Getting Past Gambling

A place to come and share experiences, to find support and strength, for those of us who are putting gambling behind us and finding new exciting and happier ways to live our lives.
" You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing."
*Dale Carnegie {1888-1955 American Author & Achievement Expert}


Saturday, August 27, 2005

Just For Today

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle all my problems at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime
.
Just for today I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."


Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires, I will take my "luck" as it comes, and fit myself to it.


Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do a least two things I don't want to do--just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, keep my voice low, be courteous, criticize not one bit. I won't find fault with anything, nor try to improve or regulate anybody but myself.

Just for today I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.

Author Unknown

Sunday, August 21, 2005

THE DAILY GURU...Messages That Guide You Daily

"Inner Critics"

"We tell ourselves so many lies and half-truths
... We listen and are duly impressed by these inner voices that turn into unseen judges that nag at us. We give each of these judges a seat of honor in our minds, all the while hating their guts and their never-ending supply of judgements
... We give the judges permission to accompany us on each journey of life, never daring to realize that we can park them, at least momentarily."
-- Eloise Ristad

"The Inner Critic makes each of us a child. As we become the child in our relationships, we lose our sense of self. We are no longer self-contained, self-respecting adults. We look to others for validation. Our self-worth is based upon their opinion of us. Thus, everyone around us becomes a mother or a father whose support and approval is desperately needed to protect us from the constant criticism of the Inner Critic."
-- Hal and Sidra Stone

Thursday, August 18, 2005

GO FOR WHAT YOU WANT....

"Follow your bliss."
-- Joseph Campbell

It's hard for some of us to believe that the world is served when we seek our own happiness. We've been taught that this is selfish.

If we stop to reflect on how we are in the world when we are happy, we can see how this serves.

We have more vitality.

We're more loving and generous to others when our own needs are met. What activities bring you greatest joy?

Your unique gift to the world will be found in those pastimes you love the most.

How can you live your joy each day?


"Spiritual growth is not made in reaction against, for all striving against imposed restrictions is imaginary.

Spiritual growth is accomplished by inclination toward.
We grow like the sunflower, following the light."
-- Joy Houghton

Friday, August 12, 2005

ACCEPT THE ILLNESS FOR WHAT IT IS

Compulsive gambling is an emotional illness which can never be cured but can be arrested "one day at a time."

The compulsive gambler is a person who is dominated by an irresistible urge to gamble. Coupled with this is the obsessive idea that a way will be found, not only to control the gambling but to make it pay and enjoy it.

We compulsive gamblers often express a desire to stop forever, but inevitably we find ourselves back in action. For most of us there are days, weeks or even months when we are certain that we have gained control. These intervals invariably are followed by long periods of all-out uncontrolled gambling during which progressive deterioration in almost every department of our lives becomes evident. This deterioration is most acute in the relationships with our wives and husbands, friends, relatives and employers.

Therefore, acceptance of the progressive nature of our illness is vital in enabling us to recover and return to a normal, productive and enjoyable life.

Gambling...

Gambling is a sophisticated form of legalized stealing.

In winning, one obtains the wages that another person has earned without giving anything in exchange.

The larger the winnings, the more someone else had to lose.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

THE DAILY GURU...Messages That Guide You Daily

"Valuing The Moment"

"... the only time you ever have in which to learn anything or see anything or feel anything, or express any feeling or emotion, or respond to an event, or grow, or heal, is this moment, because this is the only moment any of us ever gets. You're only here now; you're only alive in this moment."
-- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Many people regularly squander their time.
They live under the assumption that they'll live forever. As a result, they don't value the present as a precious opportunity that will never come again.

Others continually race against time, trying to cram too many activities into each hour, and suffering stress in the process. In our view, we are more effective and most happy when we balance being and doing.

We continually ask ourselves what's most important to get done. And we're learning to BE -- fully present -- when we do. We also regularly give ourselves permission to relax.

Make today really matter. It's all you'll ever have.

