Gamblers Anonymous: Why does it Work & How to get The Best from it.

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allainepo wrote:

day@atime mentions spirituality so i thought i would google that and see what the definition was

Wiki came up with

Spirituality refers to certain kinds of activity through which a person seeks meaning, especially a "search for the sacred".^[1] It may also refer to personal growth, blissful experience,^[2] or an encounter with one's own "inner dimension."

I think that sounds good to me, personal growth it is then, thanks guys

Yes spirituality can boil down to personal growth if that's what it takes.

Honesty, open mindedness and willingness to change forms the basis of my recovery journey

Hi my name is Brendan.

I will be starting to attend GA meetings again as of tomorrow. The problem I have is that there is only 1 meeting on a Tuesday night in my local area. The nearest open meetings are 27 miles away and even the steps meetings are a similar distance away. I don't drive so it's difficult to know what to do about it. I'm from Stoke on Trent area.

Hi Brendan, I don't drive but can make my local meeting and have made other meetings normally with someone driving from my local meeting do times other options do come up. I have traveled on public to other meetings after all I didn't worry about the time I wasted when I gambled.

Go to your local one and take it from there.

KTF

A

Benjo100 wrote:

Hi my name is Brendan.

I will be starting to attend GA meetings again as of tomorrow. The problem I have is that there is only 1 meeting on a Tuesday night in my local area. The nearest open meetings are 27 miles away and even the steps meetings are a similar distance away. I don't drive so it's difficult to know what to do about it. I'm from Stoke on Trent area.

Not everyone has that option Brendan. Did you go?

Bump

I only ever went to one GA meeting and found the whole experience really depressing.It just felt to me like a big social club with everyone laughing and joking with each other.I felt so out of place and only stayed for half an hour and never went back,i have no regrets not going anymore.

Well, if you'd stuck with it or found another meeting or otherwise given it a fair chance, you might be in recovery. But is that what you really want? Or is it easier to blame something extraneous beyond your control? GA's useless, no point in going, it won't help, in fact, nothing helps so the addiction cycle carries on.

In reality, GA works just fine for those of its members who want recovery. Who are willing to do what it takes, who are prepared to accept the help, because they do indeed want recovery.

CW

Cynical wife wrote:

Well, if you'd stuck with it or found another meeting or otherwise given it a fair chance, you might be in recovery. But is that what you really want? Or is it easier to blame something extraneous beyond your control? GA's useless, no point in going, it won't help, in fact, nothing helps so the addiction cycle carries on.

In reality, GA works just fine for those of its members who want recovery. Who are willing to do what it takes, who are prepared to accept the help, because they do indeed want recovery.

CW

How would you know CW? Leave him alone - you don't know what works for him and what doesn't.

For whatever reason we GAs are cursed with addiction. Sanctamonious posts from people who aren't can be very irritating.

Hi admin.
When i wrote the original post, it was in the spirit of offering information to those who may be curious or wary of attending a GA meeting. I had hoped those who may have questions on what to expect at a meeting, would find it a safe place to pose such questions. What i didnt want was a bun fight. Would it be possible to remove those comments that dont add anything to the spirit of the post

I don't think we can remove any posts from here Day@atime, as we try not to censor unless something goes against our forum rules. We're sure that people will still continue to get a lot out of the material here, as they have so far.

best wishes

Forum Admin

Thankyou Admin. I understand.

I feel I need to reply then.

GA has a solution. It is one that undisputably works for those willing to follow it. We dont dispute there are other solutions out there. But we dont have a scroll down menu of options. Just our solution. People are free to take it or leave it. Nobody can expect our solution to work for them if they are not prepared to follow the clear instructions on how to recover that have been laid out for them.

bump

A great post day@atime.

Xmercx, may I ask where about a in the UK you are based as I too attended GA meetings but I was the only female that ever attended and after going for a few weeks found it really tough being the only female. I think GA meetings are good and definitely a big step to recovery for a lot of people. I would love to find one where there are at least a few females so I would feel more comfortable. I am in Berkshire, does anyone know of any? I have searched online but to date haven't found anything.