How Is Your One Word Growing, Moving, and Speaking to You?
{One Word 2025 July Linkup}

The July One Word linkup is here! Scroll down to link a blog post about your word or to share a comment about it.

Whether your word has been close at hand or quietly lingering in the background, this month we’re offering a new way to interact with it: through your senses.

It’s our annual One Word Sensory Challenge—but this year, we’re expanding how you experience your word.

Below you’ll find three creative ways to explore your word’s presence in your life right now. Choose one or try all three!

1. PLANT IT

What would your word look like if it were growing from the ground?

Think about:

• A bright sunflower or a quiet patch of moss?
• Something with deep roots or quick blooms?
• Drought-resistant or delicate and seasonal?

To do:

• Take a walk and observe plants that feel like your word. Snap a photo.
• Draw or doodle your word as a plant.
• Repot a plant or plant something new to symbolize how your word is growing this year.

If my word Ripple were a plant:

Indoors, it’s like my dwarf snake plant—grounded with a clear center, each leaf rippling outward. Outdoors, I see ripple in my lantana: tiny blooms in fractal patterns. They grow outward like waves.

I see Ripple as having deep roots because some ripples can go on and on.

2. HEAR IT DIFFERENTLY

Words have texture and tone. What does your One Word sound like?

Think about:

• A steady heartbeat or a bubbling creek?
• Silence or song?
• What musical instrument would your word be?

To do:

• Search for a sound online or in nature that reminds you of your word.
• Record yourself saying your word aloud—try whispering, singing, or stretching it out.
• Try “sound journaling”: sit still, listen, and write down any surrounding sounds that resonate with your word.

What does Ripple sound like to me?

Something soft and steady—like water that laps quietly onto shore. Nothing too loud or flashy; just consistent and calm. Maybe like a wind chime. Or the vibrating sounds that a singing bowl makes when it’s rubbed around its rim.

3. MOVE IT

How does your word move through the world—or through you?

Think about:

• Is it still or fast-moving?
• Are its movements graceful, clunky, smooth, or wild?
• Does it flow like a river, leap like a dancer, or roll gently like a wave?

To do:

• Take a walk and let your word determine your pace.
• Dance or move to music that fits your word’s mood.
• Trace your word in the air with your body—big or small.

How does Ripple move?

Ripples flow out in widening circles—smooth, quiet, and persistent. Their speed is determined by factors outside of their control, but they can travel far if if they’re not interrupted. 

Share Your Word With Us

The linkup is open now through midnight on Friday, August 8.
Add your blog post below.
Not a blogger? Share your update in the One Word Facebook group.

Let’s keep exploring the many layers of our words together.

Our next linkup opens Monday, August 25. Until then, stay curious about your word—and stay connected.

Which of your senses most connects you with your One Word right now?

Share your thoughts here.

If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails and ideas, join here any time of the year.

• Get more One Word ideas here

Link Up About Your One Word

• ← Is Life More Like Scrabble or Bananagrams? Finding Meaning in the Games We Play
• Snapshots, Snakes, and Sheet Music: A July Life Update →