Dear friends in recovery,

Welcome to the February edition of Serendipity! February is the month of love, and I cannot think of a better way of showing your love for fellow recovering compulsive eaters than by sharing your experience, strength and hope through the newsletter. So please, take a couple of minutes to share -- all submissions are welcome!

In this month's edition, TRG founder Mari shares her thoughts on unity within The Recovery Group. The administrators of TRG offer an update on the meetings and loops, and an overview of administration of TRG. Then comes a repeat of the history of Recovery Meditations, with information on why this project was started and how to submit your own meditations to the project. We are in need of meditations, and ask you to consider writing for the project. If we all submit just one meditation, the project will be completed in no time! Our loop spotlight of the month is Abuse and Recovery, which is a loop dedicated to those of us who are abuse survivors. In a new section called "The Recovery Group Meetings," Vicki, Coordinator, New Meeting Leaders, gives us an overview of the meetings and a request for substitute meeting leader volunteers. In the Tools of Recovery, we have included an article from OA's Lifeline about the writer's "absolute commitment" to meetings.

This month in Danny's Corner, in his conversation with God, Danny writes of "old tapes long since hidden in the back room of my brain." In the section dedicated to shares from Recovery Group members, Anne shares her poem, White Gentle Dove, Mickie shares on taking things one day at a time, Jeanette B. shares a quote from Mother Teresa, and writes about her own changes in recovery, and Jo Dall writes about the Serenity Prayer. In the Literature section, we have again included The Promises from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, to remind all of us of what is possible, as well as Step Two from Reflections on the Twelve Steps of Recovery. This month's edition ends with announcements, a list of on-line meetings, OA and TRG contacts, and the Serenity Prayer.

Love in recovery,

Suzanne,

Editor SERENDIPITY

The Recovery Group is a community of a diverse group of people and it is that diversity that makes it work so well. We share with one another each day and find that we are hearing from others in virtually every country in the world. The one common thread is the disease we have in common ... and it is this common ground that makes us a family.

Unity in the Recovery Group is very important. In fact, it is so important that it is our very first tradition ~ "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon the unity of our Recovery community." We participate actively in our meetings and loops because we know that our very lives depend on our being able to live without the bondage of compulsive eating. As COEs, so many of us have spent enormous amounts of time in isolation and the reason for this is very simple. We want the freedom to be alone to we can overeat without anyone bothering us. Or trying to stop us. Or making us feel ashamed of ourselves. No longer do we have to do that.

Because of the importance of this home we share with each other, it is important that we have ground rules. We have impulses sometimes that make us feel we know what is best for our loop or meeting and we attempt to make exceptions or change those rules ... but in doing so, we compromise the efficacy of what we're about.

I have observed over the past year or so that flames are practically nonexistent in our community. We seem to have found a better way to handle situations in which disunity thrives. Perhaps we have matured and see that when everyone is treated with respect, our own recovery blossoms.

The first tradition brings home loud and clear one very important truth. We are not alone. And we will never be alone again.

@-}-}-}- -----
Love in recovery,
Mari
The Recovery Group

Dear Friends in Recovery,

The Recovery Group Administration wants to thank each one of you for your cooperation as we begin the 2001 term.

The meetings in #RecoveryRoom are going well. We have 12 new meetings that started in January. We hope to have all of our meetings registered with WSO by the end of the month.

The Recovery Loops are also going well.

We do need a Coordinator for the Alanon & Recovery Loop. Also we are in need of a web-servant. Anyone who is willing to give this service please contact us.

Remember this Administration Committee is here to serve all of the members of The Recovery Group.

If you have any questions or need help for meetings please write to Trgadm@egroups.com and Cate or Patt will respond.

If you need help or have question about any of the Recovery Loops, write to the same address and Shlomo or John will respond.

We are grateful for the service given to The Recovery Group by all the Trusted Servants. Your patience and spirit of cooperation has been wonderful. Each of you is appreciated for all the loving service that you freely give.

If you have any suggestions on how we can better serve you, please let us know.

With love and great joy in recovery,
The Recovery Group ADM

Dear Recovery Family,

Many of you do not know how our book project, "Recovery Meditations," came into being. This is the history of what has turned into a very exciting project.

Nearly a year ago, Overeaters Anonymous informed the Recovery Group that the use of any OA-approved literature, such as from "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous," "For Today," and certain slogans identified with OA, were forbidden to us to use. We petitioned OA on several occasions for permission to quote from these sources, and were repeatedly turned down.

Because our loops and meetings didn't have access to any program literature other than the Big Book of AA, we decided that we would make our own daily meditation book, and call it "Recovery Meditations--One Day At A Time."

The idea behind Recovery Meditations is that it is written by the very people who will use it: the members of The Recovery Group community. However, we have decided that we will take a different track than OA. The Recovery Group has decided to maintain a very liberal use policy concerning our meditations. We will own the copyright, but will allow anyone to use, quote, or cite our project, so long as the work is to be used by individuals or members of any recovery-related group.

We have definite plans to have this published as an actual book, and maybe even a calendar.

Thus far, we have over 6 months' worth of meditations, and continue to strive for a full year of Experience, Strength and Hope. These meditations are written by people just like you or me. They are recovering compulsive overeaters. They come from all walks of life, all cultures, from all over the world.

We'd love to have your Experience, Strength and Hope to add to our project. If you haven't written a meditation for us, please consider it. Here's what to do:

1. Start with a quote from a WELL-KNOWN individual. 2. Write your ESH related to that quote. Please try to keep to 300 words or less. 3. Write your own meditation...just a sentence or two, and begin it "One day at a time..." 4. Then, "sign" your meditation with either your name or initials, or an assumed name, if you wish. 5. Send it to recoverymeditations@egroups.com

That's all there is to it! It's easy, and it's a great way to do service and spread the message of hope to other compulsive overeaters. You don't have to be a "writer" to contribute, so please don't let that stop you. If you'd like to see some examples of meditations already received, you can go to http://recovery.hiwaay.net/meditations/december.html If enough of you will write a meditation for us, not only could we finish up this book, but we might even have enough for a second!

So there you have it, the history of Recovery Meditations, and what you can do to help us finish up our project. We sure hope to hear from you soon! And if you need ideas to write about, just drop us a line at the above address...we'll be happy to give you some topic ideas!

Love in recovery,
The Editors of Recovery Meditations