Mmmy,
Geordie is right – u have to lose the desire.
How do you do that ?
You have to understand some things – you have to understand exactly WHY you are powerless and what that MEANS FOR YOU.
I finally got this understanding from reading a book based on the original AA programme . So let me try explain what I learned :
Firstly it is not your fault you are an addict – others can gamble and never develop this addiction. Why ? Because your body and your brain are different . Just like people with alcohol addiction process alcohol differently, our bodies / brains process gambling differently – this is not our fault – it is just the way we are – we couldn’t have prevented ourselves developing this addiction because we didn’t know our bodies are different . This is also why we can’t stop when we gamble . We will never be able to control it . People around us can try to blame us , but it simply is not our fault . Once you grasp that you cannot gamble like you used to in the early days and stop, nor can you gamble like people who aren’t addicted – once U fully grasp what that means – the awful urges stop .
This is what accepting you are powerless means .
You still need recovery tools, and fellowship , but knowing that u cannot stop and therefore cannot ever walk away with a win no matter how big- kinda takes the “big win” and other gambling fantasies away- we realise that that chasing for us is futile – well that’s what happened to me .
Hope this helps and Isn’t too waffle- like .
The book by the way is called “a program for you ” and is based on the AA big book.