Monday, October 15, 2007

Forward from Retreat!

Last weekend I had the delightful opportunity of going to the Tri-County OA retreat at Glen Lake Retreat center at Glenrose. How wonderful to be around so many recovering people...even on the top bunk. I figure that's service, getting there early and taking the top bunk, and I kind of enjoy it. Maybe I think I'm still young when I'm up there. I know I don't when I'm climbing either up or down, though!

Our speaker was delightful, telling eternal truths with a delightful Cajun accent. I learned so much, it's hard to say just what, but a few tidbits:
  • DENIAL - Don't Even Know I Am Lying.
  • When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten up emotionally and physically. In that order. Spiritual, emotional, physical.
  • "I regret a lot of those things, but my past is just the way it is."
  • We’re a people who want to change things, but the basis of our program, 12 steps and 12 traditions can’t be changed without a whole lot. That's good!
  • The OA nudge: "Oh, you can do that." This led Janice to leadership positions in OA when she had no idea what she was getting into, but she grew and her skills grew to do them.
  • It is not selfish to put others past god and me, it’s not selfish, it’s healthy. If we don’t put self first, we’re unhealthy in relationships with others.
  • Selfishness and self-centeredness are the root of my problems, the taproot which must be killed.
  • Once that taproot is killed, the tap root becomes the strength I have in the program.
  • She calls what others call trigger foods "craving creating foods."
  • The first step is the only step we have to do 100%; the others are just ideals we try all our lives to achieve.
  • The 12 steps are to be lived, not just discussed.
  • Difference in knowing the right words and living them out.
  • Faith doesn’t need to be large. It just needs to be alive.
  • Wholeness = Holiness
  • Sometimes this experience strands us on an arid plateau. We see someone else developing differently and we feel deprived. Go deeper with others and with God because you’re at a crossroads. Don’t decide to go back to the food.
  • Grief is not a character defect. You just have to feel it, and
  • Once COE’s grasp the 2nd step, they will have no more slips.
Find a retreat near you and go!

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