Program Slogans

Sobriety is a Journey, not a Destination

If God seems far away, Who moved?

We are only as sick as our Secrets

Identify don't Compare

Be part of the Solution, Not the Problem

Sponsors: Have one - Use one - Be one

Willingness is the Key

You either is -- or you ain't

Don't quit 5 Minutes before the Miracle Happens

Practice an Attitude of Gratitude

You are not Alone

When all else fails Follow Directions

Change is a Process, Not an Event

The Price for serenity and sanity is Self-sacrifice

Anger is but one letter away from DANGER

Bring the body and the Mind will follow

Accept your Admission

FEAR is the darkroom where Negatives are Developed

Backsliding begins when knee-bending stops

If I think, I won't eat. If I EAT, I can't think

Bend your knees before you bend your elbow

The First Step in overcoming mistakes is to ADMIT THEM

Formula for Failure: Try to please everyone

When your head begins to swell your mind stops growing

You received without cost, now give without charge

There is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem

We're responsible for the effort not the outcome

We in OA don't carry the compulsive overeater; We carry the Message. The results are in God's hands

When we get to the place where there's nothing left but God, we find that God is enough

How to give God a laugh? Tell her your plans.

I'm perfectly imperfect

Easy does it.

First things first.

Live and let live.

But for the grace of God.

Think think think.

One day at time.

Let go and let God.

Act as if.

This, too, shall pass.

Expect miracles.

I can't, He can, I think I'll let Him (Steps 1,2,3).

If it works, don't fix it.

Keep coming back, it works if you work it.

Keep on trudgin.'

Sobriety is a journey, not a destination.

Faith without works is dead.

Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink.

To thine own self be true.

I came; I came to; I came to believe (Steps 1,2,3).

Live in the NOW.

Turn it over.

Nothing is so bad, eating won't make it worse.

We are only as sick as our secrets.

There are no coincidences in O.A.

Be part of the solution, not the problem.

Sponsors: have one use one be one.

I can't handle it God; you take over.

Keep an open mind.

It works it really does! (page 88 in the Big Book)

Willingness is the key.

More will be revealed.

You will intuitively know.

You will be amazed.

No pain, no gain.

Go for it.

Do it abstinent.

Let it begin with me.

Just for today.

Pass it on.

It's in the book.

You either are or you aren't.

Before you say I can't, say I'll try.

Don't quit before the miracle happens.

Some of us are sicker than others.

We're all here because we're not all there.

Compulsive Overeating is an equal opportunity destroyer.

Practice an attitude of gratitude.

The road to abstinence is a simple journey for confused people with a complicated disease.

Another friend of Bill W.'s.

God is never late.

Have a good day, unless of course you have made other plans.

Decisions aren't forever.

It takes time.

90 meetings in 90 days.

You are not alone.

Where you go, there you are.

Don't drink, read the Big Book, and go to meetings.

Use the 24-hour plan.

Make use of the telephone therapy.

Stay abstinent for yourself.

Look for the similarities rather than differences.

Remember your last binge.

Remember that compulsive overeating is incurable, progressive, and fatal.

Try not to place conditions on your abstinence.

When all else fails, follow directions.

Count your blessings.

Share your happiness.

Respect the anonymity of others.

Share your pain.

Let go of old ideas.

Try to replace guilt with gratitude.

What goes around, comes around.

Change is a process, not an event.

Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth.

Call your sponsor before, not after, you take the first bite.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It's the first bite that gets you binging.

To keep it, you have to give it away.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity.

The price for serenity and sanity is self-sacrifice.

One compulsive overeater talking to another one equals one.

Take what you can use and leave the rest.

What if........

Yeah but.........

If only.........

Help is only a phone call away.

Around O.A. or in O.A.?

You can't give away what you don't have.

One bite is too many and thousand not enough.

Half measures availed us nothing.

Anger is but one letter away from danger.

Courage to change.

Easy does it, but DO it.

Bring the body and the mind will follow.

Accept your admission.

Remember when!

Tighten up (financially).

We O.A.'s are 'gifted' people.

There are 12 steps in the ladder of complete abstinence

Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed.

Before engaging your mouth, put your mind in gear.

I want what I want when I want it.

There is no chemical solution to a spiritual problem.

O.A. is not something you join, it's a way of life.

We can be positive that our overeating was negative.

Spirituality is the ability to get our minds off ourselves.

Faith is spelled a-c-t-i-o-n.

Take the mess to your sponsor, take the message to the meeting.

If I think, I won't drink. If I drink, I can't think.

