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.
Learning how to live in peace and partnership - with all men and women - is a fascinating and often very moving adventure. But each of us in Gamblers Anonymous has found that we're not able to make much headway in our new adventure of living until we first take the time to make an accurate and unsparing survey of the human wreckage we've left in our wake.
Have I made a list of persons I have harmed, as Step Eight suggests, and become willing to make amends to them all?
Today I Pray
May God give me the honesty I need, not only to look inside myself and discover what is really there, but to see the ways that my sick and irresponsible behaviour has affected those around me. May I understand that my addiction is not - as I used to think - a loner's disease, that, no matter how alone I felt, my lies and fabrications spread out around me in widening circles of hurt.
Today I Will Remember
Lies spread to infinity.
The Ninth Step of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is:"Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,except when to do so would injure them or others."To make restitution for the wrongs we've done can be extremely difficult,to say the least;if nothing else,it deflates our egos and batters our pride.Yet that in itself is a reward, and such restitution can bring still greater rewards.When we go to a person and say we're sorry,the reaction is almost invariably positive.Courage is required,to be sure,but the results more than justify the action.
Have I done my best to make all the restitution possible?
Today I Pray
May I count on my Higher Power to stop me if I start to crawl out from under my Ninth Step responsibility.May I feel that blessed,liberating wash of relief that goes with saying,out loud,to someone I have harmed,"I was wrong.I made mistakes.I am honestly sorry."May I not worry about cracking that brittle,cover-up crust of my ego,because the inside will be ore mature.
Readiness to take the full consequences of our past acts,and to take responsibility for the well-being of others at the same time,is the very spirit of Step Nine.A casual apology,on the one hand,will rarely suffice in making amends to one we have harmed;a true change of attitude,in contrast,can do wonders to make up for past unkindnesses.If I've deprived anyone of any material thing,I'll acknowledge the debt and pay it as soon as I'm able.
Will I swallow my pride and make the first overtures toward reconciliation?
Today I Pray
God,show me the best ways to make "direct amends."Sometimes simply admitting my mistakes may make it up to someone and unload my own simmering guilt.Other times restitution may take some creative thought.May I be wholly aware that I cannot take this Ninth Step unless I develop some caring,some real concern about how others feel,along with changes in my behavior.
Today I Will Remember
First I care,then I apologize.
I believe today that I have a right to make spiritual progress.I have a right to be emotionally mature.I have a right to take pleasure in my own company,and that makes me more pleasant to be with.I also have a right to become willing - deeply willing,entirely willing - to make amends to all those I've harmed.Because I can now accept myself the way I am,I can accept other people the way they are - not entirely,but to a much greater degree than in the past.
Have I begun to make friends with God,and thus with myself?
Today I Pray
May God show me that it's okay to like myself,even while trying to repair old wrongs and rebuild from splinters.May I keep telling myself that I am different now.I have changed.I am a better and wiser and healthier person.I have made some good choices.As this 'new person,"may I find it easier to make atonements for what happened long ago and in another spiritual place.May those I have wronged also find it easier to accept my amends.
Today I Will Remember
It's okay to like myself.
The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches us that only one consideration should qualify our desire to completely disclose the damage we've done.And that's where a full revelation would seriously harm the one to whom we're making amends - or,just as important,others close to that person.We can hardly unload a detailed account of extramarital misadventures,for example,on the shoulders of an unsuspecting wife or husband.When we recklessly make the burdens of others heavier,such actions surely can't lighten our own burden.Sometimes,n that sense,"telling all" may be almost a self - indulgence for us.So in making amends,we should be tactful,sensible,considerate, and humble - without being servile.
As a child of God,do I stand on my feet and not crawl before anyone?
Today I Pray
May God show me that self - hatred has no role in making amends to others.Neither has the play-acting of self-indulgence.I ask for my Higher Power's guidance as I strive to maintain a mature balance in interpersonal relations,even in the most casual or fragile ones.
Today I Will Remember
Making amends is mending.
When we take the Ninth Step,we must be willing to be absolutely honest.Obviously,though,indiscriminate "absolute honesty" would blow the roof off many a house and entirely destroy some relationships.We must hold nothing back through deceit and pride;we may need to hold something back through discretion and consideration for others.Just when and how we tell the truth - or keep silent - can often reveal the difference between genuine integrity and none at all.
Am I grateful for the products of truth,which,through the grace of God,I have been privileged to receive?
Today I Pray
May I have the wisdom to know the fineline difference between tact and dishonesty.In my eagerness to make restitution,may I not be the charmer,the flatterer,or the crawler who insists,"You're so good,and I'm so bad."All are forms of dishonesty and hark back to the role - playing days of my active gambling addiction.May I recognize them.
Today I Will Remember
Tact is honest selectivity.
"Direct" is a key word in the Ninth Step.There are times,unfortunately,when many of us are hopeful that indirect amends will suffice,sparing us the pain and supposed humiliation of approaching people in person and telling them of our wrongs.This is evasion and will never give us a true sense of breaking with the wrongdoing of the past.It shows that we're still trying to defend something that isn't worth defending,hanging on to conduct that we ought to abandon.The usual reasons for sidestepping direct amends are pride and fear.
As I make amends to others,do I realize that the real,lasting benefits accrue to me?
Today I Pray
May I be sure that the best reward for coming on straight as I try to repair my damages is,after all,my own.But may I avoid making amends purely for my own benefit - to be forgiven,to be reinstated,to flaunt the "new me."Ego puffing and people - pleasing are not part of the real "new me."God save me from opportunism.
Today I Will Remember
No puffery or people - pleasing.
