The Anne Report, Personal Climate Change, compares the changing winter weather with our changing moods, and provides tips for easily handling those changes. The Main article, Hosanna, describes how we can use that word as an affirmation of assistance, surrender, and completion. The Healthy Living article, Skip Those Styrofoam Cups, cites reasons to avoid those cups. The Anne Talk, Spiritual Freedom, shows how we are already spiritually free and need only to accept our freedom. The Featured Product This Month is Anne's book, Words Make a Difference. Click to read What is EZosophy? Click to join Anne's Abundance Affirmations. Click for Shareables From Anne.

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

Living EZosophy, December 4, 2018
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

Phone: 713.922.0242
Email: anne@annegillis.com

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  The Anne Report

Personal Climate Change

Dear ,

Winter time is typically a time for slowing down. People stay inside and hunker down for the cold. We have a few cold spells in the south, but the weather can be unpredictably warm in the winter, so we are climate yo-yos. Each day is a climate adventure. One day it is 80 degrees and the next the low is 29 degrees. It's a treat to be able to go outside in the winter without a sweater and have the sun streaming down.

Radical weather shifts remind me of the quickly changing mind. It's startling how a good mood can abruptly turn sour and conversely surprising how a bad mood can turn around, with one small word of support or encouragement.

Moods are contagious. Once I was in the checkout line at the grocery store. The checker beamed out a toothy grin and I was moved from doldrums to joy. It surprised me. This happens frequently – a simple smile enchants me. While we prefer that our moods stay optimistic or chipper, our emotional winter can always pop up. When we feel good, we think our good feeling will last forever, but when our mood changes, we are upset that we are no longer happy.

The lesson the weather teaches us is to not get attached to either our positive or negative moods because, like the weather, they will change. We need to learn not to put ourselves down when we feel bad. We can choose out of our mood or feeling, or ride it out. It will go away. When we try to drink over it, shop over the mood, or eat over it, it might go away for a bit, but eventually it will re-emerge with a vengeance. The further we push a ball under the water, the more forceful its path out of the water. We don't have to wallow in a bad mood, but unless we face our moods and let them pass through, they will become emotional tornadoes, and these tornadoes not only affect us, they affect our relationships.

What is my sage advice? When you feel good, enjoy it. When you don't feel good, wait out the emotional storm; it will pass. And that's it for the Anne Report.

Anne

  Main Article

Hosanna

I am not the religious sort. I don't cotton to the rules and regulations of religion. I am repelled by the do this, do that, and don't do this part of religion. I must be careful with my stance because it might cause me to miss some of the archetypal messages contained in sacred literature. I don't want to allow close-minded, fundamentalist thinking to close my mind. Yes, I know, that would be ironic. There are many parts of the Bible I like, but when "Christians" start slinging around quotes to make others feel wrong or inferior, I recoil. (I have Christians in quotations because I don't think those who live the teachings of Christ, would be using the Bible to beat others into shame or submission.)

Once, I asked the Universe if prayers were heard and answered. I was in a dark place. I went into mediation for my answer. The word Ishmael bubbled up in my consciousness. It's not one of "my" words. Yes, I read Moby Dick, but that was a lifetime ago. My Metaphysical Bible Dictionary provided a startling and comforting answer. I was startled because the answer was direct and swift. Ishmael means that God hears us. While I do not subscribe to an anthropomorphic God, I do believe in an all-pervading Presence, and I believe that it is benevolent. I had my answer. You can read the entire story in my book, Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic. Here's is the preface and chapter one.

One morning recently I started to meditate. It was very early, and I nodded off briefly. I was jerked back by a clear and distinct voice, "the heart of hosanna." Another message from the Universe. It was time for some research. The word hosanna originally was used as a prayerful plea for deliverance, but it was eventually used as a word of rejoicing. People rejoiced because they knew they were already delivered. A likely meaning of the word was, "Praise God and his Messiah, because we are saved." Hosanna might be considered an affirmation, meaning "I am joyful, because I am safe, provided for, and loved." I make a case in my book, Words Make a Difference, for the power of words.

How could I use the word hosanna and what it represents? It is a powerful affirmation; could it be a mantra too? Words have vibrations. "It is declared in Shiva Sutra, an important text of Kashmir Shivaism and of Trika philosophy, that the power of giving birth to letters and words is named Matrika Shakti: the energy connected to the alphabet's letters. Matrika Shakti is considered as an element of the Universal Consciousness hidden in the words. Matrika doesn't reveal itself until the Conscious (Shiva) grants it, showing the interdependence between energy and consciousness." (Source: http://www.matrika.co/en/matrika-shakti/)

Do the letters in the word hosanna have power? Is there Matrika Shakti in them? I believe there is power in the word hosanna. I envision myself repeating hosanna silently, reciting it as a mantra, and letting it work its magic in me. If a problem presents itself, I could hosanna it. Instead of saying, "help," I could say "hosanna." The word offers thanks that the problem is solved and resolved, and, as hosanna suggests, the best team in the universe would be on the problem: Universal Intelligence, Source, The Presence responds.

