Here's one to start us off...
Mclean Ft. Tinchy Stryder - Broken (Remix) R&B HQ D/L 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI3LQJoNt_g
Listen to the whole song 3 times, get in touch with the emotion and hey presto urge to gamble will pass. Thats the theory anyway. 🙂
Link fixed i think!
You need to fix your link S.A.
Lost Highway by Willie Nelson & Kurt Nilsen. I listen to this and think I don't need gambling anymore. The song is what you make of it yourself though, but to me, gambling is the lost highway. I cried the first time I heard that song.
"Just a deck of cards and a jug of wine And a woman's lies make a life like mine Oh, the day we met, I went astray I started rollin' down that lost highway'"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxqlLoY9hBg
Okay, maybe not inspirational...I tried.
Better one here.
Gabriels Oboe
the one I posted on Facebook the evening of my first counselling session Primal Scream's Movin On Up, rousing, affirming and lyrically appropriate to a new start, give it a try....
Enigma - Return to innocence
The ace of spades by Motörhead 🙂
I am joking of course. One I really like is Eminem - I'm not afraid 🙂 brilliant pick me up song
here is something i shared about 5 years ago when i was struggling
I Will Survive
Gloria Gaynor
First I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
without you by my side
But I spent so many nights
thinking how you did me wrong
I grew strong
I learned how to carry on
and so you're back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed my stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me
Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now
'cause you're not welcome anymore
weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
you think I'd crumble
you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not I
I will survive
as long as i know how to love
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive
It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart
kept trying hard to mend
the pieces of my broken heart
and I spent oh so many nights
just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
Now I hold my head up high
and you see me
somebody new
I'm not that chained up little person
still in love with you
and so you felt like dropping in
and just expect me to be free
now I'm saving all my loving
for someone who's loving me
First I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
without you by my side
that was how it was for me at first. The thought of never playing again did scare me, i didnt actually think i could make it.
But I spent so many nights
thinking how you did me wrong
I grew strong
I learned how to carry on
it took a long time for me to reflect on how damaging gambling was for me, eventually the penny dropped
and so you're back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
the relapse perhaps, and how sometimes you find yourself in the situation where u remember the good times,and perhaps want to try it out?
I should have changed my stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me
barriers and blocks!
so important to have them.
I got caught out, and regret it.
Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now
'cause you're not welcome anymore
and so say all of us??
weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
you think I'd crumble
you think I'd lay down and die
its tough stopping gambling, and its tough not to crumble in that resolve to stay gambling free, and sometimes it just feels easier to go back to gambling, because facing the real world is just too difficult. So much easier live life with that crutch? Well, i have had those thougths anyway, wonder how many of you have had them too?
Oh no, not I
I will survive
as long as i know how to love
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive
i dont need to gamble, not now not never. I know that is my reality, and i also know that i am a survivor, yes things get tough and difficult, but i have clawed myself this far along the road, so no reason to think that i cant claw my way along the road some more.
How may diversions? who knows? but the important thing is the survival
It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart
kept trying hard to mend
the pieces of my broken heart
the beginnings of recovery?
That broken heart is the most difficult thing to repair isnt it?
The regrets, the broken pieces that feels as though they will never heal, never mend.
I think stopping gambling is easy! The difficult part is staying stopped, and mending the broken pieces of the broken heart
and I spent oh so many nights
just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
dearie me, and how many of those nights have i shared with you guys?
Now I hold my head up high
and you see me
somebody new
I do that 90% of the time, and the other 10% is work in progress
I'm not that chained up little person
still in love with you
No i am not that chained up little person, i do not need to gamble, but i have had relapses, and i should know better.
and so you felt like dropping in
and just expect me to be free
now I'm saving all my loving
for someone who's loving me
yeppers, onwards and upwards?
hoping this will strike a cord with someone.
like i said i posted this about 5 years ago, and things have just got better
there is hope, and there is so much life out there after gambling.
its hard work, but can be done
love
rusty
xx
Good post - I find deep and thoughtful songs do wonders to clense the mind and enable you to think clearly. My top three would be as follows:
1) The Dark is Rising - Mercury Rev
2) Cause - Sixto Rodriguez
3) Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
JamesP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7haRV7L5hag&sns=em
Thank you for also inviting me to share on your thread SA...
