A Day at a Time Reflections

"To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing," wrote Soren Kierkegaard, "from going down on one's knees and thanking Him." It is my confidence in a Higher Power, working in me, that today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I can't bring this about by relying on myself and my own limited ideas.  Have I begun to thank God every day? Today I Pray … May I remember constantly that it is my belief in my Higher Power that flips the switch to release the power in me. Whenever I falter in my faith, that power is shut off. I pray for undiminished faith, so that this power-given by God and regenerated by my own belief in it-may always be available to me as the source of my strength. Today I Will Remember … Faith regenerates God-given power.  A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

STEP 5 Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. It is suggested that this step be done shortly after completing Step Four, while the facts revealed in Step Four are still fresh in one's mind. In Step Four one can dig inside oneself, as most compulsive gamblers accumulated loads of guilt. In Step Five one can dispose of this guilt and cope with every day problems. One can always look back, and must in making amends, but no longer do you have to live with your personal guilt bag. Selecting someone to help you with the fifth step is the next chore. The person should fill two needs; one, they should have the experience and wisdom to help see the situation more clearly, and be a person who will keep the conversation completely confidential. Perhaps your sponsor will be the logical choice, your clergyman or a good friend - you must make the choice. Reread the fourth step and use your notes as an agenda. Honesty, open mindedness and sincerity will make the whole thing go more smoothly. Your ego, which won't like the idea of displaying former misdeeds to another human being, will quickly accept the healthy atmosphere. You will see yourself more clearly after Step Four and this insight will remain. Self knowledge has no bounds. Your new found serenity will enable you to calmly listen and learn. Your awareness will really accelerate. Your relief at having disposed of this guilt will be tremendous. Humility is a very elusive trait which seems to fly away from one who seems to feel they possess it. If this be so, you must seek to become a well adjusted person and in so doing, gain humility which one does not realize one has. Do not take this step lightly or minimize its importance. Those who have done this step feel that guilt must be disposed of, and action through this step is the proper way to do it. Guilt disposed of as suggested, will aid you in so many ways. Self-honesty is accelerated as you clearly see your guilt. No longer will you feel unique. Rather, you will join the human race knowing that you are not alone. What the program teaches comes true. You will realize no two gamblers are alike, yet none is an original. Upon entering the program, one now feels a sense of being understood. No longer will you be alone, and knowledge of this is exhilarating. As conflicts arise, however, one tends to pull away from this beautiful union. Now, the fifth step helps resolve these conflicts and can say to all the world: "I am a human being." Get A Day at a Time here → https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

When I was gambling, I was certain that my intelligence, backed by will power, could properly control my life and guarantee me success in the world around me. This brave and grandiose philosophy, by which I played God, sounded good in the say Ing. but it still had to meet the acid test: how well did it actually work? One good look in the mirror was answer enough. Have I begun to ask God each day for strength? Today I Pray … May I stop counting on my old standbys, my "superior intelligence and my "will power," to control my life. I used to think, with those two fabulous attributes, that I was all-powerful. May I not forget, as my self-image is restored, that only through surrender to a Higher Power will I be given the power that can make me whole. Today I Will Remember … Check for "head-tripping." A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

