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.
Before we came to Gamblers Anonymous, fear ruled our lives. Tyrannized by our addictions and obsessions, we feared everything and everybody. We feared ourselves and, perhaps most of all, feared fear itself. These days, when I am able to accept the help of my Higher Power, it makes me feel capable of doing anything I am called upon to do. I am overcoming my fears and acquiring a comfortable new confidence.
Can I believe that courage is fear that has said its prayers?
Today I Pray
God grant that through faith I may overcome my obsessive fears. I have been running scared for so long, it has become a habit. God help me to see that I may be purposely clinging to my fears to avoid making decisions, perhaps even to shirk the responsibility of success.
Today I Will Remember
Fear hides behind indecision.
I have been obsessive about so many things. The serenity prayer has been helping me. I guess I never realized how much that prayer is really important in recovery.
Lately, I am starting to feel more alive and less afraid to do the things I need to do to help myself. I believe it's because I am praying to my higher power, joining in daily on D.S. and going to Al-Anon weekly.
I know that I have run from life and also embraced the wonder of it.
I want to be able to use the lessons from my times of life "tests" to grow stronger and fearless in the face of any new "tests" that are handed to me.
I pray that we all can grow stronger and have courage when life again "tests" us and brings us to the brink of gambling once more.
This time we will remember our lessons learned and we will be VICTORIOUS !!!!!
What if How often we hear these words from newcomers to the Gamblers Anonymous Program. How often, in fact, we tend to say them ourselves. What if I lose my job? What if my car breaks down? What if I get sick and cant work? What if my child gets hooked on drugs? What if anything our desperate imaginings can project? Only two small words, yet how heavy-laden they are with dread, fear, and anxiety. The answer to What if is, plainly and simply, Dont project. We can only live with our problems as they arise, living one day at a time.
Am I keeping my thoughts positive?
Today I Pray
May I grow spiritually, without being held back by anxieties. May projected fears not hobble my pursuits or keep me from making the most of today. May I turn out fear by faith. If I will only make a place for God within me, the presence of that Higher Power will remove my fears.
Today I Will Remember
I can only borrow trouble at high interest rates.
What if's? I actually had 3 of those 4 things happen to me this year. I can't worry about "what if's" anymore.
"Life happens!"
I can handle what ever comes my way with the help of my higher power. I don't need to escape to the casinos. I need to remind myself of this every day!
If I live just one day at a time, I wont so quickly entertain fears of what might happen tomorrow. As long as Im concentrating on todays activities, there wont be room in my mind for worrying, Ill try to fill every minute of this day with something good seen, heard, or accomplished. Then, when the day is ended, Ill be able to look back on it with satisfaction, serenity, and gratitude.
Do I sometimes cherish bad feelings so that I can feel sorry for myself?
Today I Pray
That I will get out of the self-pity act and live for today. May I notice the good things from dawn to nightfall, learn to talk about them and thank God for them. May I catch myself if I seem to be relishing my moans and complaints more often than appreciating the goodness of my life.
Today I Will Remember
Today is good
Dear God, Please grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.
There is such a dichotomy here, for me.
I feel very self-centered and like a victim at times.
I feel sorry for myself and what life has given me yet at
other times I have been blessed immenselynand in either case
I made the choice so I don't tend to blame.
I still believe that somehow early childhood loss and hurt can reek havoc
on our sense of well being in this world and so we grow up with this undescribeable fear. But the fear doesn't bother us we learn to live and to grow with it and then something happens to upset the apple cart, a bigger hurt or gambling or something and .........full blown identity crisis.
Now I am trying to learn to understand the "new" me and to make adjustments in my life plan and to learn how to just accept this "new" me.
Make any sense at all ???????
We have learned from others in Gamblers Anonymous that the chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear mainly fear that we would lose something we already possessed or that we would fail to get something we demanded. Living on the basis of unsatisfied demands, we obviously were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, we are taught, no peace will be ours unless we find the means of reducing these demands.
Have I become entirely ready to have God remove all my defects of character?
Today I Pray
May I make no unrealistic demands on life, which, because of their grandiosity, cannot be met. May I place no excessive demands on others, which, when they are not fulfilled, leave me disappointed and let down.
Today I Will Remember
The set-up for a let-down.
I was so doing this.
I am always a giver and helper and people pleaser.
I didn't dream that I could ALSO be self-centered.
I gambled because I was disillusioned with life that wasn't giving me what I wanted.
I felt I had good character traits and didn't see the whole picture.
I can see why GA asks me to take a moral inventory and then ask God or HP to remove my character defects.
I am learning so much through GA and here and your Reflections.......
thank you Ken.
Now that were free and no longer gambling, we have so much more control over our thinking. More than anything, were able to alter our attitudes. Some members of Gamblers Anonymous, in fact, choose to think of the letters GA as an abbreviation for Great Attitude. In the bad old days, I almost always responded to any optimistic or positive statement with, Yes but Today, in contrast, Im learning to eliminate that negative phrase from my vocabulary.
Am I working to change my attitude? Am I determined to accentuate the positive?
Today I Pray
May I find that healing and strength that God provides to those who stay near Him. May I keep to the spiritual guidelines of the GA Program, considering the Steps, taking the Steps one by one then practicing them again and again. In this is my salvation.
Today I Will Remember
To practice at least one Step.
Why dont I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities? Why not think about victories, instead of defeats about the ways in which I am gentle and kind? Its always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything Ive done, said, or felt. Just for today, Ill spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life.
Do I have the courage to change the things I can?
Today I Pray
Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude. If I am a child of God, created in Gods image, there must be goodness in me. I will think about that goodness and the ways it manifests itself. I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts. I will respect what is Gods. I will respect myself.
Today I Will Remember
Self-respect is respect for God.