"You've got to have a dream in order to make a dream come true."
    . . . Oscar Hammerstein II

Since I heard this saying many years ago, I have really come to believe in it. I have always had the dream of being happy, healthy, helpful and whole, and since I found this program (or it found me) I am learning that I can have all of these things because I am being shown a way to achieve them.

When I first joined the program, it was about losing weight, but as I continue to understand and learn about the program, my dream is slowly coming true. It's a slow path for me right now, but as long as I keep the dream alive in my mind, heart and soul, I KNOW I'll be able to accomplish it ... one day at a time!

ONE DAY AT A TIME ...
I ask my Higher Power to keep me on the right path towards my dream of being happy, healthy, helpful and whole. And right now, in this moment I am grateful for my dream and for the opportunity to fulfill it.

FOUNDER'S CORNER ~ THE BIG BOOK AND THE TRADITIONS ~

Dear Recovery Friends ~

Many of you reading this will remember our letter to you about the traditions, something which we honor above all else. One of the traditions is about unity and why it is so important to the Recovery community and other groups who are dedicated to serve compulsive eaters. Another tradition is about not participating in or having an opinion of something that is considered an "outside interest."

As the weeks go by, you will be hearing more talk about the traditions ... and I would like to urge you to read the traditions yourself. They are found in what we lovingly call the Big Book. Written in the 1930s, it is as true today as it was then. Read them carefully. You will find those who attempt to interpret the traditions in ways other than the writers of the Big Book intended. Bill and Bob are the Founders of the 12 Step recovery program which means so much to our community.

Bill and Bob had a lot of common sense.

Happy March, Loopies!

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

I'm in the processs of overhauling my timetable now that my daughter's back in school; I'm back to work and we have recommenced our afterschool activities. I find the state of my dayplanner is also a pretty good yardstick of the state of my recovery. In order to meet my various obligations, it's important for to pencil in everything. I'm not just referring to my business appointments, I'm referring to ALL aspects of my life, especially Program tools. So, daily planning doesn't just mean soccer games, meetings with the principle and parents, PTA meetings and birthday parties - it also means entering my daily food plan, exercise plan, relaxation plan, devotions, meetings, sponsor/sponsee work, and service obligations. If I don't do this - things begin to get overlooked and can quickly set up a negative domino effect which can lead to relapse.

Love in recovery,
Rob

We are very honored to be the administrators of The Recovery Group.

Where else can such a community be found? A home that was conceived for compulsive eaters who use the 12 Steps to attain and maintain recovery. Not only are there OA meetings 24 hours a day with caring and dedicated leaders, there are also many loops for those seeking Experience, Strength and Hope from others who share their disease of compulsive eating. Studies for the 12 steps and the Big Book, daily meditations,all written by members of TRG, a monthly newsletter...all of these things can be found here.

Other Trusted Servants keep track of and distribute lists of members who have volunteered to become sponsors and telephone angels. Many writings by compulsive eaters are also on the web pages of The Recovery Group site.

There are even more aids for compulsive eaters, but the thing that makes me the proudest of TRG is the dedication and caring that I find among the many Trusted Servants that keep these services available day after day. Thank you all!!

In loving service to all,
Nancy & Dodee, Administrators
The Recovery Group

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. In addition, some of these loops also have a special focus. The loops that make up this Division are: Anorexia and Bulimia, The Big Book, 200 Plus, Journey to Recovery, Meditations, OA Friends, OA Newcomers, OA Recovery, Relapse, Sponsor-Sponsee-Talk, Working the Steps ("WTS"), and WTS Weekly.

We'd like to welcome Lisa as the new coordinator for OA Newcomers and OA Friends loops, as well as Karen as the new coordinator-in-training for Anorexia and Bulimia loop. Several of the Recovery Group Loops are in need of coordinators. I know that giving service by being a coordinator of a loop has added a lot to my own recovery and hope that you will consider this opportunity to give service. If you are interested in becoming a coordinator, please contact me at: the address below.
Respectfully submitted,

CherylS, Chair
The Recovery Group Loops Division

It's a privilege to sponsor someone. And it's one of the ways we stay in recovery.

WHAT DOES A SPONSOR DO?