For those of us who have lost our faith, or who have always had to struggle along without it, it's often helpful just to accept-blindly and with no reservations. It's not necessary for us to believe at first; we need not be convinced. If we can only accept, we find ourselves becoming gradually aware of a force for good that's always there to help us. Have I taken the way of faith? Today I Pray … May I abandon my need to know the why's and wherefore's of my trust in a Higher Power. May I not intellectualize about faith, since by its nature it precludes analysis. May I know that "head-tripping" was a symptom of my disease, as I strung together-cleverly, I thought-alibi upon excuse upon rationale. May I learn acceptance, and faith will follow. Today I Will Remember … Faith follows acceptance. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 faith will be dead indeed. Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer? Today I Pray … May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of GA be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming the compulsion to gamble. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts; it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own abstinence. Today I Will Remember … The more faith I can give, the more I will have. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in the Program? Today I Pray … That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of today. Only by living in the NOW may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go. Today I Will Remember … Make room for today. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 weight as an all-important link in the worldwide chain of Gamblers Anonymous? Today I Pray … I pray that God will open my eyes to the smallest everyday wonders, that I may notice and list among my blessings things like just feeling good, being able to think clearly. Even when I make a simple choice, like whether to spend my leisure time in a sport, at a concert, or getting together with abstinent friends, may I be reminded that the power of choice is a gift from God. Today I Will Remember … I am blessed with the freedom of choice. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 feelings that now get so much of my attention. Am I less sensitive today than when I first came into the Program? Today I Pray … May I make the most of myself in all ways. May I begin to look outward to people and opportunities and wonderful resources around me. As I become less ingrown and understand myself better in relation to others, may I be less touchy and thin skinned. May I shrug off my old "the world-is-out-to-get-me" feeling and see that same world as my treasure-house, God-given and boundless. Today I Will Remember … My resources are unlimited. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 cause could there be for rejoicing than this? Have I begun to regain my sense of humor? Today I Pray … May God restore my sense of humor. May I appreciate the honest laughter that is the background music of our mutual rejoicing in our abstinence. May I laugh a lot, not the defensive ego-laugh that mocks another's weakness, not the wry laugh of the self-put-down, but the healthy laugh that keeps situations in perspective. May I never regard this kind of laughter as irreverent. I have learned, instead, that it is irreverent to take myself too seriously. Today I Will Remember … A sense of humor is a sign of health. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 to God and God's goodness, I let myself be controlled by the tive thinking into which my thoughts are apt to stray unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths. Do I try to cultivate an attitude of gratitude? Today I Pray … May God lead me away from my pile-up of negative thoughts, which make for detours in my path of personal growth. May I break the old poor-me habits of remembering the worst and expecting the most dire. May I turn my thoughts ahead to a whole new world out there. May I allow myself to envision the glory of God. Today I Will Remember … Keep an attitude of gratitude. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 substance of what we receive as we carry the message of the Program. Am I learning through Twelfth Step experiences that gratitude should be forward, rather than backward? Today I Pray … May my Twelfth Step be as wholehearted and as convincing and as constructive as others' Twelfth-Stepping has been for me. May I realize that the might of the Program and its effectiveness for all of us come through "passing it on." When I guide someone else to abstinence, my own abstinence is underlined and reinforced. I humbly ask God's guidance before each Twelfth Step. Today I Will Remember … To pass it on. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 thankful for them? Today I Pray … May God fill me with a spirit of thankfulness. When I express my thanks, however fumbling, to God or to another human being, I am not only being gracious to God or that other person for helping me, but I am also giving myself the greatest reward of all-a thankful heart. May I not forget either the transitive "to thank," directed at someone else, or the intransitive "giving thanks," which fills my own great need. Today I Will Remember … Thank and give thanks. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 solutions to my problems? Or do I ask only to be guided to a better way? Today I Pray … Make the GA Program my way of life. Its goals are my goals. Its members are my truest friends. May I pass along the skills for coping I have learned there. May my turnabout and the resulting transformation in my life inspire others, as others have inspired me. Today I Will Remember … May I be grateful. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 new vision, seeing them as necessary; perhaps then, hidden blessings I've overlooked will come to my attention. Am I grateful for all of life-both the sunshine and the rain? Today I Pray … May I be grateful for all that has happened to me, good and bad. Bad helps to define good. Sorrow intensifies joy. Humility brings spirituality. Disease turns health into a paradise. Loneliness makes love, both human and Divine, the greatest gift of all. I thank God for the contrasts that have made me know God better. Today I Will Remember … I am grateful for the whole of life. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 bright. Have I extended the hand of caring to another person today? Today I Pray … God, may I please grow up. May I no longer see monsters and giants on my walls, those projections of a child's imagination. May I bury my hobgoblins and realize that those epic dream-monsters are distortions of my present fears. May they vanish with my fearfulness, in the daylight of my new serenity. Today I Will Remember … I will put away childish fears. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 how to be happy again. May the wisdom of God teach me that the source of that happiness is within me, in my new values, my new sense of self-worth, my new and open communication with my Higher Power. Today I Will Remember … Happiness comes from within. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 choose to admit that we're personally powerless over compulsive gambling; that dependence upon a Higher Power is a necessity, even if this is simply dependence upon our group in the Program. Have I chosen to try for a life of honesty and humility, of selfless service to my fellows and to God as I understand Him? Today I Pray … God grant me the wisdom to know the difference between "will power" (which has failed me before) and "willingness" to seek help for my gambling, through God and through others who are also recovering. May I know that there are choices open to me as there are to my fellow sufferers in the foggiest stages of addiction. May I choose the kind of life God wants for me. Today I Will Remember … Willingness, more than will power, is the key to recovery. