From the Past Chair of MBI:
First I want to thank everyone on the MBI Board for all of your support and hard work during my two terms as the Chair of the Board.
Secondly I want to put a plug in for service at the next level. When I was first approached by a fellow Board member to serve as Chair I thought “I can’t do that” “It will be too hard” etc. I know that voice well as it is the “stinking thinking” of FEAR! I think these stops many of us from taking on various service positions, whether at the group level or on the Intergroup level. However, as I did my step work, I recognized the old thinking and realized, yes I could do the job. This is true of all service positions because this is not a “me” program, but a “we” program, and I have been taught to ask, “What if you trusted and relied on your HP?” I am so happy that I didn’t listen to that negative voice. I had a great group of folks on the Board and we accomplished much of what we set out to do. Without service we wouldn’t have a program and we would not have been blessed with the gifts of this program. I would probably be dead. When I was approached to be on the Region 6 Board as Secretary, I put it to my HP and said yes! Is it daunting? Is it scary? Yes, but again, I’m not alone, and in our recovery program we are supported always. I must remember to always trust and rely on my HP. So, attend a business meeting and when they ask to fill the service positions… say yes! If we do not do this at group level, then we will be unable to support meetings thus no longer have meetings. If there are no meetings, there will be no Intergroups, or Regions or World Service. Finally, there will be no place for the struggling compulsive eater/food addict to get well. Why would I ever deny someone the precious gift I have been given?
Blessings, Bobbie M.
From the Incoming MBI Chair to OAMBI
Happy New Year! I am the new Chair of our intergroup. I am so happy to be looking forward to another year with our intergroup, only this time as Chair. I have served as Recording Secretary since 2018. I have been in the Boston area since 2007 and been a member of OA here since 2008. I originally started in OA in Mesa AZ in 1986. I had been in and out of OA twice before moving here.
When I moved to Massachusetts and started going to 90 day meetings I got new inspiration. I started going to the MBI intergroup meetings. I’ve never been a business meetings type person, but I found I enjoyed meeting and working with members who were from other meetings. After years of going for 6 month commitments, I was asked to be the corresponding secretary. That turned out to be only a little hard. Then I went to the Region 6 Assembly in Albany and found that it was also doable. I went to the World Service Conference in Albuquerque three times. I gradually realized I liked doing this service, was capable of doing it, and that it actually helped me to work the program.
I got to go to Akron Ohio to visit the AA founder’s sites. I believe that the history that started with a few people in 1935 is now being carried on by all the 12 Step programs and the international, national, regional, and local service bodies. I feel the wonderful unity of the 12 Steps, OA, and the fellowship.
In service, Paulina S
*************************************
Disclosure: Personal stories express the experience, strength, and hope of the individual member and not of OA as a whole.