Readings

For Today:

"We are always getting ready to live, but never living." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Make a list! Work out a plan! How easy: soon the plan becomes the deed, the thought becomes the action and life is a list. Where is the fun, the plunge, the risk, the laughter? The rubbing elbows with another, the jostling with a crowd, the hop, skip and running free? Is my life all too safe? Predictable? Why not turn my will and my life completely over to Higher Power - no holding back - and see what happens. Hasn't God already given me far more than I could ever imagine for myself? Just for today, I will live a little.

For today: I do not think 'tomorrow,' or 'later' or 'another time.' I think NOW. Do it now, say it now, commit myself now. What can be done 'someday,' I can do today - just for the fun of it."

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Voices of Recovery:

"No matter how long we abstain from eating compulsively, and no matter how adept we become at facing life's problems, we will always have these abnormal tendencies." OA 12 & 12 p. w. Ow. But important to remember.

"While I am in recovery, abstaining and working the Steps, my disease is with me, waiting for an opportunity to tempt me back into self-destruction. Long-term abstinence and recovery give me good habits to fall back on in times of pain and exhaustion, but they are not enough.
I have seen too many people with years of abstinence in OA leave this program and fall into serious relapse and weight gain. These were compulsive overeaters who worked serious programs and who had experienced fully the freedom, joy, and serenity of recovery.
Why did they fall from grace? Because they have a chronic, incurable disease that requires daily application of this program and conscious surrender to God. Circumstances in their lives distracted them from the knowledge that abstinence was their most pressing concern.
Self-will, ego, and denial will always lead me back into self-destruction with food.

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In This Moment

"In This Moment, I am deeply grateful to CoDA.

CoDA offers me a safe space and the tools necessary to begin the healing process of recovery. Not every day is peaceful. Many are painful as I face and feel the frozen feelings from my past. Through the recovery process, which continually evolves, I gain greater ability to establish and maintain healthy and loving relationships, not only with others, but unexpectedly, and awesomely, with myself and my beloved Higher Power. Awareness of healing changes me within and leads me to gratitude from which i derive strength and hope. In this moment, I am secure."

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The Language of Letting Go:

"Letting Go in Love"
Uh oh

"When people with a compulsive disorder do whatever it is they are compelled to do, they are not saying they don't love you - they are saying they don't love themselves." Codependent No More

“Gentle people, gentle souls, go in love.
Yes, at times we need to be firm, assertive: those times when we change, when we acquire a new behavior, when we need to convince others and ourselves we have rights.
Those times are not permanent. We may need to get angry to make a decision or set a boundary, but we can’t afford to stay resentful. It is difficult to have compassion for one who is victimizing us, but once we’ve removed ourselves as victims, we can find compassion.
Our path, our way, is a gentle one, walked in love – love for self, love for others. Set boundaries. Detach. Take care of ourselves. And as quickly as possible, do those things in love.

Today, and whenever possible, God, let me be gentle with myself and others. Help me find the balance between assertive action taken in my own best interests, and love for others. Help me understand that at times those two ideas are one. Help me find the right path for me.”

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