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 day. If a crisis arises, or any problem baffles me, do I hold it up to the light of the Serenity Prayer? Today I Pray … I pray for perspective as I review the past. May I curb my impulse to upstage and outdo the members of my group by regaling them with the horrors of my addiction. May I no longer use the past to document my self-pity or submerge myself in guilt. May memories of those miserable earlier days serve me only as sentinels, guarding against hazardous situations or unhealthy sets of mind. Today I Will Remember … I cannot change the past. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 the process. Am I acquiring the sense of reality that is absolutely essential to serenity? Today I Pray … May I be revived by a sharpened sense of reality, excited to see-for the first time since the blur of my worst moments-the wonders and opportunities in my world. Emerging from the don't-care haze of addiction, I see objects and faces coming into focus again, colors brightening. May I take delight in this new-found brightness. Today I Will Remember … To focus on my realities. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 about the addiction in favor of those suggested by the Program. If this isn't turning one's will and life over to a new-found "Providence," then what is it? Have I had a spiritual awakening as the result of the Steps? Today I Pray … For myself, I pray for a God-centered life. I thank God often for the spiritual awakening I have felt since I turned my life over to Him. May the words "spiritual awakening" be a clue to others that there is a free fund of spiritual power within each person. It must only be discovered. Today I Will Remember … I will try to be God-centered. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 an easily acceptable minimum of it; and that our concepts of a Higher Power and God-as we understand him-afford everyone a nearly unlimited choice of spiritual belief and action. Am I receiving strength by sharing with newcomers? Today I Pray … May I never frighten newcomers or keep away those who are considering coming to GA by imposing on them my particular, personal ideas about a Higher Power. May each discover his or her own spiritual identity. May all find within themselves a link with some great universal Being or Spirit whose power is greater than theirs individually. May I grow, both in tolerance and in spirituality, every day. Today I Will Remember … I will reach, not preach. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 willing and honest enough to try. Do I know the difference between sympathy and empathy? Can I put myself in the newcomer's shoes? Today I Pray … May I try to love all humanity as children of a living God. May I respect the different ways through which they find and worship God. May I never be so rigid as to discount another's path to God or so insensitive that I use the fellowship of the group as a preaching ground to extol my religious beliefs as the only way. I can only know what works for me. Today I Will Remember ... We are all children of God. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 himself. How well do I share my free gifts? Today I Pray … I pray that I may continue to look for and find the Godliness that is in me and in every other person, no matter how it is obscured. May I be aware that the consciousness of a Higher Power has been present in man since he was first given the power to reason, no matter what name he gave to it or how he sought to reach it. May my own faith in a Higher Power be reinforced by the experience of all mankind and by the working of God's gracious miracles in my own life. Today I Will Remember … God is in us all. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Change is the characteristic of all growth, from reckless action to thoughtfulness, from dishonesty to honesty, from conflict to serenity, from childish dependence to adult responsibility-all this and infinitely more represent change for the better. Only God is unchanging; only God has all the truth there is. Do I accept the belief that lack of power was my dilemma? Have I found a power by which I can live-a Power greater than myself? Today I Pray … I pray that the Gamblers Anonymous Program will be, for me, an outline for change for changing me. These days of transition from compulsive gambling to abstinence, from powerlessness to power through God, may be rocky, as change can be. May my restlessness be stilled by the unchanging nature of God, in whom I place my trust. Only God is whole and perfect and predictable. Today I Will Remember … I can count on my Higher Power. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 never fails us. May we give praise for our deliverance and for our protection. God gives us the gift of faith to share. May we pass it along to others as best we know how and in the loving spirit in which it was given to us. Today I Will Remember … God will not fail us. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. Have I admitted to myself and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs? Today I Pray … That I may include all of the sleaziness of my past, my cruelties and my dishonesties, in a complete moral and financial inventory of myself. May I hold back nothing out of shame or pride, for the "exact nature" of my wrongs means just that-a thorough and exact recounting of past mistakes and character flaws. We have been provided with an appropriate "dumping ground." May I use it as it was intended. May all my throw-aways, the trash and outgrown costumes of the past, be foundation "fill" on which to build a new life. Today I Will Remember … Trash can be a foundation for treasures. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 teachable? Today I Pray … May I respect the total Program, with its unending possibilities for spiritual and emotional growth, so that I can view a relapse as a learning experience, not "the end of the world." May relapse for any one of our Fellowship serve to teach not only the person who has slipped, but all of us. May it strengthen our shared resolve. Today I Will Remember … If you slip, get up. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 school" and continue to learn from the mistakes and adversities of others? Today I Pray … May I always have enough love to welcome back to the group someone who has slipped. May I listen to that person's story-of-woe, humbly. For there, but for my Higher Power, go I. May I learn from others' mistakes and pray that I will not re-enact them. Today I Will Remember … Abstinence is never fail-safe. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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, instead, of how dissatisfying it was compared to what it could be. Do I compare today with yesterday, realizing, by that contrast, what great benefits and blessings I have today? Today I Pray … If I am discouraged with today, may I remember the sorrows and hassles of yesterday. If I am impatient for the future, let me appreciate today and how much better it is than the life I left behind. May I never forget the principle of "one day at a time." Today I Will Remember … The craziness of yesterday. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