Hosanna could also be used as a term of surrender, meaning I can't handle this. I turn it over, knowing that my worry thoughts contribute to my downfall, not my upfall! When we surrender, it simply means that we drop the matter. How do we drop the matter? We stop thinking about it. We stop analyzing and trying to figure it out. If we hosanna something and then pick it up again, we haven't really Hosanna-ed it.

Some words need to be updated. Join me in making a semantic change in this powerful word. Let's become a voice for an extended use of the word hosanna, so when we say "Hosanna to the highest," we invoke the best possible outcome in any situation and for our lives, because when we do, everything is EZier and EZier.

Special Announcement

Miracles in the Mountains Presents: Miracles, Scribes, and Mystics, a conference based on A Course in Miracles, Oct. 11-14, 2019. Join Miracles Productions at the beautiful Art of Living Retreat Center, Boone, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, during the peak of the glorious "Autumn Leaf" season! Early bird special through March, 2019.

  Quotes

Anne Quotes

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 Featured Product This Month

"Books are waiting to be written. Thus, it was my privilege to bring this book to the world. It brought with it such grace and love. Words Make a Difference sparkles with aliveness and blessing and delivers the perfect information under perfect timing. We are called not only to heal ourselves and those around us, we are destined to hold a vision for the world. This book commands us to be architects of a brave new future and lights a path for us to follow." Anne Sermons Gillis

Order Words Make a Difference from the website or call me at 713.922.0242 to order directly from me. The price is $16.95 plus $3.99 shipping, for a total of $20.94.

Click for the Kindle version on Amazon for $5.99.

Click to hear Anne discuss Words Make a Difference.

"Some people use affirmations to reprogram the mind. Certainly we have reams of questionable material in our subconscious mind, but I prefer to think of the affirmations in the book as commands for more compassionate living, openings to greater possibilities, and templates for a brave new world." Anne Sermons Gillis

  What is EZosophy?

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

  Healthy Living

Skip Those Styrofoam Cups

Want a hot drink, some luscious hot chocolate, maybe some wassail? Don't reach for that Styrofoam cup. It's light, it keeps your drink hot, but it's toxic. When the heat combines with the cup, it releases styrene and bisphenol-A into your drink. It also releases chemicals when it gets wet and when it comes in contact with your takeout food. As long as you don't use it for food, you might be okay, but the disposal of Styrofoam wreaks havoc on our ecosystems. When it goes into our landfills, it breaks down and ends up in our water supply.

If you stopped all contact with Styrofoam, it will still take years for these toxins to leave your body. One might think that if a chemical was dangerous, it would not have been approved by the EPA. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 has not been overhauled since its inception. Only 200 of over 62,000 chemicals were tested by the EPA when they started the testing, because the other chemicals were considered safe. They went untested out into the public for consumption. We are swimming in untested toxic chemicals daily. There are new products coming on the market every day and if they are not tested within 90 days, they are allowed into the market without knowing the long term effects. Free enterprise again trumps public safety

When styrene and bisphenol-A enter the body, they end up in the fatty tissue where they can cause nervousness, fatigue, sleeping difficulties, and blood abnormalities. When the toxins build up in the body, the effects can include breast cancer, prostate cancer, and male sterility.

People say, "You have to die of something" as if that means we should not take care of our bodies because they aren't permanent anyway. I try to stay away from toxins, not so much to extend my life, but to stay healthy in the moment. Quality of living is best supported when we learn the hazards in living in a high tech world. Once informed, we can make educated choices about our health. Be kind to yourself, your family, and the planet – reach for that china cup, pottery mug, or glass cup – it's better for your health, good for the planet, and less expensive. I think it's an easy choice.

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

  Anne Talk

Spiritual Freedom

Anne's video, Spiritual Freedom, shows how we are already spiritually free and need only accept our freedom. This talk was given at Unity of North Houston on March 6, 2016. Time: 33:07

  Anne Art

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  Abundance Affirmations

Join Anne'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.

  Shareables From Anne

The World's Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

40 Days to Abundance

  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Sunday, December 23, 2018
11:00 AM-12:00 PM:
"Celebrating Christmas in Your Heart"
Unity of Brazosport
507 S. Brooks St. (Hwy. 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422

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