The Anne Report, Hold 'Em or Fold 'Em?, reminds us that it's often more productive to change horses than to keep riding the same lame horse. The Main article, Finding Fulfillment Through Sharing, shows how sharing our burdens with others makes life EZier and more meaningful. The Healthy Living article, Homemade Cough Syrup, describes how the Universe prepares our way ahead of us. The Anne Talk is It's Ooh Season. The Featured Product This Month highlights Anne's third book, Standing in the Dark. Click for Anne's Books. Click for What is EZosophy? Click for Abundance Affirmations.

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

Living EZosophy, March 13, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

Hold 'Em or Fold 'Em?

Dear ,

We are on an RV camping trip.* I decided to stay in bed and write the Healthy Living article for this newsletter on my iPad. Somehow, when I work in bed on my iPad, it feels as if I'm not really working. When I'm at my desk in my office, I'm working. I play tricks to make my work feel more like play. But this time, it wasn't recess. It was writing hell. I can't even go into all the problems I had writing a simple article on my iPad. I also had connectivity problems that complicated matters. It took three hours to finish what should have been a 15-minute event. What I wonder is why I didn't stop and get on my computer. I kept coming up with different things to try. I kept calming myself down. I kept making it easier, but the easiest thing would have been to call it quits on my iPad and move to my computer. It was like if I got out my laptop, I would be doing serious work instead of just playing in bed. I rewrote reality with such a good story, that I fooled myself. Finally, I did get on my computer. What happened then wasn't exactly hell; let's call it Armageddon. I bet you've had one of those days. What I experienced is called asynchronicity. It's the opposite of synchronicity and flow. Let's face it, I was having a Murphy's Law Day and I had a cold. I was happy that I hadn't had a cold in almost four years, but working in the pollen-filled air for a few hours set up a chain reaction that did not end well for my lungs.

I had a friend who told me that when nothing worked, he just quit everything and went to bed. He may have been the wiser of the two, because I'm still banging out words. It reminds me of the section on sex in the EST Training. There was a buildup to the section and then a group was introduced that would tell us all about sex. The group came of stage and shouted in unison, "When you're hot, you're hot, and when you're not, you're not." That was the total section. So today I am not hot. I am not even warm. So I've decided not to burden myself any longer and to bore you with a dead-end story. As Kenny Rogers sang, "You got to know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away and know when to run." So, in the Kenny Rogers tradition, and in keeping with my friend's sage advice, there will be no wisdom today, and, as far as I can tell, that is the wisest thing I can do! I am going to bed. Amen.

* This was written last week.

Anne

  Main Article

Finding Fulfillment Through Sharing

A day has passed and things went better than yesterday. I'm sitting about 10 feet from the lake. The wind is blustery, and the tiny white flowers surrounding me bow to the wind. Lucy, my dog, lies beside me, and Jim is in The Woodlands to run the sound for Millbend Coffee House tonight. Soon I retreat to the RV and watch Groundhog Day for the 14th or 15th time. I watch it once each year, but missed my Groundhog Day engagement this year, so tonight will be my annual watching of one of my favorite movies.

Here's the story. Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, finds himself reliving the same day. One never knows how many times he relived Groundhog Day, but it was long enough for him to become an accomplished doctor, musician, and hero. He mastered several languages. As the movie starts, he discovers that he is reliving the same day. He realizes he can do anything he desires, without ramifications. He becomes a Casanova, buys expensive cars, robs a bank. But regardless of what he does, he was unhappy. He followed his ego's demands precisely but was still depressed. He decides to kill himself. He tries several inventive, humorous, and disturbing methods of self-destruction, to no avail. Finally, he accepts his fate and starts to help others and learn skills that bring more beauty into life. Once he discovers the path of selfless service to others and the meaning of love without an agenda, he is released from his curse.

Groundhog Day depicts the classic spiritual journey – from ego, the facet of ourselves that serves only the self, to servant, the part that serves the heart and others. We are story tellers, and, from the cinema to the dinner table, we speak of our experiences in life. If we are fortune-filled, our story from womb to tomb is entertaining, adventuresome, inspirational, and meaningful.

Telling some stories is easy, while telling others is difficult. Phil kept talking about his dilemma to others, but no one believed his story. He went to a psychiatrist to have brain scans, but tests showed no abnormalities. He was all alone, and, by default, his story was a secret; his story was too wild to believe.

Once, I told my story to a friend. I disclosed a secret. I considered the woman I was speaking to, to be the most genuine Christian person I knew. After exposing myself, she smiled and said, "I know how you feel." She had kept a similar secret, which she disclosed. I opened up, expecting disapproval, but received comfort and comradery instead. What a relief. I felt my burden lift as she spoke.

We don't have to appear on Dr. Phil or live the life of a Phil Connors to get relief from and closure to past and current events that weigh on us. Having a weekly get together, or even frequent phone conversations with a friend or two, helps build the ground of trust so that we can self-disclose. Telling our stories and bearing our souls is an essential element of life, and when we don't have a community, even if it's a small one, to share our lives with, we become emotional risks.

