Reclaiming Your Power Through Time, Faith, and Feeling

Have you stopped long enough to feel your feelings? No, sis, I mean reeeeally feel them. Not name them. Not intellectualize them. (I’m talking about myself, not you!) But feel. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to go slow. Slow, or, as I’ve been calling it since it came to me in a two-way prayer: The pace of peace.

Ever notice how love bombers and narcissists move fast? Like, fast fast? Like I’m about to get whiplash and we just met fast?! Why? Because when you go fast, it’s dangerous. Because when you go fast, it’s easier to manipulate. Because when you go fast, it’s impossible to notice the same things in the same way as when you go slow.

Slow is sacred.
Slow is safe.
Slow is divine.

Going slow takes courage. Noticing takes courage. That pace of slowness? That’s the pace of God. Now don’t get me wrong—God is also the God of suddenlies. (But that’s another story for another day!)

Hi, my name is Joval, and I’m an addictions and behavioral health nurse.

Have you ever wondered why so many people are “addicted”? First, let’s slow down to ask and answer: what even is addiction?

Addiction is compulsive behavior. It’s behavior that continues despite negative outcomes. That’s just beyond our control. We don’t want to do it… And yet here we are one more again, doing it anyway. It impacts our health, our money, our relationships, our joy. You thought COVID 19 was bad?! Addiction is far worse.

But what are we addicted to? Substances? Yes. Alcohol, porn, food? Of course. But also: Being right. Going fast. Overachieving. Shopping. Control.

I knoooow, that might not even sound right, huh? But hear me: addiction numbs us. It keeps us from feeling the very things we don’t want to feel. And when we find ways to get that same sense of peace or control—without the negative consequences? Our worlds open up. Our lives blossom. Our relationship, money, and joy are restored.

From hurt to healing. From wounded to restored. From pain to peace. From escape to embodiment.

To overcome addiction is to slow down enough to be brave and bold enough to ask, and to then notice: Why am I reaching for this? What am I trying not to feel? Feeling the feelings you’ve been running from? It takes courage. It takes boldness. And wouldn’t you know—those are the very things God calls us to have. Not just to do courage. But to be courageous. To be bold.

We can do something and not be it. I can be in Spain and not be Spanish. I can be in a fight and not be anger. I can feel fear and still be faith. I can grieve loss and still be hope.

So how, then, do we become?
1. Think different.
2. Reclaim your power by reclaiming your time.

That’s it. Not 10 steps. Not a new morning routine. Not a personality quiz or a to-do list. Just this: Shift your mind. Guard your hours. Reclaim your time.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

How you think is who you are.

And your time is where your attention lives. And wherever your attention goes—your power flows. What we focus on grows. When we spend all our time rushing, numbing, avoiding, pleasing, overworking, proving… we give our time to what does not serve us. And when we give away our time, we give away our power.

Reclaiming time is about more than calendars and boundaries. It’s spiritual. It’s sacred. It’s saying: I am no longer available for what drains me. I am no longer giving the best of me to what is beneath who I’m becoming. Reclaiming your time is choosing the pace of peace. It’s creating enough stillness to hear God again. To hear yourself again. To feel again. And in that slowness, in that stillness? You begin to remember who you are. You begin to become.

According to my good sis Merriam-Webster:
Reimagine (v): to imagine again or anew; especially: to form a new conception of; to recreate.

Let’s Recreate Together

Reimagine = recreate?! As in The Creator who created us to create?! Reimagining is allowing us to create, too?! Sorry, I ain’t realize that and I just had a whole moment as you saw read.

Let’s practice. But first, take 3 deeeep cleansing breaths.

Now picture this—You’re sitting at a table with the feeling you’ve been avoiding. Place it right in front of you like a tangible object you can hold in your hand. Name it. See it.

Now change your seat. Move to the other side of the table. What do you see now that you didn’t see before?

Now crouch down low. What becomes clear from that angle?

Now rise up on your tippy toes. What can you see now that you couldn’t see before?

Different perspectives reveal different truths. None is more right than the other, they are simply different perspectives of the same feeling, you see?

Prayer for Slowness, Stillness, and Strength

God, thank You. Thank You for the gift of feeling. For the capacity to see, to know, to experience. Above all, to understand. Help us to stop running from our feelings, and start running to them—with You. Because with You, all things are possible. With You, there is nothing we can’t do!

You said in Your Word: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And because You live in me, I can overcome too. I have done it before with You and I’m grateful I get to do it again with You, too!

Help me overcome. Help me be. Give me the willingness to show up to the table. To examine what’s before me. What’s within me. And what’s around me—not with fear, but with faith. Not with speed, but with Your holy peace. Not with perfection, but with presence. And so it is. It is done. Amen…. And awomen!

This is your invitation, sis:

Feel your feelings.
Sit at the table.
Go slow. Noooope, 50x slower!
That discomfort you feel?
That’s the pace of peace.
That’s the courage to feel.

I welcome you here. I welcome you to join me as I continue to feel the feelings that I’ve long been avoiding. To face the hurts and heal them, one feeling, one deep breath, one prayer, one pause at a time, one published post at a time.