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.
If a person continues to see only giants, wrote Anais Nin, it means he is still looking at the world through the eyes of a child. During this twenty four-hour-period, I wont allow myself to be burdened by thoughts of giants and monsters of things that are past. I wont concern myself about tomorrow until it becomes my today. The better I use today, the more likely it is that tomorrow will be bright.
Have I extended the hand of caring to another person today?
Today I Pray
God, may I please grow up. May I no longer see monsters and giants on my walls, those projections of a childs imagination. May I bury my hobgoblins and realize that those epic dream-monsters are distortions of my present fears. May they vanish with my fearfulness, in the daylight of my new serenity.
Today I Will Remember
I will put away childish fears.
April 21 Reflection of the Day
Can I be wholeheartedly grateful for today? If so, Im opening doors to more and more abundant good. What if I cant be thankful for the rain that has fallen in my life for the so called bad times? What then? I can begin by giving thanks for the sunshine I can remember, and for every blessing that has come my way. Perhaps then Ill be able to look back over the rainy periods of my life with new vision, seeing them as necessary; perhaps then, hidden blessings Ive overlooked will come to my attention.
Am I grateful for all of life both the sunshine and the rain?
Today I Pray
May I be grateful for all that has happened to me, good and bad. Bad helps to define good. Sorrow intensifies joy. Humility brings spirituality. Disease turns health into a paradise. Loneliness makes love, both human and Divine, the greatest gift of all. I thank God for the contrasts that have made me know God better.
Today I will Remember
I am grateful for the whole of life.
No matter what it is that seems to be our need or problem, we can find something to rejoice in, something for which to give thanks. It is not God who needs to be thanked, but we who need to be thankful. Thankfulness opens new doors to good in our life. Thankfulness creates a new heart and a new spirit in us.
Do I keep myself aware of the many blessings that come to me each day and remember to be thankful for them?
Today I Pray
May God fill me with a spirit of thankfulness. When I express my thanks, however fumbling, to God or to another human being, I am not only being gracious to God or that other person for helping me, but I am also giving myself the greatest reward of all a thankful heart. May I not forget either the intransitive giving thanks, which fills my own great need.
Today I will Remember
Thank and give thanks.
We come to know in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that there is no deeper satisfaction and no greater joy than in a Twelfth Step well done. To watch the eyes of men and woman open with wonder as they move from darkness to light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry the message of the Program.
Am I learning through Twelfth Step experiences that gratitude should be forward, rather than backward?
Today I Pray
May my Twelfth Step be as wholehearted and as convincing and as constructive as others' Twelfth Stepping has been for me. May I realize that the might of the Program and its effectiveness for all of us come through passing it on. When I guide someone else to abstinence, my own abstinence is underlined and reinforced. I humbly ask Gods guidance before each Twelfth Step.
Today I will Remember
To pass it on.
April 25 Reflection of the Day
I have much more to be grateful for than I realize. Too often, I dont remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could enjoy and appreciate. Perhaps I dont take time for this important meditation because Im too preoccupied with my own so-called woes, I allow my mind to overflow with grievances, the more I think about them, the more monumental they seem. Instead of surrendering to God and Gods goodness, I let myself be controlled by the negative thinking into which my thoughts are apt to stray unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths.
Do I try to cultivate an attitude of gratitude?
Today I Pray
May God lead me away from my pile-up of negative thoughts, which make for detours in my path of personal growth. May I break the old poor-me habits of remembering the worst and expecting the most dire. May I turn my thoughts ahead to a whole new world out there. May I allow myself to envision the glory of God.
Today I will Remember
Keep an attitude of gratitude.
I hear your pain.The later part of my gambling days I thought if there is a God He is a punishing God.But I have come to realize He was there all the time and sending me messages that due to the depth of my addiction I missed.But on the day I was to end my life He sent me three messages that I finally got and that was the start of my recovery.
Not sure what your recovery path looks like but suggest you find some counseling / GA meetings in your area.If there are none I visit a site out of Montreal Canada that has a chat room and I chair three GA type meetings during the week.Monday Wednesdays and Fridays at 3pm est.Hope you will try one out if you can. www.gamtalk.org Hang in there.
Ken L YBIR
When I first came to Gamblers Anonymous, I was stunned by the constant sound of laughter. I realize that cheerfulness and merriment are useful. Outsiders are sometimes surprised when we burst into laughter over some miserable even tragic experience from the past. But why shouldnt we laugh? We have been shown the way to recovery, as well as the way to help others like ourselves. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?
Have I begun to regain my sense of humor?
Today I Pray
May God restore my sense of humor. May I appreciate the honest laughter that is the background music of our mutual rejoicing in our abstinence. May I laugh a lot, not the defensive ego-laugh that mocks anothers weakness, not the wry laugh of the self-put-down, but the healthy laugh that keeps situations in perspective. May I never regard this kind of laughter as irreverent to take myself too seriously.
