Start with One Word: A Simple Process to Reach Your Soul

“Journals take for granted that every day in our life there is something new and different,” Merton penned in one of his.

“How’s your soul?” My hand shook when I saw my best friend’s text, and I had to set the phone down to get away from the question. She knew that with the preteens back at school, I had enough silence to finally process one of the hardest stretches of my adult life—the kind that feels like the family is falling apart, that makes another round of depression medication seem inevitable, that gives even the pup anxiety. But, my mind was blank.

I could tell my friend all about the lingering headache behind my right eye, my empty journal pages, sleeping later than usual, and my memory fogging up again.

But talk about my soul?

After staring down my lack of an answer for a day, I realized those empty journal pages proved that I was out of touch with my soul. I nearly offended myself with this revelation, as I prided myself as someone who faithfully journaled. My journal was my anchor through both depression and grieving a miscarriage, and served as a portable studio for my art and writing. I was a journaling instructor, even. But despite knowing that healing and life can flow through my journal, those empty pages showed weeks since I regularly woke up early to capture my thoughts. Ouch.

We all have stretches where we stare at a blank journal page. We might want to write but can't get past the droning of “Dear Diary, today I woke up late, spilled my coffee, but still made it to school drop-off on time…” Or we may not have the juice for deep thinking; we may be emotionally exhausted by life and only want to distract ourselves from hard it has been.

So how can we ease back into a rhythm while not overwhelming ourselves or depleting our emotions? Let’s take a tip from my favorite contemplative monk, who believed part of his life’s calling was to maintain a journal practice. Thomas Merton journaled to clarify his thoughts on both faith and society and eventually birthed fifty books from the gestating notes in his journal pages. Even his journals are published—seven volumes, over 2,500 pages worth of wisdom.

So, how did he keep this practice going? The editor of A Year with Thomas Merton explains:

"The first movement of his obedience was being present to a new day by waiting in silent receptivity until day spoke its "word" to him. His second move of obedience, demanded of him by the Holy Spirit, was to write down whatever of his dialogue with day's word for him that might prove meaningful for someone else."

Such a simple process with such profound results.

I borrowed Merton's practice to check on my soul, hoping the result would not just answer my friend's question, but benefit both me and others. I set sail with the first word that came to mind: steady. Yes please, I needed to feel steady in life; my soul was already speaking. I doodled a sort of mind map, tracing a line from “steady” to the thought that followed. I drew a small sailboat with a note referencing the scripture of a boat tossed to and fro by waves. With that context, I checked the definition of steady and my eyebrows popped when I realized that rocking is normal for boats. They may look thrown around, but they are indeed floating on the waves. There was the insight I needed: We can stay on course—steady and balanced—while rolling with the waves. My soul, I understood, was balanced, normal, healthy.

And all that from the first word that came to mind, y'all.

We can all experience gentle revelations from this process: Pick a word, phrase, or question that shimmers with importance. Take 5-10 mins to gather your thoughts on that word, letting your mind wander through questions and insights. As you explore this word, your notes will guide you to what is significant for both your soul and those around you. Wisdom will surface, prayers will surface, ideas will surface.

And if you regularly use this prompt you will always have an answer to the question, “How’s your soul?”