From The Cloud of Unknowing: and The Book of Privy Counseling (William Johnston, Editor):
Take just a little word of one syllable rather than two … Such a one is the word God or the word love. Choose which you prefer … and fasten this word to your heart so that whatever happens it will never go away. This word is to be your shield and your spear, whether you are riding in peace of in war. With this word you are to beat upon the cloud and the darkness above and beneath you. With this word you are to strike down every kind of thought, driving it down into a pool of forgetting. If any thought should press upon you, asking what you would have, answer with no other word but this one. If your thoughts should offer, out of their great learning to analyze your word for you and tell you its meanings, say to your thoughts that you want to keep it whole … It is not a matter of analyzing or elucidating.
The author suggests we each have a “calm” word, one you can so imbed in your heart and mind that in time of adversity, rather than immediately becoming anxious about how to fix your problem, you rely totally on your calm word to focus and, yes, calm you.
Do you have a calm word? What is it? Do you believe it works when you use your calm word?