTIG Newsletter
A Wonderful End to the Year!
December 2022
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HAPPENINGS AROUND CONNECTICUT

Event Recordings:
Did you miss any of our Workshops in 2022? Click here for “Holding onto Recovery” and other amazing event recordings available on our website!



Happening Now:
In-person meetings are happening again - here are a few:
-Cromwell MON/6:45 PM (Mask required)
-Lakeville TUES/7:00 PM
-East Hartford WED/10:00 AM (Hybrid)
-Danielson WED/7:00 PM
-Windsor WED/7:00 PM (Hybrid)
-Litchfield THURS/7:00 PM
-Vernon THURS/7:00 PM
-West Hartford SAT/9:30 AM (Mask required)
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Upcoming Events:
December 11th: “Sponsorship” workshop, 3:00 – 4:30 pm EST. Zoom ID 891 6554 0024, Passcode: 120912 (OA Virtual Region)

December 18th: “Experience, Strength and Hope through Service” workshop, 4:00 – 6:30 EST. Zoom ID: 947 2125 9974, Passcode: 810562 (www.oarise.org)

December 31st: “Restoration to Sanity” marathon, 2:30 pm – 7:30 pm EST. Zoom ID: 200 540 624, no passcode required. (A Design for Living meeting & Virtual Region; https://ad4l.info/)

-In addition, we're offering Newcomer Orientation Meetings
*By Request - Contact [email protected]
Things Heard
at the Region 6 Convention

· Procrastination is self-abandonment and self-sabotage.

· Problem: First PAUSE and reach out to God. Then reach out to others in program.

· Family: I can’t change them. Set boundaries, limit time with them.

· I’m just the right amount of everything.

· God can see around corners.

· Either millions of people in the past were crazy or HP and prayer works.

· God is love.

·Taking Steps 4-9 is implementing my step 3 decision.

· Stopping in the middle of the Steps is like getting off the table in the middle of an operation.

· Trust: I decided to surrender to it, even though I didn’t understand it. Just do it.

· My sponsor offered to loan me her Higher Power if mine didn’t work.

· I let go of what and who I thought I should be.

· If you can’t remember your last binge you haven’t had it yet.

· Am I truly living in these program principles?

· In the beginning I could not say “Thy will be done.” Now I pray before breakfast.

· Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

· Giving service saves my life.

· HP resides in my heart. It is the life source within us.

· Yes, we have free will. We choose who and how we will be.

· No self pity. There’s nothing you can do about it. Accept it. You don’t have to like it.

· If I sit on my laurels, my laurels just get bigger.

· If I pray for you, it goes into my heart.

· Page 84 to the end of chapter sums up the program.

· Willing came from hearing others say that it works.

· Program works if we work it.

· If I say gratitudes over and over they become reality.

· It was there, deep within, that I found something greater than self.

· All the negative talk in my head was the disease.

-That oft-heard phrase “Don’t leave before the miracle happens” kept me coming back.

· We were all born with an innate sense of self. Intuition is our HP. It’s different from ego and other voices. “Still small voice” is real.

· The tools are the handrails to the steps. We use them to help us climb the 12 stairs.

-Don C., CT

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I
am
Blessed 


I am blessed that I get to live my life Abstinently / Just for today & 24 hrs at a time. You could say an author I like wrote in a book I read the phrase: "Strong Back, Soft Front & Wild Heart.” Today, I hiked 4 hours, 38 minutes with my dog on a beautiful fall day. We covered 11.8 miles. When I got home 2 hours later than I expected, I was very hungry. I texted my sponsor as I knew I needed to adjust my meal plan quantities. While I got settled in for a late dinner, I knew I needed God with me- I hopped on a Regional Convention night workshop just as I was sitting down and got to hear my close OA sister a 2nd time today. Afterwards, I took a nice hot epsom salt bath, scrubbed my callouses, and put on a face mask. I knew I needed to wait out time before my last meal of the night before heading to bed. So here’s where the story gets a bit funny. I purposely buy nail polishes that the names inspire me or the color directly resonates somehow to the times I’m going through in my life. So here’s when on all 20 of my nails tonight while my crazy salty hair was getting moisturized, I had my green clay old school face mask on and I was laughing/cracking myself up in my very tired state.

-This Gold Sleighs Me (top coat)
-Has no name- but should be "Baby
Poop" (gel layer)
-Keep Branching Out (basecoat)

What’s my Big God’s message for me?...that branching outside my comfort zone is a necessity & quite fun….yes stuff happens; it wears on me, but I can choose not to smell it…and finally not all that glitters is really solid Gold, nor is it guaranteed that we won’t find gold at the end of our rainbows….I love my higher power, and now, I have used up enough time to go back and eat my last meal before bed.

-Jacki A., CT
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December
Step and Tradition

Promises of Step 12 in the OA 12/12

“We have experienced the miracle of physical, emotional and spiritual healing.”

“We have learned a whole new set of skills for living.”

“When challenges happen ... we have a way of sanely facing each situation.”

“We’re no longer afraid of food because it no longer controls us.”

“God has lifted the food obsession from us... (If we crave excess food) we can find relief in the Steps instead of in compulsive eating,”

“The joy we receive as we try to carry the message is a positive force in our lives today, sustaining us through good times and hard times.”

“When we ... allow our Higher Power to serve others through us we receive an abundance of joy and strength.”

“The Twelve Steps Overeaters Anonymous empower each of us to live well and be well, one day at a time.”

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

* * *
Tradition 12

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

We leave anything that might separate us (money, status, position, title, religion, politics and anything else) outside the rooms. We are a group of equals who share a common problem and a common solution. We are in a safe place where we can be who we are, knowing that we have unconditional acceptance and that what we say stays in the rooms. We learn to serve the group in whatever way we can without glory, prestige, or power and thus learn the spiritual principle of humility. We build our program on the group, rather than any one person, and make progress on our spiritual journey to recovery. 
Don C., CT
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The Real Gifts

As a child, Christmas meant surprise presents from a magical man who drove all over the world to make children happy. As an adult, Christmas meant providing that same magic for my children and family. As a recovering compulsive overeater, it means so much more.

The real gift for me is that Overeaters Anonymous has shown me the path to a peaceful, loving, wonderful life now. The chaos, upset, negativity and self-hate have been replaced with serenity, calm, unconditional love and an appreciation of self. No longer do I need to struggle trying to make others think I’m perfect. I’m happy to be human – with all my assets and defects. I look forward to life, one day at a time, and no longer rush through the days in a food-induced stupor. I experience people, nature, a loving relationship with a Higher Power, peaceful coexistence with the world around me, gratitude for all the discovered blessings in my life, and a new practice of using food as fuel for my body to function optimally.

Is it magical? Not so much. Is it a miracle? Absolutely!

-Rachel L., CT
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GIFTS OF RECOVERY

"I love the fellowship and my friends: The gift that keeps on giving! "
Sharon E., CA

Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift
That's why they call it a PRESENT
Anonymous
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HOW TO REACH US

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