Activity

SEPTEMBER 9 Reflection for the Day
The longer I’m in the Gamblers Anonymous Program and the longer I try to practice its principles in all my affairs, the less frequently I become morose and depressed. Perhaps, too, there’s something to that cynical old saying,”Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed, but instead will be delighted daily by new and fresh evidence of the love of God and the friendliness of men and women.”

Does someone, somewhere, need me today? Will I look for that person and try to share what I’ve been given in the GA program?

Today I Pray
May I be utterly grateful to God for lifting my depression. May I know that my depression will always lighten if I do not expect too much. May I know that the warmth of friends can fill the cold hollow of despair. May I give my warmth to someone else.

Today I Will Remember
To look for someone to share with.

SEPTEMBER 10 Reflection for the Day
Years ago, Dr. Alfred Adler prescribed this remedy for depression to a patient: “You can be healed if every day you begin the first thing in the morning to consider how you can bring a real joy to someone else. If you can stick to this for two weeks, you will no longer need therapy.” Adler’s “prescription,” of course is not much different from the suggestion that we work more intensively the Twelfth Step to rid ourselves of depression.

When I am depressed, do I keep my feelings to myself? Or do I do what friends in Gamblers Anonymous have suggested I do?

Today I Pray
May I turn myself inside out, air out the depression that has been closeted inside me, replace it with the comfortable feeling that I am cared about by real friends, then pass along that comfort to others caught in the same despair.

Today I Will Remember
The only real despair is loneliness – and loneliness is treatable.

SEPTEMBER 11 Reflection for the Day
One thing, more than anything else, that can relieve my occasional feeling of depression is love. I have to keep myself “lovable” in the sense of being able to love others, rather than being concerned with whether others love me. In somehow losing myself in others, emotionally or spiritually, I usually find myself. Today I understand what they meant at my first blurry meetings of Gamblers Anonymous when they told me that I was the most important person in the room.

Do I say the same thing to other new members today, and mean it?

Today I Pray
May I know that if I can love others, without expecting to be loved back, chances are that I will receive a share of love in return. It is only my expectation of approval that cancels out the value of my love.

Today I Will Remember
Love is not an investment, but a charitable contribution.