The Anne Report brings you up to date with Anne’s latest activities. The Main article, How to Navigate Life’s Questions, provides insights on handling life's twists and turns. The Healthy Living article, Happiness is a Key to Good Health, gives 7 simple tips for creating a healthier life. In the Anne Talk, One Man’s Story of Loss and Grace, Anne shows how we can handle life’s difficulties with grace. In today’s Dr. Money’s Prosperity Video, Dr. Money Interview with Nancy Bragin, Anne’s friend, Nancy Bragin, gives an example of how her belief that if you can dream it, you can do it, helped her raise funds for The Dave Clark Five, a British rock and roll band. The Featured Product This Month highlights Anne’s 5 Books. Click to read What is EZosophy? Click to join Abundance Affirmations. Click for Shareables From Anne.

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

Living EZosophy, August 6, 2019
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

Phone: 713.922.0242
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne’s Websites:

  The Anne Report

The Anne Report

Dear ,

Today I walked by my neighbor’s home. A tan plastic cougar sits prominently in the front yard. It’s about four feet long and I used to dislike it – immensely. When Hurricane Harvey came along, it floated away. It’s the first thing I noticed when I ventured outside. I was thrilled.

During the hurricane, my neighbor’s house flooded; they had no flood insurance. I talked with my neighbor during the flooding and she asked me to look out for the cougar while I walked the neighborhood. “My son gave it to us, and it was special.” So, there I go, walking around looking for the plastic monstrosity. I was concerned for my neighbor’s welfare; they were hit hard. I genuinely wanted to find it. I didn’t find it, but later that day I spoke with my neighbor; she was beaming. “The cougar was found. It’s safe. We have it.” I was happy for her, and now, almost three years later, I have a plastic cougar living across the street from me. Fortunately, it’s a little dirty and it doesn’t stick out like it used to, but the real change is my attitude. It doesn’t bother me any more to have a big “kitty” watching my every move. I live in a community, and her happiness is more important than my preference for more upscale yard decorations.

I will tell you that down the street, the 8-inch-tall ceramic frogs that lined another one of my neighbor’s property, were totally lost. I must admit, I was grateful. The frogs were worse than the cougar.

If you listen to my first story, you might think me benevolent, but I must come clean: I was happy about the frogs. People are like that. We can have compassion about one thing but can turn around and not be so generous in a similar situation. I didn’t hurt anything by my frog reaction, but it did show me something about tolerance. It seems I have my limit. Maybe I’m just petty or perhaps I have good taste. Regardless of the story, each one who reads this will have their own take on it. Nothing we think about the stories we tell or listen to is objective. I think that makes life more interesting. We all have our point of view. We live in a collective world that will not conform to our needs, wants, and desires, but I’ve learned to adapt, because I’ve found that if my narrative wraps itself around plastic cougars, I’ll be miserable. I’d rather be happy than miserable, so the kitty and I are doing well, and that makes our lives EZier and EZier.

Our house is still on the market. The summer is hot in The Woodlands, TX, where I live. My dog is doing well on doggie CBD oil. And that’s it for the Anne Report.

  Main Article

How to Navigate Life’s Questions

Life is big. It doesn’t judge, but we judge. We take a slice of what we think we see and categorize it into previously arranged mental file folders of good and bad. Life is an impersonal canvas for our thoughts and actions, but we take the picture personally. We either freak out or swoon in self-delight over our creation. Yet there is more. The canvas is on a frame; it forms a picture. The picture is on a wall. The wall is in a house. The house sits on the ground and rises into the sky. The ground, though it is a bigger creation, has limits, but the sky expands infinitely. If we only look at our personal picture, we miss the bigger picture – that which lies beyond.

Suppose life wasn’t painted solely by our thoughts? Suppose we were present, alert, awake, and aware? So safe and settled in our skins that questions were not necessary? Suppose there was a knowing? A knowing that life presents itself on a need to know basis. My question, which is funny because I’m questioning the validity of questioning, is “Is there a way to live life without questioning?” Questions are hungry. They need more information, more insights, more, more, more of everything. Problems are looming questions that bring urgency and demand. And what about answers? What do they do for us – make us smarter, more effective, more compatible?

Okay, I admit, questions can be friends; they provide a constant guidance system, but sometimes the process of questioning is designed to take us the wrong way. Questions lure us into our heads and fiddle with our brains. If we are to be question connoisseurs, we must ask the questions that bring the bigger picture into focus. Our questions need to be the breadcrumbs that take us on the grail search, not to the garbage dump.

I like insights. They float in on a bed of realization and awe. An insight arrives without a question. It’s a sudden, unexpected gift that clarifies unasked questions. Watch out, though, because insights can be paradoxical, and that’s okay. It takes a flexible mind to realize insights can oppose each other, but still be true.

Awakening can be a scary proposition. It inquires in an unfamiliar way. It calls us to question everything we believe and delivers us into a way of being that calls off the spiritual search. Awakening asks that we heal ourselves, then get out of the doctor’s office. Most people love the doctor’s office. It provides a never-ending supply of solutions and entertainment, but when we know who we are, when we can live in the unanswered question of existence, we don’t have to keep searching for who we are.

All this is philosophy stuff. I used to hate it. I wanted to live in a bow-wrapped reality that was outfitted with a GPS that could get me anywhere, and I wanted the guidance beforehand, so I was covered for all contingencies. I amassed all kinds of information and wisdom, and still do, to ensure a safe life, but that’s not how life works. I’m not throwing away pragmatism or practically. We need that to handle our basic needs, but life has only one manifesto we can count on: “Now is all there is.” This now is loaded. It brings insight, wisdom, blessing, and grace. It is not a time-based point on the clock; rather, it is an infinite view of the Universe, dessert and all.

