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UPCOMING EVENTS
JUNE
July 1: 10-11:30a
July 21: 6:30p
AUGUST
August 18: 2:00-5:00p
Back to Basics Workshop:
Sponsor & being Sponsored
St. John's Episcopal Church: West Hartford, CT
OCTOBER
Oct. 11-13:
16th Annual Biddeford Pool Retreat
Marie Joseph Spiritual Center
Biddeford Pool, ME
Oct. 18-20:
Crowne Plaza, White Plains, NY
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Ocean & Bay Intergroup Meetings
First Tuesday of every month
6-6:30p: Literature Sales & Fellowship
6:30-7:30p: Intergroup Meeting
*New Location:
19 Foster Rd. Cranston*
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The Seventh Tradition states OA is fully self-supporting, accepting contributions only from OA members. Groups may send either monthly o
r periodic donations (via mail or in person) to Intergroup.
Thank you for your donation, which helps us to spread the word of recovery.
Please mail donations to:
Ocean and Bay Intergroup
Attn: Treasurer
P.O. Box 41273
Providence, RI 02940
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Intergroup Board
CONTACT US
Vice Chair:
John C. vicechair.oceanandbay@gmail.com
Treasurer:
Sandy C. treasurer.oceanandbay@gmail.com
Recording Sec.:
Lisa secretary.oceanandbay@gmail.com
Newsletter Editor:
Erin F.
Public Information/ Professional Outreach:
Holly
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Mission & Vision
Ocean & Bay Intergroup is dedicated to supporting individuals in need of recovery from compulsive eating (e.g.: overeating, bulimia, anorexia) through carrying the OA message and empowering all meetings within the Intergroup.
1. Help members strengthen their personal recovery
2. Increase the number of sponsors
3. Increase the number of newcomers
4. Increase the retention of newcomers
5. Help those in relapse
6. Inspire people to give more service
7. Increase outreach activities, including outreach to members and healthcare professionals
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Local Meeting List
GROUP CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please check your meeting contact name and information on both the
local Ocean and Bay Meeting List (send changes to oceanandbayoa@yahoo.com) as well as the Overeaters Anonymous website meeting list and make any necessary changes.
* Please call ahead to verify meetings are taking place, especially during holidays. *
Update Jan 11, 2019*
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Stay Connected!
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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.
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Greetings friends and fellows,
Summer is in full swing! As pool parties and BBQs fill our summer calendars and folks
open their pools and light up the grills, this time brings up those same feelings of anxiety that come around the Holidays -- how am I going to get through these endless BBQs and food-related gatherings? For those of you that have these same worries, give this
"Eating Sane During the Holiday Season"
podcast a listen!
In other OA-related news, I recently began reading about the Twelve Traditions in both the OA & AA 12& 12. I'll admit I had some resentment towards the reading exercise because I had very little appreciation for the role that the Traditions play in program. But after having read and reflected on several of the Traditions, I have opened my heart to the power of these Traditions, particularly the history behind their creation. The founding members of AA & OA had nothing short of a "trial by fire" in creating the programs that we know today. Their experience, strength and hope in these situations have created what I consider to be a counter-cultural organization that we known today as OA. OA stands on its own, autonomous and free from the politics of fundraising and hierarchy. This unique model has withstood the test of time and the societal desire for power, influence and money.
I hope you'll join my gratitude for the dog days of summer. I wish you all a happy and healthy 4th of July!
Peace & sunshine,
Erin
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Step Seven:
Humbly asked [HP] to remove our shortcomings.
(Spiritual Principle: Humility)
"As we ask, Step Seven calls for us to adopt an attitude of humility...In OA, we have discovered that humility is simply an awareness of who we really are today and a willingness to become all that we can be. Genuine humility brings an end to the feelings of inadequacy, the self-absorption, and the status seeking. Humility, as we encounter it in our OA fellowship, places us neither above nor below other people on some imagined ladder of worth. It places us exactly where we belong, on an equal footing with our fellow beings and in harmony with [HP]."
"How do we work Step Seven? Quite simply, we take our written inventory or list of character defects in hand. With our list before us, we name each shortcoming and...express our complete willingness to have each shortcoming removed from us. We express our desire to to become more effective in serving and helping others as our shortcomings are transformed into assets."
Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
(Spiritual Principal - Responsibility)
"Tradition Seven tells us that the financial support of OA is our responsibility as members of the Fellowship. We don't ask for or accept support from outside sources...Paradoxically, being fully self-supporting means we are now free to ask for help in doing OA service and in other matters as well. In light of the Seventh Tradition, we begin to see more clearly what our boundaries need to be. We begin to share our vulnerability with others in OA without expecting them to shoulder our responsibilities."
