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.
Many of us recovering compulsive gamblers stubbornly cling to false ideas and positions simply because we fear wed be left defenseless if we admitted having been wrong. The thought of backing down still seems distasteful to some of us. But we come to learn that our self-esteem soars when were able to push pride into the background and truly face the facts. Chances are that people with true humility have more genuine self-esteem than those of us who are repeatedly victimized by pride.
Does pride, either blatantly or deviously, keep me from thorough and continuing attention to the Tenth Step?
Today I Pray
May pride stay out of my way, now that Ive found a road to follow. May I avoid that familiar, destructive cycle of pride the ego that balloons up out of all proportion and then deflates with a fizzle. May I learn the value of backing down.
Today I will Remember
Pride is the arch-enemy of self-esteem.
Nothing is enough to the man for whom enough is too little, wrote the Greek philosopher Epicurus. Now that were free from gambling, and are building our self-respect and winning back the esteem of family and friends, we have to avoid becoming smug about our new-found success has always been a heady brew; even in our new life, its still possible to fall into the dangerous trap of big-shotitis. As insurance, we ought to remember that were free today only by the grace of God.
Will I remember that any success I have today is not mine but Gods?
Today I Pray
May I keep a constant string-on-the-finger reminder that I have found freedom through the grace of God just so I dont let my pride try to convince me I did it all myself. May I learn to cope with success by ascribing it to a Higher Power, not to my own questionable superiority.
Today I will Remember
Learn to deal with success.
I no longer argue with people who believe that satisfaction of our natural desires is the primary purpose of life. Its not our business in Gamblers Anonymous to knock material achievement. When we stop and think about it, no group of people ever made a worse mess of trying to live by that la dolce vita formula than we did. We always insisted on more than our share in all areas. And even when we seemed to be winning, that only fueled our compulsion so that we dreamed of still greater winnings. Our compulsion was never satisfied
Am I learning that material satisfactions are simply by-products and not the chief aim of life? Am I gaining a perspective that puts character-building and spiritual values first?
Today I Pray
May I recognise that I never did handle excess very well, based on my past experience. I have been apt to want more of whatever it is I have love, winnings, money, property, things. May the Gamblers Anonymous Program teach me that I must concentrate on my spiritual, rather than my material, bounty.
Today I will Remember
Its okay to be spiritually greedy.
Ive come to measure success in a whole new way. My success today isnt limited by social or economic benchmarks. Success is mine today, no matter what the undertaking, when I tap the power of God within me and allow myself to be an open channel for the expression of His good. The spirit of success works through me as increased vision and understanding, as creative ideas and useful service as efficient use of my time and energy, and as cooperative effort with others.
Will I try to keep my mind centered in the realization that within me is the God-implanted power to succeed?
Today I Pray
May I develop a new concept of success, based on measurements of the qualities that come from Gods treasure-filled bank of good. To draw from that bank, all I have to do is look within myself. May I know that Gods riches are the only kind that are fully insurable, because they are infinite. May I look in Gods bank for my security.
Today I will Remember
Spiritual success is my security.
Adversity introduces man to himself, a poet once said. For me, the same is true even of imagined adversity. If I expect another person to react in a certain way in a given situation and he or she fails to meet my expectation well, then I hardly have the right to be disappointed or angry. Yet I occasionally still experience feelings of frustration when people dont act or react as I think they should. Through such imagined or, better yet, self-inflicted adversity. I come face to face again with my old self, the one who wanted to run the whole show.
Is it finally time for me to stop expecting and to start accepting?
Today I Pray
May I stop putting words in peoples mouths, programming them in my own mind to react as I expect them to. Expectations have fooled me before: I expected unbounded love and protection from those close to me, perfection from myself, undivided attention from casual acquaintances. On the adverse side, I expected failure from myself, and rejection from others. May I stop borrowing trouble or triumph either from the future.
Today I will Remember
Accept. Not expect.
We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, wrote de Tocqueville, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects. We learn in Gamblers Anonymous that our defects do have value to the extent that we use them as a starting point for change and a pathway to better things. Fear can be a stepping stone to prudence, for example, as well as to respect for others. Fear can also help us turn away from hate and toward understanding. In the same way, pride can lead us toward the road of humility.
Am I aware of my direction today? Do I care where Im going?
Today I Pray
I pray that my Higher Power will show me how to use my defects in a positive way, because nothing not even fear or selfishness or greed is all bad. May I trust that every quality that leads me into trouble has a reverse side that can lead me out. Pride, for instance, cant puff itself up unduly without bursting and demonstrating that it is, in essence, only hot air. May I learn from my weaknesses.
Today I will Remember
Good news out of bad.
Before I came to Gamblers Anonymous, I was like an actor who insisted on writing the script, producing, directing, and in short, running the whole show. I had to do it my way, forever trying to arrange and re-arrange the lights, lines, sets, and, most of all, the other players performances. If only my arrangements would stay put, and people would behave as I wished, the show would be fantastic. My self-delusion led me to believe that if they all would just shape up, everything would be fine. Of course, it never worked out that way.
Isnt it amazing how others seem to be shaping up now that Ive stopped trying to manage everything and everybody?
Today I Pray
May I talk myself out of that old urge to control everything and everybody. Time was, if you couldnt manage directly, I would do it indirectly, through manipulation, secret conferences, and asides. May I know that, if I am the one who is always pulling the strings on the marionettes, then I am the one who feels the frustration when they collapse or slip off the stage.
Today I will Remember
I can only shape up myself.
