A Wellspring of Hope
Newsletter of The Recovery Group


April/May 2002
Volume 4, Issue 4/5



ser*en*dip*i*ty ~ (noun) First appeared 1754:
the faculty or phenomenon of finding
valuable or agreeable things not sought for.


FEATURED ARTICLES

From Our Editor
Founders Corner
Current Service Opportunities
From the Loops: Spotlight of the Month
Recovery Meditations
Letters to the Editor
Confronting the Disease
Danny's Corner
From the Recovery Group Members
From the Literature
The Recovery Group IRC Meeting Schedule
Overeaters Anonymous Contacts
Recovery Group Contacts
Serenity Prayer



~ FROM OUR EDITOR ~

Dear friends in recovery,

Welcome to the combined April/May edition of Serendipity! I apologize to the group for not getting out an April newsletter, and for the lateness of this May newsletter. Please know that we are back on track and will have regular editions of Serendipity beginning June 1!

This is the first issue of Serendipity that involves a central theme -- this month it is on-line recovery. A number of our members have shared about their recovery and their gratitude for on-line recovery here at The Recovery Group. I for one bless Mari and her vision and hard work to create this place of recovery in cyberspace. I know you too will find inspiration, experience, strength and hope in their shares.

And, speaking of the June newsletter, the topic will be tools of recovery. I hope a number of you will share about your favorite or most helpful tool -- meetings, telephone, writing, service, literature, anonymity, sponsors (what have I missed?) ......... Since June 1 is coming quickly, I hope all of you who are reading this will provide SERVICE to the newsletter by WRITING about your favorite tool, and sharing it with other compulsive eaters world-wide. To those who do, I know you will find that you receive even more than you give!

If you have any suggestions of topics you would like to see addressed in future months of Serendipity, please let me know.

All submissions to Serendipity should be sent to: SerendipityNewsletter@yahoogroups.com.

Peace, my friends.

Love in recovery,
Suzanne, Editor
SERENDIPITY



SERENDIPITY SUBSCRIPTIONS



~ FOUNDERS CORNER ~


Over a year ago when I first knew there was going to be a new edition of the Big Book, I thought of the first time I took the BB seriously. I had lived my life as a compulsive eater but somehow never once considered myself an addict. I didn't do drugs nor drink alcohol ~ how on earth could anything an alcoholic say apply to me? As a result of this aversion to even reading the BB, much less buying one, I ambled through life and my disease until I was sick at heart and at rock bottom.

One hot summer night, in a state of depression and having given up, I found myself at a new computer barely knowing how to turn it on. I did know enough to get to the Internet and someone had e-mailed me a link. I clicked it, waited ... and soon found myself in a room with a man named Comity. The room was the Recovery Zone and the man's real name was Richard. I learned that he sat there for an hour every Thursday night whether anyone dropped by or not. The two of us talked alone. By the time I left, he had introduced me to the Twelve Steps, the Big Book and given me the name of an angel who would later become my first sponsor.

A week later, there was a copy of the BB at my door ~ this sweet man had sent it to me and I devoured it. I substituted the word food for alcohol, and the words compulsive eater for alcoholic, and I was home. I laughed and cried all the way through it, and there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank those 100 men and women who told their stories and gave to the world one of its most precious gifts.

But there's more. We who have pioneered 12-Step online support have been frustrated over the years that our mother organizations have not embraced us. We have gone through group rejection despite working hard to make online recovery work. Men and women all over the world have found the Twelve Steps through our loops and meetings, and not only does it work, it works extraordinarily well. Autonomously or as an adjunct to face-to-face meetings, we bring to the world everything necessary for a complete recovery program based on the teachings of the Big Book.

So now the remarkable new version is here, and what a thrill it was to read for the first time a breakthrough in some of the toughest mindsets on this planet. The Foreward of Version Four says:

"Taking advantage of technological advances, for example, A.A. members with computers can participate in meetings online, sharing with fellow alcoholics across the country or around the world. Fundamentally, though, the difference between an electronic meeting and the home group around the corner is only one of format. In any meeting, anywhere, A.A.'s share experience, strength and hope with each other, in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.'s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity." (AABB, page xxiv)

Can you believe this? The Big Book saying that fundamentally the only difference between an electronic meeting and a f2f one is format. Compulsive eaters and alcoholics speak the same language. Whether it's sitting in a little room with a coffee pot in back in rural America, or in one of the other 43 countries of the world or just in our pajamas at 4:00 in the morning when we can't sleep ... when we reach out to another compulsive eater it doesn't matter how the message gets here ... only that it does.

In the deepest part of the soul of a compulsive eater ...
is the realization that recovery begins when we find one another.

When we pick up a copy of the Big Book, we find one another.
When we attend a f2f or an online meeting, we find one another.
When we share in a discussion loop, we find one another.
Are you listening OA WSO?

Modem-to-Modem.

Face-to-Face.

The language of the Big Book ... the language of the Twelve Steps.

The beautiful, exquisite, extraordinary language of the heart.

Welcome Home, Version Four.

@-}-}-}------
Love in recovery,
Mari


~ CURRENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES ~

Hello, Friends in Recovery ~

Would you like to share your recovery through service to others? Please review the following service needs, and say "YES!" today!