Media Category: Step Work

Introduction

“Our way of life, based on these Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, has brought us physical, emotional and spiritual healing that we don’t hesitate to call miraculous. What works for us will work for you too.” —read the full Introduction to the Twelve Steps.

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

---

Spiritual Principles in the Twelve Steps

A spiritual principle is associated with each of the Twelve Steps.

Listen to these podcasts to learn more:

• The Importance of Working all 12 Steps
• In All Our Affairs
• How and Why does a 12-Step Program Work for Compulsive Eating

For an in-depth study of the Twelve Steps, read The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition available from our bookstore.

As we work the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program of recovery from compulsive eating, we have a number of Tools to assist us. We use these Tools—a plan of eating, sponsorship, meetings, telephone, writing, literature, action plan, anonymity, and service—on a regular basis, to help us achieve and maintain abstinence and recovery from our disease.

A Plan of Eating

As a Tool, a plan of eating helps us abstain from compulsive eating, guides us in our dietary decisions, and defines what, when, how, where, and why we eat. (See the pamphlet A New Plan of Eating for more information.) This Tool helps us deal with the physical aspects of our disease and achieve physical recovery.

Sponsorship

We ask a sponsor to help us through all three levels of our program of recovery: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Find a sponsor who has what you want and ask that person how they are achieving it.

Meetings

Meetings give us an opportunity to identify our common problem, confirm our common solution, and share the gifts we receive through this Twelve Step program. In addition to face-to-face meetings, OA offers telephone and other types of virtual meetings that are useful in breaking through the deadly isolation caused by distance, illness, or physical challenges.

Telephone

Many members call, text, or email their sponsors and other OA members daily. Telephone or electronic contact also provides an immediate outlet for those hard-to-handle highs and lows we may experience.

Writing

Putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper, or describing a troubling or joyous incident, helps us better understand our actions and reactions in a way that is often not revealed by simply thinking or talking about them.

Literature

We read OA-approved literature, which includes numerous books, study guides, pamphlets, wallet cards, and selected Alcoholics Anonymous texts. All this material provides insight into our disease and the experience, strength, and hope that there is a solution for us.

Action Plan

Creating an action plan is the process of identifying and implementing attainable actions to support our individual abstinence and emotional, spiritual, and physical recovery. This Tool, like our plan of eating, may vary widely among members and may need to be adjusted as we progress in our recovery.

Anonymity

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities (Tradition Twelve). Anonymity assures us that only we, as individual OA members, have the right to make our membership known to others. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television, and other public media of communication means that we never allow our faces or last names to be used once we identify ourselves as OA members (Tradition Eleven). Within the Fellowship, anonymity means that whatever we share with another OA member will be respected and kept confidential. What we hear at meetings should remain there.

Service

Any form of service—no matter how small—that helps reach a fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own recovery. Members who are new to OA can give service by attending meetings, sharing, and putting away chairs. All members can also give service by putting out literature, welcoming newcomers, hosting a virtual meeting, or doing whatever is needed to help the group. Members who meet specified requirements can give service beyond the group level by serving at the intergroup, service board, region, or world service level.

As OA’s Responsibility Pledge states: “Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this I am responsible.”

See the full Tools of Recovery pamphlet for more information.

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

---

OA Board-approved
©1989 … 2011 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 6/2022.
#512

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

The Spiritual Principles of the OA Program

The Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of OA Service have Principles related to them. They are listed here:

The Principles in the Twelve Steps

(as listed in Step Twelve of The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition)

• Step One: Honesty
• Step Two: Hope
• Step Three: Faith
• Step Four: Courage
• Step Five: Integrity
• Step Six: Willingness
• Step Seven: Humility
• Step Eight: Self-discipline
• Step Nine: Love
• Step Ten: Perseverance
• Step Eleven: Spiritual Awareness
• Step Twelve: Service

The Principles in the Twelve Traditions

(as listed in the The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition)

• Tradition One: Unity
• Tradition Two: Trust
• Tradition Three: Identity
• Tradition Four: Autonomy
• Tradition Five: Purpose
• Tradition Six: Solidarity
• Tradition Seven: Responsibility
• Tradition Eight: Fellowship
• Tradition Nine: Structure
• Tradition Ten: Neutrality
• Tradition Eleven: Anonymity
• Tradition Twelve: Spirituality

The Principles in the Twelve Concepts of OA Service

(as listed in The Twelve Concepts of OA Service)

• Concept One: Unity
• Concept Two: Conscience
• Concept Three: Trust
• Concept Four: Equality
• Concept Five: Consideration
• Concept Six: Responsibility
• Concept Seven: Balance
• Concept Eight: Delegation
• Concept Nine: Ability
• Concept Ten: Clarity
• Concept Eleven: Humility
• Concept Twelve: Guidelines
  • (a) Selflessness
  • (b) Realism
  • (c) Representation
  • (d) Dialogue
  • (e) Compassion
  • (f) Respect

Blessed Beyond Anything

“Having worked the Twelve Steps, what did I learn about the Principles?

Honesty. I learned to look truthfully at ugly things that I am powerless over yet make my life unmanageable.  It takes honest vision to fully understand there is a problem and that I have no way to solve it myself.

Hope. I came to believe I can have a relationship with a Higher Power who can do things for me that I can’t and that I can be restored to sanity.  There is hope that the painful parts of my life can change and that HP has a better plan for me.