kenl

JANUARY 18th Reflection for the Day

If we are determined to stop gambling, there must be no reservations whatsoever, nor any lurking notion that our obsession will someday reverse itself. Our regeneration comes through the splendid paradox of the Twelve Steps: strength arises from complete defeat, and the loss of one’s old life is a condition f…[Read more]

JANUARY 17th Reflection for the Day

I have been told over and over that I must constantly work to give up my old ideas. “That’s easy for you to say,” I’ve sometimes thought. All my life, I have been programmed, computer-style; specific inputs brought forth predictable responses. My mind still tends to react as a computer reacts, but I am learnin…[Read more]

JANUARY 16th Reflection for the Day

When we first came to Gamblers Anonymous, whether for ourselves or under pressure from others, some of us were all but sickened by the concept of “surrender.” To admit defeat flew in the face of our lifelong beliefs. Some of us thought of the immortal rallying cries of Churchill at Dunkirk, or of FDR fol…[Read more]

JANUARY 15th Reflection for the Day

I must never forget who and what I am and where I come from. I have to remember the nature of my illness and what it was like before I came to Gamblers Anonymous. I’ll try to keep the memory green, yet not spend time dwelling morbidly on the past. I won’t be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe tha…[Read more]

January 14th Reflection for the Day

I admitted that I couldn’t win the gambling battle on my own. So I finally begun to accept the critically important fact that dependence on a Higher Power could help me achieve what had always seemed impossible. I stopped running. I stopped fighting. For the first time, I began accepting. And for the first t…[Read more]

January 13th Reflection for the Day

The Gamblers Anonymous Program and my friends in the Fellowship have provided me with a whole new set of tools for living. If I use all of these tools regularly and well, they’ll also help rid me of such negative feelings as guilt, anxiety, rebellion, and pride.

When I’m feeling depressed, do I use the too…[Read more]

JANUARY 12th Reflection for the Day

When I sit quietly and compare my life today with the way it used to be, the difference is almost beyond belief. But things aren’t always rosy; some days are a lot better than others. I tend to accept the bad days more easily on an intellectual level than I do emotionally, or at gut-level. There are no pat a…[Read more]

JANUARY 10th Reflection for the Day

Since I came to Gamblers Anonymous, I’ve become increasingly aware of the Serenity Prayer. I see it on literature covers, the walls of meeting rooms, and in the homes of newfound friends. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to kno…[Read more]

January 8th Reflection for the Day

Today is the day for which I asked and for which I have been given strength. That in itself is a miracle. The fact that I am alive is the great miracle from which all other miracles will flow, providing I continue to do the things that have brought me this far in my new life.

Am I grateful that I have been…[Read more]

JANUARY 7th Reflection for the Day

I’m beginning to see just how unnatural my old life actually was, and that it became increasingly so as my illness progressed. The longer I’m in the Gamblers Anonymous Program, the more comfortable this new way of life seems. At first, it was impossible for me to extend my hand to a newcomer; such an act was who…[Read more]

JANUARY 6th Reflection for the Day

Gamblers Anonymous, wrote Dr. Robert L. Custer in the foreword to the Gamblers Anonymous Blue Book, is a Program of the Twelve Steps “that provides a framework of hope, structure, and friendship” for those who have chosen the road to a “successful adaptation to a life without gambling.” He adds, “This road can…[Read more]