There is a casino not too far from where I live.  It’s not just a casino – it’s a huge entertainment complex – and occasionally, we will go there to see a concert, a show, or just for dinner.

One night, about a month ago, we met a few friends there for dinner.

Now I’m not much of a gambler so I don’t know a lot about the games that are played at the casino but at dinner we got into a discussion about casinos and how addictive and damaging they can be to some people.  One of my friends started to tell us about all of the different games and the odds of each game.  “The slot machines are the worst,” he told us and he went through all of the various games until he got to the craps table. 

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I am sure that everyone, at one time in their life, has experienced being hurt by another person.  Most times the hurt comes from a breach of trust that we have placed in someone close to us: someone steals from us, marital infidelity, divorce, and physical abuse are some of those breaches.

Being hurt by someone close to us can generate some very strong emotions; unfortunately, the emotions that being hurt generates are negative ones.   Anger, betrayal, sadness, and other feelings similar to these are entirely normal reactions to the hurt.

While these are normal reactions, what is not normal is allowing these feelings to consume you to the point where they become unhealthy, affect your attitude, or cause you to cease being able to enjoy life.

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