Stay in the main tent, and out of the sideshow.

The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit them.

Formula for failure: try to please everyone.

Sorrow is looking back worry is looking around.

Willpower=our willingness to use a Higher Power.

O. A. is an education without graduation.

When your head begins to swell your mind stops growing.

A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with the first step.

G.O.D.=Good Orderly Direction.

Be as enthusiastic about O.A. as you were about your eating.

You received without cost, now give without charge.

Humility is our acceptance of ourselves.

Trying to pray is praying.

Get it ---give it---grow in it.

Faith is not belief without proof but trust without reservation.

We're responsible for the effort not the outcome.

This is a selfish program.

E.G.O.=Edging God Out.

Keep your abstinence first to make it last.

I overate: too much---too often---too long.

O.A. will work if you want it to work.

Minds are like parachutes----they won't work unless they're open.

What you hear and see here, stays here.

Compulsive overeating is the only disease that tells you you're all right.

If you turn it over and don't let go of it, you will be upside down.

An O.A. meeting is where losers get together to talk about their winnings.

O.A. is a school in which we are all learners and all teachers.

God taught us to laugh again but God please don't let us forget that we once cried.

Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid the storm.

O.A. may not solve all your problems but it is willing to share them.

It isn't the load that weighs us down------it's the way we carry it.

Principles before personalities

When you do all the talking you only learn what you already know.

The 7t's ---Take Time to Think The Thing Through.

There are none too dumb for the O.A. program but many are too smart.

We all have another binge left in us but we don't know if we have another recovery in us.

To be forgiven we must forgive.

When we surrender to our Higher Power, the journey begins.

The person with the most abstinence at a meeting is the one who got up earliest that morning.

Knowledge of the answers never made anyone slip---it was failing to practice the answers known.

H.A.L.T.=Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.

F.E.A.R.=Frustration, Ego, Anxiety, Resentment.

The 12 Steps tell us how it works; the 12 Traditions tell us why it works.

Without O.A., it's Amen.

If faith without works is dead; then willingness without action is fantasy.

When a person tries to control their overeating they have already lost control.

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

Seven days without an O.A. meeting makes one weak.

You are not required to like it, you're only required to DO it.

When wallowing in your self-pity, get off the cross, we need the wood.

In O.A. we don't carry the overeater; we carry the message.

The results are in God's hands.

We are not human beings having spiritual experiences; we are spiritual beings having human experiences.

Remember nothing is going to happen today that you and God can't handle.

Your Turn in the barrell.

Don't watch the slippers, watch those who don't slip...watch them go through difficulties and pull through.

If we knew which bite was going to cause a binge, we would stop just before it.

It's a shame we can't forget our troubles the same way we forget our blessings.

Be careful what you pray for; you're liable to get it.

The time to attend a meeting is when you least feel like going.

I've been abstinent and I've been a binger. Abstinent’s better.

O.A. is the highest priced club in the world. If you have paid the dues, why not enjoy the benefits?

The first step is the only step a person can work perfectly.

The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.

Your Big Book is your sponsor too.

O.A. never opened the gates of heaven to let me in, O.A. did open the gates of hell to let me out.

The only thing we take from this world when we leave is what we gave away.

Time wasted in getting even can never be used in getting ahead.

Some O.A.'s are so successful that they turn out to be almost as good as they used to think they were when they were overeating.

Abstinence delivers everything food promised.

Possibilities and miracles are one in the same.

Get out of the driver's seat and let God.

H.O.W.=Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

Taking others inventory (when you should be taking your own).

First we stayed abstinent because we have to...then we stay abstinent because we are willing to...then we stay abstinent because we want to.

Slogans are wisdom written in shorthand.

Active overeaters don't have relationships; they take hostages.

Everyday is a gift that's why we call it the present.

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

Every recovery from overeating began with one abstinent hour.

Each and every overeater, abstinent or not, teaches us valuable lessons about ourselves and recovery.

We had to quit playing God.

Don't compare---identify.

Don't intellectualize----utilize.

RULE 62: don't take yourself seriously.

O.A. has a wrench to fit every nut that walks through the door.

Living in the here and now.

How does one become an old-timer? Don't overeat and don't die.

O.A. spoils your overeating

Faith is our greatest gift; its sharing with others our greatest responsibility.

If you want to overeat, that is your business...if you want to quit and can't, that is O.A.'s business.

In a bar, we got sympathy-----as long as our money lasted. In A.A., we get understanding for nothing.

My worst day in abstinence is better than my best day suffering from a binge.

