Gratitude in Action - Spring 2016
What is Gratitude in Action?
Gratitude in Action (GIA) is a free, quarterly email publication of the WSI 12th Step Committee, offering tools and resources within FA to inspire you to do service.
From the Traditions Review Committee (TRC)
FA meeting phone lists. An FA member contacted the TRC concerned that throwing out old FA meeting phone lists, rather than shredding them, could be inconsistent with the Tradition of anonymity.
TRC understood the concern but did not view the practice as inconsistent with the Traditions. It’s impossible to control or monitor how phone lists are disposed of. Each FA member is responsible for maintaining their own anonymity and may choose whether to add their contact information to the FA meeting phone lists. Those who are particularly concerned about their identity can use an unlisted phone number or unidentifiable email address (without their name). As a best practice, the TRC agreed that shredding unused phone lists would be ideal and the group might consider eliminating “FA” in the title of the phone list.
Spotlight on Service
FA Weblinks volunteers reach out from every geographic region of the world to make FA information available on non-FA websites at colleges, health centers, churches and other organizations. A new member in Australia learned about FA through googling “food addict help group” just last week.
The web is a powerful vehicle for reaching people who are not close to meetings. Mobile users make up almost half of our visitors. Last year alone, over 26,000 Internet users found the FA website by clicking on a link to www.foodaddicts.org That’s an increase of 4,150 over the previous year!
Consider posting the FA weblink in a classified ad in your local paper or events calendar, or contact your local college health or counseling center, church or workplace to see about posting a link in the appropriate webpage near the location where your local FA group meets.
This is great service! To get involved or to just get more info, send an email to weblinks@foodaddicts.org.
Experience, Strength & Hope through the Years
I feel useful and helpful
Shelving my issues to focus on helping another food addict rejuvenates both my spirit and me. I feel useful and helpful, and it brings me back to what is most important: program, family, job. Thank you, God, that I can be reminded of this daily.
(FA member, Massachusetts)
Service is slimming!
Service is slimming! That’s what I was told by someone when I first came into the rooms. I’ve learned over the years that the grace of giving back what I’ve been so graciously given comes with many other benefits than just helping me stay abstinent!
Before I had my 90 days, I started doing service by staying abstinent. Then, coming early to meetings to set up chairs, speaking to newcomers at the break and staying after to help put the room back together. Eventually, when I got my 90 days, I was encouraged to take on appropriate service positions at my meetings: being a greeter, doing the phone list, then treasurer and meeting secretary. I was never alone and didn’t have to figure it out by myself. I had a whole fellowship to guide and help me. When I moved on to doing service at Intergroup, I started out small: I showed up, offered my thoughts and tried to be gracious.
I recently took on a service position at Intergroup that was a real stretch for me in terms of time. I was told that there was nobody willing or able to do the job, so someone was better than no one (how humbling is that?) and that if I didn’t do things perfectly, nobody would get hurt. My sponsor guided me to set aside just 15 minutes a few days a week to do the work. She suggested I reach out to the committee chair to ask for help. She and I now have a committed call once every other week that keeps me on track and we meet before Intergroup to work together to get my tasks done. In the process, I’ve deepened a relationship with another fellow. I’ve seen character defects like perfectionism and people pleasing flare up, and then I get to talk about them and face them head on. Service is slimming, but it also gives me an opportunity to grow in my recovery.
(FA member, California)
Only in FA
- I totally got to sleep in today! I didn't have to wake up ‘til 5:15am. Woo-hoo!
- I accidentally told my husband, "Take it to quiet time.” Whoops!
- I'm so hard-core...my food scale goes to the 100th decimal place!
- It’s actually more terrifying imagining my food being taken away at airport security than my plane going down mid-flight.
- When I do think about my plane going down mid-flight, I always ask God if it could be after I have already had my weighed and measured meal.
Words to Live By
“But even faith is not the whole story. There must be service. We must give this thing away if we want to keep it. The Dead Sea has no outlet, and it is stagnant and full of salt. The Sea of Galilee is clear and clean and blue, as the Jordan River carries it out to irrigate the desert. To be of service to other people makes our lives worth living. Does service to others give me a real purpose in life?” (Twenty-Four Hours a Day, June 16)