Welcome to your New CTIG Newsletter
Summer is Here!
June/July 2022
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HAPPENINGS AROUND CONNECTICUT
Recent Event Recordings:
Check out these amazing event recordings available on our website~
-Unity Day from 2/27/22
Speakers shared their experience, faith and hope on Unity.
-The Hidden Promises of the Big Book
from 4/24/2022
Hear 3 speakers who shared on the hidden promises in the 12 steps.
Happening Now:
In-person meetings are happening again - here are a few:
-Cromwell MON/5:45 PM (Mask required)
-Lakeville TUES/7:00 PM
-East Hartford WED/10:00 AM (Hybrid)
-Danielson WED/7:00 PM
-Vernon THURS/7:00 PM
Upcoming Events:
JUNE 12
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM/EDT
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One of the biggest changes has been to really feel that when I give my powerlessness to a Higher Power, my Higher Power works for me and does for me what I can’t do for myself. This is getting me closer to God than ever before.
I’ve noticed that I can feel life in between meals. I was born anxious, so I know anxiety is part of my nature, but it is much more controlled since it is not being fed! It’s not always easy. Sometimes, I need to stop everything and identify the emotion that is disturbing me at the moment and decide what to do with it without anesthetizing with food. This process has become more controlled every day.
I feel my clothes fitting me better. Before, I refused to buy even bigger sizes, but everything was super tight and at the limit!
Attending one meeting a day, working with a great sponsor, and using the Tools of Recovery has kept me working the program. Each day I’ve learned something new. The Big Book has been the great light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing has been perfect or easy, but the changes that have happened are indescribable! I feel like a phoenix rising from the ashes!
Athena C.
(edited for space)
from OA LIFELINE - 11/1/2020
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What OA Means to Me:
FREEDOM. That is the word I think of again and again. OA has given me the freedom to live my life free of obsessing over food, and my weight, and my size and what I will eat next and why am I not... Before OA, I spent so much time thinking about food and numbers and cravings and emptiness and fullness, and I am so happy I don't have to do that anymore. I have a freedom from food, and all that comes with it that I never knew I could have.
Anonymous, CT.
What does OA mean to you?
We'd love to hear your experience!
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Looking back to my life one year ago, I would have never thought that I would be as content as I am now. In fact, I do not think that there ever was a point in my life where I felt this way.
I was always longing for something comforting, and for twenty years, food provided that comfort. I’d always thought everyone used (what I now call “abused”) food the way that I did, but I later learned that was not true. I did know that my behaviors were somewhat strange, and I was embarrassed. I tip-toed down the stairs to ensure that I did not wake my parents or brother so I could secretly eat more than half a tub of ice cream, and I lied to my parents and blamed it on my brother. I hid food under the covers when my parents opened my bedroom door. I stole food from roommates in college and hid the wrappers under other garbage. I was ashamed of these behaviors but could never tell anyone because that would hurt my ego too much.
It wasn’t until I came into my first OA meeting about two weeks after my twentieth birthday that I realized I was not alone. I heard about the experiences of others who, like me, had eaten food out of the garbage, freezer, or cabinet. I did not feel so alone or scared, and for the first time in my life, I felt that sense of comfort from something besides food. A longtimer gave me a serenity chip and told me to start by not eating any sugar for one day. I did that and kept going with it, one day at a time.
Amalia T.
(edited for space)
from OA LIFELINE - 7/1/2020
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June & July Steps and Traditions
OA Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
OA Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
OA Tradition 6: An OA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the OA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
OA Tradition 7: Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
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As far as honesty in program goes, I know that in early recovery, when I was newly abstinent and sharing with my sponsor on a daily basis, my pen would hesitate sometimes. I’d think, “Do I really want to tell her that? Do I want to be that honest?” Then the next thought would follow immediately, “Do you want to get well?” and my pen would move over the page and I would share it.
About my abstinence, which has included many foods that others avoid, my longtime sponsor would generously say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The bottom line for her was that I had long-term abstinence and that’s what mattered, not whether or not I ate bacon or cheese.
If I could counsel a newcomer about sponsorship, I would say, “For God’s sake, don’t do what I did! Don’t wait thirty years or even one year to get a sponsor!” Recovery awaits! Don’t delay it.
I speak from experience: I almost missed recovery, which is the single best thing that has ever happened to me. For me, a sponsor was the key to that inestimable gift.
Christina A.
(edited for space)
from OA LIFELINE - 8/1/2019
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HOW TO REACH US
We would LOVE to hear from YOU!
If you have a brief story to tell, submit for one of our features:
Oldtimer Wisdom, A Day in the Life of OA, or How I Found OA
SUBMIT to:
ctoasocial@gmail.com
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