The Anne Report, Travelogue, recounts Anne and Jim's latest trips. The Main article, Three Organizing Principles, provides three guidelines for living life fully. The Healthy Living article, Kirtan Kriya Meditation, gives instructions for this effective kind of meditation. The Anne Talk is Relax, Don't be Serious, Let Go Meditation. Learn about Anne's newest book: The Living Book. The Featured Product this month is Standing in the Dark. Click to read What is EZosophy?

The EZ Mantra: "Everything can be EZ or at least EZier." – Anne Sermons Gillis

Living EZosophy, September 26, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

Phone: 281-419-1775
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

Travelogue

Dear ,

I have lived and gone to heaven. We returned Friday from Anne and Jim's Excellent Adventure. We visited seven parks, including one national park. Ninety percent of people who visit national parks hike no more than 1/4 mile from the parking lot. We, like those of us who care to look deeply, ventured into the wild. During our stay, we saw plenty of snakes, a few armadillos, lots of deer in Llano Park, wild turkeys, all kinds of birds, squirrels, antelope (I think that's what they were), road runners, and lizards. We missed the bears in Big Bend, but met people on more than one occasion who had just encountered them. We saw fish jumping and had a few nibbles at our legs. We climbed up and down hills and mountains, sweated, and smiled a lot. My lower legs were sore from the downward climbs.

Jim at Big Bend National park

We are home for a few days, then gear up for another trip, to SC, to see the grands in Charleston and to give a training in Greenville. I think I'm in a travel phase.

While traveling takes extra effort, the benefits outweigh the effort. The most beneficial outcome is giving up the illusion that we are in control. When we are at home, we shield ourselves in our home paradise, but when we go on the road, we notice all kinds of unplanned events and unexpected encounters. Doing the same thing, staying in our routines, creates mental atrophy. Get up and do something unfamiliar, even if it means just trying a new grocery store, one where you must hunt for things. Walk backward around your house, instead of walking forward. That wakes one up. It's not necessary to go on a trip, but it is helpful to get out of our ruts. That's it for the Anne Report.

  Main Article

Three Organizing Principles

There are three organizing principles in life. They are love, compassion, and creation. Each aspect of living grants us the opportunity to have a meaningful life, to connect with the whole, and to dip into the universal field of possibilities. The following descriptions are slippery. The principles cannot be adequately described in words, yet, as sentient beings, we reach out to others through words, and though they may be inadequate, the sharing of thoughts often become promises for a deeper knowing. Words, just like signposts, only point the way, but when you are headed south from North Carolina and you want to go to New York, a sign might be just what you need. The sign is not New York, but the sign has its place in the the saga of one's life.

• Love - While many think of love as a noun, and it is the action of the essence of being, love, at its source, is a verb. Love is our identity. We can love someone, but that love originates from who we are. We are love. Many go on a quest to discover who they are, but it is a journey without distance, because to discover who we are takes realization, not time or effort. We can say the words, "I am love," but to actually know love as our identity is a profound knowing, not a description. This understanding and knowing is not reserved for masters, but masters are ones who know who they are on a continual basis. We dip in and out of that knowing and often sense life as an expansion and contraction. We move from love to fear in a heartbeat, and this rapid transit away from who we are is called "the separation," but the coming home to who we are is delightful.
  
  More and more people are awakening to the reality of who they are. There is a change afoot, and though the outer world seems bleak, there is a mass awakening occurring. The pain of the world forces us to a deeper level, and at that level we hold council with the truth of being.
   
• Compassion - As we move into deeper states of awareness, and the realization that we are love, we understand that all is this love. That knowing brings with it the ability to grieve with others who are yet to discover who they are. The less one knows of their identity, the more s/he suffers. One who is grounded in love, can look with compassion past the misguided actions of others. They can see beyond the action as they look into the heart of the oppressor. Compassion is the supreme activity of an awakened being. It is the shower of blessings one brings to life. It is the mercy of being.
   
• Creation - We are creators. We cannot not be creators. We paint life with our thoughts, emotions, intentions, and actions. There are many levels of creation. The ultimate level is the mastery level. Most of us do not create at the mastery level, but it is possible. The master can turn water to wine and bring about miraculous healing. Jesus told us that we would do even greater things than he. Few take that seriously, and maybe that's a way to keep our egos in check, but we have, at our core, the ability to create at the master level. There are healers who facilitate miracles, people who can drink poison and live, those who walk on fire, unscathed, and those who can sleep on a bed of nails. Love is the ultimate mastery, but there is mastery on the physical plane as well.
  
  We also create things at the level of filters. If we believe men are jerks, we will filter out all the good things the men in our lives do and see only the bad things; thus, we create men through our mental image. Yes, men are bad, and I can prove it. We then bring out our filtered list of infractions. "He did this; he did that." We can filter any issue in life to fit our beliefs and effectively filter out evidence and facts.
  
  We also create through attraction. We continually replicate and are attracted to people, situations, and objects that are like the images in our mind. Those images magnetize and organize our physical world. How many people do you know who live lives that are similar to their parents? They stay at the same income level, dress the same way, have the same faith, and adopt similar outlooks and emotional behaviors.

When we change the images in our minds, our lives change. We then veer from our societal training and begin to attract a new and better external reality. Then, after years of rattling around as conscious creators, we begin to surrender to the essence that underlies all creation. We don't have to make life happen. The world as we see it holds less interest, and we don't want to expend the constant energy it takes to hold it together. Thus, we enter the gates of freedom. We are free to be, not to do. Yes, we will still take out the garbage and pay our bills, but we will not do them in order to control our surrounding, to be good enough, or to be admired; we just do what we do to maintain our lives. We no longer need to strive for or to prove anything. What a place of rest – free to be. And the being guides the doing.

Life is brilliant, and we are the light that illuminates it, but until we know know that we are love itself, we live in dissatisfaction. Who we are is not the Mohammed Ali, "I am the greatest" narcissistic pronouncement; rather, who we are is the humble declaration of the truth of Being. We are great because we are a part of the unified One, not because we did anything or earned anything. We are great because we are part of Greatness. We are great because we are love. We are the individualized expression of the One, and that is enough. That is enough! Who we are doesn't need to prove anything. Awaken to that and we will know who we are, and when we do, life will be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne Quotes

"The mind bathes itself in words, but rarely comes out clean."

"Killing is a dangerous option. The blood on our hands is our own blood. We are one, and all injuries are done to oneself."

"Expand your Youniverse."

"Meditation is a rest stop for the mind."

  The Living Book

The Living Book, by Anne Sermons Gillis

• Suppose someone told you that you could change your life radically, for the better, if you spent just three minutes a day doing inner work? Would you believe it? Maybe not, but wouldn't it be worth an investment of three minutes a day to try it?
• The Living Book offers just this. Devote three minutes a day to this process and your life will become a living testimony to the seed principle. A tiny seed can grow into a mighty tree, but it must be planted. Plant your daily seed for three short minutes and notice both subtle and miraculous changes in your life.
• In addition to the daily practice, one can use the process when they are stumped or afraid or angry. This process transforms anger into love. When we plant seeds of light into our thoughts and emotional bodies, we move into higher frequencies of well-being.

The Living Book, by Anne Sermons Gillis
Paperback $5.00. PDF Book Download $0.99. Kindle Book: $2.99.

  Featured Product This Month

  Healthy Living

Kirtan Kriya Meditation

What's up - in your head? It's your brain. It's thinking. It's pulling data from all over. It's firing. It's producing chemicals. The older we get, the more interested we get in our brains, because our brain starts to let us down. I've suggested many kinds of exercises and activities to turn on and tune up the brain. Here's one that warrants consideration – Kirtan Kriya. Popular magazines, including Psychology Today and the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, tout its benefits. Numerous university studies have documented that this kind of mediation is better for the brain than plain meditation. This meditation includes focus, sound, breathing, imaging, and movement. It has proven helpful to the spiritual person as well as the agnostic.

The technique involves sitting quietly for 12 minutes, speaking the phrases, Saa, Taa, Naa, Maa. Saa Taa Naa Maa means Infinity, life, death, rebirth.

The following instructions are by Sara Reynolds and comes from the Psychology Today website.

Instructions for Performing Kirtan Kriya

Variations exist, but here's a simple meditation you can do at home:

1. Begin by sitting comfortably with your feet flat on the floor (you can sit in a yoga pose with your legs crossed, if you like). Straighten your spine above your hips; breathe naturally, close your eyes.
2. Breathe in and out a few times, until your breath flows easily.
3. Begin by softly chanting "Saa, Taa, Naa, Maa" (together these sounds represent your highest self or true identity). You can use the familiar children's song, Mary Had a Little Lamb, using only the first four notes: Mar-y-had-a.
4. Add the finger movements (known as mudras). With your arms lying loosely against your torso, raise both hands, palm up (you can rest your hands on your lap, if you like), and, one-at-a-time, press and release each fingertip, in sequence, to your thumb. On "Saa," touch the tip of your index finger to your thumb; on "Taa," the tip of your middle finger, and so on.
5. As you continue the chants, visualize energy coming down from above (from the universe, or spirit, if you like) into your head, proceeding down through your brain, and then dropping and pausing at your "third eye" (considered the site of intuition, located between your eyes), before beaming the energy out through your third eye (visualize a capital L, if that helps you keep the energy flowing down and through).
6. Imagine the sound you are generating flowing through the same path.
7. Begin by singing the sounds out loud for approximately two minutes; then sing softly for two minutes; "say" the sound softly to yourself for four minutes; whisper the sounds for two minutes; and then sing out loud again for two minutes.

When you've completed the exercise, inhale deeply, drawing air into your lungs, stretch your arms and hands above your head (gently stretch your spine), and then lower them down to each side, in a sweeping motion, as you exhale.

Recommended article: 12 Minute Memory Exercise

Recommended video: Kirtan Kriya

Book review of How God Changes Your Brain

If you have any healthy living tips for the newsletter, send them to me at anne@annegillis.com.

  Anne Talks

Relax, Don't be Serious, Let Go Meditation

  Anne Art

Click the image to see a larger view.

Click the image to see a larger view.

NOTICE: Here are two shareables from Anne. Feel free to pass them along.

The World's Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Friday, October 6, 2017
Workshop, 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM EDT
"Building Self Esteem and Courage"
5 hours CE credits
Location: "Phoenix Center"
1400 Cleveland Street
Greenville, SC
Click Here for Registration

Sunday October 22, 2017
10:30 AM Service
Rev. Anne Sermons Gillis speaks
Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church
1370 Millbend Drive
The Woodlands, TX 77380
281-298-2780

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

You may reach Anne by phone at 281-419-1775 or click the button below to contact Anne by email. Anne is also available to officiate at weddings and funerals.

  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.