Today I will Remember
A sense of humor is a sign of health.
Am I so sure Im doing everything possible to make my new life a success? Am I using my capabilities well? Do I recognize and appreciate all I have to be grateful for? The Gamblers Anonymous Program and its Twelve Steps of Recovery teach me that I am the possessor of unlimited resources. The more I do with them, the more they will grow to over-shadow and cancel out the difficult and painful feelings that now get so much of my attention.
Am I less sensitive today than when I first came into the Program?
Today I Pray
May I make the most of myself in all ways. May I begin to look outward to people and opportunities and wonderful resources around me. As I become less ingrown and understand myself better in relation to others, may I be less touchy and thin-skinned. May I shrug off my old the world is out to get - me feeling and see that same world as my treasure-house. God given and boundless.
Today I will Remember
My resources are unlimited.
I will resolve to observe with new interest even the commonplace things that happen today. If I learn to see everything with a fresh eye, perhaps Ill find I have countless reasons for contentment and gratitude. When I find myself trapped in the quicksand of my negative thoughts, Ill turn away from them and grab for the lifesaving strength of sharing with others in the Program.
Do I carry my weight as an all-important link in the worldwide chain of Gamblers Anonymous?
Today I Pray
I pray that God will open my eyes to the smallest everyday wonders, that I may notice and list among my blessings things like just feeling good, being able to think clearly. Even when I make a simple choice, like whether to spend my leisure time in a sport, at a concert, or getting together with abstinent friends, may I be reminded that the power of choice is a gift from God.
Today I Will Remember
I am blessed with the freedom of choice.
As I grow in the Gamblers Anonymous Program sharing, caring, and becoming more and more involved I find that its becoming easier to live in the NOW. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as couldve, shouldve, wouldve or mightve.
Whats done is done and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is now. Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in the Program?
Today I Pray
That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of today. Only by living in the NOW may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go.
Today I Will Remember
Make room for today.
Were taught that faith without works is dead. How true this is for the compulsive gambler. For if we fail to perfect or enlarge our spiritual lives through work and self-sacrifice for others, were not equipped to survive the trials and low spots ahead. If we dont practice the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we'll surely return to gambling; and if we return to gambling, well likely die. Then faith will be dead indeed.
Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer?
Today I Pray
May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of GA be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming the compulsion to gamble. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts; it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own abstinence.
Today I Will Remember
The more faith I can give, the more I will have.
For those of us who have lost our faith, or who have always had to struggle along without it, its often helpful just to accept blindly and with no reservations. Its not necessary for us to believe at first; we need not be convinced. If we can only accept, we find ourselves becoming gradually aware of a force for good thats always there to help us.
Have I taken the way of faith?
Today I Pray
May I abandon my need to know the whys and wherefores of my trust in a Higher Power. May I not intellectualize about faith, since by its nature it precludes analysis. May I know that head-tripping was a symptom of my disease, as I strung together cleverly, I thought alibi upon excuse upon rationale. May I learn acceptance, and faith will follow.
Today I Will Remember
Faith follows acceptance.
May 2 Reflection for the Day
When I was gambling, I was certain that my intelligence, backed by will power, could properly control my inner life and guarantee me success in the world around me. This brave and grandiose philosophy, by which I played God, sounded good in the saying, but it still had to meet the acid test: how well did it actually work? One good look in the mirror was answer enough.
Have I begun to ask God each day for strength?
Today I Pray
May I stop counting on my old standbys, my superior intelligence and my will power, to control my life. I used to think, with those two fabulous attributes, that I was all powerful. May I not forget, as my self image is restored, that only through surrender to a Higher Power will I be given the power that can make me whole.
Today I will Remember
Check for head tripping.
To stand on one leg and prove Gods existence is a very different thing wrote Soren Kierkegard, from going down on ones knees and thanking Him. It is my confidence in a higher Power; working in me, that today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I cant bring this about by relying on myself and my own limited ideas.
Have I begun to thank God every day?
Today I Pray
May I remember constantly that it is my belief in my Higher Power that flips the switch to release the power in me. Whenever I falter in my faith, that power is shut off. I pray for undiminished faith, so that this power-given by God and regenerated by my own belief in it may always be available to me as the source of my strength.
Today I Will Remember
Faith regenerates God-given power.
May 4 Reflection for the Day
Many people pray as though to overcome the will of a reluctant God, instead of taking hold of the willingness of a loving God. In the late stages of our gambling compulsion, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat, and when we become entirely ready to try the principles of the Gamblers Anonymous Programme, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension freedom under God as we understand Him
Is my growth in the Programme convincing me that God alone can remove obsessions?
Today I Pray
May I pray not as a complaining child to a stern father, as though praying must always mean pleading, usually in moments of helpless desperation. May I pray, instead, for my own willingness to reach out to Him, since He is ready at all times to reach out to me. May I regard my Higher Power as a willing God.
Today I will Remember
God is willing.