Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group
Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...
Good Afternoon Folks
Took me awhile to figure out how to get back into the site.
I am not computer wise.But am back and I am going to start
posting the GA Reflection for the Day again and hope to catch
up with my old recovery friends and to meet some new people.
If you are interested I visit a new site called Gamtalk that is run
out of Montreal Canada and it has 24/7 chat room and on Friday
at 3pm est we have a group Topic Session.Today's topic is Step 9.
God Bless
Ken L GRCG
March 22 Reflection for the Day
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking perhaps things werent quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God, as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?
Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us and through others who have found new life in the GA Program it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists.
Today I will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.
Took me awhile to figure out how to get back into the site.
I am not computer wise.But am back and I am going to start
posting the GA Reflection for the Day again and hope to catch
up with my old recovery friends and to meet some new people.
If you are interested I visit a new site called Gamtalk that is run
out of Montreal Canada and it has 24/7 chat room and on Friday
at 3pm est we have a group Topic Session.Today's topic is Step 9.
God Bless
Ken L GRCG
March 22 Reflection for the Day
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking perhaps things werent quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God, as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?
Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us and through others who have found new life in the GA Program it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists.
Today I will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.
Over and over, I see that those who make the best and steadiest progress in the Gamblers Anonymous Program of Recovery are those who readily accept the help of a Higher Power. Once they can do that, its easier for them to get out of their own way. Their problems then seem to resolve themselves in a way that is beyond human understanding.
Do I realize that the effectiveness with which I use the consciousness of God in my daily life depends not on Him, but on me?
Today I Pray
May I know that my recovery and growth depends on my being in touch with my Higher Power, not just once in a while, but always. It means turning to that Power several times a day to ask for strength and knowledge of His will. When I understand that my own life is part of a Higher Plan, I will be less apt to trip and fall, head off in the wrong direction, or just to sit tight and let life pass me by.
Today I Will Remember
To be God-conscious.
We learn the value of meditation in the Gamblers Anonymous Program. As the beginning of the Eleventh Step suggests, we sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious with God as we understood Him. One of the great values of meditation is that it clears the mind. And as the mind becomes clearer, it becomes more capable and willing to acknowledge the truth. Less pain is required to force honest recognition of defects and their results. The real needs of the whole person are revealed.
Are prayer and meditation a regular part of my daily living?
Today I Pray
May God's truths be revealed to me through meditation and these small prayers, through contact with my group, which keeps me mindful of my need to clear my mind with daily meditation. For only an uncluttered mind can receive God, and only a mind cleansed of self-interest can acknowledged the truth.
Today I Will Remember
Meditation is a mind-cleanser.
The feeling of self-pity, which we've all felt at one time or another, is one of the ugliest emotions we can experience. We don't even relish the thought of admitting to others that we're awash in self-pity. We hate being told that it shows; we quickly argue that we're feeling another emotion instead; we go so far as to hide - cleverly - from ourselves the fact that we're going through siege of "poormeism." By the same token, in a split-second we can easily find several dozen "valid" reasons for feeling sorry for ourselves.
Do I sometimes enjoy rubbing salt into my own wounds?
Today I Pray
May I recognize the emotions I am feeling for what they are. If I am unable to point them out to myself, may I count on others who know what it's like to be a feelings stuffer. May I stay in touch with my feelings by staying in touch with my Higher Power and with the others in my group.
Today I Will Remember
Stay in touch.
When we first come to Gamblers Anonymous, the most common variety of self-pity begins: "Poor me! Why can't I just gamble now and then, like everybody else? Why me?"
Such bemoaning, if allowed to persist, is a surefire invitation for a long walk off a short pier - right back to the mess we were in before we came to GA. When we stick around this Program for a while, we discover that it's not just "me" at all; we become involved with people, from all walks of life, who are in exactly the same boat.
Am I losing interest in my comfortably familiar "pity pot"?
Today I Pray
When self-pity has me droopy and inert, may I look up, look around, and perk up. Self-pity, God's wills vanishes in the light of other people's shared troubles. May I always wish for friends honest enough to confront me if they see me digging my way back down into my old pity pit.
Today I Will Remember
Turn self-involvement into involvement.
One of the most serious consequences of the me-me-me syndrome is that we lose touch with practically everyone around us - not to mention reality itself. The essence of self-pity is total self-absorption, and it feeds on itself. Rather than ignore such an emotional state - or deny that we're in it - we need to pull out of our self-absorption, stand back, and take a good honest look at ourselves. Once we recognize self-pity for what it is, we can begin to do something about it.
Am I living in the problem rather than the answer?
Today I Pray
I pray that my preoccupation with self, which is wound up tight as a Maypole, may unwind itself and let its streamers fly again for others to catch and hold. May the thin, familiar wail of me-me-me become a chorus of us-us-us, as we in the Fellowship pick apart our self-fullness and look at it together.
Today I Will Remember
Change me-me-me to us-us-us.
Self-pity is one of the most miserable and consuming deflects I know. Because of its interminable demands for attention and sympathy, my self-pity cuts off my communication with others, especially communication with my Higher Power. When I look at it that way, I realize that self-pity limits my spiritual progress. It's also a very real form of martyrdom, which is a luxury I simply can't afford. The remedy, I've been taught, is to have hard look at myself and a still harder one at the Gambler's Anonymous Program's Twelve Steps to Recovery.Do I ask my Higher Power to relieve me of the bondage to self?
