We can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. We can be all by ourselves and still feel happy and content. What makes the difference? We feel lonely if we look to other people for something they really can’t provide. No one else can give US peace of mind, an inner sense of acceptance, …
No matter what other people do or don’t do, for ourselves we have to remain abstinent from gambling. When our program of recovery becomes contingent on the actions or inactions of another person—especially someone with whom we’re emotionally involved—the results are invariably disastrous. We also need to remember that intense dislike is as much an …
In our first weeks or months in Gamblers Anonymous, our shaky emotional condition sometimes affects our feelings toward old friends and family. For many of us, these relationships heal quickly in the initial stages of our recovery. For others, a time of touchiness seems to persist; now that we’re no longer gambling compulsively, we have to sort …
Now that we’re free from our compulsion to gamble, and living life one day at a time, we can begin to stop making unreasonable demands upon those we love. We can show kindness where we had shown none; we can take the time and initiative to be thoughtful, considerate, and compassionate. Even with people we …
In times past, even as adults, many of us childishly insisted that people protect, defend, and care for us. We acted as if the world owed US a living. And then, when the people we most loved became fed up, pushing us aside or perhaps abandoning us completely, we were bewildered. We couldn’t see that …
Is freedom from compulsive gambling all that we’re to expect from a spiritual awakening? Not at all. Freedom from our addiction is only the bare beginning; it’s only the first gift of our first awakening. Obviously, if more gifts are to come our way, our awakening has to continue. As it does continue, we find …
At the suggestion of a long-timer in Gamblers Anonymous, I began taking recovery inventories periodically. The results showed me—clearly and unmistakably—that the promises of the GA Program have been true for me. I am not the sick person I was in years past; I am no longer bankrupt in all areas; I have a new life and …
Everybody wants to be somebody, nobody wants to grow, wrote Goethe. I ask myself sometimes, as we all do: Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? What’s it all about? The learning and growing process is usually slow. But eventually our seeking always brings a finding. What seem like great mysteries often turn …
On studying the Twelve Steps of Recovery, many of us as newcomers to Gamblers Anonymous exclaimed, What an order! I can’t go through with it. Don’t be discouraged, we’re told at meeting after meeting. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is that we …
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 …