The Anne Report brings you up to date on Anne’s latest activities. The Main Article, Self-Realization, describes some of the ways we learn about our real self. Today’s Anne Talk is The Internal Shift. Anne shows how changing "the station" we watch or listen to can change the results we get in life. Click to see Anne’s Art. Today’s Dr. Money Talk is I've Had a Good Life. How About You? Anne shows how the sum of our life can look much better than simply its parts. Click to see the Quotes, Quips, & Thoughts. The Featured Product This Month highlights Anne’s Five Books and includes a reduced price when purchasing All Five Books. Click to learn about EZosophy. Click to learn about Anne’s Abundance Affirmations. Click for Shareables From Anne. Click to learn about Anne’s Schedule. Click to Schedule Anne. Click to learn about Anne’s Services.

Living EZosophy, December 14, 2021
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

In This Issue

Phone: 713.922.0242
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne’s Websites

  The Anne Report

The Anne Report

Dear ,

Sunday morning, a rather disturbed man burst into our church service, right when we were having our meditation, and asked if he could sing a song he wrote. Our startled minister looked up and said, “No.” The man shouted, “I can’t even sing in church?” Again, Rev. Ed said, “No. This is not the place and time.” The man was escorted out of the church, yelling “Get your hands off me. Don’t touch me.” I spoke with our minister later and he said, “I considered letting him sing, but I went with my intuition and turned down his request. I’ve let homeless people have the microphone, and, so far, it has not turned out well. They droned on and on and I had to take away the microphone.”

Rev. Ed was visibly shaken, once the man left. He folded the incident into our quiet time and asked for prayers for the man. Ed was more concerned about the man than anything else. It was powerful to watch his compassion. Part of the mission of the church is to serve homeless people, and the church is located in an area where homeless people frequent. Ed has gotten to know many of the homeless people, but this man was not one of the regulars. He was an unknown. Ed invites us to get to know the homeless people, if one happens to be in the parking lot, and treat them with respect. I feel fortunate to have found a church that serves the community, cares for the environment, and values social justice. The Unity Church of Charleston is amazing.

 
The Summerville Parade   Thomas & Reynolds mailing Santa
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Sunday, Jim and I attended the Summerville Christmas parade. Thomas hurt his foot, so the boys were unable to attend. The parade lasted more than an hour and was full of surprises, including the Omar Cowboys and the Omar Hillbillies. They were about 50 plus strong, in old time jalopies, and an Omar cowboy riding a portable mechanical bull in the back of a large truck. There were marching bands, cheerleaders, majorettes, and floats representing local businesses. What fun.

Thomas is a bit suspicious this year, “How exactly can Santa get toys to kids who do not have fireplaces?”

It’s the time of year when we can all make life EZ, or at least EZier. Let’s all make it an EZosophy holiday. Be sure to check out the Conscious Christmas Carols pdf download for this season. And that’s it for the Anne Report.

Reminder: The last weekly newsletter issue will be December 21, 2021. It’s the tenth anniversary issue. That means there are only one more weekly issue to go, after this issue. Future newsletters will be sent occasionally. Keep a copy of this handy so you'll have Anne’s websites and contact information handy.

  Main Article

Self-Realization

In 1984 my colleagues and I opened Connection Holistic Counseling Center. That might not sound like a big deal, but in Memphis, Tennessee, the term holistic was akin to a pejorative. The word was just coming into vogue in the more progressive spiritual circles. Yet those who were not in the know or the flow wondered, “What are they doing in that brick structure on the corner of Perkins and Renshaw?” One concerned friend told us we had better be ready to run during the middle of the night, in case we were bombed. And though that sounds crazy, we did have a bomb scare a few years later, when we moved to a larger location.

Connection gave me the space to open a holistic practice that I branded as “Life Enhancement Counseling.” It was actually what we now call coaching, but the word and concept of “coaching” had not entered the self-help narrative 37 years ago. Though I was eager to help people with life coaching, there were always extenuating circumstances that must be addressed before my clients were free to focus on their life’s work. One person would be living with a raging alcoholic; another would be an alcoholic. Some clients were heartbroken because their partner just left them, and others dealt with the sudden and unexpected loss of a loved one.

Holistic counseling is based on working with the mind, the body, and the spirit, and that’s what we did. We jumped into the sea of existence and angst, with no nautical charts to guide us. We swam on intuition and the help of benevolent, unseen forces. I spent numerous hours wrestling with clients over self-nurturing. Everyone was on a fast track. I instilled its importance: “We must nourish ourselves with the beauties and joys of life. We can’t afford to be aware of every negative current event.” My clients would then talk about getting massages and pedicures. To them, these were the epitome of self-care. Some might even throw in a much-needed wardrobe update, so as not to look like the little match girl. Yet, I knew there was something missing. I was not sure how to convey those lost elements, and, at the tender age of 37, I wasn’t feeling spot on about what the missing links were either. I was barely one step ahead of them, in the game of self-survival.

I was tenacious and emphasized the importance of the mind as well as the body. “We need to be aware of our thoughts, and, in some cases, consciously choose to change repetitive, self-effacing thoughts.” I knew the missing element was spiritual. Sure, I taught people to meditate, self-hypnotize, and to calm their rage and fears, and, though they might be freed from immediate self-destruction and feel great when they left my office, these feel goods were fleeting.

