The Anne Report brings you up to date on Anne’s latest activities. The Main article, What To Do About Christmas, provides us with some historical insights into the holiday season and how we can enjoy the best of the season. The Healthy Living article, Mind Your Mind, gives us some tips about improving our mental health. In the Anne Talk, Have an EZ Day, Anne reminds us that life can become EZier for us when we learn to graciously handle life’s daily maintenance chores without resistance. In today’s Anne’s Prosperity Video, The Power of Intention and Commitment, Anne is joined by Dr. Noel Marshall, who discusses how intention and commitment can create miracles in our life. The Featured Product This Month highlights Anne’s fourth book, Words Make a Difference. 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, December 17, 2019
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

Phone: 713.922.0242
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne’s Websites:

  The Anne Report

The Anne Report

Dear ,

We are back in the Charleston area. We’ve been here so frequently that when a neighbor moved into our Woodlands neighborhood, Jim informed her that there was a child down the street with the same name as her daughter. I told him, “No, Charlotte lives down the street in Mt. Pleasant, not in our neighborhood.” We love to visit and celebrate with our family. When we return, Jim’s daughter, Ashley, comes to visit from California. It’s a family life, and though I celebrate my blood relatives, in-laws and out-laws, my appreciation for friends increases as I age. My friend, Shelia, has a friend she calls her wife-in-law. They both married and divorced the same man. Looks as if modern society can use all the family it can adopt. They come in as friends, but often rise to family status in our hearts.

I wrote this poetic spinoff 35 years ago and share it every holiday. Hope it brings a smile.

’Twas the Night ...

It was the night before Christmas and all through our centers
Anticipation was growing, for us and our mentors.
Our consciousness was raised to an all-time high,
’Cause we knew that the Christ mind would soon be nigh.

Our hearts’ lights were shining, our faces were cheery,
No room in the mind for thoughts that were dreary.
And all of the sudden there arose the mind chatter,
That said we were stupid and that we didn’t matter.

The voice of the ego had popped up again,
And said we were guilty, and all born in sin.
It ranted and raved and caused such a fuss,
That we doubted our Christ minds to the point that we cussed.

On guilty, on sleazy, on dummy, on lazy,
The ego drove our minds ’til we felt sort of crazy.
Then depressed and deflated we sat in a heap,
With all our enlightened thoughts going to sleep.

We started to pray, we started to ask,
For a different perception, for freedom at last.
Forgiveness was offered and innocence too,
And before we all knew it, our Christ minds renewed.
In one holy instant our knowingness came,
And we felt the presence of Christmas again.

Poem excerpted from Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic, ©1994 Anne Sermons Gillis

  Main Article

What To Do About Christmas

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas or any other holiday, including birthdays. They claim traditional Christmas holidays are Pagan, and they are correct.

How did Christmas come about? Christmas is the Christian holiday that replaced the celebration of the Pagan winter solstice. Pagan holidays were created around celestial events.

How did Easter come about? It takes some work to calculate Easter’s date. Easter is also calculated by a celestial event. It is the first Sunday, after the first full moon, which falls after the 15th or 21st of March. Isn’t it interesting that the most important Christian holiday is lunar based, based on the position of the planets. Though it may not be relevant, but I think it is, the birth of the sun-based god, Mithra, took place in a cave on December 25th. Mithra worship dates back to more than a thousand years BCE, and he was said to be the mediator between God and humanity. Most spiritual students are not interested in the authenticity of historical facts; they are interested in the authenticity of wisdom, in the power of love, and in the generosity of spirit. Sometimes holidays are so hectic that these values run amok.

Contemporary Christmas tends to be a fun-filled for kids and an excuse for shopping addicts to go wild. We measure the well-being of our economy on how much stuff people buy, that they don’t need, for Christmas. Many retail companies depend on Christmas buying for survival.

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Yet in spite of the spending flurry and over-eating, in a survey of favorite Christmas images people liked, there was a fire in a fireplace, a tree, snow gently falling, family – but little mention of presents.

Long ago people celebrated Christmas for twelve days. December 25th was the first day of Christmas. It was the beginning of 12 days of feasting and celebrating. Christmas Day wasn’t anticlimactic.

We have our cultural traditions, family traditions, and Christmas marketing, but what do we want Christmas to be about? And what do we want Christmas to not be about? Certainly we don’t want Christmas to be the reenactment of childhood expectations of Santa coming and the disappointment of not getting high from the same magic we felt as children.

This year, give yourself a Merry Christmas. Make a list of the 20 things you love to do. Write beside each item the last time you did this. Pick a few of the items on your list and give them to yourself for Christmas - time to read a book, go to the theater, do art work. You can create an easy Christmas season for yourself.

We are in the midst of what can be a fun and festive time of year. We can use this time to reconnect with old friends, to go inward and determine our personal values and figure out how to enact them, and to have fun.