Women and men tend to react differently to stress. Men go into fight or flight response and women tend to nurture. Women call their best friend to tend or befriend. I am a member of a Master Mind group. We have five female members who meet weekly by phone and talk about our dreams and our troubles. The call is invaluable to me. Talking to others about politics, current affairs, and recipes does not compare to the gifts I receive from my Tuesday morning calls. Men need companionship and self-disclosure as much as women, and they are discovering new and different ways to bond. Men's groups have become popular in recent years. They replace the companionship of war and hunting.

Life is a team sport, and, while certain aspects of life are meant to be solitary, most of our lives need more than an "I did it my way" attitude. When we connect and tell our stories, we share the burdens and the joys of living, and when we do, everything is EZ or at least EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne Quotes

"When we react, we contract. When we contract, we shut down the flow. We can't go with the flow if it's not flowing. We scare ourselves with our thoughts and then criticize ourselves when we become aware that we've had that thought. Then we change the bad thought to a positive thought. Then we get upset when we notice other negative thoughts come through because we can't possibly keep up positive thinking. The thoughts aren't the problem. It's how we deal with them that that causes internal turmoil. Nonreactivity, gentleness, and compassion are what's needed. Once we notice the circle of fear that's driving us, and apply love and kindness, the problems dissolve."

"Financial freedom doesn't mean we have scads of money. It means we feel okay about our money. We don't cringe when we have to pay a bill. We do what we can to bring money into our lives and we have faith that what we need will appear when we need it."

Affirmation

"I dip into a pool of infinite well-being and there I find everything necessary for this moment."

  Shareables from Anne

The World's Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

40 Days to Abundance

  Featured Product This Month

  Abundance Affirmations

Join Anne's New 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's Books

Click to learn about Anne's books.

  What is EZosophy?

Click to learn about EZosophy.

NOTE: If you are viewing this on a cell phone, be sure to scroll to the right to see the other column.

  Healthy Living

Homemade Cough Syrup

We won two free nights at Venice on the Lake at Lake Conroe, Texas. With that great fortune, we decided to stay for two extra nights, on us. We arrived Thursday and checked into our beautiful waterfront RV spot. Jim came in and announced that everything was out of the truck. I replied, "No, that can't be right. Where are my things?" "What things? I thought you brought your things down." "No, they were staged in our room in the place where they always are."

"I'll just pop back to the house. It's only a 40-minute drive." I convinced him to get them in the morning. I just happened to have a toothbrush in my pocketbook and I could wait until the morning for my supplies. Then I remembered I didn't have my eye drops or homemade cough syrup. I have a health challenge and needed something for my constant hacking, and my eyes need drops at night, every few hours, or I'm in a lot of pain.

Jim insisted that he go home and get the items right away. Then I had another memory. I had accidentally left eye drops in the RV the last time we camped, because they had fallen between the bed and the night stand. "Jim," I said, "I have eye drops in the camper, and I brought all the supplies for the cough syrup. You can go in the morning." And that's what my sweet husband did. He's an early riser, and he was there and back before I got out of bed. I love how the Universe works. I had the two things I needed the most.

Back to the homemade cough syrup. It takes a while for it to kick in, and it only lasts a few hours, but I do not like the taste of commercial cough syrups, so it's worth the extra effort. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (with the mother)
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of grated ginger (I used some dried ginger and grated it, so I had powdered ginger. If I were using fresh ginger, I'd use more.)

Mix everything and store in a glass container. Take one teaspoon as needed. I upped the honey on the second batch. It's a stout concoction, only for the brave. Best to make in small batches.

We decided to go on our little vacation, even though I was sick. It was a great choice, because I could sit in bed and, the way the RV sat, it looked like we were floating on the water.

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

  Anne Talks

It's Ooh Season

In It's Ooh Season, Anne reminds us how we can change our perspective and therefore change our results. Time: 2:10

  Anne Art

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  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Sunday, March 18, 2018
10:30 AM: "Synchronicity"
After service: "Synchronicity Workshop"
Centers for Spiritual Living, Clearlake, TX
18096 Kings Row, Suite D
Houston TX 77058
The Center opens at 10 AM for community, in the Common Room.

Sunday, April 8, 2018
10:30 AM: "Synchronicity"
After snacks, at 12:30ish:
"Synchronicity Workshop"
Unity Circle of Light
25817a Gosling Road
The Woodlands, TX 77389
281-681-8883

Sunday, April 15, 2018
12:15 PM: "Honoring our losses and our loved ones through grief, ceremony, and storytelling"
Unity Circle of Light
Creekside Elementary School
5949 Creekside Forest Dr.
The Woodlands, TX 77379

Sunday, April 22, 2018
11:00AM-12:00PM: "Emerge and See"
Unity of Brazosport
507 S. Brooks St. (Hwy. 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422

Sunday, May 13, 2018
11:00AM-12:00PM: To be announced
Unity of Brazosport
507 S. Brooks St. (Hwy. 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422