Two years ago I began what has now become an annual tradition at Abbey of the Arts during this time of new year reflection. I offer the same invitation this year, again with some prizes to give away on January 6th, and this time with a free gift for everyone who participates.
*Everyone* who shares their word for the year and a brief description in the comments below also gets a *free guided meditation recording* from the Abbey with an *Embodied Examen Prayer for the New Year.* It is a great way to reflect on the past year and tend your dreams for the next. To claim your free gift, read through the instructions below and when your word for 2012 emerges, share it in the comments (scroll to the bottom of the page) and then email Eveline, the fabulous Abbey admin at admin@abbeyofthearts.com and request the link.
Then share this invitation with others! Help spread the love and opportunity for reflection!
Read on for more inspiration:
In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered.
Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word – this word or phrase would be something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime. This practice is connected to lectio divina, where we approach the sacred texts with the same request – “give me a word” we ask – something to nourish me, challenge me, a word I can wrestle with and grow into.
Last year my word was sanctuary. Sanctuary has multiple meanings: the sanctuary in a church is the place where the holy of holies dwells, but we also create sanctuaries for animals needing protection or for persons fleeing persecution. The layers to this word shimmered throughout my year, but especially the sense of finding sanctuary within my own heart, to feel at home in the world. This was the grace of this past year, its fierce lesson for me. This year my word is *savor* (click the link if you want to read more about its meaning for me). It came to me in a moment of silent prayer as I reflected on the call I am feeling these days to deeply savor each moment of my life, to immerse myself even more in the present moment. I am eager to discover what the word holds for me this coming year.
If you want help in letting a word choose you, scroll down for several suggestions.
- What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold?
- What word, phrase, or image is shimmering before you right now inviting you to dwell with it until it ripens fully inside of you?
Share your word in the comments below before Friday, January 6th
Leave your word for the year ahead in the comments below plus a couple of sentences describing your choice.
Letting a Word Choose You
For some of you the word may have come right away, but for some you may desire a word to ripen within your soul these coming weeks and months, but one doesn’t seem to be coming. So here are some suggestions for allowing a word to choose you:
- Release your thinking mind in this process, this isn’t about figuring out just the right word to improve yourself this coming year. The word comes as gift, often your sense of it being “right” is more intuitive, a more embodied sense of yes. The word (or phrase) is one that will work in you (rather than you working on it). Remember that a word that creates a sense of inner resistance is as important to pay attention to as one that has a great deal of resonance.
- Lectio divina is one of the primary practices we have in Christian monastic tradition for listening for a word or phrase that shimmers or calls to our hearts. Lectio is traditionally applied to scripture, but can also be engaged to pray with life experience. Allow some time for prayer and in your imagination review this last year, honoring it as a sacred text. As you walk through your experiences notice which ones stand out, call to you for more attention, or shimmer forth. There may be more than one, but for this time of prayer select one of them (and you can return to others in future times of prayer). Enter into it with all of your senses. Remember it in all of its detail. Experience it from this place you are in now. Notice if there is a word or phrase which rises up. Then allow that word to unfold in your imagination and welcome in images, feelings, and memories which stir in you. After a time of making space for these, begin to ask what is the invitation or call rising up from these noticings? Where is God calling you to a new awareness or action in your life? Close with some time of silence.
- Approach a soul friend, a spiritual director, or a wise elder for your word, as in the desert tradition. They might need some time to ponder this with you. It is always wise to consult with a soul companion or community when testing the fruits of prayer.
- Create a time of retreat for this holy time of year. A couple of hours is enough. Make space to sink into silence, journal, reflect on your experiences of the year past. Write about your dreams and deep desires for the year ahead. In the space of contemplation and stillness, notice if there is a word, image, or phrase which rises up.
- Go for a contemplative walk where you aren’t trying to get anywhere. Your sole purpose is to be as present as possible to each footfall. Listen for how your inner life is calling you forward with each step. Be present to the gifts of creation around you (even if it is the city pigeons and trees planted down the sidewalk). Listen if they might have a word to offer to you.
- Listen to your dreams in these coming days. As you go to sleep, lay a piece of paper and pen by your bed as a sign of your willingness to receive the wisdom that comes in dreams. Consider strong dream images as possible words calling to you. Pay attention to synchronicities through the day. Are there images or words which seem to repeat themselves? If so, take note.
- Allow time for the word to ripen. This may be a slow process. If you hear a word calling, sit with it for a couple of days. Listen attentively to the stirrings of your heart in response. Eventually there will be a tugging inside of you, where you feel yourself drawn again and again to this word. Allow yourself to be in a space of unknowing with this and practice being present to your anticipation knowing that things of the soul unfold in their own time. This is a journey of transformation and the word may not make immediate sense to you, but trust that over time more of its meaning will be revealed.
When the word emerges, please share it with me and others in the comments section below. I am truly blessed by the sharings offered there – it is such a gift of hope in this time of holy darkness (and if you share by Friday, January 6th you are entered into a random drawing for a chance to win one of several prizes!)
If you want to be notified of more Abbey gifts and offerings, consider subscribing to our email newsletter (which includes another free gift just for signing up!)
458 Responses
The word that has chosen me is emptiness. Not in the sense of a void, but in the sense of possibilities. My life has been full of loss and busyness these past 2 years. This year, I need to release and allow healing and grace to enter. To do so, I must release the tension and grief, lean into them, and leave space for what I must learn.
Emptiness like silence, like a desert.
The word that chose me is release — from all that weighs my spirit down — the material things, as well as the burdens of spirit…fear, doubt, the not enoughness in my life.
The phrase ‘peaceful heart’ has emerged for me for this next year. Many things are unknown. All will be well with a peaceful heart.
My word for next year is “Wait”.
One point is to reply slowly and thoughtfully to all.
To prepare for a coming transition but again to approach it waiting for God’s words.
EMBODY
This word speaks of wholeness to me; an incorporation of all I seek being brought (inhaled) into myself as a dwelling place. As this embodiment I express it in my being, creating, living, loving and exhaling.
I just finished writing & sending my final church newsletter article, as the worship & music committe chair for the past 3 years. In that article, I thanked the congregation for joining with our committee to create a holy, extraordinary, and yet very ordinary SPACE for Hope to gather (our church’s name is Hope). In reading this invitation, SPACE returned to my heart and my mind. I sense a deep calling to sit with space, to let it speak to me in the space of silence and noise, peace and chaos. I am creating new heart and spirt and mind space in moving on from a position that’s been an anchor for me in the midst of 3 years of lifestorms; it was a space where I was given the gift of permission to be real, to lead by being strong enough to ask for help, for space from the “tasks”of my role at times. And the gift of space to speak what I felt the Holy calling us to, even when it wasn’t always a “popular” call. (Sometimes I felt like Jonah to the Ninevites, other times, like the adored Queen Esther) Sigh…yes, I will breathe in and breathe out space in these coming days. It has so very many layers, my mind is racing, but for now, I will just be still, in the space of silence and hope. I will not allow fear to overtake this space, though it is trying, and there must be a time that I listen to and learn from it’s warning, that space is not now. Christine, though I don’t stop by nearly as often as I once did, I thank you for continuing to be a voice of wisdom, challenge, call, indeed a “space creator” in my in-box! May you be blessed in this Advent-Christmas-tide-Epiphany, winter season, and in the new year as you “savor” the sacred and profane! Thank you for sharing your gifts; you bring blessings that are front and center and yet to be revealed. Namaste.
becoming A word with at least two meaningx/
Hello… the word that came immediately to me is the word “Gaze.” I came across it while recently taking the on-line course with Christine about honoring our ancestors. This word has stayed with me, comes to me on and off during this Advent season as I have gazed into the faces in the manger my father gave me years ago… and I gazed into his eyes in a favorite photo of he and I. He died in November of 2010. I will meditate on the Divine Gaze, and gaze at creation this year much in the same way one might gaze at an icon.
Expectation – related to Mary – I am feeling a strong call toward Mary and all of what her “yes” meant and what she expected to happen in her life. I don’t know what to expect this year but anticipate some changes and not sure what to expect.
The word ‘Conciliation’ came into my head as I was reading the article.
Whenever I have a squabble with my partner I know that until we can resolve our personal differences peacefully there will always be war in the world – for that is just a squabble writ large.
I found this definition – ‘The action of bringing peace and harmony; the action of ending strife.’
So that is my word and my wish for 2012 – that we may all get closer to being able to manage our differences in a peaceful way.