As I’ve grown, I’ve finally put my finger on the missing elements. Their plan was to nurture the physical body, and, though physical maintenance is essential, caring for ourselves requires much more. Even meditation can be short-lived. Ramana Maharshi tells us that meditation only tethers the minds; it doesn’t free us. All our work on the mind and body, and even part of our spiritual work, leads our parched selves to the edge of the water. This is important. We need to find the water of our souls, but we must drink of the water if we are to be filled.

What is drinking the water? It is moment-to-moment awareness. It is listening more. It means watching the breath and planting and watering the seeds of compassion and peace within us. It means giving up all resentment toward everyone and every situation, at the point in which it occurs, and not escorting irritation and judgment around. It means feeding ourselves so much equanimity that we build a strong foundation, so that when the storms come, and they will come, we can still stand on the grounds of peacefulness. And, just like a garden needs continual care, our inner worlds require constant awareness. We must sew and nourish the seeds of peace and compassion as an ongoing practice.

Remember how people talk about Sunday Christians? They go to church on Sunday and then feel free to sin the rest of the week. As we all know by now, the word sin means missing the mark. If we meditate 30 minutes a day, but do not carry the practice of generosity and love into our moment-to-moment experience, we are like Sunday Christians. We do our work and then go about our business, and put our intentions of living a compassionate, loving life away, as we scamper back to our hurried, cynical, or fear-driven worlds, where we nurture our upsets and opinions.

No matter how we live our lives, we all have free choice. But if we say we want peace and happiness, we must cultivate it in each moment, in the garden of our lives. This is not about efforting; it is about repeatedly tuning into the ongoing Presence of something greater than pain or transitory joy. We must easily relax into the deep stillness of the eternal now. We must open the gates of our hearts in every situation and not sit in the comfort of old games, such as having to be right or championing cynicism. Being a spiritual warrior is both easy and hard because we take the simple and twist it into a challenge. It’s always time to stand up for what we want, get clear on what we believe, experience who we are, as opposed to the caricature we call our selves, and to live in awareness of the presence and the present, because when we do, life becomes EZier and EZier.

  Quotes, Quips, & Thoughts

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  Featured Product This Month

Anne’s Five Books
(15% Off & Free Shipping for All 5 Books)



The Living Book  -  Words Make a Difference
Standing In The Dark  -  EZosophy
Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic

Click here to learn more about Anne’s 5 books.

Click Here To Get All Five Books
at 15% Off the Regular Price,
Plus Free Shipping!

  What is EZosophy?

Click the image above to learn more about EZosophy.

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  Anne Talk

The Internal Shift

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Today’s Anne Talk is The Internal Shift. Anne shows how changing "the station" we watch or listen to can change the results we get in life. 7:29

You can join Anne’s EZosophy team by watching her EZosophy channel.

  Anne’s Art

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  Dr. Money Talk

I've Had a Good Life. How About You?

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Today’s Dr. Money Talk is I've Had a Good Life. How About You?. Anne shows how the sum of our life can look much better than simply its parts. 2:53

You can join the Prosperity Team by watching Anne’s Dr. Money channel.

  Abundance Affirmations

Join Dr. Money’s Facebook Group

This group is a place to post uplifting affirmations and thoughts about prosperity and abundant living. Let’s create a right relationship with money so that we feel comfortable about money. Let’s use money as it’s meant to be used, and not as a way to accumulate power or to fill a void. We don’t need money to buy more stuff. We need it to create a world that works for everyone. We want to cast off old beliefs of lack and reclaim our natural state of abundance. Anne, AKA Dr. Money, posts a nightly goodnight video for the prosperity team, and everyone who watches those videos becomes a part of the prosperity team.

  Shareables From Anne

Download and Share these links.

The World’s Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

40 Days to Abundance

The EZosophy Vows

Vows of Seriousness

Anne’s Conscious Christmas Carols

  Anne’s Schedule

Thu., Dec. 16, 2021, 2:00-3:00 PM EST
Theosophical Society of America’s Monthly Philosophy Discussion Group.
Click to email Anne for more information and study material.

Fri., Feb. 4, 2022, 7:00-9:00 PM EST
Detroit Theosophical Society Meeting.
https://www.tsdetroit.org
Topic: Intuition: The Bridge Between Mind and Spirit, with Anne Sermons Gillis.

To join by phone, find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdSYCz6dMB.

Meeting ID: 821 1657 0441, Passcode: 518265

Wed., Mar. 2, 2022, 8:00-9:00 PM EST
Milwaukee Theosophical Society’s Zoom Meeting. Click to email Anne for more information.

  Schedule Anne

Call or Email Anne Now to Schedule Her for Your Virtual Meeting.

You may reach Anne by phone at 713.922.0242. Anne is now in South Carolina, on Eastern Time, so please factor in that time zone when calling her. Click here to email Anne. Anne is also available to officiate at weddings and funerals.

Contact Anne to book your event:
713.922.0242 or anne@annegillis.com.

  Anne’s Services

Need a Coach or a Rent-a-Friend?

Interested in getting ongoing support? Try life coaching with Anne. Anne offers both short-term and long-term coaching. Contact her for details. Click here to contact Anne by email or Click here to view information on Anne’s One Year Seminar and other training too.

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