World Service Convention (WSC)
2013

Notes by Stephanie, our Virtual Trustee

At the WSC there were many powerful stories including experiences of great hardship, turmoil and despair AND members chose their recovery to lean on and NOT the food.  Members from all around the World with 20+, 30+ and 40+ years of abstinence shared their experience, hope and strength.  Here are some snippets from this year’s WSC.

  • “In order to refrain from compulsive overeating, you need to refrain from compulsive overeating. Don’t take the first bite.”
  • “Service is gratitude put into action.”
  • In adversity I lean on God but when life is back to ordinary… it’s easy to forget.
  • “I stay in the middle of the pack – the wolves get you when you are on the outskirts!”
  • “My best thinking may not be leading me to the solution.”
  • “I’m a guardian of the Traditions.”
  • “When I suffer from an unforgiving spirit, I will ponder an issue, which leads to resentment; growing the feeling of anger, re-living the injury as if it had just happened; that will fester until it becomes bitterness.”
  • ”Every day I have to go to the power source”
  • “If I just talk the talk then I keep the wall up, and people can’t get past.”
  • “Sharp tools make strong steps”
  • “I want my carry-on baggage to be of the spiritual type, I don’t want to leave it unattended.”
  • “I do not need to manage everything, God is the director.”
  • “Un-forgiveness is the poison we prepare for another but we drink ourselves…”
  • “I was supposed to do it with you… not alone.”
  • “I am a bigot, I don’t eat anything white!”
  • “I don’t use food for anything other than to nourish me.”
  • “Okay God what are we going to do today?”
  • “You have to experience abstinence to believe it”
  • “I am the power of example of OA.”
  • Looking for God incidences…
  • “If I put the programme first I’ll get a first get a first-class programme.”
  • “I am a sponge, if I’m full; I am not able to absorb new information.”
  • “Okay God what are we going to do today?”
  • “Does my course of action sound reasonable, does it pass the test of sportsmanship and unity. How will it affect others? “
  • “If not now, when?”
  • “It takes a village/fellowship to flourish in recovery; my life depends on that village/fellowship.”
  • H.O.P.E. = Hearings Other Peoples’ Experience
  • “If I rest on my laurels, my laurels are likely to get bigger!”
  • “I became humble when I couldn’t remember to keep God central in my life.”
  • “If you work all of OA’s 12 Steps you cannot fail to recover.”
  • “Gratitude improves my conscious contact.”
  • “How far are you willing to go?”
  • “I needed to take the abundance out of my mouth to get abundance in life.”
  • “God is good, I was stubborn.” B.I.N.G.E. = Because I’m Not Good Enough
  • “Protect, preserve and cherish your program… And you will flourish.”
  • “Fellowship is wonderful but if we want to keep our abstinence we need to work the steps.”
  • “If I want to be neutral with my food I need to become neutral with my past. “
  • “I thought recovery was going to be a noun. It turns out that it’s a verb! If I’m not active, it’s not recovery. “
  • “I, a last minute fill in, had to co-lead the writing workshop on sex & harm (the only session I was not interested in going to – of course, all is planned by Him). so… I learned from all the shares (and mine) that I must be more honest with my husband about my wants and needs. To be direct. Not to be shy. It’s working!”