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.
IBM founder T. J. Watson said, Success is on the far side of failure. For most compulsive gamblers, nothing could be truer. Without failure upon failure, we would never be capable of seeing that losing the bet was not the cause of problems in our life; it was making the bet in the first place. Only after we reached or exceeded our painful threshold for failures were we able to recognize that, conversely, success does not mean winning; success means not making the wager. Then success becomes dependent upon the action our choice not to gamble rather than the reaction.
Am I hopeful that, if my failings are behind me, success is surely ahead?
Today I Pray
May I understand that only through my failings have I been given a chance for success. May I know from the examples of others in the Program that former failings, once faced and rectified, can be a more solid foundation for a new life than any chance winnings.
Today I will Remember
Failings can be footings for recovery.
quite the contrary.
I only could see all the failures when I lost enough to slow down, stop and want to quit. By taking a "moment" to look at what I'd done I was able to see the failures and feel it was time to start to be successful again in life.
I am successful now by abstaining from gambling and by working the program and by learning how to live with addiction.
I can always take strength and comfort from knowing I belong to a world wide Fellowship. Thousands just like me are working together for the same purpose. None of us needs ever to be alone again, because each of us in own way works for the good of others. We are bound together by a common problem that can be solved by love and understanding and mutual service. The Gamblers Anonymous Program like the little wheel in the old hymn runs by the grace of God.
Have I thanked God today for helping me find G.A., which is showing me the way to a new life?
Today I Pray
May my thanks be lifted to God each day for dispelling my self-inflicted loneliness, for warming my stoicism, for leading me to the boundless fund of friendship in the G.A. Program.
Today I will Remember
I have a world of friends.
Thanks
Yes the readings are from Gamblers Anonymous literature
and can be ordered online or check Amazon books.
A Day at a Time Meditation Book ( Little Light Blue Book.
https://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/products
I am grateful for my friends in the Gamblers Anonymous Program. Right now I am aware of the blessings of friendship the blessings of meeting, of sharing, of smiling, of listening, and of being available when needed. Right now I know that if I want a friend, I must be a friend.
Will I vow, this day, to be a better friend to more people? Will I strive, this day in my thoughts, words, and actions to disclose the kind of friend I am?
Today I Pray
May I restore in kind to GAs Fellowship the friendship I have so hungrily taken from it. After years of glossing my lonely existence with superficial acquaintanceships, may I learn again the reciprocal joys of caring and sharing.
Today I Will Remember
Be a friend.
We sometimes hear someone say, He is standing in his own light. A mental picture then clearly reveals that many of us tend to shadow our own happiness by mistaken thinking. Let us learn to stand aside so the light can shine on us and all we do. For only then can we see ourselves and our circumstances with true clarity. With the Gamblers Anonymous Program of Recovery, we no longer need to stand in our own light and try alone to solve our problems in darkness.
When I am faced with a seemingly insolvable problem, will I ask myself if I am standing in my own light?
Today I Pray
May I not get in my own way, obscure my own clarity of thought, stumble over my own feet, block my own doorway to recovery. If I find that I am standing in my own light, may I ask my Higher Power and my friends in the group to show me a new vantage point.
Today I Will Remember
If all I can see is my own shadow, Im in my own light .
FEBRUARY 14 Reflection for the Day
Writing down the things I am grateful for helps me switch from a negative to a positive attitude. Today I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I am grateful for such seemingly simple things: the ability to fall asleep with contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive, to face life on lifes terms with peace of mind and self-respect.
Have I forgotten that all my needs are being met today? On a daily basis, do I count my blessings?
Today I Pray
On this day of love-giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.
Today I Will Remember
To count and consider my blessings.
When I become angry, can I admit to it and state it as a fact without allowing it to build up and burst out in inappropriate ways? Pent-up anger, Ive finally begun to learn, quickly shatters the peace of mind thats so critical to my ongoing recovery. When I become enraged and lose control, I unwittingly hand over control to the person, place, or thing with which I am enraged.
When Im angry will I try to remember that Im endangering myself? Will I count to ten by calling a friend in the Gamblers Anonymous Program and say the Serenity Prayer Aloud?
Today I Pray
May I recognize angry feelings and let them out a little at a time, stating my anger as a fact, instead of allowing it to fester into rage and explode uncontrollably.
Today I Will Remember
Anger is. Rage need not be.
What about justifiable anger? If somebody cheats us or acts towards us in an outrageous manner, dont we have the right to be furious? The hard-learned experiences of countless others in the Gamblers Anonymous Program tell us that adventures in rage are usually extremely dangerous. So, while we must recognize anger enough to say I am angry, we must not follow the build-up of rage, however justifiable.
Can I accept the fact that, if I am to live, I have to be free of anger?
Today I Pray
Even though I go out of the way to skirt them, may I be aware that there always will be certain situations or certain people who will make me angry. When my anger doesnt seem justifiable with arguable reason behind it I may deny it, even to myself. May I recognize my anger, whether it is reasonable or not, before I bury it alive.
Today I Will Remember
It is all right to feel anger.
If I become angry today, Ill pause and think before I say anything, remembering that my anger can turn back upon me and worsen my difficulties. Ill try to remember, too, that well-timed silence can give me command of a stressful situation as angry reproaches never can. In such moments of stress, Ill remember that my power over others is nonexistent, and that only God is all-powerful.
Have I learned that I alone can destroy my own peace of mind?
Today I Pray
May I learn that I can choose how to handle my anger in silence or as a tantrum, a rage, a fist fight, a pillow fight, a tirade, an elaborate plan to get back at whoever caused it, an icy glare, a cool pronouncement of hate or a simple statement of fact, I am angry at you because (in 25 words or less). Or may I, if need be, turn my anger into energy and shovel the walk. bowl, play a game of tennis, or clean the house. I pray that God will show me appropriate ways to deal with my anger.
Today I Will Remember
I am angry because
I couldn't even control my "habit" of avoiding the feelings of being out of control.
I now realize I am not in control of others and sometimes what life gives me but I can control my reactions to this fact.
We learn in Gamblers Anonymous that we cannot punish anyone without punishing ourselves. The release of my tensions, even justified, in a punishing way leaves behind the dregs of bitterness and pain. This was the monotonous story of my life before I came to Gamblers Anonymous. So in my new life, I'd do well to consider the long-range benefits of simply owning my emotions, naming them, and thus releasing them.
Does the voice of God have a chance to be heard over my reproachful shouting?
Today I Pray
May I avoid name-calling, ego-crushing exchanges. If I am angry, may I try to assign my anger to what someone did instead of what someone is. May I refrain from downgrading, lashing out at character flaws, or mindless abuse. May I count on my Higher Power to show me the way.
Today I Will Remember
To deal with anger appropriately.