ToKen Lambon
BCCDave
Don
Gary V
Greg
Moe
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June 22 Reflection for the Day
The minute we talk about a twisted or broken relationship with another person,our emotions go on the defensive.To avoid looking at the wrongs we've done another,we resentfully focus on the wrong he or she has done us.With a sense of triumph,we seize upon his or her slightest misbehaviour as the perfect excuse for minimizing or forgetting our own.We have to remember that we're not the only ones plagued by sick emotions.Often,we're really dealing with fellow suffers,including those whose woes we've increased.
If I'm about to ask forgiveness for myself,why shouldn't I forgive the other person too?
Today I Pray
When I blame or fault - find,may my Higher Power tell me to look under the rug for my own feeling of guilt,which I have neatly swept under it.May I recognize these behaviour clues for what they are.
Today I Will Remember
Resentment,inside - out,is guilt.
Complacency is my enemy, easy to recognize in others, but difficult to identify and accept in myself. Complacency simply means being sure we're right - taking it for granted that we couldn't possibly be wrong. It means, moreover, judging others by what we think is right. It blocks out understanding and kindness, and seems to justify qualities in ourselves that we'd find wholly intolerable in others.
Do I tend to assume that my views are always correct?
Today I Pray
God, please steer me past complacency, that state of being on dead center. When I am smug, I am no longer a seeker. If I assume I am always right, I am never on guard for my own mistakes, which can run away with me. Keep me teachable. Keep me growing, in heart, mind, and spirit.
Today I Will Remember
Complacency stunts growth.
The primary purpose of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is freedom from compulsive gambling; without that freedom we have nothing. But that doesn't mean I can say, for example, "Compulsive gambling is my only concern. Except for that, I'm really a super person, so give me freedom from gambling, and I've got it made." If I delude myself with such specious nonsense, I'll make so little progress with my real life problems and responsibilities that I'll likely return to my addiction. That's why the Program's Twelfth Step urges us to "practice these principles in all our affairs."
Am I living just to be free of the compulsion to gamble, or also to learn, to serve, and to love?
Today I Pray
May I relish and be grateful for my abstinence, which is where all good things begin. But let me not stop at that and give up trying to understand myself, the nature of God and of humanity. Freedom from addiction is the first freedom. May I be certain that there are more to come - freedom from tight-mindedness, from the unrest of bottled-up feelings, from overdependence on others, from a Godless existence. May the Program which answered my acute needs also answer my chronic ones.
Today I Will Remember
Liberation from gambling is just a beginning.
If ever I come to the complacent conclusion that I don't need the Gamblers Anonymous Program any longer, let me quickly remind myself that it can do far more than carry me through the anguish of living in the bondage of addiction. Let me further remind myself that I can make even greater strides in fulfilling myself, for the Program and the Twelve Steps is a philosophy - a way of life.
Will I ever outgrow my need for the GA Program?
Today I Pray
May my Higher Power lead me through the Twelve Steps, not just once, but again and again, until they become the guiding principles of my existence. This is no quickie seminar on improving the quality of my life; this is my life, restored to me through Divine Power and the friendship of my fellow gamblers, who, like me, are recovering in the best known way.
Today I Will Remember
Step by Step, from bondage to abundant life.
How many of us would presume to announce, "Well, I'm on my way to licking the gambling habit. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine just the way I am." Experience has taught us that the price of such smug complacency - or, more politely, self-satisfaction - is an inevitable backslide, punctuated sooner or later by a very rude awakening. We have to grow, or else we deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we can't stand still.
Am I sometimes tempted to rest on my laurels?
Today I Pray
May I look around me and see that all living things are either growing or deteriorating; nothing that is alive is static. Life flows on. May I be carried along on that life-flow, unafraid of change, disengaging myself from the snags along the way that hold me back and interrupt my progress.
Today I Will Remember
Living is changing.
Little by little, I'm getting over my tendency to procrastinate. I always used to put things off till tomorrow, and, of course, they never got done. Instead of "Do it now," my motto was "Tomorrow's another day." When I was in action, I had grandiose plans; when I came down from my high, I was too busy getting over my depression to start anything. I've learned in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that it's far better to make a mistake once in a while than to never do anything at all.
Am I learning to "do it now"?
Today I Pray
May God help me cure my habitual tardiness and "get me to the church on time." May I free myself of the self-imposed chaos of lifelong procrastination: library books overdue, appointments half-missed, assignments turned in late, schedules unmet, meals half-cooked. May I be sure if I, as a compulsive gambler, led a disordered life, I, as a recovering compulsive gambler, need order. May God give me the serenity I need to restore order and organization to my daily living.
Today I Will Remember
I will not be put off by my tendency to put off.
Almost daily, I hear of seemingly mysterious coincidences in the lives of my friends in Gamblers Anonymous. From time to time, I've experienced such "coincidences" myself: showing up at the right place at the right time; phoning a friend who, unbeknownst to me, desperately needed that particular phone call at that precise moment; hearing "my story" at an unfamiliar meeting in a strange town. These days, I choose to believe that many of life's so-called "coincidences" are actually small miracles of God, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Am I continually grateful for the miracle of my recovery?
Today I Pray
May my awareness of a Higher Power working in our lives grow in sensitivity as I learn, each day, of "coincidences" that defy statistics, illnesses that reverse their prognoses, hairbreadth escapes that defy death, chance meetings that change the course of a life. When the nonunderstandable happens, may I perceive it as just another of God's frequent miracles. My own death-defying miracle is witness enough for me.
Today I Will Remember
My life is a miracle.