Ocean and Bay Intergroup logo
WAVES of HOPE













Serving OA in Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts 

MAY 2017
In This Issue
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PHONE SUPPORT AVAILABLE ON 
MAJOR HOLIDAYS

MARATHON PHONE MEETINGS ARE HELD ON  ALL MAJOR HOLIDAYS  EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR BEGINNING AT 8 A.M. AROUND REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETINGS. EACH MARATHON HAS A TOPIC FOR THE DAY.

DIAL  712-432-5200
ENTER PIN  4285115#
 
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Meeting List
last updated June 2016

IMPORTANT!
GROUP CONTACT INFORMATION: Please check your group contact name and phone number on the local Ocean and Bay Meeting List. Send changes to  oceanandbayoa@yahoo.com.

Also, check your meeting listing and contact info on the Overeaters Anonymous website meeting list at oa.org. The oa.org website listing is different than the local meeting list and must be updated by your meeting contact person.

 
* Please call ahead to verify meetings are taking place, especially during holidays. 
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LINKS

New England Intergroups














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Please note that every effort has been made to adhere to OA's policy for newsletter publications. 

Opinions and experiences expressed within are those of the individual writer and not OA as a whole. 

REMINDER: This is your newsletter, so please feel free to submit your writing contributions to: oceanandbayoa@yahoo.com.

You are also invited to be one of the members who provides answers for a Q&A. Again, just send us a note to: oceanandbayoa@yahoo.com.
Dear Fellow OA Member: 

I moved this weekend. I packed, I donated, I tossed, and yet, in the end I still had a lot of stuff to move. Some of it is useful, some of it is sentimental or adds value to my life, and other stuff, well, it's just stuff. And that stuff will need resorting, and when I am ready to let go, removal from my life to free up space and lighten my load.  As usual, this got me to thinking how this move parallels my recovery life.

I am just about done with yet another fourth step - two more hours should wrap it up. (I thought I was going to be done in March, but here we are in May.) Shortly I will sit down with my sponsor to share my truth and discoveries as step five tells us to do. Another layer of the onion is being peeled.

The first time I did steps four and five, I had been carrying around tons of stuff with me that I didn't need - physically, emotionally, or figuratively. My head was chuck full. I didn't know that until I wrote my fourth step and gave it away in a fifth step. With the help of my then sponsor, we sorted out what was no longer of benefit. Today, as I finish up my latest fourth step, so much of what was in the first one is no longer being carried around or taking up precious space. Yet, there are still things I have moved around with me that need to be resorted and much of it ultimately tossed. That will be done with the support of a caring sponsor and loving God.  

My hand in yours, 

Leslie
Ocean & Bay Intergroup News
 
All OA members are welcome to attend Ocean & Bay Intergroup (OBI) meetings held the first Tuesday of the month at St. Patrick Church, 2068 Cranston Street, Cranston, RI. The next meeting is TUESDAY, MAY 2nd at 7:30 p.m., with literature sales at 7 p.m.  

PRIOR TO THE MEETING -- THE MINI WORKSHOP, "12-STEPPING A PROBLEM: USE THE NEW OA POCKET GUIDE ON ANY SITUATION" will start at 6 p.m.  FLYER   Come get a special boost to your program. You are welcome to stay for the Intergroup meeting after the workshop. 

News from April meeting: The Prison Initiative will take a break for the summer. The Public Information and Professional Outreach Committee is seeking members. OBI was represented at the Region 6 Assembly in April. OBI Budget Committee is developing a recommended policy on Intergroup donations. A coloring book project is still in the works. Support is requested for the Cranston meetings at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. 

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TUESDAY
MAY 2nd
12 Stepping 
a Problem
OCEAN & BAY INTERGROUP 
presents
 
12 STEPPING A PROBLEM
Use the OA Pocket Guide on Any Situation  
 
TUESDAY, MAY 2nd, 2017 
at 6 p.m.
 
St. Patrick Catholic Church
2068 Cranston Street
Cranston, RI 02920

OA RESOURCES TO 12-STEP A PROBLEM

POCKET GUIDE: Buy the Pocket Guide to have with you whenever you need it. ($.40 for convenient pocket guide or free download)

POD CAST: Listen to this workshop on Using the Twelve Steps on Life Problems ( free link)
CRANSTON MEETINGS NEED SUPPORT

Come share your experience, strength and hope. 

Mondays & Thursdays at 7 p.m.

St. Patrick Catholic Church
2068 Cranston Street
Cranston, RI 02920
MINI WORKSHOP ENCORE
TOOLS: Reorganize your Tool Box

Wednesday, May 31st, 7 to 8 p.m. 

