When we first stopped gambling, it was an enormous relief to find that the people we met in the Gamblers Anonymous Program seemed quite different than those apparently hos tile masses we know as "they." We were met, not with criticism and suspicion, but with understanding and concern. However, we still encounter people who get on our nerves, both within the Program and outside it. Obviously, we must begin to accept the fact that there are people who'll sometimes say things we disagree with, or do things we don't like. Am I beginning to see that learning to live with differences is essential to my comfort and, in turn, to my continuing recovery? Today I Pray … May I recognize that people's differences make our world go around and tolerate people who "rub me the wrong way." May I understand that I must give them room, that some of my hostile attitudes toward others may be leftovers from the unhealthy days when I tended to view others as mobilized against me. Today I Will Remember … Learn to live with differences. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

Honesty is a word I had to be reacquainted with. Before coming to Gamblers Anonymous, I bounced lies and half-truths around so often in my head that I believed they were all true. Today I strive for rigorous honesty with myself and with others. Above all, I must always remain honest with myself about where the credit for my recovery belongs - with my Higher Power and the Fellowship of GA. Have I accepted the fact that self deception can only damage me, providing a clouded and unrealistic picture of the person I really am? Today I Pray … May God allow me to push aside my curtain of fibs, alibis, rationalizations, justifications, distortions, and downright lies and let in the light on the real truths about myself. May I meet the person I really am and take comfort in the person I can become. Today I Will Remember … Hello, Me. Meet the real Me. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

I used to be an expert at unrealistic self-appraisal. At certain times, I would look only at that part of my life that seemed good. Then I would magnify whatever real or imagined virtues I had attained. Next, I would pat myself on the back for the fantastic job I was doing in the Program. Naturally, this generated a craving for still more "accomplishments'' and still greater approval. Wasn't that the pattern of my days during active addiction? The difference now, though, is that I can use the best alibi known - the spiritual alibi. Do I sometimes rationalize willful actions and nonsensical behavior in the name of "spiritual objectives"? Today I Pray … God help me to know if I still crave attention and approval to the point of inflating my own virtues and magnifying my accomplishments in the Program or anywhere. May I keep a realistic perspective about my good points, even as I learn to respect myself. Today I Will Remember … Learn to control inflation. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

If I am troubled, worried, exasperated, or frustrated, do I tend to rationalize the situation and lay the blame on someone else? When I am in such a state, is my conversation punctuated with, "He did. "She said "They did..."? Or can I honestly admit that perhaps I'm at fault. My peace of mind depends on overcoming my negative attitudes and my tendency to rationalize. Will I try, day by day, to be rigorously honest with myself? Today I Pray … May I catch myself as I talk in the third person. He did. or "They promised. "She said she would and listen for the blaming that has become such a pattern for me and preserves delusion May I do a turnabout and face myself instead Today I Will Remember … Honesty is the only policy. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

Rare is the recovering compulsive gambler who will now dispute the fact that denial is a primary symptom of the illness. The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches us that compulsive gambling actually tells the afflicted person that he or she really isn't sick at all. Not surprisingly, then, our lives as addictive gamblers were characterized by endless rationalizations and dishonesty and, in short, a steadfast unwillingness to accept the fact that we were, without question, emotionally and mentally different from our fellows. Have I admitted to my innermost self that I am truly powerless over my compulsion to gamble? Today I Pray … May the First Step be not half-hearted for me, but a total admission of powerlessness over my addiction. May I rid myself of that first symptom - denial - which refuses to recognize any other symptom of my illness. Today I Will Remember … Deny denial. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

Gamblers Anonymous enables us to discover two roadblocks that keep us from seeing the value and comfort of the spiritual approach: self-justification and self-righteousness. The first grimly assures me that I'm always right. The second mistakenly comforts me with the delusion that I'm better than other people - "holier than thou." Just for today, will I pause abruptly while rationalizing and ask myself why I am doing this, and whether my self-justification is really honest? Today I Pray … May I overcome the need to be "always right" and know the cleansing feeling of release that comes with admitting, openly, a mistake. May I be wary of setting myself up as an example of self-control and fortitude, and give credit where it is due to a Higher Power. Today I Will Remember … To err is human, but I need to admit it. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

Looking back, I realize just how much of my life has been spent in dwelling upon the faults of others. It provided much self-satisfaction, to be sure, but I see now just how subtle and actually perverse the process became. After all was said and done, the net effect of dwelling on the so-called faults of others was self-granted permission to remain comfortably unaware of my own defects.  Do I still point my finger at others and thus self-deceptively overlook my own shortcomings? Today I Pray … May I see that my preoccupation with the faults of others is really a smokescreen to keep me from taking a hard look at my own, as well as a way to bolster my own failing ego. May I check out the "why's" of my blaming.  Today I Will Remember … Blame-saying is game-playing.  A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

The longer I'm in the Gamblers Anonymous Program, the more clearly I see why it's important for me to understand why I do what I do, and say what I say. In the process, I'm coming to realize what kind of person I really am. I see now, for example, that it's far easier to be honest with other people than with myself. I'm learning also that we're all hampered by our need to justify our actions and words. Have I taken an inventory of myself as suggested in the Twelve Steps? Have I admitted my faults to myself and to another human being? Today I Pray … May I not be stalled in my recovery process by the enormity of the Program's Fourth Step - taking a moral and financial inventory of myself - or by admitting these shortcomings to myself and to another human being. May I know that honesty to myself about myself is all-important. Today I Will Remember … I cannot mend if I bend the truth. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

One of the most constructive things I can do is to learn to listen to myself and get in touch with my true feelings. For years, I tuned myself out, going along, instead, with what others felt and said. Even today, it sometimes seems that they have it all together, while I'm still stumbling around. Thankfully, I'm beginning to understand that people-pleasing takes many forms. Slowly but steadily, I've also begun to realize that it's possible for me to change my old patterns. Will I encourage myself to tune in to the real me? Will I listen carefully to my own inner voice with the expectation that I'll hear some wonderful things? Today I Pray … I pray that I may respect myself enough to listen to my real feelings, those emotions that for so long I refused to hear or name or own, emotions that festered in me like a poison. May I know that I need to stop often, look at my feelings, listen to the inner me. Today I Will Remember … I will own my feelings. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support

Have I gained freedom simply because one day I was weak and the next day I became suddenly strong? Have I changed from the helpless and hopeless person I once seemed to be simply by resolving, "from now on, things will be different"? Is the fact that I am more comfortable today than ever before the result of my own will power? Can I take credit for pulling myself up by my own boot straps? I know better, for I sought refuge in a Power greater than myself - a Power that is still beyond my ability to visualize. Do I consider the change in my life a miracle far beyond the working of any human power? Today I Pray … As the days of abstinence lengthen, and the moment of decision becomes farther behind me, may I never lose sight of the Power that changed my life. May I remember that my abstinence is an ongoing miracle, not just a once-in-a-lifetime transformation. Today I Will Remember ... Life is an ongoing miracle. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jamesh-acm/support