How to stay clean from gambling

June 30 - I've learned in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that the trick, for me, is not stopping gambling, but staying stopped and learning how not to start again.  God knows, I tried to stop plenty of times, by lecturing myself on how it was affecting not only my life, but all aspects of my behavior.  Gambling was actually changing who I seemed to be.  To stay stopped, I've had to develop a positive, ongoing program of action.  I've had to learn to live free from addiction, cultivating new patterns, new interest, and new attitudes.

Am I remaining flexible in my new life?  Am I exercising my freedom to abandon limited objectives?

Today I Pray - I pray that my new life will be filled with new patterns, new friends, new activities, new ways of looking at things.  I need God's help to overhaul my lifestyle to include all the newness it must hold.  I also need a few ideas of my own.  May my independence from compulsive gambling help me make my choices with an open mind and a clear, appraising eye. 

Today I Will Remember - Stopping is starting.

Crossed paths and happenstance?

June 29 - Once we surrendered and came to the Gamblers Anonymous Program, many of us wondered what we would do with all that time on our hands.  All the hours we'd previously spent planning, hiding, alibiing, losing our shirts, borrowing, juggling accounts - and all the rest - threatened to turn into empty chunks of time that somehow had to be filled.  We needed new ways to use the energy previously absorbed by our addiction.  We soon realized that substituting a new and different activity is far easier than just stopping the old activity and putting nothing in its place.

Am I redirecting my mind and energy?

Today I Pray - I pray that, once free of the encumbrance of my addiction, I may turn to my Higher Power to discover for me how to fill my time constructively and creatively.  May that same Power that makes human paths cross and links certain people to specific situations, lead me along good new roads into good new places.

Today I Will Remember - Happenstance may be more than chance.

How is your life a miracle?

Feel free to comment anonymously and tell our readers how your life is a miracle since you've been free of gambling? 

Life is a miracle

June 28 - Almost daily, I hear of seeming 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 exactly the right time; phoning a friend who, unbeknownst to me, desperately needed that particular phone call at the precise moment; hearing "my story" at an unfamiliar meeting in a strange town.  These days, I choose to believe that may 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 non-understandable 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.

Don't put off change!

June 27 - Little by little, I'm getting over my tendency to procrastinate.  I always used to put things off til 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 dependency to put off.

Grow or deteriorate?

June 26 - 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. 

Free the Chains

June 25 - If I ever 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 the 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.