The elevator is broken-------use the Steps.

Let it begin with me.

When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book.

Trust God, clean house, help others.

Anonymity is so important it's half of our name.

If we don't grow, we gotta go.

All you need to start your own O.A. meeting is a resentment and a coffee pot.

Religion is for those who fear Hell, spirituality is for those who have been there.

Intolerance= Contempt, prior to investigation.

When you are a sponsor, you get out of yourself. If I serve, I will be served.

The O.A. way of life is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions.

The smartest thing an O.A. member can say is, help.

You are exactly where you are supposed to be.

God will never give you more than you can handle.

Slow but sure.

A coincidence is a miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous.

There is no such thing, as a bad meeting.

Give time time.

I can do something for 24 hours that would appall me if I had to keep it up for a LIFETIME.

The lesson I must learn is simply that my control is limited to my own behavior, my own attitudes.

O.A. works for people who believe in God. O.A. works for people who don't believe in God. O.A. NEVER works for people who believe they ARE God.

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problems at once. 

There are two days in every week which we have no control over----yesterday and tomorrow. Today is the only day we can change.

It is not the experience of today that drives people mad, it is remorse of yesterday and the dread of tomorrow.

A drug is a drug.

Pain is the touchstone of spiritual growth.

God has no grand kids.

There is a God and I'm not it.

The road to resentment is paved with expectation.

Be nice to newcomers one day they may be your sponsor.

Denial is not a river in Egypt, but you can drown in it.

Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving.

The flip side to forgiveness is resentments.

There is no magic in recovery only miracles.

Fear is the absences of faith.

Courage is faith that has said its prayers.

Depression is anger toward inward.

Compulsive overeaters heal from the outside in, but feel from the inside out.

3 A's in O.A.-----affection/attention/appreciation

If it is meant to be, I can't stop it. If it isn't God's will, I can't make it happen.

There are O.A. members who make things happen there are O.A. members who watch things happen there are O.A. members who DON'T KNOW anything happened

O.A. is the last stop on the train.

To be of maximum service to others.

We'll love you, until you learn to love yourself.

When you run out of quarters for your a--kicking machine, I've got an extra roll for you to use.

Try to be grateful and resentful at the same time, you can't serve two masters.

Write a gratitude list and count your blessings.

You can always tell a compulsive overeater, but you can't tell him much.

Faith chases away fear.

Take other people's inventory until you can take your own.

Pain before sobriety and pain before serenity.

Unity, recovery, and service.

If you want to hide something from a compulsive overeater, hide it in the Big Book, because that's where he'll find it.

Abstinence, then serenity.

Live life on life's terms.

When we couldn't dominate, control, or manipulate, we would ask for terms and conditions.

People who are wrapped up in themselves make a very small package indeed...

Death, insanity, or recovery.

We have a choice.

We don't get run over by the train, we get hit by the engine (1st. bite).

If you wonder if you're a compulsive overeater, you probably are.

I didn't get into trouble every time I drank, but every time I got in trouble I was drunk.

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over, and over again, expecting different results.

We are without defense against the first bite, our defense must come from a power greater than ourselves.

Success means getting your BUT out of the way.

Newcomer is someone with less than five years abstinence.

The easier softer way is one through twelve.

Don't work my program, or your program, work THE program.

If you want what we have and you're willing to go to any lengths to get it

Ask us how we did it, then do what we did.

Qualifications for me to help you, one) you have to need it, two) you have to want it, three) you have to ask for it, four) you have to ask me.

The compulsive overeater’s mind is like a bad neighborhood, don't go there alone.

Faith without works is dead.

Get to the meeting early and go to the meeting after the meeting.

The definition of a compulsive overeater; an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.

Cunning, baffling, powerful, and patient.

When the pain of staying abstinent becomes less than the pain of binging, you'll stay abstinent.

None of us came here on a winning streak.

The farther I get from my last binge, the closer I get to my next binge.

This, too, shall pass.

Where do I find abstinence? Twelve steps past any lengths.

How does it work? It works just fine.

If you hang around the barber shop long enough, you'll get a haircut.

Once a compulsive overeater, always a compulsive overeater.

I might have another binge left in me, but do I have another recovery?

Short version of the Serenity Prayer: Lighten up.

You don't have to wait till the basement to get off the down elevator.

Those that don't go to meetings aren't present to find out what happen to them what doesn't go to meetings.

F.E.A.R.= False Evidence Appearing Real.

F.E.A.R.=False Expectations Appearing Real.

F.E.A.R=Face Everything and Recover.

