Before I moved to Substack, I blogged over 1200 posts on JoyceWycoff.com starting in 2009. Reviewing some of those posts, brought me to a thirteen-year-old post about choosing a word for my journal of the year. Somewhere along the line, that ceremony of choosing a word for the year’s journal got lost and I miss it.
So, here at the tail end of the fourth month of 2023, I decided to look for this year’s word and fell into the enchantment of Abbey of the Arts, a resource that I offered in that old post and then, apparently, forgot about. I love their advice about the process of finding our year’s word. (The link leads you to the entire article of theirs. … and the fact that it was published on my birth date seems to make it more poignant).
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.
What is the word that will nourish and challenge me, the one I can wrestle with and grow into? I’m working on a new journal designed to focus on the paradoxes of our lives. I’m definitely wrestling with paradox so that feels like the word that is claiming me.
The journal will cover 13-weeks and focus on two oppositional words each week that form a paradox. These are not pairs like good-bad or ugly-beautiful, but rather related opposites that pull you you back and forth as you desire both. Those are the tricky paradoxes that require negotiated balance and values clarification. The image above is an example common to many of us as we desire community and also desire solitude. We can’t have both at the same time (I hope a reader actually knows how to help me master this split), so we are forced to find a dance or shared space that lets us benefit from both.
The journal is a few weeks away but I will be happy to have subscribers beta test it. Just email me if you want to be on the list and I will send you a pdf when it’s ready.
Abbey of the Arts formed two questions to invite us into this contemplation of a word for the year:
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?
Another example:
Here’s the original article from my blog, posted in December, 2010:
For the past ten years, I have chosen a word for the year although sometimes it chose me. My first word of the year was found on a beaten up old RV... across the back was splashed the word: JUBILATION. The very sound of the word lifted my spirit and I knew I wanted to spend time with it. It began a tradition that has become very important to me. Some of the words in past years were familiar and some were completely new to me. Annual words include "chrysalis," "querencia" (a quiet place of safety where we gather our power for the coming challenge), "abbondonza" (an Italian word that made me think of dancing with abundance), and "autopoiesis" (life continually re-creating itself and its parts while organizing itself in relationship to its surroundings).
Each year about this time (December), I open myself up to the words that have come my way during the year ... written on the last page of my annual journal so I can find them easily ... and pick the one that calls to me. This word goes on the cover of the journal in gaudy and colorful glitter glue with the word and the year on the spine for quick reference once they're shelved. I start a new journal every year even if the previous year's journal wasn't filled. It's a metaphorical new start.
During this end of the year time, I also reflect on this year's word and review the year's journey. My journals are not diaries ... there's very little "what's going on and what I'm thinking and feeling" type of stuff but rather lots of mindmaps, lists, ideas, images, quotes and anything else that captures my attention. Flipping through them is a little like time travel on fast forward.
This past year had two words ... "beauty" and "equanimity" (mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation) and both were perfect talismans for a chaotic year. For the first time, the cover of my journal was actually a mindmap. Since I knew it was going to be a transition year, I mapped the qualities that I thought would help me maintain equanimity: gratitude, solitude, joyful play, kensho (seeing one's true self/nature. Seeing the non duality of subject and object); co-creation, praxis (spiritual practice), creative expression, naikan (gratitude reflection practice) and maitre (Sanscrit for loving kindness toward self).
While I wouldn't say this past year reflected perfect equanimity, I think the focus on maintaining calmness helped me deal with the changes of the year.
This year there are again two words calling me: "hallelujah" which seems to be a call to a constant state of gratitude ("nothing on my tongue but hallelujah") and "temenos" (the circle in which magic of the soul can happen). I may choose them both.
Other words collected this year include:
"delicious futures" - Dan Gilbert
cantillation - each person's special gift or talent that gives one a sense of joy but also union with the Absolute ... Dr. John Diamond
mosaic ... a wonderful metaphor for piecing together a life into a beautiful work of art
amarantine - everlasting. Imaginary flower that never fades. Amaranth -- shade of deep purple - red. From Enya’s song
Abbey of the Arts also has a richly poetic post on the process of choosing a word for the year. If you want to join this tradition, I highly recommend this post.
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In good times and challenging ones, practicing gratitude helps us recognize the good things in our lives and build resilience for the challenges that come our way. Gratitude journaling is one of the best ways to better understand yourself and deepen your practice of gratitude.
Any journal will do … however, here are two we are biased toward:
Gratitude Miracles, a 52-week journal filled with inspiring quotes and the science behind 13 amazing benefits of gratitude. Available from amazon.com:
Or, Gratitude Mojo, a 26-week, workbook format, which comes to you free with your annual paid subscription … including one copy for a friend because having a Gratitude Buddy makes the journey better.
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