Gamblers Anonymous

Honesty
Author : GA

Take it easy. Honesty will come into your life if you let it.

Dishonesty and compulsive gambling go hand in hand. Have you ever seen an active compulsive gambler who is honest? It’s doubtful. In GA rooms all over the world you will hear the word “honesty” a lot. It is a virtue we feel we should strive for and yet it is difficult to bring it into our lives.

Bringing honesty into your life is not easy. Think just how long you have lived comfortably with dishonesty. In any GA meeting you can find twenty different degrees of honesty. Everyone recovers at their own pace. Each person is at a different stage of recovery and the degrees of honesty will vary from one member to another.

The general opinion of most GA members is that we must, first of all, be honest with ourselves. This is at least a starting point. As each of us recovers on a daily basis, and at our own pace, we find that in spite of ourselves we are making gradual changes in our lives. These changes affect every department of our lives, our thoughts, our attitude, our emotions, and finally, our honesty. These changes are from within so they are long lasting.

One member told us that when she was gambling, and even for a brief time after she came to GA and stopped gambling, she still could not stop stealing from her husband’s jacket. She also told us that there came a point in her recovery when she knew she was making some progress because she no longer went looking for his jacket. Eventually she stopped stealing.

Another member, free from gambling, told us that he would go home in the evening and tell stories of his fantastic day when, in reality, his day had been pretty dull and ordinary. Gradually, as recovery and honesty came into his life, he would go home and if he described a fantastic day, then this time it was true!

top