In O.A. I get an owner's manual to go with my new life.

N.U.T.S.=Not Using the Steps

Y.E.T.=You eventually, too

First things first

If you can't remember your last binge, maybe you haven't had it.

If you want to stay sober, make the coffee.

If you fly with crows, you get shot at.

Analysis is paralysis.

O.A. isn't a religion, we can't open the gates of Heaven and let you in, but we can open the gates of Hell and let you out.

I got sick of being sick and tired.

It's easy to talk the talk, but you have to walk the walk.

Life starts when you stop.

You have to give it away in order to keep it.

Fake it till you make it.

It's a selfish program.

Today there's still a monkey on my back. He's just sleeping. He's real easy to wake up.

Fear alone won't keep me sober, but for a newcomer, it's not a bad place to start.

I've been here a few 24 hours.

H.I.T.-Hang In There.

You have to go to these meetings until you want to.

Don't let unpleasant people rent space in your head.

Daniel didn't go back to the lion's den to get his hat.

If you stick with the bunch, you'll get peeled.

It gets better.

The doors swing both ways.

You have to put in the time.

Try it for 90 days, and if you don't like it, we'll gladly refund your misery.

Some people eat normally, and I normally eat.

A slip is a premeditated binge.

O.A. is the easier, softer way.

Go to meetings when you want to, and go to meetings when you don’t want to.

It's been a good meeting so far.

None of us got here from eating too much lettuce.

We have a disease that tells us we don't have a disease.

We have a living problem, not a eating problem.

We have a thinking problem, not an eating problem.

If you don't want to slip, stay away from slippery places.

Pain is the touchstone of progress.

My daily abstinence is contingent on my spiritual condition.

Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, only today is cash in the bank.

F.A.I.T.H.: Fantastic Adventure in Trusting Him.

Sorrow shared is halved; joy shared is doubled.

There is pain in recovery. Misery is optional.

Lead us not into temptation. I can find it myself.

A treatment center is where you go and pay $15,000 to find out that O.A. meetings are free.

Ask an overeater what time it is and he'll tell you how to build a clock.

Please be patient---God isn't finished with me yet.

I am unique, just like everybody else.

Reality is for people who can't handle drugs.

My best friend became my worst enemy.

When my insides match my outside, I'm practicing a good program.

Today I soak up O.A. the way I used to soak up food.

When I binged, I was committing suicide on the installment plan.

My Higher Power was: To Whom It May Concern.

My first Higher Power was Howard, as in Our Father, who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name.

Chairman at meeting asks: Anybody from out of town? Out of state? Out of their minds?

A winner is a loser who keeps trying.

I don't always know what God's will is for me, but I always know what it's not.

I didn't get abstinent to be miserable.

I didn't experiment with food. I was in advanced research and development.

Are you walking towards a binge or away from one?

God could and would if He were sought.

I love you, God loves you, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Today I have more solutions than problems.

If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.

I did my drinking from Park Avenue to park bench.

Don't go in your head alone. It's a dangerous neighborhood.

With a stomach full of O.A., you won't have room for a binge foods.

Listen like only the dying can.

If your ass falls off, put it in a paper bag and take it to a meeting.

There's safety in numbers. One through twelve.

An ounce of prevention is worth a gallon of relapse.

My disease is doing pushups, getting stronger--just waiting for me to slip.

O.A. is a simple program for complicated people.

My best thinking got me here.

I am a walking miracle.

Don't romance the food.

When I start wondering if everything's okay, it's probably not.

If hanging around O.A. doesn't work, try hanging out inside O.A.

Before I got into O.A., I was dying for a bite.

God grant me patience. Right now.

My sponsor says I'm trying. Very trying.

20/20: Come 20 minutes before the meeting, stay 20 minutes after.

Don't try to clear away the wreckage of the future.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

You can't speed up your recovery, but you sure can slow it down.

Every bite I ate got me here. Every bite I don't eat keeps me here.

It takes time to get your brains out of hock.

People who think they know it all are very irritating to those of us who do.

Don't binge or use between breaths.

Always remember the insanity...Be thankful for the pain...But most of all be thankful for the days that remain.

Three suggestions for making an O.A. speech: 1).BE INTERESTING 2).BE BRIEF 3).BE SEATED

The A.A. Paradoxes:
---From weakness (adversity) comes strength.
---We forgive to be forgiven. 
---We give it away to keep it.
---We suffer to get well.
---We surrender to win.
---We die to live.
---From darkness comes light.
---From dependence we found independence.