A Day at a Time Reflections

First search for a little humility, my sponsor urged me. If you don't, he said, you're greatly increasing the risk of going out there again. After a while, in spite of my lifelong rebelliousness, I took his advice; I began to try to practice humility, simply because I believed it was the right thing to do. I hope sincerely that the day will come when most of my rebelliousness will be just a memory, that then I'll prac tice humility because I deeply want it as a way of life. Am I willing to try humility today, if only for a moment? Will I learn to hunger for the feeling I get from it? Today I Pray … Since I - like so many compulsive gamblers - am a rebel, may I know that I will need to practice humility. May I recognize that humility does not come easily to a rebellious nature, whether I am out-and out defiant, dug-in negative, or, more subtly, determined in a roundabout way to change everything else but myself. I pray that by practicing humility it will become instinctive for me. Today I Will Remember … Get the humble habit. A Day at a Time ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠⁠⁠ G.A. A New Beginning ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC⁠⁠

All progress can be boiled down and measured by just two words: humility and responsibility. It's said that our entire spiritual development can be precisely measured by our degree of adherence to those standards. Only by abandoning my self-centeredness and maintaining contact with a Higher Power can I achieve true humility. Only by regaining contact with reality can I develop responsibility. Am I trying my honest best to live by standards of humility and responsibility? Today I Pray … I pray that of all the good words and catchphrases and wisps of inspiration that come to me, I will remember these two above all: humility and responsibility. These may be the hardest to come by - humility because it means shooing away my pride, responsibility because I am in the habit of using my gambling addiction as a thin excuse for getting out of obligations. I pray that I may break these old patterns. Today I Will Remember … First humility, then responsibility. A Day at a Time ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠⁠⁠ G.A. A New Beginning ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC⁠⁠

There are few "absolutes" in the Gamblers Anonymous Twelve Steps of Recovery. We're free to start at any point we can, or will. God, as we understand Him, may be defined as simply a "Power greater"; for many of us in the Program, the group itself was the first "Power greater." And this acknowledgment is relatively easy to make if a newcomer knows that most of the members are free of compulsive gambling and he or she isn't. This admission is the beginning of humility. Perhaps for the first time, the newcomer is at least willing to disclaim that he himself - or she herself - is God. Is my behavior more convincing to newcomers than my words? Today I Pray … May I define and discover my own Higher Power. As that definition becomes clearer and closer to me, may I remember not to insist that my interpretation is right. For each must find his or her own Higher Power. If a newcomer is feeling godless and alone, the power of the group may be enough for now. May I never discredit the power of the group. Today I Will Remember … Group power can be a Higher Power. A Day at a Time ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠⁠⁠ G.A. A New Beginning ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC⁠⁠

What, exactly, is humility? Does it mean that we are to be submissive, accepting everything that comes our way, no matter how humiliating? Does it mean surrender to ugliness and a destructive way of life? On the contrary. The basic ingredient of all humility is simply a desire to seek and do God's will. Am I coming to understand that an attitude of true humility confers dignity and grace on me, strengthening me to take intelligent spiritual action in solving my problems? Today I Pray … May I discover that humility is not bowing and scraping, kowtowing, or letting people walk all over me-all of which have built-in expectations of some sort of personal reward, like approval or sympathy. Real humility is awareness of the vast love and unending might of God. It is the perspective that tells me how I, as a human being, relate to that Divine Power. Today I Will Remember … Humility is awareness of God. 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 thought humility was just another word for weakness. But gradually I learned that there's nothing incompatible between humility and intellect, just as long as I place humility first. As soon as I began to do that, I was told, I would receive the gift of faith - a faith that would work for me as it has worked and continues to work for countless others who have been freed of their gambling addiction and have found a new way of life in the GA Program. Have I come to believe, in the words of Heine, that "the actions of men are like the index of a book; they point out what is most remarkable in them"? Today I Pray … May I never let my intelligence be an excuse for lack of humility. It is so easy, if I consider myself reasonably bright and capable of making decisions and handling my own affairs, to look down upon humility as a property of those less intelligent. May I remember that intelligence and humility are both God-given. Today I Will Remember … If I have no humility, I have no intelligence. A Day at a Time ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH⁠⁠⁠ G.A. A New Beginning ⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC⁠⁠