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 the Steps to their lives. Am I learning how to protect myself and help others? Today I Pray … May I be a doer of the Steps and not a hearer only. May I see some of the common mis-Steps that lead to a fall: being too proud to admit Step One; being too tied to everyday earth to feel the presence of a Higher Power; being overwhelmed by the thought of preparing Step Four, a complete moral and financial inventory; being too reticent to share that inventory. Please God, guide me as I work the Twelve Steps. Today I Will Remember … To watch my Steps. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

STEP 4 Made a searching and fearless moral and financial inventory of ourselves. Trust your Higher Power and then clean house. The first three steps have laid the groundwork for Step Four; surrender to a powerlessness to gamble and an inability to manage the problems in one's life. Then acquire a senior partner much greater than oneself to guide and accompany you through the remaining steps. Together all can accomplish so much which cannot be done alone. Step Four - one you are into the "Cleaning House" area of your life Now begin an intensive inner search to locate as much guilt, and good, a cover. This search is healthy and practical because dormant, accumulating pait has long been an enemy. Most compulsive gamblers covered this guilt with a clever façade called rationalization. In the past, rationalization tricked us into making very bad actions seem not so bad or even good. Honesty and only honesty can break down this tricky façade. Then you can see yourself exactly as you are for perhaps the first time in your life. Face squarely the financial and emotional wrongs that have been done in order to then forgive oneself. While doing Step Four, how do you uncover all the guilt: A thorough reading of "A Guide to Fourth Step Inventory" available through your group or from the International Service Office can be of great assistance. Then, an autobiographical approach starting with your first bet or even earlier, and moving forward to the present seems indicated. As one moves along, many areas of guilt long forgotten will come to mind. Perhaps you will see some of the following-over-indulgence, greed, lying, dishonesty, failure to accept responsibility, self-destruction, destruction of others, excessive waste of time, arrogance, resentment, jealousy and many others. Guilt is personal, therefore one must seek it out by oneself. Your mind will probably turn to loved ones and the harm laid on them; The dishing out of insecurity so generously. This guilt must be fully realized so we will not be tempted to deal with it later by further gambling. In taking inventory honestly, examine each incident that you can recall from your gambling days. This includes the things you did and those you failed to do: The physical abuse and the verbal abuse which left a lifetime impression. There is much manipulation of people which took from them their right to lead their own lives. No two gamblers are alike, yet none is unique. Each of us has our own collection of guilt which must be unearthed. After discovering and digging up this guilt, one will find it necessary to rid oneself of it. The steps follow will show how to do this. By practicing these steps, you can attain a better way of life based on solid healing principles. With the help of your Higher Power, you can acknowledge guilt as you work the fourth step. Our Higher Power, as we understand Him, can do for us what we could not do for ourselves. After completing Step Four and having accumulated your personal barrel of guilt you can get rid of it in Step Five and find that you are an O.K. person. Then the good life can be maintained one day at a time. A Guide to Fourth Step Inventory https://amzn.to/3y5p1AG Get A Day at a Time here → https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

