Member Submission: Body Image

The following is a member submitted story from “Grateful Upper West Sider.” If you would like to submit a piece of writing to be published on our website and in our newsletter, please contact: publications@oanyc.org.

Too often we look to fashion magazines for health information, which is wrong, but not simply the mistake of compulsive overeaters. Much of the Hollywood-loving universe has bought into this collective insanity.

I’ve had four significant relationships in my life. All of my boyfriends/husbands thought my body was just fine. I’m the one who always thought I was imperfect, and hid in the dark, even though I really love sex.

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Meeting Spotlight: Friday Brooklyn Heights @6:15pm

The following is a Meeting Spotlight from Mary Ann F. If you would like to submit an article for our website or newsletter, please contact: publications@oanyc.org.

I am spotlighting one of the meetings I go to regularly, perhaps the one I go to more often than any other. It is the Friday night 6:15pm meeting at the Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights. What I really like about it is that it is a step meeting. We read one of the 12 steps from the OA Twelve and Twelve or the AA Twelve and Twelve every week which means we do quite a few steps. It keeps the steps in front of me. Although I have done the steps with my sponsor twice, the constant reminder is good.

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Member submission: Our Loss is Our Reminder

The following is a member submitted story from Lauren L. If you would like to submit a piece of writing to be published on our website and in our newsletter, please contact: publications@oanyc.org.

She was not my sponsor. I wouldn’t have described our relationship as very intimate. Still, the news of her passing was devastating. I didn’t understand my own response. Didn’t feel entitled to the grief I felt.

Chris was a fellow in the Brooklyn Heights community for over 30 years. I saw her two or three times a week, for the two years I’ve been in program; more than I see my closest friends. I sometimes called her when I had a question that concerned a tradition. I often drove her home from evening meetings, especially in the winter, and during those short rides I got to know her a bit.

She passed away on a Wednesday, which is the day of one of our regular meetings together. At the top of that meeting, we took a group conscience to decide whether it was appropriate for one fellow to read the emails that lay out some of the details of Chris’s accident, and her subsequent untimely death. There was some conversation about whether this would honor the 10th tradition. In the end (there were no newcomers in the room) we decided it would be safe.

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Revised OA Preamble For Your Meetings

At the annual World Service Business Conference held in April in New Mexico the delegates approved a revised version of the OA Preamble. Please download (link below), print, and bring to your meetings to replace the old one being used in your meeting format.

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope are recovering from compulsive overeating.

We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues.

Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

OA Preamble – Adopted at WSBC, April 2015 (.pdf)

The revision is shown above in red with underline.

Show Your Intergroup Some Love

GREATER NEW YORK METRO INTERGROUP is the service body which provides this website, prints meeting lists, sponsors local events and more…

FACT: Greater New York Metro Intergroup has about 100 meetings listed with World Service, but only about 30% send a representative to the monthly Intergroup meeting.

MAKE SURE YOUR MEETING HAS AN INTERGROUP REPRESENTATIVE
IG Reps attend the monthly intergroup meetings (2nd Thursday of each month) where they participate in discussions, and vote on decisions about how the intergroup is run and hear announcements about the NYC-area meetings and fellowship. Full participation from all meetings means a more unified and robust governing body, which means a stronger NYC-area fellowship, which means more recovery for everyone! IG Rep should be one of your meeting’s service positions with either a 3-month or 6-month term.

FACT: One out of every three meetings in New York City contributes nothing to Intergroup.

DONATE TO YOUR INTERGROUP
Your meeting donations go towards the important task of running the intergroup. IG donations goes towards critical things such as: outreach (both in and out of the program), maintaining this website, printing of meeting lists and the Metro Memo, plus much more. Donations of any size are welcome. The best way to donate is online (click on the “contributions” tab above and you will see instructions).

FACT: Meetings which do not have current meeting contact information with World Service risk being removed from the meeting list.

MAINTAIN A CURRENT MEETING CONTACT
This one is especially important for the newcomer. Each meeting has a contact name and phone number listed on oa.org, and this is often how newcomers get info about going to their first meeting. To see who your current contact is, go to the World Service website (oa.org), click on “Meetings” and then “Find a Meeting,” search for your meeting and then click “Open Details.” Your contact should have a working phone number and be willing to return calls with questions about the meeting in a timely manner. To change your meetings contact information, simply select “Edit a Meeting” in the “Meetings” menu and update the information. Groups without a current conact are at risk for being removed from the NYC and World Service meeting lists without notification.