Topic of the week, words that begin with `V`

[MajestyJo]

V is for Very. Be very, very sure that you want to recover, not looking for a quick fix, to go back out and find yourself back to where you where before or even worse. If I am not willing to do what ever it takes to stay clean and sober, I have a very good chance that I will relapse, if not today, in the very near future.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/insects-butterflies-6/0005.gif

[MajestyJo]

V is for Visitor. Are you a visitor or a member when you go to meetings. Do you just occupy space on a chair and get up and leave just as soon as you can. Do you introduce yourself. As my sponsor said to me many years ago, remember that you are only half a hand shake. Reach out and connect with others, bring the body and the mind will follow.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/insects-butterflies/0260.gif

[MajestyJo]

V is for Validation. Go within and look for it within yourself instead of looking to others to validate who you are. Recovery is an inside job, so be ever vigil and watch for varying defects of character, just because you did the Steps once, doesn't mean you don't need to do them again, this is very much a one day at a time program.

http://angelwinks.net/images/nostalgicpod/nostalgicpod33.jpg

[MajestyJo]

V is for Value. Value yourself, you are worth while, you are a child of God. Along the way to the doors of recovery, I lost or discounted my values and in recovery, had to pick them up again and put them into practice, and practice, practice, and practice to keep them in place.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCZ6EAFPzy3_J4paztFf4O3t697aCcw _oIPtpcLklklYb9VNT_1Q

[MajestyJo]

V is for Virtue. Validate yourself, you are not your disease.

A list of virtues, some you probably didn't even know you had.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCZ6EAFPzy3_J4paztFf4O3t697aCcw _oIPtpcLklklYb9VNT_1Q


https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaltVqrBWSVrAZGldnuhmOxWPVeUNiK oKR06Srzr2nXO8QEgp8

[MajestyJo]

V is for Vice. Why worry, you have your Higher Power? Don't worry and fret about things, especially those things you don't have any power over, worry won't change them. Don't worry yourself to death, you miss out on your God's Will's for you. Worry is a block and prevents God's Whisper reaching your ear.

We have lots of vices, they call it being human. That is why I take them to my God. Anything I put between me and my God, be it people, places, things and feelings, becomes the god of the day.

Going back out and using, doesn't help, the pain is still there when and if I get the opportunity to get clean and sober again. Feelings of more keep me using. As the saying goes, "Just because you have a feeling, you don't have to act out on it. Vent it, don't keep it inside.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTKvznZN0ofhGI7uwyGy0d5gBZ62kFN0 hZnTsyxsoD1sFXPT7f3eQ

[MajestyJo]

V is for Victory. As the Bible says, "We have victory in Jesus."

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/v/various_artists/victory_in_jesus.html

No matter what concept you have of your Higher Power, we can win and have victory over our disease, one day at a time. It doesn't matter what you call your Higher Power as long as you call, that is the victory.

Quite often it is my attitude toward my God and my relationship with my Higher Power, that gives me that daily reprieve and victory over my disease. For me it was the 12 Steps, through them I found a new understanding of my God and myself.

http://angelwinks.net/images/faithpod/faithpod38.jpg

[MajestyJo]

V is for Vanity. Vanity is part of my dis-ease, it isn't a principle of the program. So many times my ego and vanity, along with pride and venomous thoughts toward myself and others, just drew me deeper into my disease.

It is not a recovery tool. I thought if I looked could it would hide the inner self that I didn't want any one else to see.

I was noticing some of the things I had been wearing lately and thought, there was a time, I wouldn't have been caught dead in them. What would people say? It doesn't matter what they say, it is about me and my attitude that needed changing, and my vanity was one of the first things that had to go.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRV2gB5vIj16GjNddxSjIbotaxA2raPX wIj6lr_jQNAQrrmld44Og

[MajestyJo]

V is for Voice. Speak up and let your voice be heard. You have a right to your opinion. Just because you have a voice, doesn't mean people will accept or agree with you, but you do have the right to share your experience, strength, and hope.

Use your voice to sing your God's praises. Vocalize what your God has done for you and share with others. It doesn't matter how it is said or worded or spelled, it is about your truth. When I had two years sober I thought I knew it all. At six years sober, I looked back at my journals, and realized I didn't know much of anything. Each new day is a new voice and a new truth.

We sometimes forget our body language tell a different story and doesn't always validate the words that we speak.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-hippopotamuses/0044.gif

[MajestyJo]

V is for Valid. I had to learn to validate myself instead of looking outside of myself for it. When I go outside of myself, I am still using people, places, and things to make me feel better.

The say discretion is a better part of valour. Most of us lost that along the way along with my other things, including our sense of self. I know when I came into the rooms of recovery, I was very empty, and I had to fill up with spiritual things to fill the void.

http://www.angelwinks.net/iq/quick42.jpg