
~ FROM OUR EDITOR ~
Dear Serendipity Readers,
Welcome to the March issue of Serendipity! Whether March is coming
in like a lion or like a lamb where you live, I hope your month is
filled with the blessing of recovery from compulsive overeating.
In this issue, you will find many different articles which are the evidence
of so much recovery in our group. From our Founder's comforting "pat on
the back", to the sincere invitation by one of our teens to be part
of "her" loop, through three (two wonderfully original and one anonymous)
contributions from our members, to another in the Recovery Writers'
"Odyssey" series, you will find that our members are an amazingly
inspirational source of Experience, Strength and Hope.
I also hope that you "take in" the expanded Letters to the Editor section;
there are quite a few letters this month! Some may even evoke responses
from you; if so, I hope you will send them to me! I also encourage
you to write me if there's anything in this issue (or elsewhere in TRG)
about which you would like to comment.
So, settle back in your chair, and prepare to absorb the wonderful wisdom
and sharing you will find in the articles which follow.
Yours in the Friendship of Recovery,
Marty
Editor, SERENDIPITY
Newsletter of The Recovery Group

~ FOUNDER'S CORNER ~
Dear Serendipity Readers,
The world that God has created is mind boggling ... and it is the
people who inhabit this earth who make it so. In addition to giving
us bodies that have hundreds of parts that all seem to function
at a very high level most of the time, God gave us something
even more important . . . the human spirit.
For the past month we have all witnessed one event after another
that has shown what this human spirit is capable of. Because we live
in a world of insanity at our worst and awesome goodness at our
best we see a vast spectrum of examples of each of these daily.
Our community is not a provincial one ... because we are scattered
all over this beautiful globe. I have breakfast with those who are
going to sleep at night and say goodnight to those who are waking up
to greet their new day. Our members in some places do not know
when they leave their homes if they will be blown up by a bus,
luxuriate most of the day in a place of safety and peace, attend to life
in an environment that thrills them or find themselves bored by
the mundaneness of it all.
But March in the diverse community of The Recovery Group finds
us working as hard as we can on the one common thread that brings
us together here and keeps us sane ... and that thread is our disease
of compulsive eating. Some of us are doing good ... maintaining a
program of extraordinary emotional, physical and spiritual recovery.
Others of us are close to the bottom of our disease reaching out for any
hand that will help us hold on. But all of us in this great good world our
Creator has made for us are taking life one day at a time ... and when
the day ends most of us can pat ourselves on the back and feel at one
with the universe ... and with each other.
Happy March, Loopies.
@-}-}-}------
Love in recovery,
Mari
~ TEENS'/KIDS' CORNER ~
When I joined TeensODAT, I had just recently made the
decision to stop visiting pro-eating-disorder sites.
They had been a part of my life for at least a
year, and during that time I had made several friends.
But I knew that if I wanted to recover, I would have
to leave. So it was a bittersweet feeling,
as I'm sure you can imagine, for me to unsubscribe
myself from "pro" mailing lists and web sites (some of
which I owned) and seek recovery groups.
The first few I joined had been long inactive, and I
thought I might never find a good group of people on
the net who knew what I was going through and who
also wanted to recover; it seemed as though
pro-eating-disorder stuff was everywhere!
But lo and behold, I found TeensODAT one day while
sifting through some yahoogroups, and absent-mindedly
joined the group. I wasn't expecting much; I can tell
you that. So when I joined and got a warm welcome from
some of the members, and when we began to talk about
the issues we struggled with, I knew I truly was not
alone. I knew that behind each screen name was a person
with a heart and feelings, who struggled in much the same way
that I did, who tried to help not only themselves, but
each other as well. It's not the most active group in
the world, but it certainly helped me connect with
other teenagers. I'm proud to say I'm still a member
of that group, and would definitely encourage you
(yes, you,!) to just give it a try. That's all I
suggest; give it a try. What do you have to lose?
I'm
not recovered yet, and still go through very rough times.
I am sort of at the point where I'm stuck in the
middle, so I know where you're all coming from. If
you ever need someone to talk to, know I'm always
here.