• A sponsor's primary responsibility is to help a sponsee work the 12 Steps
• A sponsor helps us work the 12 Steps by providing explanation, guidance and encouragement.
• A sponsor helps us get established quickly in our Fellowship by explaining basic concepts and terminology and by introducing us to other members.
• A sponsor is a safe person whom we can learn to trust.
• A sponsor can answer the many questions that we can have as newcomers or develop as "mid-timers."
• A sponsor can help us in the process of self- examination that the Steps require.
• A sponsor encourages us to read the basic text of our fellowship and other program literature and to engage in Fellowship activities and service work.
• A sponsor can monitor our progress, confront us when it is appropriate and generally help us stay on the recovery path.
• A sponsor confronts our behavior, not our being, and he or she does it with compassion.
• A sponsor reminds us to apply 12 Step principles in our lives.
• A sponsor models the 12 Step program of recovery.
• A sponsor's role to encourage and guide us through the 12-steps

~ MEET Kirsti.~

Kirsti comes to us from down under (Australia) and is the mother of three beautiful daughters, ages 5, 4, and 1, who just celebrated her first birthday! :)

In addition to being a wife and mother, Kirsti is also a lawyer and singer in a jazz trio.

How did you find TRG, Kirsti?

" I had a friend on another support based website ... and we became friends. As our chats became more revealing, my friend recognized in me symptoms of overeating, and introduced me to TRG."

What was your experience like when you found the website and attended a meeting?

"Initially I thought that the meetings were definitely not for me. I was worried about the focus on religion. I come from a non-religious background, and therefore thought that without religion, or belief in a HP which is a fundamental premise of TRG, recovery would not come to me. "

"What a surprise. I have found my own HP, a fully supportive, and ever present HP and have commenced my journey.."

What was it about TRG that kept you coming back?

"The friendship and yet the anonymity (strange dichotomy I know). The ability to express the thoughts/fears/gratitude that are in my mind directly to others through the keyboard without filtering them to please others is liberating."

Are there any thoughts about your recovery that you would like to share?

"An important message to all those entering recovery, is to not make any life changing or important decisions in the first year of recovery. I am living proof of this. With abstinence and a connection with your HP comes a peace and serenity on occasions that I have not experienced before. For me, these feelings are interspersed with great feelings of rejection which have surfaced since becoming abstinent. Normally I would have eaten these feelings. Without food, I have turned to other ways to try and suppress the emotions, to stop me feeling and working through these emotions, without consciously realizing that I was trying to avoid myself yet again. It is important to recognise these sideways addictions and to put your recovery FIRST."

Our Second OA Newcomers Quarterly orientation of 2006 will be divided into four quarterly Orientation sessions led by twelve of TRG's most experienced Speakers; Trusted Servants who know how to convey in words the promises of what is to come for our newcomers. Each week will have a different orientation topic and the highlight of each quarter will be when the newcomers graduate and move on to a home loop - Journey to Recovery, OA Recovery or OA Friends.

"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed."

When I started my program, my purpose was very clear... I wanted to stop eating compulsively. I was one of the lucky ones who found abstinence early on. It felt wonderful. My life began to improve in many different areas. Even so, I continued working the steps, having realized that the cause of my disease was rooted in my thoughts and beliefs. If I were to quit working the steps, I could easily slip back into self-destructive mode.

Having found abstinence, however, suddenly made my purpose less clear. Was I to concentrate on meeting weight goals? Was I to concentrate on sorting out friendships and making amends? Was I to concentrate on rooting out character defects? Was I expected to work on everything all at once? It can seem a little confusing.

For myself, I try to use the program to create awareness and get me through one more day... and use that day to find something or do something that will empower me.

Joy and peace,
     Marilyn (Marils)

~ FROM THE TWELVE-STEP LITERATURE ~

~~ FROM THE AA BIG BOOK ~~

You say, "Yes, I'm willing. But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid,boring and glum, like some righteous people I see? I know I must get along without liquor,/coe but how can I? Have you a sufficient substitute?" Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous/OVEREATERS ANON There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead.

    c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 152
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

MY SHARE...

We have all thought these same thoughts, many times. If I don't get a chance to eat my favorite desserts, have any fun at all and not be able to eat with my friends, what is the purpose of living? It would be a very boring existence and make life dull and uninteresting!

This is one way (our old way), of looking at the problems facing us. How is my life now?? Am I happy being obese, not being able to wear any of my pretty clothes, being totally out of shape and unable to walk very much? If this is the way we want to live forever, then God bless us! There is a better way. OA and the Recovery Group shows us many tools to use to change these destructive habits into useful and healthy ones. We can still go out and eat with our friends. Just make better food choices, or as I've done when I knew I'd be too pressured, stay at home and feel like I succeeded at winning this time! It only takes three weeks to change our bad habits into good ones, we are told by the experts. I pray to my Higher Power to help me achieve this goal, One Day At A Time (ODAT). I do want a better life for myself!!

Many Blessings on your Path To Recovery,

    Myrlene (Big Book and Recovery Group Coordinator)