A Day at a Time Reflections

We're taught that "faith without works is dead." How true this is for the compulsive gambler. For if we fail to perfect or enlarge our spiritual lives through work and self-sacrifice for others, we're not equipped to survive the trials and low spots ahead. If we don't practice the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we'll surely return to gambling; and if we return to gambling, we'll likely die. Then fait...

As I grow in the Gamblers Anonymous Program-sharing, caring, and becoming more and more involved-I find that it's becoming easier to live in the NOW. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as "could've," "should've," "would've," or "might've." What's done is done and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is now. Am I g...

I will resolve to observe with new interest even the commonplace things that happen today. If I learn to see everything with a fresh eye, perhaps I'll find I have countless reasons for contentment and gratitude. When I find myself trapped in the quicksand of my negative thoughts, I'll turn away from them-and grab for the lifesaving strength of sharing with others in the Program. Do I carry my weig...

Am I so sure I'm doing everything possible to make my new life a success? Am I using my capabilities well? Do I recognize and appreciate all I have to be grateful for? The Gamblers Anonymous Program and its Twelve Steps of Recovery teach me that I am the possessor of unlimited resources. The more I do with them, the more they will grow-to over shadow and cancel out the difficult and painful feelin...

When I first came to Gamblers Anonymous, I was stunned by the constant sound of laughter. I realize today that cheerfulness and merriment are useful. Outsiders are sometimes surprised when we burst into laughter over some miserable-even tragic experience from the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have been shown the way to recovery, as well as the way to help others like ourselves. What greater...

I have much more to be grateful for than I realize. Too often, I don't remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could enjoy and appreciate. Perhaps I don't take time for this important meditation because I'm too preoccupied with my own so-called woes. I allow my mind to overflow with grievances; the more I think about them, the more monumental they seem. Instead of surrendering...

We come to know in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that there is no deeper satisfaction and no greater joy than in a Twelfth Step well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness to light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives-these things are the substa...

No matter what it is that seems to be our need or problem, we can find something to rejoice in, something for which to give thanks. It is not God who needs to be thanked, but we who need to be thankful. Thankfulness opens new doors to good in our life. Thankfulness creates a new heart and a new spirit in us. Do I keep myself aware of the many blessings that come to me each day and remember to be t...

As I attend meetings of the Gamblers Anonymous Program, may my eyes open wider and wider. Other people's problems make mine look small, yet they are facing them with courage and confidence. Others are trapped in situations as bad as mine, but they bear their troubles with more fortitude. By going to meetings, I find many reasons to be grateful. My load has begun to lighten. Do I expect easy soluti...

Can I be wholeheartedly grateful for today? If so, I'm opening doors to more and more abundant good. What if I can't be thankful for the "rain" that has fallen in my life for the so-called bad times? What then? I can begin by giving thanks for all the sunshine I can remember, and for every blessing that has come my way. Perhaps then I'll be able to look back over the rainy periods of my life with...

If a person continues to see only giants, wrote Anais Nin, "it means he is still looking at the world through the eyes of a child." During this twenty four-hour period, I won't allow myself to be burdened by thoughts of giants and monsters of things that are past. I won't concern myself about tomorrow until it becomes my today. The better I use today, the more likely it is that tomorrow will be br...

As we continue to make these vital choices and so move toward these high aspirations, our reality returns and our compulsion vanishes. We learn, in the words of Plutarch, that, "A pleasant and happy life does not come from external things. Man draws from within himself, as from a spring, pleasure and joy." Am I learning to "travel first class" inside? Today I Pray … The grace of God has showed me...

We in Gamblers Anonymous know full well the futility of trying to overcome our addiction by will power alone. At the same time, we do know that it takes great willingness to adopt the Program's Twelve Steps as a way of life that can restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. No matter how severe our addiction, we discover with relief that choices can still be made. For example, we can choo...

The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches me to remain on guard against impatience, lapses into self pity, and resentments of the words and deeds of others. Though I must never forget what it used to be like, neither should I permit myself to take tormenting excursions into the past merely for the sake of self-indulgent morbidity. Now that I'm alert to the danger signals, I know I'm improving day by...

I once heard it said that "the mind is the slayer of the real." Looking back at the insanity of those days when I was gambling, I know precisely what that phrase means. One of the Program's important fringe benefits for me today is an increasing awareness of the world around me, so I can see and enjoy reality. This alone helps diminish the difficulties I so often magnify, creating my own misery in...

Every man and woman who has joined Gamblers Anonymous and intends to stick around has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn't it true that, in all matters related to their gambling, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of the Program? So already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one's own will and one's own ideas...

Any number of compulsive gamblers are bedeviled by the conviction that if they ever go near the Gamblers Anonymous Program-whether by attending meetings or talking one-to one with a member they'll be pressured to conform to some particular brand of faith or religion. They don't realize that faith is never an imperative for membership in the Program; that freedom from gambling can be achieved with...

If we attempt to understand rather than to be understood, we can more quickly assure a newcomer that we have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. All of us, whatever our race, gender, creed, color, or ethnic heritage, are the children of a living Creator, with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms-as soon as we are w...

I came; I came to; I came to believe. Gamblers Anonymous has enabled me to learn that deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of a God. It may be obscured by pomp, by calamity, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves and miraculous demonstrations of that Power in human lives are facts as old as man hims...

Faith is more than our greatest gift; sharing it with others is our greatest responsibility. May we in the Gamblers Anonymous Program continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill the immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has placed in our hands. If you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray? Today I Pray … Our God is a mighty fortress, a bulwark who ne...

Time after time, we learn in Gamblers Anonymous, newcomers try to keep to themselves "shoddy facts" about their lives. Trying to avoid the humbling experience of the Fifth Step, they turn to a seemingly easier and softer way. Almost invariably, they slip. Having persevered with the rest of the Program, they then wonder why they fell. The probable reason is that they never completed their houseclea...

Our spiritual and emotional growth in the Gamblers Anonymous Program doesn't depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If we bear this in mind, a relapse can have the effect of kicking us upstairs, instead of down. We in the Program have had no better teacher than Old Man Adversity, except in those cases where we refuse to let him teach us. Do I try to remain always...

What do we say to a person who has slipped, or one who calls for help? We can carry the message, if the person is willing to listen; we can share our experience, strength, and hope. Perhaps the most important thing we can do, however, is to tell the person that we love him or her, that we're truly happy he or she is back, and that we want to help all we can. And we must mean it. Can I still "go to...

Still another common thread we invariably see among slippers is that many of them felt dissatisfaction with today. "I forgot we live one day at a time," or "I began to anticipate the future," or "I began to plan results, not just plan." They seemed to forget that all we have is NOW. Life continued to get better for them and, as many of us do, they forgot how bad it had been. They began to think, i...

Another common denominator among those who slip is failure to use the tools of the Gamblers Anonymous Program the Twelve Steps. The comments heard most often are, “I never did work the Steps," "I never got past the First Step," "I worked the Steps too slow," or "too fast" or "too soon." What it boils down to is that these people considered the Steps, but didn't conscientiously and sincerely apply...