Although we came to Gamblers Anonymous to deal with a specific problem, we soon became aware that we would find not only freedom from addiction, but freedom to live in the real world without fear and frustration. We learned that the solutions are within ourselves. With the help of my Higher Power, I can enrich my life with comfort, enjoyment, and deep-down serenity.
Am I changing from my own worst enemy to my own best friend?
Today I Pray
May I praise my Higher Power for my freedoms from gambling addiction, from spiritual bankruptcy, from loneliness, from fear, from the seesaw of pride and humiliation, from despair, from delusions, from shallowness, from doom. I give thanks for the way of life that has given me these freedoms and replaces the empty space with extra goodness and peace of mind.
Today I will Remember
I give thanks for all my freedoms.
What you have may seem small; you desire so much more. See children thrusting their hands into narrow necked jar, striving to pull out the sweets. If they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out and then they fall to tears. When they let go a few, they can draw out the rest. You, too, let your desire go; covet not too much, wrote Epictetus. Let me expect not too much of anyone, particularly myself. Let me learn to settle for less than I wish were possible, and be willing to accept it and appreciate it.
Do I accept gratefully and graciously the good that has already come to me through the Gamblers Anonymous Program?
Today I Pray
May I search my soul for those little hankerings of want that may keep me from delighting in all that I have. If I can just teach myself not to want too much, not to expect too much, then when those expectations are not satisfied, I will not be let down. May I accept with grace what the grace of God has provided.
Today I Will Remember
I, alone, can grant myself the freedom from want.
During our first days in Gamblers Anonymous, we got rid of the trappings and environments of gambling. We had to get rid of these, for we knew they surely would have killed us. We got rid of the situations, but we couldnt get rid if our addiction until we took further action. So we also had to learn to toss self-pity, self-justification, self-righteousness, and self-will straight out the window. We had to get off the rickety ladder that supposedly was the easy way to money, property, and prestige. And we had to take personal responsibility. To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all, we had to give up our most familiar possessions our driven ambition and our unrealistic pride.
Am I well rid of the weights and chains that once bound me?
Today I Pray
May I give credit to my Higher Power not only for removing my gambling compulsion, but for teaching me to remove my old demanding, pushy self from all my spiritual and earthly relationships. For all the things I have learned and unlearned, for my own faith and for the grace of God, I am fully and heartily thankful.
Today I Will Remember
Gratitude for the grace of God.
The Gamblers Anonymous Program shows us how to transform the pipe-dreams of our pasts into a comfortable reality and true sense of purpose, together with a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. Its all right to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, were taught, but our feet should remain firmly planted here on earth. Heres where other people are; heres where our work must be accomplished.
Do I see anything incompatible between my God-consciousness and a useful life in the here-and-now?
Today I Pray
May my new reality include not only the nuts and bolts and pots and pans of daily living, but also my spiritual reality, my growing knowledge of the presence of God. May this new reality have room, too, for my dreams not the mind-drifting fantasies of the past or the remnants of my delusions, but the products of a healthy imagination. May I respect those dreams, anchor them in earths possibilities, and turn them into useful creativity.
Today I Will Remember
Heaven has a place in the here-and-now.
Our faith in Gods power at work in us and in our lives doesnt relieve us of responsibility. Instead, our faith strengthens our efforts, makes us confident and assured, and enables us to act decisively and wisely. Were no longer afraid to make decisions; were not afraid to take the steps that seem called for in the proper handling of given situations.
Do I believe that God is at work beyond my human efforts, and that my faith and trust in Him will bring forth results far exceeding my expectations?
Today I Pray
May my trust in my Higher Power never falter. May my faith in that Power continue to shore up my optimism, my confidence, my belief in my own decision-making. May I never shut my eyes to the wonder of Gods work or discount the wisdom of His solutions.
Today I will Remember
Our hope in ages past, our help for years to come.
Contrary to what some people think, the slogan Let Go and Let God isnt an expression of apathy, an attitude of defeatism, or an unwillingness to accept responsibility. Those who turn their backs on their problems are not letting go and letting God, but, instead, are abandoning their commitment to act on Gods inspiration and guidance. They neither ask for nor expect help; they want God to do it all.
In seeking Gods guidance, do I realise that the ultimate responsibility is mine?
Today I Pray
May I not allow myself to be lazy just because I think God is going to do everything anyway. (Such apathy reminds me of my old powerless self, the one that moaned that the world was going up in smoke, civilization was going down the drain, and there wasnt a thing I could do about it.) Neither may I use letting God do it as an excuse for shrugging off my problems without even trying. May God be my inspiration; may I be an instrument of God.
Today I will Remember
God guides those who help themselves.
If youre a negative thinker and are not yet ready to do an about-face, here are some guidelines that can keep you miserable for just as long as you wish to remain so. First, dont go to Gamblers Anonymous meetings. If you somehow find yourself at a meeting, keep you mouth (and your mind) shut and your hands in your pockets. Dont try to solve any of your problems, never laugh at yourself, and dont trust other people in the Program. Above all, under no conditions should you try to live in the Now just keep feeding your fantasies about the future with unrealities.
Am I aware that negative thinking means taking myself deadly seriously at all times, allowing no time for laughter, or for living?
Today I Pray
If I am feeling negative, may I check myself in the mirror that is the group for any symptoms of a closed mind; tight lips, forced smile, set jaw, straight-ahead glance and no glimmer of humor. God, grant me the ability to laugh at myself often for I need that laughter to cope with the everyday commotion of living.
Today I will Remember
To laugh at myself.