I'm beginning to see just how unnatural my old life actually was, and that it became increasingly so as my illness progressed. The longer I'm in the Gamblers Anonymous Program, the more comfortable this new way of life seems. At first, it was impossible for me to extend my hand to a newcomer; such an act was wholly unnatural for me. But it is becoming increasingly easier for me to reach out to another person. Sharing my experience, strength, and hope is becoming a natural part of daily living.

Have I learned that I can't keep what I've gotten unless I "give it away"? Will I take the time to share today?

Today I Pray ... May I share my love, my joy, my happiness, my time, my hospitality, my knowledge of things on earth, and my faith in a Higher Power. Even though I may not see the results of my acts of sharing, may I take joy in the acts themselves. May sharing, according to God's plan, become as natural to me as speaking or breathing.

Today I Will Remember ... Be never sparing in caring and sharing.

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Gamblers Anonymous, wrote Dr. Robert L. Custer in the foreword to the Gamblers Anonymous Blue Book, is a Program of the Twelve Steps "that provides a framework of hope, structure, and friendship" for those who have chosen the road to a "successful adaptation to a life without gam bling." He adds, "This road can be smooth or rocky, but, in any case, it is never a painless journey. As a recovering compulsive gambler, I can face any discomforts today, knowing that the pain of recovery will never be as acute and desperate as the pain of my gambling days.

Am I prepared to see each new day in the GA Program as a time for learning, growing, and making healthy choices?

Today I Pray ... May I make prudent use of the power of choice that God has given me, to plan wisely, one day at a time, without becom ing a slave to apprehension, regret, or anxiety. I pray that God's will be done through the exercising of my own will, which He, in His goodness, has given me.

Today I Will Remember ... God wills my will to be.

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G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

"Today is my lucky day." How often in the past we said that, when it was an empty prophecy. Today, those words are real; I am given a second chance. In my gambling days, I sacrificed every "today" for a dream of some distant tomorrow. Of all that I lost, I grieve most for all those "todays I cannot bring them back. But today-this day-I have. I will not sacrifice it or waste it.

Do I truly believe that today is mine, that today I can choose to be happy, to grow, and to learn to live, instead of counting on some pie-in-the-sky day in the far-off future?

Today I Pray ... I pray that the colors of this day may not be blurred by muted vagaries of the future or dulled by storm-gray remnants from the past. I pray that my Higher Power will help me choose my actions and concerns out of the wealth of busyness that each day offers.

Today I Will Remember ... I will not lose for today, if I choose for today.

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STEP 1  - We admitted we were powerless over gambling that our lives had become unmanageable. 

We at Gamblers Anonymous, believe our gambling problem is an emotional illness, progressive in nature, which no amount of human will-power can stop or control. We have facts to support this belief. We believed, at one time or another, that all of our problems could be solved with a big win. Some, pathetically, even after making a big win, found themselves in work trouble within a short period of time. We continued to gamble. We found we had risked loss of family, friends, security and jobs. We still continued to gamble. We gambled to the point where it resulted in imprisonment, insanity or attempted suicide. We still continued to gamble and were unable to stop. We fell victim to a belief that if only our financial problems could be solved, we would be able to stop gambling or even be able to gamble like normal people. Many times we swore we would not gamble again believing we had the will-power to stop gambling. We believed a lie. We believed we had the power to stop or control our gambling. Our inability to honestly look at our gambling problem enabled us to continue to gamble. In spite of all of the evidence from our past, we still denied the truth about our gambling. 

Upon entering Gamblers Anonymous, we must develop the ability to honestly look at our gambling. This is the first step in our process of recovery. Without honesty, we cannot admit our powerlessness over gambling.. We must honestly accept, admit and unconditionally surrender to this powerlessness in order to proceed with our recovery. Any reservations we had or may presently have that we can gamble again means we still believe we are not powerless over gambling and that we have not admitted or accepted our powerlessness (either we have power over gambling or we don't). 

To those members who have difficulty with admitting their powerlessness over gambling, they should write about their gambling, and the destruction their gambling has caused and their countless futile attempts to stop gambling. Use the "20 Questions" as a guide. Write extensively, thoroughly and specifically using each of the questions as a central focal point. Only with the awareness and the acceptance of the hopelessness, hopelessness and desperation of our situation (as compulsive gamblers) can we develop the open-mindedness required for Step Two. 