In almost every instance, the returned slipper says, "I stopped going to meetings," or "I got fed up with the same old stories and the same old faces," or "My outside commitments were such that I had to cut down on meetings," or "I felt I'd received the optimum benefits from the meetings, so I sought further help from more meaningful activities." In short, they simply stopped going to meetings. A saying I've heard at Gamblers Anonymous hits the nail on the head: "Them that stops going to meetings are not present at meetings to hear about what happens to them that stops going to meetings." Am I going to enough meetings for me? Today I Pray … God keep me on the path of the GA Program. May I never be too tired, too busy, too complacent, too bored to go to meetings. Almost always those complaints are reversed at a meeting if I will just get myself there. My weariness dissipates in serenity. My busyness is reduced to its rightful proportion. My complacency gives way to vigilance again. And how can I be bored in a place where there is so much fellowship and joy? Today I Will Remember … Attend the meetings. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

What causes slips? What happens to a person who apparently seems to understand and live the Twelve Step way, yet decides to go out gambling again? What can I do to keep this from happening to me? Is there any consistency among those who slip, any common denominators that seem to apply? We can each draw our own conclusions, but we learn in the Gamblers Anonymous Program that certain inactions will all but guarantee an eventual slip. When a person who has slipped is fortunate enough to return to the Program, do I listen carefully to what he or she says about the slip? Today I Pray … May my Higher Power show me if I am setting myself up to gamble again. May I glean from the experiences of others that the reasons for such a lapse of resolve or such an accident of will most often stem from what I have not done rather than from what I have done. May I "keep coming back" to meetings. Today I Will Remember … Keep coming back. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

If we don't want to slip, we'll avoid slippery places. For the gambler, that means shunning poker parties and race tracks and anywhere that gambling is taking place. For me, certain emotional situations can also be slippery places, so can indulgence in old ideas, such as a well-nourished resentment that is allowed to build to explosive proportions. Do I carry the principles of the Gamblers Anonymous Program with me wherever I go? Today I Pray … May I learn not to test myself too harshly by "asking for it," by stopping in at the casino, the Bingo hall, or the track. Such "testing" can be dangerous, especially if I am egged on, not only by a craving for the old object of my addictions, but by others still caught in addiction whose moral responsibility has been reduced to zero. Today I Will Remember … Avoid slippery places. A Day at a Time ⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠ G.A. A New Beginning⁠ https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