Your friend, Jessica
[ Editor's note: To join TeensODAT, send an empty email to:
TeensODAT-subscribe-request@lists.therecoverygroup.org
]

~ FROM OUR RECOVERY GROUP MEMBERS ~
~ A "CARDBOARD" ADVERTISEMENT ~
Often we have members complaining about how leaders in
any loop or group of loops respond or don't respond to
certain things and with that in mind it could be
possible that this tongue in cheek information 'ad'
may serve to help us see that people are special
whether we agree or disagree with how things are said
and done. Would we really like this alternative?
NEW AND IMPROVED GROUPS FOR COMPULSIVE EATERS
We are writing to inform you of our latest products.
Following upon the success of our cardboard policeman
to deter shoplifting and our cardboard police car to
discourage speeding, we are pleased to announce that
we now have cardboard staff and loop members in the
Recovery groups.
CARDBOARD COORDINATORS AND MEETING LEADERS
The cardboard Coordinator is invaluable to the
hard-pressed Coordinator and other Trusted Servants
seeking a holiday who cannot find anyone for relief
duty. It is life-sized and comes with a people
pleasing caring smile, who will never disagree with
anything you say and a truly state-of-the-art 3D
special FX emotions chip to sympathise and totally
understand and agree with you no matter how weird and
way out your sharing and suggestions may be. Group
Conscience meetings are never a problem for this very
special Cardboard Trusted Servant who will be seated
at her computer to observe in silence all agreements
and disagreements. Field trials have proved more than
successful. A Cardboard Trusted Servant was placed in
front of a computer recently during a Trusted
Servant's absence without our members being told.
Forty per cent of those questioned later had noticed
no difference, whilst twenty-five per cent said there
had been a considerable improvement.
OWNER OF LOOPS
Soon we hope to have available the cardboard Loop
Owner which can be seated in her chair at her computer
whilst the real owner is in the Canary Islands. A
Trial model has been in place for time to time without
being detected it was said, so it appears this may be
an efficient alternative when all that is needed is a
member to rant and rave and have no reaction at all
from the Loop Owner. The cardboard Loop Owner is even
said to have given an excellent contribution to the
recent Group Conscience at TRG Admin.
TRG ADMIN/ODAT ADMIN
Work on the cardboard version of TRG Admin and ODAT
admin has been abandoned because market research
demonstrated that nobody wants the real thing. There
is, therefore, unlikely to be much demand for
substitutes.
MEMBERS
Our cardboard loop members are selling well. It is
said they are indistinguishable from that of the real
thing, and it has the positive advantage that, when
volunteers are requested, nobody makes a dash for the
door or clicks into shutdown. Some people have even
detected an improvement in the sharing. However, it
might be prudent for real members to go back to their
loop for a while from time to time and put their
cardboard version into storage as it has been noticed
by newcomers that sharing is down to the minimum on
some loops.
~ LIFE'S TUG OF WAR~
Life can seem ungrateful
and not always kind.
Life can pull at your heartstrings
and play with your mind.
Life can be blissful
and happy and free.
Life can put beauty
in the things that you see.
Life can place challenges
right at your feet.
Life can make good
of the hardships that we meet.
Life can overwhelm you
and make your head spin.
Life can reward those
determined to win.
Life can be hurtful
and not always fair.
Life can surround you
with people who care.
Life clearly does offer
its ups and its downs.
Life's days can bring you
both smiles and frowns.
Life teaches us to take
the good with the bad.
Life is a mixture
of happy and sad.
So...
Take the life that you have
and give it your best.
Think positive, be happy
let God do the rest.
Take the challenges
that life has laid at your feet.
Take pride and be thankful
for each one you meet.
To yourself give forgiveness
if you stumble and fall.
Take each day that is dealt you
and give it your all.
Take the love that you're given
and return it with care.
Have faith that when needed
it will always be there.
Take time to find the beauty
in the things that you see.
Take life's simple pleasures
let them set your heart free.
The idea here is simply
to even the score,
As you are met and faced with
Life's Tug Of War.
Author Unknown