How do we center our lives in the awareness of God the Spirit, so that all things may take their rightful places?

How do we structure our individual lives in order to keep them uncluttered with things and activities? How does Meeting help us examine our personal lives for simplicity?Do we choose recreational activities which foster mental, physical and spiritual health?

How are our lives affected by tobacco, alcohol and drug use? What can we do to deal with problems resulting from their use? What can we do to recognize and deal with unhealthy ways we treat ourselves?

How do we ensure that we act with fairness and integrity?

Are we sensitive to our own use of language which may be offensive to others?

In our reflection upon the subject of personal responsibility we found ourselves frequently led to consider the need for simplicity guided by mindfulness in our lives.

When we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that we often feel inadequate in our efforts to center our lives on an awareness of God. And we also must admit that while we strive for simplicity, many, or even most, of us take a certain enjoyment from our busy and often complicated lives. We run the risk, then, of losing sight of our relationship with the divine and of over-committing ourselves to too many of the things that we care about.

Upon reflection we realize a need to differentiate between being active and being distracted. We find that mindfulness, particularly of simplicity, helps us to make this discernment. Being guided by simplicity is not about just discarding things, but instead about choosing what matters. And so, this mindfulness helps us to make good decisions about the choices that we make; the things we do, the way we treat ourselves, the words we use and the way that we speak.