My illness is unlike most other illnesses in that denial that I am sick is a primary symptom of my sickness. Like many other incurable illnesses, however, my illness is characterized by relapses. In the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we call such relapses "slips." The one thing I know for certain is that I alone can cause myself to slip. Will I remember at all times that the thought precedes the action? Will I try to avoid "stinking thinking"? Today I Pray … May God give me the power to resist temptations. May the responsibility for giving in, for having a "slip," be on my shoulders and mine only. May I see beforehand if I am setting myself up for a slip by blame-shifting, shirking my responsibility to myself, becoming the world's poor puppet once again. My return to those old attitudes can be as much of a slip as the act of placing a bet. Today I Will Remember … Nobody's slip-proof. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Absolute humility means freedom from myself, freedom from the demands that my character defects place so heavily upon me. Humility means the willingness to discover and carry out the will of God. Although I do not presume to attain such a vision, just keeping it in my heart helps me know where I stand on the road to humility. I recognize that my journey toward God has barely begun. As I shrink in self-importance, I may even find the humor in my former pomp and ego-tripping. Do I take myself too seriously? Today I Pray ... May the grandiosity that is a symptom of my addiction be brought back into proportion by the simple comparison of my powerlessness with the power of God. May I think of the meaning of Higher Power as it relates to my human frailty. May it bring my ego back down to scale and help me shed my defenses of pomp or bluster or secret ideas of self-importance. Today I Will Remember … Humility is freedom. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Why do people gamble compulsively? Dr. Robert Custer, a pioneer in the treatment of compulsive gambling, believed we have four basic human needs - affection, approval, recognition, and self-confidence. When these needs are not met, people feel inadequate and overwhelmed by life. Gambling may - for a time - appear to fill these needs. But whatever the cause, the principles and Fellowship of Gamblers Anonymous have proved effective in helping thousands overcome the compulsion to gamble. Am I grateful for the insights and fellowship of Gamblers Anonymous? Today I Pray … May God expand my understanding of the illness of compulsive gambling through life stories shared in the safe harbor of the GA meeting. There, we learn the true meaning of "winning" - over the addiction to gambling and all of its life - affecting negative effects. May God continue to show me the positives that can be mine through working the Program honestly and wholeheartedly. Today I Will Remember ... The Program has the answers. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

We must think deeply of all those sick persons still to come to Gamblers Anonymous. As they try to make their return to faith and to life, we want them to find everything in the Program that we have found-even more, if that is possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort to preserve the Program's constant effectiveness and spiritual strength will ever be too great to hold us in full readiness for the day of their homecoming. How well do I respect the Steps of the Program? Today I Pray … God, help me carry out my part in making the group a lifeline for those who are still suffering from compulsive gambling, in maintaining the Steps of Recovery and Unity that have made it work for me and for those who are still to come. May the Program be a "homecoming" for those of us who share the disease of compulsive gambling. May we find common solutions to the common problems that this disease breeds. Today I Will Remember … To do my part. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Storing up grievances is not only a waste of time, but a waste of life that could be lived to greater satisfaction. If I keep a ledger of "oppressions and indignities," I'm only restoring them to painful reality. In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, "'The horror of that moment,' the King said, 'I shall never, never forget.' 'You will though,' said the Queen, 'if you don't make a memorandum of it.'" Am I keeping a secret storehouse for the wreckage of my past? Today I Pray … God keep me from harboring the sludge from the past-grievances, annoyances, grudges, oppressions, wrongs, injustices, put-downs, slights, hurts. They will nag at me and consume my time in rehashing what I might have said or done, until I face each one, name the emotion it produces in me, settle it as best I can-and forget it. May I empty my storehouse of old grievances. Today I Will Remember … Don't rattle old bones. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