"Very few of us know how much we can put into life if we use it properly, wisely, and economically. Let us economize our time -- lifetimes ebb away before we wake up, and that is why we do not realize the value of the immortal time God has given us."
-- Paramahansa Yogananda

GAMBLING...

Gambling increases crime.

Gambling always attracts racketeers and mobsters.

Gambling increases the number of murders, assaults, robberies, crimes of violence of all kinds, etc.

The underworld thrives on gambling.


Police cost increase.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Gambling.....

Gambling increases welfare costs.

Gambling weakens the stability of family life.

Gambling lowers the standard of living and necessitates a larger welfare burden, thus raising taxes.

Increased revenue from gambling means larger claims for welfare.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Gambling.....

Gambling depresses legitimate business, siphoning off money from the regular business community.

It dislocates the purchasing dollar.

Business leaders are reluctant to invest money in areas that sustain large gambling enterprises because of the ensuing bad debts, delinquent time payments, and bankruptcy.

Gambling disrupts the normal checks and balances of a well-ordered community.

Gambling restricts business.

Gambling......

Gambling creates no new wealth.

It redistributes wealth on an inequitable basis.

It enriches the few and impoverishes the many.

Gambling is non-productive.

It performs no useful or necessary services.

Gambling is parasitic.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Whose duty of care? Do we need to re-regulate gambling

Tuesday 9 August:
5.30 pm
Deakin UniversityBurwood CampusBuilding C,
Level 3, Moot Court,
221 Burwood Highway, Burwood

Gambling expenditure keeps going up and governments are accused of being addicted to gambling tax revenue as a significant part of state-generated revenue.
Professor Linda Hancock presents a paper that argues that the way a public policy issue is framed prefigures its scope and implementation. Framing gambling as a public health and consumer protection issue raises new issues for research, regulation and the role of government.
The paper compares alternative conceptualizations of the way that government frames and responds to gambling policy issues and specifically, ‘problem gambling’. Key dimensions of the prevailing Industry (self) Regulation Model are compared with a Public Health/Citizen Interests or Consumer Protection Model.


Guest Speaker: Associate Professor Linda Hancock
Director, Public Policy & Governance ProgramDeakin University, Melbourne, AustraliaFormer Chair, Gambling Research Panel, Victoria. 2000-2004
Associate Professor Hancock is Director of the Public Policy and Governance at Deakin University.


She has a long standing interest in analysing public and social policy formulation and implementation with regard to balancing social and market concerns in terms of longer term sustainability, equity, access and capacity to participate.

Further details & RSVP: 03 5227 2805 or email mouse@deakin.edu.au

Formerly a Commissioner on the Law Reform Commission of Victoria and a Presiding Member on the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, she is currently President of the Board of VCOSS, a member of the Board of Governors of ACOSS (Australian Council of Social Services) and former Chair of the independent Gambling Research Panel of Victoria.
Publications include books on Health Policy in the Market State, Women, Public Policy and the State, Re-writing Rights in Europe; with forthcoming books on public policy analysis and the baby boomers.

THE DAILY GURU...Messages That Guide You Daily

Feel Your Emotions"

"The key is to not resist or rebel against emotions or to try to get around them by devising all sorts of tricks; but to accept them directly, as they are."
-- Takahisa Kora

Emotions are energy in motion.
They bring us information if we are willing to experience them.
Unfortunately, many of us are afraid of the energy of emotions and so we automatically resist them.
And when we refuse to experience our emotions, we block them up.
They become trapped and that entrapment drains our energy and brings continuing discomfort.
Don't let emotions push you into action or reaction.
Just STOP and PAY ATTENTION.
Allow them to be and to speak to you.
Once they are acknowledged, their energy is released.

"Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance."
-- Deepak Chopra

"We have to become more conscious of our feeling-world. By learning to identify the 'emotional baggage' and manage our feeling-world reactions, we can view life based on current information instead of being held captive by our past."

-- Doc Childre"Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge."
-- Audre Lorde