This is the song I played over and over again when I was at rock bottom but I had never really listened to the words...the song is in two halves..first the darkness and its if his higher power is talking to him and asking him to trust..'for an unbeliever like you" ...but then darkness gives way to light.
I love it because it marked a turning point for me when he sings the words "You have to surrender" because this was still fighting everything and could not give in..
Mr James Taylor- ex alcoholic and heroin addict...."Look up from your Life"
R and D xx
3 suggestions.
1)" Patience" by Take That. A wonderful song to remind us all that we can't put this right overnight.
2) "I am what I am" to remind us "there's one life and there's no return and no deposit" and it is too d**n short to waste it locked in the cycle of pain and regret that is gambling.
3)"Hurt" by Johnny Cash. Not at all inspiring but a cold, stark and important reminder of someone about to die full of regrets and with only bitterness, pain and lies surrounding them. I am 46 and this is where I am heading if I don't stop now. I could cry every time I hear this.
Some great tunes folks... nice one!
I will certainly be becoming here when i need a lift, inspiration or mood changing music.
Keep em coming 🙂
Whitney Houston - I didn't know my own strength
Lost touch with my soul
I had no where to turn
I had no where to go
Lost sight of my dream,
Thought it would be the end of me I
I thought I'd never make it through
I had no hope to hold on to, I
I thought I would break
I didn't know my own strength
And I crashed down, and I tumbled
But I did not crumble
I got through all the pain
I didn't know my own strength
Survived my darkest hour
My faith kept me alive
I picked myself back up
Hold my head up high
I was not built to break
I didn't know my own strength
Found hope in my heart,
I found the light to life
My way out of the dark
Found all that I need
Here inside of me
I thought I'd never find my way
I thought I'd never lift that weight
I thought I would break
I didn't know my own strength
And I crashed down, and I tumbled
But I did not crumble
I got through all the pain
I didn't know my own strength
Survived my darkest hour
My faith kept me alive
I picked myself back up
Hold my head up high
I was not built to break
I didn't know my own strength
There were so many times I
Wondered how I'd get through the night I
Thought I took all that I could take
I didn't know my own strength
And I crashed down, and I tumbled
But I did not crumble
I got through all the pain oh
I didn't know my own strength
Survived my darkest hour
My faith kept me alive
I picked myself back up
I Hold my head up high
I was not built to break
I didn't know my own strength
I was not built to break
no no
I got to know my own strength
Riva -Time is a Healer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1pwXgU2XM
Move on, look to new horizons
Seek and you will find
Let go, you've been here for too long
Just follow the signs
Time is the healer
Love is the stranger
Put the hurt behind you
Break the chains that bind you
Time is the healer
Life is the teacher
Put the hurt behind you
Break the chains that bind you
Forgive, does it really matter?
Make a brand new start
Forget, could be for the better
Just follow your heart
Very simple but quite profound lyrics.
Music has been a big part of my life and something I have really connected with again as part of my recovery. Whenever I was in a deep gambling binge or cycle I would hardly listen to music, it was just too hard to listen too. Now after having a few months under my belt gamble free I get a lot of joy from listening too and playing music. There are loads of songs which have helped re-establish that connection and all personal. Maybe not for lyrical content but just anchoring me too a certain time or feeling.
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq6M4PWKvq4
I song about growing up and realising you possess all the power yourself to change
Sunshine of your love - Cream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqh54rSzheg
First song I ever learned on guitar and which I still love playing. Reminds me to refocus my energy on more rewarding activities.
Venus in Furs - Velvet underground -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzaifhSw2c
Its the song I always seem to put on the pub jukebox when out with friends. Pub used to be a prime gambling spot so this songs pulls me to the jukebox rather than the fruit machine.
Its great seeing everyone elses songs and the meanings they all hold for everyone.
Labrinth feat. Emeli Sandi.... "Beneath Your Beautiful"
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