Each month we provide a series of question to consider, to sit with, to live into, as a way of engaging more deeply with that month’s theme. There are approximately 130 Unitarian Universalist congregations around the country that are exploring the same themes we are.  If we assume a membership of 100 for each of those congregations, that’s 130,000 Unitarian Universalists who are asking themselves  questions this month about “simplicity.”

As always, don’t treat these questions like “homework” or a list that needs to be covered in its entirety.  Instead, simply pick the one question that “hooks” you most and let it lead you where you need to go. The goal of these questions is not to help you analyze what simplicity means in the abstract, but to figure out what being a person of simplicity means for you and your daily living. So, which question is calling to you? Which one contains “your work”?

1. Are you trying to simplify all on your own? It takes a village to raise a child. Same thing goes for a simplified life. Busyness and complexity are too big for what for one person to handle by themselves. Who might be your teammates? Why haven’t you asked them to help?
2. What about your children? Have you allowed your child’s/children’s life/lives to become too complex? Are you and your hopes for them a source of simplicity or a burden?
3. Are your judgements about others too complex? Sometimes the simplest judgment is to assume good intentions. Are you reading too much into things?
4. Do you surround yourself with people of simplicity? If not, do you understand why?
5. Does simplicity mean something entirely different for you? We all relate to it in a different way. Our need for it differs from person to person. Are you feeling that room is not being made for your way?
6. Have you already done it? All of our lives include existing simplicity strategies. Maybe your challenge is to notice what already exists and double down.
7. Who is doing it right? Have you told them you admire them? Don’t assume they don’t need the validation.
8. What do wish you could say “no” to in your life? Why haven’t you? What would happen if you did?
9. Has one of your treasures become a burden? Is it time to let go?
10. What’s your question? Your question may not be listed above. As always, if the above questions don’t include what the theme is asking from you, spend the month listening to your days to hear it.

Monthly Soul Matters Group:  These question are part of a larger packet of resources to help groups and individuals engage more deeply in each month’s theme.  During the regular church year, when there are two Sunday sanctuary services, RevWik will facilitate this kind of group during our 11:15 AFD time.  As we have moved to our summer schedule of a single service, there will be no group meeting in June (and the Soul Matters program does not offer materials for July and August).  The Soul Matters group will begin again in October.