I know today that getting active means trying to live the Steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program to the best of my ability. It means striving for some degree of honesty, first with myself, then with others. It means activity directed inward, to enable me to see myself and my relationship with my Higher Power more clearly. As I get active, outside and inside myself, so shall I grow in the Program. Do I let others do all the work at meetings? Do I carry my share? Today I Pray … May I realize that "letting go and letting God" does not mean that I do not have to put any effort into the Program. It is up to me to work the Twelve Steps, to learn what may be an entirely new thing with me-honesty. May I differentiate between activity for activity's sake-busy-work to keep me from thinking and the thoughtful activity that helps me to grow. Today I Will Remember … "Letting God" means letting God show us how. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

If a compulsive gambler wants to live successfully in society, he or she must replace the power of gambling over his/her life with the power of something else-preferably positive, at least neutral, but not negative. That is why we say to the agnostic newcomer: If you can't believe in God, find a positive power that is as great as the power of your addiction, and give it the power and dependence you gave to your addiction. In Gamblers Anonymous, the agnostic is left free to find his or her Higher Power, and can use the principles of the Program and the therapy of the meetings to aid in rebuilding his/her life. Will I go out of my way to work with newcomers? Today I Pray … May the Power of the Gamblers Anonymous Program work its miracles equally for those who believe in a personal God or in a Universal spirit or in the strength of the group itself, or for those who define their Higher Power in their own terms, religious or not. If newcomers are disturbed by the religiosity of the Program, may I welcome them on their own spiritual terms. May I recognize that we are all spiritual beings. Today I Will Remember … To each his own spirituality. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

All of us are faced with the troubles and problems of daily living, whether we've been in Gamblers Anonymous two days or twenty years. We'd sometimes like to believe we could take care of all our problems right now, but it rarely works that way. If we remember the slogan "A Day at a Time" when we are ready to panic, we may come to know that the very best way to handle anything is to "turn it over." We put one foot in front of the other, doing the best we are capable of doing. We say "A Day at a Time," and we do it-a day at a time. Are the Program's slogans growing with me as I grow with the Program? Today I Pray … May even the words "A Day at a Time" serve to slow me down in my headlong rush to accomplish too much too fast. May just those words be enough to make me ease up on the accelerator that plunges me into new situations without enough forethought, ease off on the number of hours spent in material pursuits. May I hark to the adage that Rome wasn't built in a single day. Neither can I build solutions to my problems all at once. Today I Will Remember … A Day at a Time. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Gamblers Anonymous teaches us, through the experience, strength, and hope of its Fellowship, that the worst situation imaginable does not warrant a return to gambling. No matter how bad a particular situation or set of circumstances, the return to our old ways for even a minute will assuredly make it worse. Am I grateful for the caring and sharing of the Program? Today I Pray … May I insist that no stone can be heavy enough to drag me back down into the pool of my addiction. No burden, no disappointment, no blow to pride or loss of human love is worth the price of returning to my old way of life. When I harbor thoughts that life is "too much" for me, that no one should be expected to "take so much and still remain sane" or that I am "the fall guy," let me listen for the tone of my complaints and remember that I have heard that whine before-before I concluded that I was powerless over gam bling and gave my will over to the will of God. Such wailing sets me up for gam bling again. May God keep my ears alert to the tone of my own complaining. Today I Will Remember … Hear my own complaints. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Once in a great while, I find myself thinking that perhaps things weren't quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the key action steps of the Gamblers Anonymous Program is that we give our illness to God as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power. Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself? Today I Pray … May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time-or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us-and through others who have found new life in the GA Program - it is all the evidence we need to know that God exists. Today I Will Remember … The Big Wheel runs by faith. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches us that we have an incurable illness. We always get worse, never better. But we're fortunate in that our incurable illness can be arrested, one day at a time, as long as we don't place that first bet. High-toned academic research and ivory-tower studies to the contrary, we know from experience that we can no more control our gambling than we can control the ocean tides. Do I have any doubt that I am powerless over gambling? Today I Pray … May I never fall prey to any short-term research results that tell me that compulsive gambling can be cured, that it would be safe to begin gambling again, supposedly in a responsible manner. My experience and the experience of others in GA-will outshout such theories. May I know that, if I took up gambling again, I would begin where I left off-closer than ever to prison, insanity, or death. Today I Will Remember … Be wary of new theories. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

