While others are making lists of New Year’s resolutions, I have only one: simplicity. I used to make lists of resolutions. It seemed comforting and the thing to do. But lists of resolutions have become nothing more than yet another to-do list in a world of too many things to do. What’s needed isn’t another list, but a principle that takes away the need to have a list. That principle is simplicity.

Simplicity means reducing the number of things you do in a day. It means focusing on the task at hand. Because we divide up our days in 24 hours and we need sleep, simplicity means limiting the number of tasks we do in any given day. How much time have we spent tweeting, sending text messages, updating our profile on the various online social networks we have joined? Was all that necessary?

I will be the first to admit that I have spent countless wasted hours reading blog posts, commenting on them, posting on Twitter, reading and retweeting tweets, updating my Facebook page, and then wondering why I don’t have time for anything else and why I feel so unsettled. I don’t want to spend 2010 in this way. To start the year, I have cut in half the number of blogs I subscribe to and am limiting my time on Twitter.

As for my offline life, I have been doing my daily meditation, spending time with friends, cooking, reading books that have been screaming for attention on my bookshelf, and writing. I feel peaceful and grounded.

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