First Parish Universalist Church
70 Church Green
Taunton, MA

Enter lower level through large red side doors

Reg ion 6 Con vent ion
TORONTO
Stepping 
Up For 
RECOVERY
October 20-21
2017
Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel and Suites
Richmond Hill, Ontario
 
Hotel Reservations Open
Early Bird Convention Registration through August 15th

  
Tools of Recovery

"In working Overeaters Anonymous' Twelve-Step program of recovery from compulsive overeating, we have found that a number of tools are available to assist us. We use these tools ... on a regular basis, to help us achieve and maintain abstinence and recover from our disease." The Tools of Recovery p.1

TOOL OF THE MONTH

WRITING
Putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper helps us to better understand our actions and reactions in a way that is often not revealed to us by simply thinking or talking about them.

           Words on Writing
                          From your fellow OA members 

I  use the tool of writing almost everyday as part of my prayer and meditation time. When I write I gain understandings of myself and others. I gain an honesty that is certain and genuine. I learn I am not terminally unique and my story shares commonality with other compulsive overeaters. 
- Beth P. 

I use the tool of writing to help me investigate what is going on inside me. I also write to God when I am in a negative situation. I grab a little piece of paper from anywhere and write down what I am feeling. When I am very emotional, I abbreviate the letter like this: "I-h t j" mean "I hate this job." I might write this 100 times. There is much more.
- Faith

I have used the tool of writing for all 40 of my years in OA. I am a daily writer. I write an open letter to God each morning, speaking of my concerns or fears for the day ahead. I often mention people who are still suffering with this disease, asking Him for their peace of mind.  Because writing is a tool I heard about so long ago, I get a sense of comfort and ease each morning when I write. I also put down lots of things I am grateful for. This writing is quite brief, taking me no more than 5 minutes a day.
- Jean H. 

Treasure Chest
Little gems and pearls of wisdom from meetings  and literature. 
 
The stuff we did didn't kill us, so writing it down won't kill us either.

In OA we learn to utilize, not analyze. 

The World Service Business Conference (WSBC), attended by delegates from around the world, meets annually each May to conduct the business of OA.  From May 1-7, I will be in Albuquerque, NM serving as the Ocean & Bay delegate for WSBC. It is a privilege to represent Rhode Island, and there is a lot of news I will share upon my return including an update on the revised edition of the "OA Twelve and Twelve."

In humble service,
"As Always"
Kara
SIGN UP FOR OA REGION 6 NEWSLETTER 
to find out what is going on in our area and beyond. Look for the box on the bottom right of the Region 6 home page to fill in your email address. 

Q&A

What thoughts and feelings did you have prior to your Fifth Step? 

Beth P. - I was scared to share my deep dark secrets and eager to get rid of the shame. I wanted what others had and the only way out was through.
Faith - I very much look forward to doing that step 5 so I could get a load off my chest and have someone else help carry the load.
Jean H. - I really did not look forward to reading all my stuff to my sponsor but I so wanted to do the steps thoroughly this time.

What was it like doing your Fifth Step?
 
Beth P. - My sponsor was kind, gentle, understanding and supportive. She encouraged me to dig deep. I was also worried she wouldn't talk to me afterwards because I did awful things.
Faith -  I was amazed during and after that my listener just listened and didn't drop dead.
Jean H. -  I was feeling better with each page that I read as someone else knew the real me not the bits and pieces I had shared with other fifth steps I had done over the years

How did you feel after your Fifth Step? 

Beth P. - Grateful for the compassion and wisdom of my sponsor, the step and the OA path of recovery -- one day at a time.
Faith - I sang all the way home!
Jean H. - After my fifth step I felt relief and excitement that I had done this mighty assignment. I also was at a very high place with God at that moment it was over.


BACK
ON
TRACK

How I got out of R-E-L-A-P-S-E
Relapse.... goodness I know a lot about that. 

The pain of relapse is indescribable. 

This disease only gets worse; never better. I was bingeing almost around the clock. I gained 130 pounds in the blink of an eye. I got out of breath walking from one room to the other. I could not walk around the grocery store without a shopping carriage to hold me up. It would often take me 20 minutes to walk into the store since I had so much shame at what I had become. I was essentially  a hermit and knew I would die soon.

Coming back to OA from relapse was overwhelming and hard and scary. I could hardly sit through a meeting. I had very little hope I could get better and have any sense of a real life.

The two biggest things that made a difference for me was getting an abstinent sponsor right away who worked the steps and who I sensed would treat me with kindness. I called her regularly (and still do). I started opening up slowly. And I went to a meeting every day for 90 days. Even after 90 days I went to many meetings. Eventually I went through the steps with her guidance.

 Abstinence is the most important thing. I follow a food plan that works for me. I am a good friend, family member, employee and a member of Overeaters Anonymous. I have a higher power. I am so very very grateful for God working through people in my life. I practice the next right, imperfectly but I do my best.

Today I live a full, healthy and normal life. I am in a normal size body. I can walk for miles. I am a happy and healthy 61-year-old woman. 

Robin
Ocean & Bay Intergroup 
P.O. Box 41273, Providence RI, 02940
Tel: 401-438-1301 | Email:   oceanandbayoa@yahoo.com