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For a good part of my life, I saw things mostly in negative terms. Everything was serious, heavy, or just plain awful. Perhaps now I can truly change my attitude, searching out the winners in the Gamblers Anonymous Program who have learned how to live comfortably in the real world - without gambliing.

If things get rough today, can I take a quiet moment and say to myself, as the philosopher Homer once said, “Bear patiently, my heart - for you have suffered heavier things”?

Today I Pray ... May the peace of God that passes all human understanding fill the place within me that once harbored my despair. May an appreciation for living - even for life’s trials - cancel out my old negative attitudes. During heart-heavy moments, help to remind me that my heart was once much heavier still.

Today I Will Remeber ... I am a winner - in the best sense of the word.

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G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

My gambling compulsion is threefold in that it affects me physically, mentally, and spiritually. As a compulsive gambler, I was totally out of touch, not only with myself, but with reality. Day after miserable day, like a caged animal on a treadmill, I repeated my self-destructive pattern of living.

Have I begun to break away from my old ideas? Just for today can I adjust myself to what is, rather than try to adjust everything to my own desires?

Today I Pray ... I pray that I may not be caught up again in the downward, destructive spiral that removed me from myself and from the realities of the world around me. I pray that I may adjust to people and situations as they are, instead of always trying, unsuccessfully and with endless frustration, to bend them to my own desires.

Today I Will Remember ... I can change only myself.

A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH

G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

Before I came to the Gamblers Anonymous Program, I hadn't the faintest idea of what it was to "Live in the Now." I often became obsessed with things that happened yesterday, last week, or even five years ago. Worse yet, many of my walking hours were spent cleaning away the "wreckage of the future." "To me," Walt Whitman once wrote, "every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle."

Can I truly believe that in my heart?

Today I Pray ... Let me carry only the weight of twenty-four hours at one time, without the extra bulk of yesterday's regrets or tomorrow's anxieties. Let me breathe the blessings of each new day for itself, by itself, and keep my human burdens contained in daily perspective. May I learn the balance of soul that comes through keeping close to God.

Today I Will Remember ... Don't borrow from tomorrow.

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G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

In the old days, I saw everything in terms of forever. Endless hours were spent rehashing old mistakes. I tried to take comfort in the forlorn hope that tomorrow "would be different." As a result, I lived a fantasy life in which happiness was all but nonexistent. No wonder I rarely smiled and hardly ever laughed aloud.

Do I still think in terms of forever?

Today I Pray...May I set my goals for the New Year not at the year-long mark, but one day at a time. My New Year's resolutions have been so grandly stated and so soon broken. Let me not weaken my resolve by stretching it to cover "forever" - or even one long year. May I reapply it firmly each new day. May I learn not to stamp my past mistakes with that indelible word, "forever." Instead, may each single day in each New Year be freshened by my new-found hope.

Today I Will Remember...Happy New Day.

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God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change; COURAGE to change the things I can; and WISDOM to know the difference - living one day at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking this world-full-of-wrongs as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that my Higher Power will make all things right if I surrender my willfulness to a Divine Will.

Do I strive above all for those qualities - serenity, courage, and wisdom - that form the cornerstones of my new life?

Today I Pray … May I look back at this past year as a good one, in that nothing I did or said was wasted. No experience - however insignificant it may have seemed - was worthless. Hurt gave me the capacity to feel happiness; bad times made me appreciate the good ones; what I regarded as my weaknesses became my greatest strengths. I thank God for a year of growing.

Today I Will Remember … Hope is my "balance brought forward" - into a new year's ledger.

A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH

G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC

For many months after I came to Gamblers Anonymous, I paid little attention to the Eleventh Step, to the practice of serious meditation and prayer. I felt that it might help me meet an emergency - such as a sudden craving to return to gambling but it remained among the lowest levels on my list of priorities. In those early days, I equated prayer and meditation with mystery and even hypocrisy. I've since found that the results of prayer and meditation are more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. For me today, the harvest is increasingly bountiful, and I continue to gain peace of mind and strength far beyond my human limitations.

Is my former pain being replaced by tranquility?

Today I Pray … May I find my own best way to God, my own best technique of meditation whether I use an oriental mantra or the name of Jesus Christ, or just allow the spirit of God, as I understand Him, to settle into me and give me peace. By whatever means I reach my God, may I learn to know Him well and feel His presence - not only in these quiet times, but in everything I do.

Today I Will Remember … Meditation is opening myself to the spirit of God.

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