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
I think that the word given to me is ‘look’. Something about taking time to see, to look again, following the photographing practice of my dad, who died last year. Also looking people in the eye, recognising the divine in them, meeting the divine in me. Thank you for these thoughtful and stretching practices.
Oh, how I wanted “comfort” or “nurture” or, as someone else here heard “word.” I’ve listened, and I’ve felt shimmers at the edge of my consciousness. Hints and teases.
But when I sat in meditation today, my word chose me like a tackle hug that I wasn’t expecting, and the wind has been knocked out of me.
PASSION.
Oh, dear.
Yesterday, a mentor gave me a phrase for my year which I know to be a true guiding star: “Resist reasonable.”
So, my word for the year—as I lay here gasping—is PASSION (resist reasonable).
It’s going to be wild ride…
A sacred word for 2012 emerging from my heartspace during Advent was “celebrate”. I yearn to follow in delight, song, dance and commitment “celebrate”: a blossoming forth of an attitude and approach of praise and gratitude toward the natural world and within personal and communal relationships.
My word for 2012 is, “Possibilities”. As exciting as this word is, I feel anxious when I state that it is my word for 2012. The reason is that I’m a perpetual planner – it’s what I do as a business owner of a consulting firm, a wife, a mother, etc… The word “Possibilities” implies that I am open to whatever may come – and that doesn’t feel good to me as I may not be in control. (yes, I’m confessing here) So, I’m adopting this word and will be mindful to open myself to just Be and let the Possibilities come!
My word is ’emerge’ as I transistion to my new career from a legal secretary to a Holistic Nutritionist…being in the growing the stages of learning it is time to ’emerge’ and to teach others how to nourish themselves……
And the Word became flesh . . . .
My word for this year is “word”. Initially, the word “Sabbath” came to mind and it remains a critical path to the “word”, for without rest and worship, two components of Sabbath, I will not be able to fully access the word. I am feeling strongly led to commit scripture to memory this year. I am compelled to look at words in new ways, approaching them from not only an artistic and visual perspective but also incorporating the word through lectio divina in my daily devotional time integrating the calligraphic arts and journaling into my word studies.
Thank you Christine for your lovely Abbey of the Arts. I love all your great promps. So fun to read the slew of responses and I can relate to so many.
For me,
The flower that was smiling in the sunshine grows into a seed and falls to the ground. It cannot be comfortable for the seed to be pressed into the muck of the earth by the autumn and winter rains, snows and frosts. Most seeds lie there dormant for a time. Chemical changes are going on inside of the seed but on the outside all seems still.
Different seeds need different conditions to cause them to germinate, some need to go through fire, some to go through an animal’s digestive system, some must be cracked by frost. Whatever it takes Nature seems willing to provide. The hard, outer shell of the seed yields under the pressures, disintegrates, cracks and falls apart.
When does the seed turn from this decaying and leave behind what was and reach for what is to come? What is that exact moment, what is the word for it? I seek to know because that is my word for me right now. What is the stage of first stirring, awakening, the transition? Transpose?
I am going with transpose.
“As the emerging seedling begins to grow, its dependence on stored food diminishes and the transition to its own photosynthetic food production begins.” OnlineScience
Empathy!
Although not a catchy, glamorous word, empathy….real empathy… would resolve many of the conflicts we experience in our lives….in our world.
Walking the mile in someone else’s shoes, promises a much more peaceful, loving environment. Rather than anger at some one else’s actions or words, putting one’s self in their place usually assures a compassionate attitude, from fights among brothers and sisters to wars.
I hope to write it on my heart.
my word for 2012 is Beloved (I see it is for Patricia, as well)
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
My word that keeps coming up over and over again is metanoia. We are all called to change,I certainly profess the desire to change, but yet I am so really reluctant to do it. I will lean into the wind more this year and explore what living this kind of transformation calls me to.