If the Recovery Group community is a wheel, then the TRGAdm "office" is the hub. Here is where there is a link to everything that concerns the Recovery Group and Dodee and Nancy are the Recovery Administrators who manage it. If you ever have a question, a problem that no one seems to be able to solve, please feel free to write us.

Submitted by:
Dodee
TRG Administrator

Often in our support groups which are life-saving recovery homes for compulsive eaters, we hear stories of alcoholism. What is is about compulsive eating and alcoholism that accounts for so many relationships with one of each?

Family and Friends of Alcoholics is one of the support groups of our community. Although The Recovery Group is for compulsive eaters, FFOA offers a self-help recovery program for the families and friends of alcoholics. It doesn't matter if the alcoholic in our life seeks help or not ... it doesn't even matter if they recognize they have a drinking problem. We are here, not for the alcoholic as much as for the compulsive eater who loves them.

FFOA is not a religious organization or a counseling agency. It's not a treatment center nor affiliated with groups such as Al-Anon. We require no dues or fees. Our only requirement is that the compulsive eater who joins us wants to quit eating compulsive and has been living a life adversely affected by someone else's drinking problem.

OAAnon is our sister support group. It is for those who live with or love a compulsive eater ... and we will talk about that group in another issue of Serendipity.

FROM THE COORDINATOR OF FFOA

I wonder how many members know that The Recovery Group has a group for Compulsive Eaters who are also dealing with someone they love, or are concerned about, who is being hurt by Alcohol? It is called FFOA. This stands for "Family and Friends of Alcoholics" or someone dealing with alcohol in their lives. This is a place where you can share your feelings or experiences with others who are also walking in the same moccasins.

As in Al-Anon, everything said or done here is held in strict confidence. We respect each other's rights to privacy on such a hurtful subject.

Imagine having a group where you can share your feelings with others who have had the same experiences. Some may have been dealing with it longer and may have some really good thoughts or actions that you could adopt in your lives. Or, on the other hand, you may be able to pass on some crucial guidance to someone's life.

We invite those who think this may be a group they would like to be in to send us an email. There are some of us who are waiting for others who will share and listen to our stories too. I know that pain held inside us only festers and gets worse and keeps us anxious, sick and depressed. I also know that talking is therapy and when you can talk out the pain and bad memories or experiences, then we feel better than we could ever have believed possible. If you have had a chance to go to an Alanon meeting, you will understand that each meeting brings a greater ability to cope as we learn new ways from others.

I'm hoping that some of you will come and join in and help yourselves and others feel better.

Submitted by Myrlene, Coordinator of FFOA

The Recovery Loops Division is made up of TRG's Twelve-step general sharing support groups. Our common mission is to provide a safe and supportive space for anyone who wants to recover from the disease of compulsive eating to share their experience, strength, and hope with others.

The following is a brief description of each of these groups.

JOY AND BENEFITS OF BEING A SPONSOR

Sponsoring allows us to share our recovery on a one to one basis with other members of our Community in a way not always possible at meetings or even on a sharing loop.

• When you sponsor others you will find that it will allow you to stay receptive to the gift of abstinence.
• When you sponsor others you will find that your own recovery is enhanced and enriched on a daily basis.
• When you sponsor others you will find that seeing the JOY of others recover is awesome.
• When you sponsor others you will find that in helping others stay focused on their recovery will ensure that you will do the same.
• When you sponsor you will experience that in sharing encouragement with others will inspire your own recovery.
• When you sponsor you will find that the Spiritual Principles of the 12 Steps go deeper into your own heart.

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ANGELIC OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE 0-x:)

Be an angel. Consider using a common tool of recovery--the telephone! Give back what you have been given by volunteering your phone number to talk to others in recovery.

Your willingness to accept phone calls from fellow members of TRG when you are available will impact so many, keeping others from that first compulsive bite.

Many times I had balked at using the phone because I used it so much in a job-related way. But I tell you, when my food addiction began to press all the buttons in my elevator, I became willing to make the first call for help. Thank HP that a phone list was available and that there were others willing to listen and respond.

The telephone is yet another tool to break the isolation that is so very common among us. Alone, with my own thoughts, I am a goner. But when I hear a voice of reassurance reinterating that I do not have to listen to the urge to food splurge it is calming and sane.

Please consider being a Telephone Angel. It is such an amazing way to give back and serve at the same time.

To join our list of telephone angels - and share your recovery with others through this service -- please contact January, using the conact information listed below. In your email please include the following:

• Your name
• Email address
• What State you live in (this way people can find someone closer to them)
• Your phone number ~ area code and number
• Your time zone (like Eastern Standard)
• Best times to call?
• And should folks leave a message or not?

She's done it all, our Penny ... and she is the Recovery Group's Trusted Servant of the Month. Currently, the Coordinator of our Israel Loop, Step Leader for the WTS Twelve Steps in Twelve Weeks Study and Co-Distributor of the Recovery Meditations, she holds the record of being the longest running OA Online Trusted Servant in the Recovery Group.

Penny is a 'woman's woman.' By that we mean she does it all. Married, children, homemaker, job, community ... everything. She is also a singer and one of the few people who can tell it like it is and in doing so, you see her courage, her strength and her humility. In 1996, Penny wrote the following about Step Two ... and for those of us who insisted we were sane and read her words below, life was never the same again.

"And as I look at the damage I caused by trying to control the uncontrollable... the utter chaos I caused by behaving like a roaring tornado, Step 2 offers incredible hope that I can be restored to sanity. And believe me, my behavior, my attitudes, my beliefs were light-years removed from any semblance of any definition of sanity. I tried so hard to change myself and my attitudes, and I was stymied at every turn. What blessed relief to know that there is a power greater than myself that can restore me to sanity."

~ FROM THE TWELVE-STEP LITERATURE ~

~~ FROM THE BIG BOOK ~~

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol/COE is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism/COE. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's/HP's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 85)

Along with the above, I love the line that says, "If tempted, I recoil from it as from a hot flame. We must react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically." (AABB, Pages 84-85)

MY SHARE...

I was thinking that it certainly is easy to start resting on our laurels when we have been in program for a certain length of time and think we have it all under "control!" This is the time to be aware that our disease is "cunning, baffling, and powerful", and it loves to see us letting up and thinking we are now "in control." This is when it strikes us when we least expect it! How many of us have started missing just a few meetings, then more, or didn't read our literature for a few days, or think, 'oh, just one bite won't hurt me. After all, I've been abstinent long enough that I know better than to binge now!! NOT!!

At this point we must remember to "recoil from it/COE as from a hot flame!"

I know I've been there and done that. I know that I've let reading my daily literature slip and soon start forgetting some of the slogans that had helped me in a tight squeeze. I let my busy life interfere and soon I was back again gaining a few added pounds that I certainly didn't want!

As the BB says, "we are granted a daily reprieve contingent on our spiritual condition." How safe is my spiritual condition now that I have let program slide for a few days or a few weeks?

We are all walking a slippery slope, One Day at a Time. Let's all do our best to remember "First things, First." And that first thing has to be OUR own health. No one will take care of us, but US!!

May our HP/God be with us all, ODAT!!

Much Love in Recovery,
    Myrlene (Big Book and Recovery Group)