No situation in hopeless when in Gamblers Anonymous

September 8 - We are told that no situation is hopeless.  At first, of course, we find this hard to believe.  The opposites - hope and despair - are human emotional attitudes.  It is we who are hopeless, not the condition of our lives.  When we give up hope and become depressed, it's because we're unable, for now, to believe in the possibility of change for the better.

Can I accept this: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it's faced"?

Today I Pray - May I remember that, because I am human and can make choices, I am never "hopeless."  Only the situation I find myself in may seem hopeless, which may reduce me to a state of helpless depression as I see my choices being blocked off.  May I remember, too, that even when I see no solution, I can choose to ask God's help.

Today I Will Remember - I can choose not to be hopeless.

Find the bright side in gambling recovery

September 7 - "If you're not all right the way you are," it's been said, "it takes a lot of effort to get better.  Realize you're all right the way you are, and you'll get better naturally."  Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation so difficult that it seems insoluble.  The more we think about it, the more we get on our own backs for our imagined inadequacy to overcome the situation - and we sink into depression.  That's the moment to recall a single phrase, slogan, or bit of philosophy, saying it over and over until it replaces thoughts of the tormenting problem - which, in the final analysis will take care of itself.

Do I sometimes forget that the thorns have roses?

Today I Pray - May I see that God gives us patterns so that we can take comfort in opposites - day follows night; silence follows din; love follows loneliness; release follows suffering.  If I am ineffectual, may I realize it and try to do something constructive.  If I am insensitive, may my friends confront me into greater sensitivity.

Today I Will Remember - Clouds have linings.  Problems have endings.

Goal setting helps with depression - helps with recovery

September 6 - As practicing compulsive gamblers, we were all to familiar with depression, that pile-up of dark feelings that seemed to close over our heads at regular intervals.  Even now, when I am not making progress at the rate I expect I should be, when I expect a total turnaround in my spiritual self overnight, those familiar feelings of gloom can come calling on me again, if I hold the door open for them.

Do I recognize that my goals of perfection are directly related to my feeling of depression?  Do I admit that depression today, in my recover, is less debilitating and more within my power to change?

Today I Pray - When I am immobilized by depression, may I set small, reasonable goals - as miniature perhaps as saying hello to a child, washing my own coffee cup, neatening my desk, offering a short prayer.  May I scrap my own script for failure, which sets me up for deeper depression.

Today I Will Remember - Goals set too high set me back.

Set attainable goals in recovery

September 5 - We're often told that compulsive gamblers are perfectionists, impatient about any shortcomings - especially our own.  We tend to set impossible goals for ourselves, struggling fiercely to reach our unattainable ideals.  Then of course - since no person could possibly meet the extremely high standards we demand of ourselves - we find ourselves falling short.  Discouragement and depression set in; we angrily punish ourselves for being less than superhuman.  The next time around, rather than setting more realistic goals, we set them even higher.  And we fall farther, then punish ourselves more severely.

Isn't it about time I stopped setting unattainable goals for myself, as well as for those around me?

Today I Pray - May God temper my own image of myself as a superperson.  May I settle for less than perfection from myself, as well as from others.  For only God is perfect, and I am limited by being human.

Today I Will Remember - I am not God; I am only human.

Find a Saner Way of Life

September 4 - Through I have prayed at various times in my life, I realized after several months in Gamblers Anonymous that I'd never really prayed properly.  I'd always tried to make deals with God, much like a foxhole atheist; I'd always pleaded, "Grand me my wishes," instead of "Thy will - not mine - be done."  The result was that I remained self-deceived and was thus incapable of receiving enough grace to restore me to a saner way of life.

Do I see that, in the past, when I prayed to God, I usually asked that two and two not make four?

Today I Pray - May I look back and review how I have prayed before, for specific solutions that I, from my earthly vantage, felt were best.  May I question, in the longer view of time, whether those solutions would have been right had God chosen to do things my way.  In retrospect, may I see that my please were not always so wise.  May I be content to trust God.

Today I Will Remember - God may not do it my way.

Step 11 keeps you growing in Gamblers Anonymous

September 3 - Sometimes, even when friends in and outside of the Gamblers Anonymous Program tell us how well we're doing, we know deep down that we're really not doing well enough.  We still have trouble handling life and facing reality on reality's terms.  We suspect, at those times, that there must be a serious flaw in our spiritual practice and development.  Chances are strong that our trouble lies in either the misunderstanding or neglect of Step Eleven - prayer, meditation, and the guidance of God.  The other Steps can keep most of us clean and functioning.  But Step Eleven can keep us growing - so long as we try had and work at it continuously.

Do I trust infinite God rather than my finite self?

Today I Pray - I pray for a deepening of my spiritual awareness, for a stronger faith in the Unseen, for a closer communion with my Higher Power.  May I realize that my growth in the GA Program depends on my spiritual development.  May I give over more of my trust to God's eternal wisdom.

Today I Will Remember - I will not give in or give up, but give over to the power of God. 

The next 24 hours

September 2 - When I wake up, I'll think quietly about the twenty-four hours ahead.  I'll ask God to direct my thinking, especially asking that it be free from self-pity and from dishonest or self-seeking motives.  If I have to determine which of several courses to take, I'll ask God for inspiration, for an intuitive thought, or a decision.  Then I'll relax and take it easy, confident that all will be well.

Can I believe that, when I give up my "rights" of expectations, I'll know freedom?

Today I Pray - I praise God for being able to praise God, to choose the times when I will seek Him, to find my own words when I talk to Him, to address Him in the way that seems most right to me.  May I expect that He in turn must be free of my expectations, to affect my life as He sees fit.

Today I Will Remember - Who am I to try to tell God what to do?

Labor Day Monday Meeting still a go

Holidays can be hard for a gambler...

We encourage you to spend the day with family, not in a gambling mess!  Enjoy the sunshine, enjoy a BBQ, enjoy the people in your life who love you!  Stay Strong!  Meetings are still held on holidays - so please come and join your Gamblers Anonymous Family!

Fake it till you make it!

September 1 - The Gamblers Anonymous Red Book, in explaining Step Eleven, says "A conscious contact seems to start with daily prayer.  What is prayer?  To some it is a personal chat with their Higher Power.  So each of us can pray as we see fit."  If at first prayer seems difficult, you can "fake it until you make it." "In time you will grow to eagerly accept prayer and know the rewards it will give you...Prayer enlarges the ability to cope."

Have I accepted prayer and meditation as a part of my life?

Today I Pray - I praise my Higher Power for my freedom to find my own understanding of God.  May my life be God's, whether I think of Him as a Father whose hand and spirit I can tough with an upward reach of my own, or as a universal Spirit that I can merge with as the hard outlines of my "self" begin to melt, or as a core of Divine and absolute goodness inside myself.  May I know Him well, whether I find Him within me, without me, or in all things everywhere.

Today I Will Remember - I thank God, as I understand Him, for my understanding of Him.