The longer I'm in Gamblers Anonymous, the more important becomes the slogan, "First Things First." I used to believe that my family came first, that my home life came first, that my job came first. But I know today, in the depths of my heart, that if I can't stay clean, I'll have nothing. "First Things First," to me, means that everything in my life depends on my refraining from gambling. Am I grateful to be clean from gambling today? Today I Pray … May my first priority, the topmost item on my list of concerns, be my abstinence from gambling maintaining it, learning to live comfortably with it, sharing the tools by which I maintain it. When other things crowd into my life and I am caught up in distractions, may I still preserve that first-of-all goal: remaining free from gambling. Today I Will Remember … First Things First.

Placing one last bet will never again be for me simply killing a few minutes and leaving a nickel for the bookmaker. In exchange for the first bet, what I'd plunk down now would be my bank account, my family, our home, our car, my job, my sanity, and probably my life. It's too big a price, and too great a risk. Do you remember your last bet? Today I Pray … May I be strong in the knowledge that God's spirit is with me at all times. May I learn to feel that spiritual presence. May I know that nothing is hidden from God. Unlike the world, which approves or disapproves of my outward behavior, God sees all that I do, think, or feel. If I seek to do God's will, I can always count on a reward for me-peace of mind. Today I Will Remember … God knows all. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

In the old days, we often had such devastating experiences that we fervently swore, "Never again." We were absolutely sincere in those moments of desperation. Yet, despite our intentions, the outcome was inevitably the same. Eventually, the memory of our suffering faded, as did the memory of our "pledge." So we did it again, ending up in even worse shape than when we had last "sworn off." Forever turned out to be only a week, or a day, or less. In the Gamblers Anonymous Program, we learn that we need only be concerned about today, this particular twenty-four-hour period. Do I live my life just twenty-four hours at a time? Today I Pray … May the long-term requirements of such phrases as "never again," "not on your life," "forever," "I'll never make another bet" not weaken my resolve. "Forever," when it is broken down into single days or even just parts of days-does not seem so impossibly long. May I awake each day with my goal set realistically at just twenty four hours. Today I Will Remember … Twenty-four hours at a time. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

"Lead us not into temptation," we pray, for we know with certainty that temptation lurks around the corner. Temptation is cunning, baffling, powerful and patient; we never know when it will catch us with our guard down. Temptation could come in the siren song of a four-color advertisement or a radio commercial, the neon and noise of a casino, or, more obviously, in the direct urgings of another person. We must remain forever vigilant, remembering that the first bet, the first face-off with a gambling machine, the first roll of the dice could well destroy our lives. Am I aware of my number one priority? Today I Pray … God, lead me out of temptation-whether it is the sound of rattling dice, the turn of a card at a poker party, the smoke of the Bingo hall. May I know the limits of my resistance and stay well within them. May my surrender to the will of God give a whole new meaning to that old phrase, "Get in the spirit.” Today I Will Remember … Get in the spirit. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Gamblers Anonymous teaches us that we are emotionally and mentally different from our fellows. We are reminded that the great obsession of every compulsive gambler is to prove that somehow, someday, we will be able to control our gambling. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing, and many pursue it to the gates of prison, insanity, or death. Have I conceded to my inner self that one bet is too many, and a thousand not enough? Today I Pray … May I have no illusions about someday becoming a controlled gambler after being an obsessive one. May I muffle any small voice of destructive pride which lies to me, telling me that I can now go back to my former addiction and control it. This is a Program of no return, and I thank God for it. Today I Will Remember … My goal must be lifelong abstinence - a day at a time. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC