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!)
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458 Responses
My word is “softly”.
It connects to my word from last year “surrender” which allowed me to surrender to personal chaos around me at work and in the world. Even so, I took notice of a building anger in my surrendering. Perhaps I wasn’t truly surrendering very well. So this year I want to add the word “softly”. There is so much noise in the world – I want to be a softer being. To help me renew these words daily, I ordered two Land’s End tote bags with the words stitched onto the totes. Rather than placing my name on the bags, I put “softly” on one bag and “surrender” on the other bag. In this way, I will “tote” the words with me to both work and play.
The word that immediately popped into my head was “Flourish.” The online “Free Dictionary” defines it:
1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive.
2. To do or fare well; prosper.
3. To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence.
4. To make bold, sweeping movements.
I pray that my family, friends, and myself will flourish in 2012 in ways that celebrate all the wonderfully positive meanings of the word and more!
Bright Blessings!
My word is “abundance”! I am inspired by the abundance in the natural world and see no reason why I should not live in abundance in 2012. How many blades of grass in my backyard? How many needles on the pine tree?!
The word that seems to continue to surface for me is linger… I desire to linger more each day… to linger over the beauty of words; to linger longer with dear friends and family; to linger in nature so I can soak in more of its beauty… to linger lovingly in a contemplative approach to life, to love so I may evolve as a more loving and listening woman deepening my relationship with the God who lingers with me daily.
My word for 2012 is — ‘awaken’. Time is short; opportunities abound, and many challenges as well. To become fixated on the wrong things alienates time in a sense. I long to open to Him in whom I live and move and have my being. My time is in God’s time. I would like to gently ‘awaken’ within His time this year.
My word is “dispirited”. Only because the word chose me and not the other way around can I accept and confess it. The word came to me in the night while I was lying on my bed, and I heard it all night long. It sounds negative, and it is, because that has been the reality of my life for some time now. But I recognize the challenge it presents: to be reunited with my spirit, to find the inspiration that will give me the strength I need to live authentically and fully. I have already acted on this revelation, and, while it was painful, I know it is a step in the right direction…
As I read your post, I could not help but think about the state of being released from things that haunt us, that hold us back.
I thought initially my word would be relational…but it is:
“Bridge” ~
I had a dream and in it I am telling some friends that a particular friend (named fay) had died (In reality she did die this past September) – In the dream, though, my friends did not hear me even though I said it twice.
Fay was a vibrant, curious, intelligent, thoughtful and relational person – and indeed, she had a painting or photo of a bridge above her fireplace in her living room ~
I take this image, in part, as a reminder of Fay (in me) and the “bridges” i am going to cross, make, see, find etc. in this new year ~ My friends can’t hear me or my impression of me ,in the dream ~ Perhaps my impression is too small and this Bridge is going to call me to expand…..
My word is LESS. It immediately causes me discomfort, because it sounds like I might want to be less than I am now in terms of a creative person, a friend, a mother, wife and daughter, a worker, etc. But that still small voice says I need to focus on less in my life: less stuff, less noise, less that I attempt to do. I need to experience – on a more sustained basis than I have in the past – how less IS more.
My word is Nobility–
No rank, position, or power can prove one noble; truly noble is one who is generous of heart; and through expansion of heart and mind, naturally embodies a nobility of character and manner. As the heart expands, one’s horizon becomes wide, and we finds greater and greater scope in which to build the kingdom of God on earth.
My word for 2012 is “reflection”, and it holds within it my deep longing to be a quiet pool holding, expressing and giving back all at once, light and grace and the grandeur of this magnificent world we are all walking through together. The word originates in the Latin reflex/reflectare meaning “to bend or bow”, and thus it also expresses reverence, humility and belonging.