In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine 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. The word which chooses us has the potential to transform us.
What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold in your life?
Share your word in the comments section below by January 4, 2026 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
Read Christine’s book Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year for guidance and inspiration.
This book is designed to help you contemplate what holiness is birthing within your soul. Each day there are different practices offered to inspire, challenge, and support you in listening for the word that wants to be spoken to your heart.
The practices are not about resolutions or goal setting, they are not about achieving more in the new year or accomplishing tasks or goals. They are about listening for what is calling to you in a particular season of life. They ask us to trust a greater wisdom at work in the world than our own egos.
Through this book, you will be invited to release your thinking mind and enter into a space of receiving.
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 4th!
- One person wins a space in the mini-retreat Brigid’s Day (Imbolc) Deep Rest Retreat ~ Emergence with Christine Valters Paintner, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, and Nóirín Ní Riain
- Two people win a space in our upcoming Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist retreat
- Two people win a space each in their choice of Self-Study retreats
- Three people win a Dancing Monk Medallion
Please share your word with us in the comments below
(and it would be wonderful if you included a sentence about what it means for you)
Subscribe to the Abbey of the Arts newsletter to receive ongoing inspiration in your in-box. You can choose daily, weekly, or monthly. Share the love with others and invite them to participate. Then stay tuned – on January 11th we will announce the prize winners!
270 Responses
Two words have arrived for me with equal insistence. (Maybe a balance for my 2024 and 2025 word being the same?) Each has been accompanied by two breath prayers. Thank you for this practice and the many enrichments.
RECEPTIVITY
Listen…with my heart
Deepen…patience
EXILE
Longing…Belonging
Embrace…difference
I found this community through the Artists for Joy podcast, this afternoon! The word for 2026 which (not quite) coincidentally found me just this morning is Reveal. An imperative verb, linked to more things about me than this box can hold.
My word is “hands.” When Richard Bruxvoort Colligan mentioned some words that had tapped him and they happened to be nouns many nouns that must have been patiently waiting for me acknowledge them blew down the door. I’ve done this practice for quite a few years and I notice that my pattern often involves verbs or intentions/leanings. It’s rare that a noun and I have kept intentional company during the year. So this year I’m holding hands with my hands. I’m excited!
My word is OPEN… hands, heart, eyes, ears, mind. The time of challenge and loss and healing leads me to open and embrace my next chapter with loving memories and joy. I feel blessed.
Thank you!
The word that has chosen me is “grace.” I am giving myself grace to be an imperfect and lovable being, taking a grace period from my previously very intense working life, making art and painting with the graceful spirit of learning and curiosity.
Accept wholeness is my 2026 phrase. I’ve been taught to accept suffering and trial, to not expect complete healing this side of the veil. So to think that wholeness is possible for me here and now is a cosmic shift in my thinking.
My word for this year is Sabbath. An invitation to find moments throughout the day to pause, breathe, re-ground, and re-center.
My word for this year is Sabbath. An invitation to find moments throughout the day to pause, breathe, re-ground, and re-center.
I walked the Labyrinth today and received the words “release to embrace” …. there are many unproductive things in my life that come to mind so to release them would open space for new and beautiful experiences as well as give me rest.
My word for 2026 is ‘Enough.’ I don’t want for anything, yet there is a restlessness that drives me to constantly bring new things into my life. Can I simply be content with what I have?