Readings

For Today:

"They do not love who do not show their love." William Shakespeare

"Do i hug fellow OAs and say I love them, but have not time for them between meetings? It is easy to say the words - and mean them - but words are not enough. Love is shown in action: by caring, doing, remembering, listening. Love is being strong enough to put one's own problems aside to be of use to another. Love cannot flourish in the presence of obsession; ther is no room. Romantic songs notwithstanding, it takes emotional maturity to be capable of showing consistent, enduring love.

For today: As I practice the principles of this program, my capacity for love expands."

--

Voices of Recovery:

"When we apply OA's Tradition Three, we find the treasure of friendship often where we least expect it, with people we once would have excluded from our lives. Such treasure is all around us, and all we have to do is open our hearts to review it." OA 12 & 12 p. 134.

"After being in OA for a while, I look at who is in my life. The majority of my friends are those I met in these rooms, those who walk the path of recovery with me. When I think of my friends, sometimes I laugh. Most of them are not people who would have been my friends 'in the real world.' We seem to have little in common. The Big Book tells me that we are like those rescued from a sinking ship. We have in common the peril of compulsive overeating and the common solution found in the Twelve Steps. That provides a bond different from any i have experienced before. many of these people i would have rejected as being too good for me or not good enough. I'm grateful that i saw the treasure of friendship and that god opened my heart to receive it."

In This Moment:

"In This Moment, i am present.

I am here, I notice all the gifts around me that my Higher Power places in my life. I slow down enough to see all the bright colors in my surroundings. I do not judge whether things 'should' or 'should not' be. When it rains, I let the raindrops fall on my face and experience them fully. When the sun shines, I soak up its rays. my Higher Power has given me a place in this wondrous universe."

The Language of Letting Go

"Freedom

Many of us were oppressed and victimized as children. As adults, we may continue to keep ourselves oppressed.
Some of us don't recognize that caretaking and not setting boundaries will leave us feeling victimized.
Some of us don't understand that thinking of ourselves as victims will leave us feeling oppressed.
Some of us don't know that we hold the key to our own freedom. That key is honoring ourselves, and taking care of ourselves.
We can say what we mean, and mean what we say.
We can stop waiting for others to give us what we need and take responsibility for ourselves. When we do, the gates to freedom will swing wide.
Walk through.

Today, I will understand that I hold the key to my freedom. I will stop participating in my oppression and victimization. I will take responsibility for myself, and let others do as they may."