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition
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Understanding Abstinence
Abstinence:
The act of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight.
(
updated definition
adopted at 2019 World Service Business Conference)
"Abstinence has made it possible, a step at a time, to grow emotionally and spiritually in all areas of my life. Before I put down the food and food behaviors I used reactively and addictively, I couldn't get out of unproductive patterns in life. Abstinence gives me a chance to look at these patterns and surrender them, one at a time, to HP. "
- Anonymous (Lifeline, Mar 2018)
"I came to understand my abstinence through working with my first OA sponsor in Step One, looking at what foods and food behaviors I was powerless over and when my life was unmanageable as it related to food...'abstinence' versus 'food plan' was confusing for a while. My abstinence is not just my food plan, but it definitely has to include my food plan. I also need to do my other actions, which for me includes using all the Tools each week so that I can stay on my food plan."
- Paul (Lifeline, Mar 2018)
"Since we cannot completely refrain from eating, we have to figure out a food plan that meets our nutritional needs but does not include trigger foods or things we are addicted to. 'Keep it simple' is the best advice anyone has given me when it comes to my food plan." - Nancy S. (Lifeline, Mar 2018)
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REGION 6 CONVENTION
Rooted in Recovery
October 18-20, 2019
Crowne Plaza
White Plains, New York
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Agnostics/Atheists: You're not Alone!
"Working the OA program of recovery is a highly individual process. We don't all think alike. As stated in The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, page ix, "Our common bonds are two: the disease of compulsive eating from which we all have suffered, and the solution that we all are finding as we live by the principles embodied in these Steps." This is what unites us in OA. Differences regarding a spiritual concept, or lack thereof, need not keep us from working the program. As the Third Tradition states, if we have the desire to stop eating compulsively, there is a place for us in OA. Therefore, we need not explain or defend our individual beliefs even if they differ from the majority opinion." -- Anonymous
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"I no longer believe in a personal god. I did not always believe this way; when I came to OA almost ten years ago, I strongly believed in a Higher Power to whom I could turn over my life. Many incidents occurred in this past year, however, that have banished this belief entirely. But the strange thing is that I still have a deep, if not more profound, spiritual life than I had before. I just don't depend on a god to do my work for me.
I read the OA pamphlet, "What if I Don't Believe in God?"? and it has been helpful. I also found the Big Book's chapter "To the Agnostic" useful as well. I've done some writing on the Steps, trying to adjust them to my new belief system, and it has proved very difficult, especially Steps Two and Three. The sanity I hope to have restored is about getting to know myself better; it is about clearing out those nasty defects of character so I can be open to the movement of spirit within me, to develop my personality to its greatest level. To maintain abstinence is paramount to me, otherwise my mind will not be clear enough to understand life's teachings. Step Seven has also proved difficult-to whom do I turn over my defects? I figured I could release them to the universe and develop myself to a deeper level through meditation. These are just a few of the ways I've handled problems regarding this new belief of mine. My abstinence has been good throughout this period. I've also looked to the spirit of the Fellowship as part of my new spirituality. Many times I will turn things over to this spirit." - Anonymous
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Tools of Recovery - Don't Forget 'Em!
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A Plan of Eating -
helps us abstain from compulsive eating.
This tool helps us deal with the physical aspects of our disease and achieve physical recovery.
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Sponsorship -
We ask a sponsor to help us through our program of recovery on all three levels, physical, emotional, and spiritual.
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Meetings -
give us an opportunity to identify our common problems, confirm our common solution through the Twelve Steps, and share the gifts we receive through this program. In addition to face-to-face meetings, OA offers telephone and online meetings.
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Telephone -
Many members call, text, or email their sponsors and other OA members daily. Telephone or electronic contact also provides an immediate outlet for those hard-to-handle highs and lows we may experience.
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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.
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Literature -
We read OA approved books, pamphlets, and Lifeline Magazine. Reading literature daily reinforces how to live the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
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Action Plan -
the process of identifying and implementing attainable actions that are necessary
to support our individual abstinence. Just like our plan of eating, it may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted to bring structure, balance, and manageability into our lives.
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Anonymity -
guarantees we will place principles before personalities
and assures us that only we have the right to make our membership known within our community. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication means that we never allow our faces or last names to be used once we identify ourselves as OA members. Within the Fellowship, whatever we share with another OA member will be held in respect and confidence. What we hear at meetings should remain there.
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Service -
Any form of service that helps a reach fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own recovery.
Members can give service by getting to meetings, putting away chairs, putting out literature, and talking to newcomers. Beyond the group level, a member can serve as intergroup representative, committee chair, region representative, or Conference delegate. As OA's responsibility pledge states, "Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this, I am responsible."
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