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SEPTEMBER 22nd Reflection for the Day

For a considerable period of time after I reached Gamblers Anonymous, I let things I couldn’t do keep me from doing the things I could. If I was bothered by what a speaker or other people said, I retreated, sulking, into my shell. Now, instead of being annoyed or defensive when someone strikes a raw nerve, I…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 21th Reflection for the Day

I’ve heard it said that when God closes a door, He opens a window. Since I started working the Twelve Steps of Recovery, much of the fear and pain that haunted my life is gone. Some of my defects have been lifted from me, though I’m still wrestling with others. I believe that if I continue to work the Twe…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 20th Reflection for the Day

“When a man has reached a condition in which he believed that a thing must happen when he does not wish it, and that which he wishes to happen can never be, this is really the state called desperation,” wrote Schopenhauer. The very real pain of emotional difficulties is sometimes very hard to take while…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 19th Reflection for the Day

It’s still not exactly a “piece of cake” for me to accept today’s occasional pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity, but I’m increasingly able to be thankful for a certain amount of pain. In the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we find the willingness to do this by going over the lessons learned from…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 18th Reflection for the Day

In every story we hear from others in Gamblers Anonymous, pain has been the price of admission into a new life. But our admission price purchased far more than we expected. It led us to a degree of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain. And, in time, we began to fear pain less, and desire…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 17th Reflection for the Day

When I see new members come into Gamblers Anonymous, I am reminded first of the pain and the unmanageable mess I found myself in, and then the hope I felt once I became willing to accept the Gamblers Anonymous Program. When I see and hear the Old Timers, some with twenty years or more in GA, I am reminded…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 16th Reflection for the Day

We learn from others in Gamblers Anonymous that the best way to deal with painful situations is to meet them head on, to deal with them honestly and realistically, and to try to learn from them and use them as springboards for growth. Through the GA Program and our contact with a Higher Power, we can find the…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 15th Reflection for the Day

No one welcomes pain with open arms, but it does have its uses. Just as physical pain serves as a warning that we may be suffering a bodily illness, so can emotional pain be a useful sign that something is wrong – as well as a warning that we need to make a change. When we can meet pain without panic, we can…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 14th Reflection for the Day

Until we came to the Gamblers Anonymous Program, our lives had been spent running from pain and problems. Escape by way of compulsive gambling was always our temporary solution. Then we started going to meetings. We looked and listened, often with amazement. Everywhere around us, we saw failure and misery…[Read more]

Hi Folks
Just wanted to share this post called Relapse Prevention
It is a little long and deals with alcohol more then gambling but for me addiction is addiction.
Relapse Prevention: Planning for Success
When you decided to quit drinking, using other drugs or gambling, you took the first step towards recovery. This step was the beginning of an…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 13th Reflection for the Day

We hear often in our Gamblers Anonymous meetings that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. We eventually realize that, just as the pains of compulsive gambling had to come before our abstinence, emotional turmoil comes before serenity. We no longer commiserate with all people who suffer, but only…[Read more]

SEPTEMBER 12th Reflection for the Day

“At certain moments,” wrote Coleridge, “a single almost insignificant sorrow may, by association, bring together all the little relics of pain and discomfort, bodily and mental, that we have endured even from infancy.” The Gamblers Anonymous Program doesn’t teach us to pretend that hardships and sorrow are…[Read more]

SCHEDULED SESSION Tuesday Night
Chat will focus on recovery conversations and will be moderated by a Gambling Outreach Support Worker from British Columbia. Everyone is welcome!

THIS CHAT ROOM IS AVAILABLE
Tuesdays (6-8pm PST)

SEPTEMBER 11th 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…[Read more]