Today I Pray
May I know from observation that self-pitiers get almost no pity from anyone else. Nobody - not even God - can fill their outsized demands for sympathy. May I recognize my own unsavory feeling of self-pity when it creeps in to rob me of my serenity. May God keep me wary of its sneakiness.
Today I Will Remember
My captor is my self.
When I begin to compare my life with the lives of others, I've begun to move toward the edge of the murky swamp of self-pity. On the other hand, if I feel that what I'm doing is right and good, I won't be so dependent on the admiration or approval of others. Applause is well and good, but it's not essential to my inner contentment. I'm in the Gamblers Anonymous Program to get rid of self-pity, not to increase its power to destroy me.
Am I learning how others have dealt with their problems, so I can apply these lessons to my own life?
Today I Pray
God, make me ever mindful of where I came from and the new goals I have been encouraged to set. May I stop playing to an audience for their approval, since I am fully capable of admiring or applauding myself if I feel I have earned it. Help me make myself attractive from the inside, so it will show through, rather than adorning the outside for effect. I am tired of stage make-up and costumes, God; help me be myself.
Today I Will Remember
Has anyone seen ME?
The Twelve Steps were designed specifically for people like us - as a short cut to God. The Steps are very much like strong medicine that can heal us of the sickness of despair, frustration, and self-pity. Yet we're sometimes unwilling to use the Steps. Why? Perhaps because we have a deep-down desire for martyrdom. Consciously and intellectually, we think we want help on a gut level, though, some hidden sense of guilt makes us crave punishment more than relief from our ills.
Can I try to be cheerful when everything seems to be leading me to despair? Do I realize that despair is very often a mask for self-pity?
Today I Pray
May I pull out the secret guilt inside that makes me want to punish myself. May I probe my despair and discover whether it is really an imposter - self-pity with a mask on. Now that I know that the Twelve Steps can bring relief, may I please use them instead of wallowing in my discomforts.
Today I Will Remember
The Twelve Steps are God's stairway.
One of the best ways to get out of the self-pity trap is to do some "instant bookkeeping." For every entry of misery on the debit side of our ledger, we can surely find a blessing to mark on the credit side: the health we enjoy, the illnesses we dont have, the friends who love us and who allow us to love them, a clean twenty-four hours, a good days work. If we only try, we can easily list a whole string of credits that will far outweigh the debit entries that bring about self-pity.
Is my emotional balance on the credit side today?
Today I Pray
May I learn to sort out my debits and credits, and add it all up. May I list my several blessings on the credit side. May my ledger show me, when all is totaled, a fat fund of good things to draw on.
Today I Will Remember
I have blessings in my savings.
Among the important things we learn in Gamblers Anonymous is to be good to ourselves. For so many of us, though, this is a surprisingly difficult thing to do. Some of us relish our suffering so much that we balloon each happening to enormous proportions in the reliving and telling. Self-pitiers are drawn to martyrdom as if by a powerful magnet - until the joys of serenity and contentment come to them through the GA Program and Twelve Steps.
Am I gradually learning to be myself?
Today I Pray
May I learn to forgive myself. I have asked - and received - forgiveness from God and from others, so why is it so hard to forgive myself? Why do I still magnify my suffering? Why do I go on licking my emotional wounds? May I follow Gods forgiving example, get on with the Program, and learn to be good to myself.
Today I Will Remember
Martyrdom; martyr dumb.
Sometimes through bitter experience and painful lessons, we learn in our fellowship with others in Gamblers Anonymous that resentment is our number one enemy. It destroys more of us than anything else. From resentment stem all forms of spiritual disease, for weve been not only mentally and physically ill, but spiritually ill as well. As we recover and as our spiritual illness is remedied, we become well physically and mentally.
Am I aware that few things are more bitter than to feel bitter? Do I see that my venom is more poisonous to me than to my victim?
Today I Pray
I ask for help in removing the pile of resentments I have collected. May I learn that resentments are play-actors, too; they may be fears - losing a job, a love, an opportunity; they may be hurts or guilty feelings. May I know that God is my healer. May I admit my need.
Today I Will Remember
Resentments are rubbish; haul them away.
What can we do about our resentments? Experience has shown that the best thing to do is to write them down, listing people, institutions, or principles that are objects of our anger or resentment. When I write down my resentments and then ask myself why Im resentful, Ive discovered that in most cases my self-esteem, my finances, my ambitions, or my personal relationships have been hurt or threatened.
Will I ever learn that the worst thing about my resentments is my endless rehearsal of my acts of retribution?
Today I Pray
May God help me find a way to get rid of my resentments. May I give up the hours spent making up little playlets, in which I star as the angry man or woman cleverly shouting down the person who has threatened me. Since these dramas are never produced, may I instead list my resentful feelings and look at the whys behind each one. May this be a way of shelving them.
Today I Will Remember
Resentments cause violence: resentments cause illness in nonviolent people.
As a recovering compulsive gambler, I have to remind myself that no amount of social acceptance of resentments will take the poison out of them. In a way, the problem of resentments is very much like the gambling problem. A poker game or casino is never safe for me. Ive attended benefits for worthy causes, often in a convivial atmosphere that makes gambling seem almost harmless.
Just as I politely but adamantly decline gambling under any conditions, will I also refuse to accept resentments
Today I Pray
When anger, hurt, fear, or guilt - to be socially acceptable - put on their polite, party manners, dress up as resentments, and come in the side door, may I not hobnob with them. These emotions, disguised as they are, can be as full of trickery as gambling itself.
Today I Will Remember
Keep an eye on the side door.