Living In Denial

You live to learn.
You learn to live.
There’s only one way to go.
There’s no shortcut.

The casinos are full of players,
Who believe they can game the system.
A few are born with the gift.
But most aren’t that lucky.

You live to learn.
You learn to live.
Stop fooling yourself!
But the casinos are betting you will.

“Regardless of the legality, the growing prevalence of [mobile phone] gambling in society helped him legitimize his habit to himself. It felt less “seedy,” he said, even if he would gamble until three in the morning while his kids slept “and then wake up and do it again.” By this year, Jason didn’t go a day without gambling.“I felt like I had to be gambling at all times,” he said.
He would ultimately blow through “a couple hundred thousand dollars” before admitting he had become a problem gambler in May. Still, Jason considers himself “a slightly better case than average.” Since he joined Gamblers Anonymous, he’s heard stories of people losing homes and living out of their car. “It’s pretty conclusively established in the gambling literature that ease of access is a risk factor for the development of gambling problems,” Whyte said. “Ease of access alone doesn’t make doesn’t make someone a gambling addict. But it certainly can contribute to an increase in the rate and severity.” The ease of access is clear and growing.”
Excerpt from The Rise of Mobile Gambling Is Leaving People Ruined and Unable to Quit

“While we can’t control the feelings and thoughts that pop into our heads, we can control what we do with them. Bricker’s work using acceptance and commitment therapy in smoking cessation programs suggests we shouldn’t keep telling ourselves to stop thinking about an urge; instead, we must learn better ways to cope. The same applies to other distractions like checking our phones too much, eating junk food, or excessive shopping. Rather than trying to fight the urge, we need new methods to handle intrusive thoughts.
Use this 4-step method to handle unwanted thoughts that can derail your focus.
Step 1: Look for the Discomfort That Precedes the Distraction, Focusing In on the Internal Trigger
Step 2: Write Down the Trigger
Step 3: Explore Your Sensations
Step 4: Beware of Liminal Moments”
Excerpt from How to Disarm Internal Triggers of Distractions

“In the stock market, it takes money to make money. So what do you do when you don’t have very much to begin with? You pour what little you have into overly leveraged, rarely brilliant, sometimes inane trades that lie somewhere in between gambling and investing.” Excerpt from How I turned $15,000 into $1.2m during the pandemic—then lost it all

Opinion: Who are the casinos? Any organization which promotes and sells intangible benefits/virtual realities for money–e.g. lottery, alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, on-line addictions, alternative lifestyles, prosperity religions, investments, etc.

The “gambler’s fallacy” – which can affect everyone from athletes to loan officers—creates deceptive biases that lead you to anticipate patterns that don’t really exist.