Testaments

As our personal stories attest, the Twelve-Step program of recovery works as well for compulsive overeaters as it does for alcoholics. ~ Overeaters Anonymous, "Our Invitation to You"

A last will and testament...
evidence of the desires of a person.
surviving, taking effect, after death.
Testament, a word meaning proof,
evidence. The effect of having attested.
a formal certification.

That's what personal stories do —
sometimes around a table at a meeting
of two or three of four hundred people
of like mind, seeking recovery —
occasionally set out in a book,
an anthology of stories, the basic book,
the evidence of the effectiveness
of twelve steps, as apropos for gluttons
as for alcoholics — these are the core,
the heart, of the program. These stories
bound together in a volume touched me,
told my story, showed me the possibility
that still hope could bring peace, attain joy.

The words of those who went before,
living and dead, are the proof I needed
to find life, to set aside living death.

I sought professional help a third time, attempting to sort through my psychoses (my term, not a clinical diagnosis). Something this time was prodding and piercing my protective wall. The gift from my counselor of the second edition of the book Overeaters Anonymous finally cracked through it. ~ Slender Steps to Sanity - Twelve-Step Notes of Hope (Kindle Locations 88-90).