Ever since the 23rd of March 2020, I catch a glimpse through a word. Just One Word. It carries me through the day. This word comes from thoughtful reflection in solitude or shared in conversation. This daily practice helps me to connect to a thought, signal, mantra. It’s helped me to pay attention to what’s on my mind, and to centre and focus on what’s calling to me in the moment. I’ve learned to trust in the ‘just one word’ that comes.

It’s my tenth week of choosing a word, using a lined post-it, writing down the date, the word and posting on my wall and in my daily journal for continued glimpsing and contemplation. Two weeks of words on one post-it, five post-its from 23rd March until today, 66 words … to date. In keeping up this daily practice, I have a constant to hold on to, for now.

Each word becomes a virtual thread, to ground me, to help me seek meaning and purpose. Each word a theme for a story in the making. For, as a branding specialist and a professional coach, each and every word has meaning, chosen carefully, oftentimes contemplated for seconds, minutes, an hour.

I now choose to share the word of the day, each day, and the musings that come with it. I choose to share. And, it’s not easy.

Word of the Day: Elusive

I catch a glimpse. The world I wake up to gives me a sense of what feels so…. elusive. A glimpse of what is, what was, and what can be once again. Only different. The Next Normal.

I squint to see. I lean in to feel, hear or sense what could possibly be. Today feels more of a struggle than ever before. We are in limbo. And, it’s not easy.

It’s not easy, for any one of us, this limbo before the next normal. The state of uncertainty. And yet, it is the experience that finally unites us across the globe.

‘We’ call it a ‘Pause’. So, in sync with this global pause – my first word penned on Monday the 23rd of March was ‘pausing’. And for what?! My rational mind is outraged. My emotional mind is confused. My intuitive mind is … curious. Intuition wins. And so, I choose to catch a glimpse of what could be, the elusive next normal.

In my imaginings, I glimpse the elusive cherry blossoms! My favourite tree, reminding me of my childhood in Kingston, Ontario, the cherry blossoms I’d wake up to for just a short time in the spring. Oh the days of old, what have we learned from our time with you?

Nature is calling us collectively to be with what is, to learn from our past, to be present. Truly present. I also love metaphor for seeking meaning and purpose. Here goes…The cherry blossoms are elusive, when they blossom they could last for up to fourteen days into full bloom. So beautiful. Breathe in the beauty. The fragrance. The impermanence. If you don’t pass by one, you’ll miss it. As is with nature, with life, full bloom comes and goes. Until the next bloom of the season, the next one, and the next one,…

And so, I’m finding myself feeling okay with ‘elusive’. For what is for me a dream, is now today. The vision is to live today for what it brings, to truly live in the experience of the moment, to acknowledge the experience. Reminiscent of Wednesday the 13th of May, my word of the day: @peace. @Peace with discomfort, with failure, with imperfection, with being human.

What is your ‘Word of the Day’?

Just One Word.

• Change
• Mindset
• Perspective

by Lucy Shenouda