2022: Haven
My thematic word for 2022 is haven.
Havens are spaces of refuge, places in which a person finds respite on a journey. I view havens as intermediary places—you aren't quite at the end of the journey, but you're not in the comforts of home that began the journey either. It's a moment of breathing—an Outer Rim spaceship after your father's cut off your hand, a Rivendell to heal and reconnect.
As I consider haven, especially this year, I'm trying to think about it as more than a place or space; I'm considering it as a state of mind, a mood of production, a way of being. Over the last year and over this upcoming year, I've been rather transient in my own spaces and have lost some of that stability of place in which for my roots to grow deep. I've lived in different states, different countries, different places, doing various things.
Because of this transience, I think a lot—and will be thinking a lot—about creating havens rather than finding them. Instead of a space that is found, a haven can be a mood that is created, a routine that is ritualized, or an emotion that is felt. I want my havens to be plural in this upcoming year, found in the work I do, the time I have, and the way I spend it. A haven can be a specific locale, but it can also be the way you view the world and the community that surrounds you—both there and made.
Haven is also a word that's close to heaven—just off by a letter. I think about how Jesus declared to those asking "when the kingdom of God should come" that "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation." Instead, "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20–21).
How might a haven, like the kingdom of God, be within me rather than observed without me?
I think that's what I'm really stretching and reaching for: a haven within. A haven that doesn't need space (although haven-spaces are good too). One that centers, grounds, and revitalizes, rejuvenating the weary along the path rather inside the building.
I'll keep looking for my own haven this year—and probably for years to come. And I hope some of you will join me as I think through and with this word throughout this year, becoming conversation partners around this topic. Havens, I think, are always better when other people are there, even if it’s just to meditate in silence, upon our own metaphysical rocks.
