Volume 1, Issue 1 August 2009

OAsis Newsletter
Tulsa Green Country Overeaters Anonymous

Progress Requires Willingness, Prayer & Footwork

Program has taught me that I can't be happy all the time - life is difficult - in program or out of it. I was really hoping that eternal happiness was in the promises of the program somewhere, but it's not. Believe me, I checked. So I'm settling for progress and an improvement in my attitudes, beliefs and behaviors - in general a major overhaul of who I have been for decades into what my Higher Power intended me to be all along. This progress requires willingness, prayer and footwork on my part. Moving through the steps, using the tools - basically walking the walk as it were. One area that can trip me up is thinking that I don't have to make all the amends on my amends list. If I balk at making amends to people for past and even current behavior, I'm not going to be able to keep the recovery I've received. The early founders of AA believed amends to be as critical as carrying the message in 12 Step calls. I spent so much energy in the past rationalizing away my personal responsibility that my "own up to it" muscle was definitely atrophied when I arrived in program. Like Wonder Woman's magic bracelets that deflected bullets, my skill at dodging personal responsibility was truly awe inspiring. It's possible that this defense mechanism was necessary early on in my life when it kept me off the radar as much as possible from the alcoholics and dysfunctional people who were raising me. But it morphed from survival tool into a crutch and then into a handicap as I grew into adulthood. My 20s and 30s found me reacting to situations in a negative, nonproductive way in personal and work relationships. Doing a 4th step helped me to learn about the character defect of rationalization that fueled my avoidance of responsibility. Steps 5-9 are designed to not only help me with that character defect, but also to "clear away the wreckage of the past" as described in the AA Big Book. Making amends are a critical lynch pin in clearing away that wreckage of my past. One of the gifts I received in the process is that I now have the trust of those around me. They trust me not to hurt them with rationalizations of why it's not my fault but theirs. They love the fact that they're not the target for quick bursts of anger or lashing out because I see them as wrong and myself as right. Gone too are my self pity parties that made everything they did to comfort me wrong and inadequate. Today I am a positive part of the world around me. Welcomed into my family and their lives, a welcome employee at work. Without those amends, none of this would have been possible.
Grateful Recovering Compulsive Overeater, Tulsa, OK

Handwritten note found in the back of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book, office copy: At first the character defects we see are the emotions, but later we look at the living patterns which cause the emotions. To change the defects, change the living patterns.

Inside this issue:

Poster 2

The Promises

Fall Retreat

Foundations Workshop Recap

What My Sponsor Means To Me

Thanks To My Higher Power

I had used over the counter sleeping aids for several years. At a recent doctors visit, I mentioned that I was tired of waking up tired and she suggested I try to stop the pills to see what would happen. Long story shortlast night, after going

Intergroup Board/Committees

to bed without a pill, I asked my Higher Power to wake me at 7:00 a.m. the next morning which is unheard of for me. I awoke at 5 minutes until 7:00 a.m. this morning, wide awake and alert!! Thank you, God. Anonymous

Page 2 Post on a bulletin board near you.

OAsis Newsletter

918-632-0199

www.tulsaoa.org

Volume 1, Issue 1

Page 3

The Promises
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Control is not one of the promises. Voices of Recovery, July 27

Theres a rhythm to our program because theres a rhythm to life Anonymous

Fall Retreat, Sept. 11-13

Join Inspector E. Z. Peasy in the Town of Perfection and hopefully take some of the mystery out of your program Fall Retreat at Camp Wa-Sha-She September 11-13, 2009 Download flyer, registration form and more information at: http://www.tulsaoa.org/current_events.htm

HumilityNot thinking less of myself, but thinking of myself less. Anonymous

Tulsa Green Country Overeaters Anonymous

2009 IG Board/Committees Priscilla L., Chair ................................. 402-8183 Linda T., Recording Secretary ............ 625-5094 Amelia A., Treasurer ........................... 344-5039 Evelyn, Office Manager ...................... 406-4783 Priscilla L., Rep. Delegate .................. 402-8183 Amelia A., Rep. Delegate ................... 344-5039 Sally D., Alt. Delegate ......................... 430-8922 Karen B., Web ..................................... 492-7606 Kim W., Tape Library .......................... 742-3816 Stephanie F., Young People ............... 809-0707 Pat A., Pop........................................... 250-1981 Kelly D., Lifeline .................................. 902-1170 Judi P. Public Information .................. 728-3186 Donna H., Oasis newsletter................ 628-0381 VACANCIES: Vice Chair Fundraising 12 Step Within Professional Outreach

12 Traditions Of OA Examined at Workshop

All the planning paid off. The Foundations Workshop on July 31 and August 1 hosted by the Tulsa Green Country Intergroup was a success. Wanda S., our Region III Trustee led those in attendance through the 12 Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous. After a potluck supper on Friday night, Wanda shared her recovery story. Then, we had a full day of fellowship on Saturday.

Were on the Web! www.tulsaoa.org

What My Sponsor Means To Me

It took me a while to get up enough nerve to ask someone to be my sponsor. When that person explained to me that they were already sponsoring too many people, I almost didnt get up enough nerve AGAIN to ask someone else. However, if I hadnt, I probably would still be back at square one with my recovery. After selecting another sponsor candidate, I took that next step and asked again. She said, Yes. It was just one word, but it was sweet music to my ears. More than that, though, it was the first step on my way to get-

ting well. She gave me the confidence to move forward instead of remaining in my isolation. She listens to me when Im ready to talk, she doesnt judge me, but she doesnt let me get by with anything either. She honestly cares about me. She knows where I am in my recovery because shes been there. Her gift of time to serve as my sponsor is one of the most meaningful parts of my recovery. Thank you, dear sponsor, for saying YES! Anonymous

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. Douglas Adams