I wish there were a book entitled, How to Do Now in Three Easy Steps, but Now comes through awareness, not through information. That’s why philosophy is cagey. It pushes us to uncover, recover, and discover, but it doesn’t give us answers. Now I’m back to questions: when do they work and when are they useless? Because as we discover these answers, our lives become EZier and EZier.

  Quotes

Click the image to see a larger image.

Click the image to see a larger image.

Click the image to see a larger image.

  Dr. Money’s Prosperity Videos

Dr. Money Interview with Nancy Bragin

Today’s Dr. Money’s Prosperity Video is Dr. Money Interview with Nancy Bragin. Anne’s friend, Nancy Bragin, gives an example of how her belief that if you can dream it, you can do it, once helped her raise funds for The Dave Clark Five, a British rock and roll band. Time: 8:05

  Abundance Affirmations

Click to 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. Anne, AKA Dr. Money, posts a nightly goodnight for the prosperity team, and everyone who watches them becomes a part of the prosperity team.

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

  Shareables From Anne

The World's Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

40 Days to Abundance

EZosophy Vows

Vows of Seriousness

Anne's Conscious Carols

  Featured Product This Month

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.

  What is EZosophy?

Click the image to learn more about EZosophy.

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

  Healthy Living

Happiness is a Key to Good Health

This is the Healthy Living column. Each week I dispense advice on everything from harmful chemicals to recipes, but I have a secret: health is in the eyes of the beholder, and the best thing we can do for our health is to do what works for us.

I’ve known people with crazy diets who were healthy, and I’ve known people who ate superfoods that looked like they could drop dead any minute. Why? What was the difference? It’s simple: the people who were happy looked healthier, regardless of their health practices. It looks like happiness is what works.

Even if happiness is not the key ingredient in health (I’m not sure science has yet proven it is.), it’s still better to be happy and sick than it is to be depressed and sick. Happiness is something that can be cultivated by most people who have a relatively normal life. If you are living in a war zone, then happiness is more difficult, but if you are reading this, I’m sure you are among the privileged who are relatively safe on a day by day basis. What can we do to bring more happiness into our lives?

Seven Ways to Cultivate Happiness

• Stop suffering over the routine maintenance of your life. Eighty percent of our lives involves self-care, car-care, earning a living, keeping our homes in order, and handling finances. If we choose to be miserable over these things, we will be unhappy most of the time.
• Take a guilt-free day. We find stories of guilt going back before Old Testament days. It’s etched into our minds. Maybe you can’t say goodbye to guilt on a permanent basis, so just take one day off from feeling guilty or trying to make others feel guilty. Stop the martyr act for just one day and stop the self-blame.
• Feed the birds. Please don’t feed them bread; feed them bird food! Having a bird feeder and watching the birds eat relieves tension and brings pleasure. It’s a calming practice.
• Go to a lake, ocean, or river and just sit. Natural bodies of water put off great vibes, and I think they harbor nature spirits. Believe what you want, but I’m a believer that there’s some kind of spirit, or spirits, working in and around water. Swimming in a natural of body of water works too. It’s an informal baptism.
• Watch a funny movie. Recently my husband and I watched Long Shot, and I still smile when I think about that movie. While the essence of joy is always internal, it helps to prime the pump of delight.
• Limit time spent watching the news. This is easy to understand. News is addictive, depressing, and unpleasant. I support being informed, but we don’t have to be news anchors to be informed.
• Practice gratitude and appreciation. Make sure the people you love know how grateful you are for them. Appreciation breeds happiness, in ourselves and in others. Think of being a happiness elf. We often try to help others by solving problems, but William James, the famous psychologist, says that people work more for praises than raises. People long to be appreciated. Appreciating someone probably helps them more than fixing their problems does.

We cannot wait for others to make us happy, nor can we wait for the external world to line up in a way that creates a happy world for us. We are responsible for our personal happiness. No excuses. We can’t expect ourselves to be happy when we’ve suffered a tragedy, but most of the time, we have the ability to at least make life EZier and happier.

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

  Anne Talk

One Man’s Story of Loss and Grace

Today's Anne Talk is One Man’s Story of Loss and Grace. Anne shows how we can handle life’s difficulties with grace. Time: 3:18

  Anne Art

Click the image to see a larger image.

Click the image to see a larger image.

  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Friday, August 16, 2019
Workshop: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM EDT
“Reducing Stress by Connecting With the Body” 5 CE credits $50.00
Bring Your Lunch or Purchase for $12
Location: “The Cottage”
122 Alicia Drive, Summerville, SC
Must Register by August 12, 2018
Click for Flyer & to Register Online
To Register by Mail, send Name,
Address & Contact Info to
Anne S. Gillis, c/o Elizabeth Wann,
574 Chimney Bluff Dr.
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Make Checks Payable to Anne S. Gillis
Refund Requires 48 hrs. Notice

Friday, August 23, 2019
Workshop: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM EDT
“Building Self-Esteem & Courage:
Techniques to Help Clients Remove the Blocks to Confident Living”
5 CE credits $50.00
Bring Your Lunch or Purchase for $12
Location: “The Cottage”
122 Alicia Drive, Summerville, SC
Must Register by August 19, 2018
Click for Flyer & to Register Online
To Register by Mail, send Name,
Address & Contact Info to
Anne S. Gillis, c/o Elizabeth Wann,
574 Chimney Bluff Dr.
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Make Checks Payable to Anne S. Gillis
Refund Requires 48 hrs. Notice

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