Discover the One Word practice—a simple, meaningful way to set direction for your year. Learn how one word can bring focus, peace, and spiritual growth.
Choosing Your One Word for the Year: A Simple Practice for Growth
As the year begins to wind down, it’s natural to start reflecting on what has unfolded and what might be ahead. This season of transition—between gratitude and anticipation—is a beautiful time to choose a word of the year: a single word that becomes your anchor and compass for the months to come.
The One Word practice is simple but powerful. Instead of a list of resolutions or goals, you choose one guiding word—a word that holds meaning, focus, and intention. Two wonderful books explore this practice deeply: My One Word by Mike Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen, and One Word That Will Change Your Life by Jon Gordon, Dan Britton, and Jimmy Page. Both remind us that change begins not with doing more, but by becoming more—more centered, more aware, more aligned with purpose.
The Power of One Word
Choosing one word simplifies what can often feel like an overwhelming process of self-improvement. It’s not about striving or fixing; it’s about listening. Your word becomes a lens through which you see the year ahead—bringing focus when things feel scattered and grace when life feels uncertain.
Your word doesn’t have to be perfect or profound. It simply needs to be true for you.
My Word for This Year: Seasons
This past year, my word has been Seasons. I chose it to help me stay grounded in the here and now—to remember that every phase of life, whether bright or difficult, has its own purpose and beauty.
Seasons has taught me to accept that nothing stays the same forever. The good moments invite gratitude, the hard ones invite growth, and all of them invite presence. When I found myself rushing ahead or holding too tightly to what was, this word gently reminded me to breathe and to trust the natural rhythm of life.
Listening for Your Word
If you’re considering choosing a word for the coming year, start by taking a few quiet moments to reflect:
- What has this past year been teaching me?
- What do I most need more of—or less of—in the next season?
- What word feels like an invitation from within?
Pay attention to words that keep showing up in your reading, journaling, or prayer time. Sometimes the word finds you long before you find it.
Looking Ahead
As I’ve been reflecting on the year to come, a new word has quietly surfaced—one that feels like the natural next step in my journey. I’ll be sharing more about it soon, but for now, I invite you to begin listening for your own.
Perhaps your word will remind you who you’re becoming. Or maybe it will help you return to what truly matters. Either way, let this be a season of listening. Sometimes, the word you need most is already whispering softly, waiting for you to hear it.
-laura