Christmas is a party and here’s your person invitation: Life requests the honor of your presence to the Christmas 2019 celebration of life. It will be held anywhere you are, between 12:01 AM until 11:59 PM, December 25, 2019. It will follow you wherever you go. Attending is your only option. No RSVP necessary. I am looking forward to seeing you. Again, it’s your life and you are invited!

P.S.: It may not be your tradition to celebrate this holiday, but if you live in the United States of America, you are affected by this holiday. No escape. Use it as an excuse to have fun. And, for those reading this from other countries, you may not relate to this at all. Sorry.

  Quotes

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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. 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

Share these links with others.

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

“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.

  What is EZosophy?

Click the image to learn more about EZosophy.

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

  Healthy Living

Mind Your Mind

My friend, Barbara, who is a therapist, sent an article about mental health day. October 10 is the Mental Health day, but maybe every day should be mental health day. Whether we have paying jobs or spend our time navigating the complexities of everyday life, adults need a “time out,” not as a punishment, but as a reward.

For some, mental health is a general term. We think of trying to not lose our cool or not feeling crazy as good mental health. For others, mental health is something they long for, as they hang in the balance of seeming insanity or other diagnosable disorders.

We face mental challenges at a personal level and at a cultural level. We have some governmental social services in place to deal with mental illness, but not enough. Here is a rundown on one aspect of mental healthcare at the federal level.

“The Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 (MHSA) was United States legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter, which provided grants to community mental health centers. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan and the U. S. Congress repealed most of the law. The MHSA was considered landmark legislation in mental health care policy.” “President Reagan never understood mental illness. Like Richard Nixon, he was a product of the Southern California culture that associated psychiatry with communism. Two months after taking office, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr., a young man with untreated schizophrenia.”

While Reagan was reared before me, I grew up in a time when going to a therapist was seen as a weakness. And there weren’t that many therapists around. But there were psychiatrists. People hid their inner shame, pressures, and desperation. They didn’t get help unless they had what we called a “nervous breakdown.” Today things are different. Many see vulnerability as courage. While more help at the federal level would benefit society, there are low cost or no cost programs available through churches, synagogues, 12-step, and state and local programs. When I had an office outside my home, I saw clients who had very limited resources, for reduced fees. I had some clients who only paid $5.00 a session. Maybe all full-time therapists should have at least one pro bono client at any given time. It’s a part of giving back.

While there are those who live in desperation, some of us just need a mental health break. Here are a few ways to create more calm in our lives.

• Cook a special dish. This is for those who love cooking, but don’t have time or don’t take the time to cook, and for those who feel out of control. Did you know that cooking calms us down and increases creativity? It’s a great escape from the grate of living.

• Carve out two hours a week for “just me” time. Put it in your calendar and keep your date with yourself. It can be something as simple as going to the movies or a walk at the park. The purpose is not only to give yourself alone time, it’s to get yourself out of your normal routine and surroundings.

• Organize and clean. Keep your car and home clean and neat. It’s best to stack your papers, put them in a box, and cover them with a lovely scarf, than to have them scattered all over the place. This keeps the mind from always saying, “I’ve got to clean up this mess.” If you have boxes from a move that haven’t been unpacked, and you just can’t seem to get to unpacking them, decorate them. Make them look interesting, so that when you look at them, you feel pleasure, not pressure.

• Journal. Write one page a day about any topic. It can be about what you would like to come into your life, a list of irritations you have, or any flow of consciousness. Change up your content as needed. Not only does this exercise help us with our emotions, it helps us clarify values and jumpstarts creativity in other areas of our lives.

We live in times that are so trying that we read articles on reducing stress on a regular basis. While articles are of great benefit, doing something about our stress is the end game. It takes only 5 seconds for our minds to talk us out of getting out of familiar patterns. Be on the lookout for that talk you out of it voice. We must resist mind’s attempt to reign us in and take the bold step of taking better care of ourselves! As Nike tells us all, “Just do it.”

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

  Anne Talk

Have an EZ Day

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Today’s Anne Talk is Have an EZ Day. Anne reminds us that life can become EZier for us when we learn to graciously handle life’s daily maintenance chores without resistance. Time: 3:19

  Anne Art

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  Anne’s Prosperity Video

The Power of Intention and Commitment

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Today’s Dr. Money Prosperity Video is The Power of Intention and Commitment. Anne is joined by Dr. Noel Marshall, who discusses how intention and commitment can create miracles in our life. Dr. Marshall talks about how she and her husband manifested a trip to Damanhur, a Federation of spiritual communities, with its own Constitution, culture, art, music, currency, schools and uses of science and technology. 4:43

  Anne’s Schedule

All times are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Saturday, February 8, 2020
“EZosophy” 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Open and free to public.
Meets at East Bank Regional Public Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave.,
Metairie, LA 70001
Sponsored by the New Orleans Study Center of Theosophical Society

  Schedule Anne

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

You may reach Anne by phone at 713.922.0242. 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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