Hi Everyone! 

The new workshop is off to a strong start.  There were 23 participants who attended this meeting this week. As a group, we all took Steps 1 and 2. Congratulations!!

As a reminder, our group will be meeting on the phone Tuesdays at 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST

The exact number of sessions is uncertain, but, normally, this workshop takes up to 6 hours.

The telephone conference numbers for our group are:

Telephone Conference Number: 712-775-7031  Access Code: 140-565-208

Playback recording number is: 712-775-7029 Access Code: 140-565-208

Playback reference number: 1

 Here is the direct link from the conference line.

Participants can also download the meeting directly from the conference line. The link will only be available for a limited time.

We voted as a group to record the meetings. The MP3 of the meeting is stored on Media Fire, a cloud storage service. Here is the link.

One person expressed concern about recording the meeting. As a precaution, please do not share any information on this meeting, or any other meeting, recorded or not recorded, that you feel could hurt you if the information became public knowledge.

Although anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our program, we are all only human, and everyone makes mistakes. Err on the side of caution.

Information that could truly harm you is best shared privately with your sponsor or during outreach calls.

This workshop is being presented as a WEBINAR, with phone and screen sharing capability.

Although the screen sharing did not work yesterday, I am happy to say that I went back to the conference line, and today it did! So, we will continue using the same phone line.

As a review:

The first step question is:

Do you admit to your innermost self that you are powerless over food? (Step 1, read pg 30)

Do you have any reservations or lingering ideas that one day you will be immune to or unaffected by compulsive eating behaviors?

The second step questions are: Do you now believe or are you willing to believe in a Power Greater than yourself?  (Step 2, Read pg. 47:2; 55:2)

If you do not now believe in a power greater than yourself, are you willing to change your mind? (Step 2, Read pg. 47:2; 55:2)

We had a wonderful discussion about powerless and if God, who can do anything and everything, can cure us of our addictions as well.

This is my response:

As addicts, we can recover, but, we are not cured of this “cunning, baffling, and powerful” disease. All we have is a daily reprieve contingent on our spiritual condition and our connection to God.

Abstinence and recovery is the gift we receive through the daily discipline of surrendering to our food plan, working on our connection to God, as we understand Him “one day at a time,”  and being of service to others.

There is on old saying in AA “that once you turn a cucumber into a pickle, you can never change it back into a cucumber again”.

As it says in the AA Big Book, “alcohol is a subtle foe. We are NOT CURED of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve. Every day is a day when you have to carry the vision of God’s will into all of your activities. “How can I best serve Thee – Thy will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with you constantly. You can exercise your will power along this line all you wish. It is the proper use of the will.” (This quote is from the Original Manuscript, which I find to be much more powerful in its language.)

The AA Big Book also says in the story about “A man of thirty . . .” (pages 32-33) that we never recover from the physical allergy no matter how long we abstain from our compulsive eating behaviors: “We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.” Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If you are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday you will be immune to alcohol.”

Edith asked for a copy of The Set Aside Prayer. So for fun, I thought I would make a picture of it for everyone.

Looking forward to “seeing” everyone again next week!

Thank you all for sharing your experience, strength and hope.

“Together we can do what we can never do alone.”

With blessings for peace and recovery,

Barbara & Shira