I wrote the following for a group I am involved with. I think it belongs here also.
When
I was a little girl, my grandparents would take the entire family to
restaurants in Chinatown (NYC). Everyone would get menus to pick the
food that they wanted but it wasn't really up to us.
My grandfather did the real ordering. The menu was made up of two columns, A & B. Based on the number of people at the table, you chose the number of dishes from each column. I imagine 8 people meant 3 from one column and 5 from the other column.
When all those plates of steaming food arrived, you were given some of everything and the plates were shared all around. I can't remember having been there once I hit my preteens but it is a solid memory. Those dinners were a lot of fun, even when it was just my grandparents and I. I was the first born grandchild, the only girl and their favorite.
After dinner, we walked around Chinatown looking at all the different things. We finished with ice cream in a place they always went to.
(Why is it that all my memories involve food?)
One of my favorite parts of OA and the 12 Step Programs, is the quotes and sayings. My favorite one is " Take what you like and leave the rest."
Everyone is different and OA allows us to choose what we like from column A and what we need from column B. There are basic parts of the programs that are for everyone, such as your Higher Power. However, even that is open for you to decide.
Your Higher Power can be anyone or anything- even your cat! If you were involved with Lamaze classes at anytime, you were taught to choose a focal point such as an baseball or a photo of your first born child. You practiced with this focal point so that you were used to using it when the pains of child birth came along. It was a habit to let it go and breathe with your focal point.
We do the same. We practice 'speaking' to our focal point. We read about letting it go and handing it over to our baseball. This is all practice for the night you are at your mother in law's holiday dinner and she serves your favorite food and gives you a lecture on your least favorite subject. You listen with a pasted on smile and inwardly focus on your higher power while she speaks and you put your fork down. When she is done, you may not wonder why you ask your father in law who won last night's baseball game. Your Higher Power has joined you at the table, and only a reasonable meal is eaten.
We are growing and one day a time, we are healing. We are stronger every day because we choose not to do this ourselves.
We give it over to our Higher Power and we share with new friends walking the same roads we travel.
We take what we like and leave the rest.
#OA, #wls, #weightloss, #diet, #higherpower, #takewhatyoulike, #onedayatatime, #proteindiet, #12stepprogram
My grandfather did the real ordering. The menu was made up of two columns, A & B. Based on the number of people at the table, you chose the number of dishes from each column. I imagine 8 people meant 3 from one column and 5 from the other column.
When all those plates of steaming food arrived, you were given some of everything and the plates were shared all around. I can't remember having been there once I hit my preteens but it is a solid memory. Those dinners were a lot of fun, even when it was just my grandparents and I. I was the first born grandchild, the only girl and their favorite.
After dinner, we walked around Chinatown looking at all the different things. We finished with ice cream in a place they always went to.
(Why is it that all my memories involve food?)
One of my favorite parts of OA and the 12 Step Programs, is the quotes and sayings. My favorite one is " Take what you like and leave the rest."
Everyone is different and OA allows us to choose what we like from column A and what we need from column B. There are basic parts of the programs that are for everyone, such as your Higher Power. However, even that is open for you to decide.
Your Higher Power can be anyone or anything- even your cat! If you were involved with Lamaze classes at anytime, you were taught to choose a focal point such as an baseball or a photo of your first born child. You practiced with this focal point so that you were used to using it when the pains of child birth came along. It was a habit to let it go and breathe with your focal point.
We do the same. We practice 'speaking' to our focal point. We read about letting it go and handing it over to our baseball. This is all practice for the night you are at your mother in law's holiday dinner and she serves your favorite food and gives you a lecture on your least favorite subject. You listen with a pasted on smile and inwardly focus on your higher power while she speaks and you put your fork down. When she is done, you may not wonder why you ask your father in law who won last night's baseball game. Your Higher Power has joined you at the table, and only a reasonable meal is eaten.
We are growing and one day a time, we are healing. We are stronger every day because we choose not to do this ourselves.
We give it over to our Higher Power and we share with new friends walking the same roads we travel.
We take what we like and leave the rest.
#OA, #wls, #weightloss, #diet, #higherpower, #takewhatyoulike, #onedayatatime, #proteindiet, #12stepprogram