Just wanted to share this piece on denial that I was given
from a problem gambling counsellor I have know for years.
While reading it I came to realize that I lived in denial most of my childhood and adult life.Denied I grew up in a house full of addictions abuse and chaos.Denied my first marriage was over and even tried to deny that my first wife died of natural causes and that it wasn’t my fault.But thanks to the GA program I was finally able to stop denying that gambling was slowly destroying my life and my family’s life.Pretty sure if it hadn’t I would still be living a life of denial.Today thanks to recovery and counselling and admitting to Step1 of the GA 12 Steps "We admitted that we were powerless over gambling – that our lives had become unmanageable." I know who I am where I came from and what I need to do to develop a better way of thinking and living.Have A Great Weekend of Recovery.
Ken L GRCG
 
                                         Denial 
"Denial isn’t lying; it’s not letting yourself know what reality is"
 
Denial runs deep. We tell ourselves lies. When some awareness, some reality, threatens to hurt us, we trick ourselves into believing ‘it isn’t so."
 
What are the jagged edges of life that provoke us into this temporary self-delusion? People may deny feelings, thoughts, events, addictions, changing conditions, situations, problems, illness, and even death itself. We deny the tangible and intangible. People deny just about anything that can be denied – but what we usually deny is what we have lost, are losing, or suspect we’re losing – something important to us.
 
All kinds of losses provoke all kinds of people to use denial. How hard and how long we deny varies. We may engage in a stunned second of disbelief. We may resist reality for minutes,
hours, days, or months. Or, we may spend years skirting the edges of reality or stumbling through a murky cloud.
 
Denial is a shock absorber for the soul. It’s a normal, natural,
instinctive response to loss. We use it because we need to. It’s a coping tool that we use to deal with pain or problems by not dealing with them until we are ready and able to deal with them. And some of us may need a longer time and a little more help others to face our own reality. Full clarity usually comes gradually over time, so be gentle with yourself, and give yourself the gift of time.