Principles: Simplicity

The following cards (#13-30) are additional spiritual principles and practices that can be essential in recovery.

Zen garden

          Simplicity is the quality of being uncomplicated and straightforward. This principle can prevent our lives from becoming chaotic and melodramatic. When we communicate with others, do we keep things simple by speaking succinctly and being clear about what we mean? Talking more than is needed can make us appear arrogant or manipulative and create distrust. When we’re on the listening end of a conversation, do we pay attention fully or over-analyze and critique what we hear? Instead of making assumptions that could cause unnecessary anger or fear, we can ask questions to gain clarity. In our daily lives, projections about the future or generalizations based on the past can create frustration or anxiety too. Rather than jumping to conclusions, we can keep things simple by accepting as truth only what has hard evidence to back it up. We are likely to find our minds have magnified an issue into something that doesn’t remotely resemble reality. Simplicity keeps our focus on what is important instead of what has only been imagined.

Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. 

~ Edsger Kijkstra

For more information on simplicity, see this post.