The Anne Report brings you up to date on Anne’s latest activities. The Main Article, Freedom, suggests that accepting what is offers the fastest path to emotional freedom. Today’s Anne Talk is Making Life EZier: Interview With Liah Holtzman. Anne’s guest shares some things she’s discovered for making her life EZier. Click to see Anne’s Art. In the Dr. Money Talk, Face Your Fear of Lack and Not Enough, Anne shows you how to face a belief in lack so you can resolve it. Click to see the Quotes. The Featured Product This Month highlights Anne’s first book, Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic. Click to learn about EZosophy. Click to learn about Anne’s Abundance Affirmations. Click for Shareables From Anne. Click to learn about Anne’s Schedule. Click to Schedule Anne. Click to learn about Anne’s Services.

Anne’s 8 Word Miracle Mantra: “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.  Anne Sermons Gillis

Living EZosophy, March 23, 2021
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

In This Issue

Phone: 713.922.0242
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne’s Websites

  The Anne Report

The Anne Report

Dear ,

Yesterday, my daughter, Elizabeth, was 48 years old. It seems unreal that I have a 48-year-old child. Am I even old enough to have a daughter that old? I think back to my teenage years. I remember some of my favorite clothes and some of the feelings I held as a sixteen-year-old, and now, in the blink of an eye, I am 72. I am not sure how the years since my youth seem like they were lifetime ago and just yesterday, simultaneously. So it goes with time. Sometimes it drags by and at other times it speeds by.

Our grandchildren spent Saturday night with us. As is the norm, I told Hoppy the Poppy Frog stories. The stories are Grand MaMa originals. I make up the stories on the spot and Thomas and Reynolds always want to add something to the storyline. I told the story about how the Poppy Frog family decided to go to Africa on safari, but their flight was canceled due to bad weather. Reynolds asked if it could be because there was a category five hurricame. I love his mistakes.

We are drenched in yellow pine dust in South Carolina, and my Texas friends tell me they are yellow dusted as well. It is a special season of the year when I have to change Lucy’s outside water bowl twice a day to wash away the yellow floating scum. Pine trees have both male and female pine cones. The male cones are smaller, but they pack a significant pollen punch. So, if your yard is yellow, blame a male. What many people do not know that it is usually not the pine pollen that causes seasonal allergies. Pine pollen is heavy and falls out of the air. It is usually the pollen from other things that bloom this time of year that are the cause of seasonal allergies.

And that’s it for the Anne Report.

  Main Article

Freedom

Have you ever wanted the moment to be different? Of course you have. Everyone is trained from childhood to avoid what we find the least bit trying, annoying, or painful. We have been taught, through legitimate practices, to right the wrong, to be better, and to manipulate each moment. Unfortunately, it is this need to turn the moment upside down, so it can fit into our preconceived notions of acceptability, that causes suffering. In psychological and spiritual circles, this is called resistance.

As I have spiritually matured, I have learned that though I might create a different outcome in the future, it is futile to resist what is happening in the present. I even found that beneath the clamor, the drama, or the terror offered in a particular moment, there is a treasure, when I do not hit that mental delete key.

Recently I lay awake throughout the night. I was unlikely to fall asleep, and I did not like it. I visualized myself falling asleep. I counted from 50 to 1. I followed my breath. Nothing worked. I was wide awake. Finally, after everything I did failed, I accepted things as they were. I carefully picked through my thoughts and emotions until I was sure I was present and there were no residual judgments or resistance toward being awake. Of all things, thoughts about relationships flooded my mind. It was material I can use in an upcoming lecture. I like to write down this kind of information because, just like a dream, I think I will remember, but later find only slight traces of elusive content. “Okay, Okay,” I said to the Inspiration. “I’m up.” I turned on the light, grabbed a pen and paper, and took notes. When I finished, I turned on an audio book and listened. I eventually fell asleep. I believe that if I had continued my upset about being awake, it would have been a most unpleasant evening. As things occurred, I enjoyed writing down my thoughts and listening to my book.

Our culture is trained in fixing things. We use positive mind psychology, optimism, prayer, gratitude, and other therapeutic techniques to fix our lives and our minds. Though these can be good things, they have their shadow sides as well. We swat at our thoughts as if they were annoying insects. Sometimes it is the use of the tools we hold sacred that create an enemy consciousness. When we change thoughts and feelings because we are afraid they will hurt us, we reinforce a subconscious mindset of defensiveness. We create a hypervigilant defense system to monitor ourselves. We ready ourselves to defend against negative thoughts and feelings. It is like having a paranoid manager critiquing our thought and feeling nature. The manager orders us to resist whatever is present and to find or create a better moment.

To drive this point further, let us look at positive thinking. Positive thinking is a dual edge sword. It can take us out of repetitive mental patterns, but when we apply it to every situation, it can serve as a spiritual bypass. When we put whipped cream on a mud pie, all we do is invoke impression management. Everything looks great on the outside. Yet when we put whipped cream on a mud pie, all we do is mess up perfectly good whipped cream. Positive thinking is not a cure for every situation, and it takes wisdom to know when and when not to apply it.

I was once in a spiritual group of what I call fundamentalist positive thinkers. I ended up leaving because I could not deal with their lack of empathy and compassion. If anyone had a problem, they believed it could be fixed by a good thought or affirmation. I love good thoughts and I am a master affirmation maker, but some situations call for a different approach. One might take antibiotics for pneumonia but need a stint after a heart attack. One medicine does not fit all diseases. It is the same with positive thinking. It has its place.

It is a paradox that the best way to heal suffering in our lives is to face it. This does not mean to wallow in our suffering or to take suffering on as an identity. It simply means that when we put the things we face in a neutral category, suffering loses its grip. When we stop avoiding what is, and stop trying to convert the moment to our whims and fantasies, we emerge as ones who are not swept away by external or internal events. This is when true freedom emerges.

I recently read a book about a man who was imprisoned for drug dealing. He was snatched from his luxury home and placed in a holding cell for two years. It was a place of intense violence and prejudice. He was afraid for his life. There were frequent fights, murders, and rapes. He lived in an overcrowded, unairconditioned space where the temperatures frequently reached 100 degrees. One day, while reading a spiritual book, he woke up. He reached a space of permanent grace, where the external events did not dampen his spirit. In this wake-up moment he was freed from the need to change anything, and even in the most limiting of circumstances, he found unending freedom.

What awaits us when we stop controlling our lives and thoughts? Freedom. Freedom from shoulds. Freedom from inner criticism. Freedom from searching. Though there are times when should change our thoughts and reign in our emotions, we must learn to dispense the tools of consciousness in wise and wonderful ways, because when we apply them at the wrong times and in the wrong ways, we end up in emotional prisons. Though there is no manual to tell us when to know which way to go, we can be sure that when we face what is present, without emotional demands, our lives become EZier and EZier.

  Quotes

Click the image above to see it larger.

Click the image above to see it larger.

Click the image above to see it larger.

  Featured Product This Month

Order Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic from my website or call me at 713.922.0242 to order directly from me. The price is $15.95, including shipping. Click to order the Kindle version on Amazon for $4.99.

Click here to learn about ALL of Anne’s books.

  What is EZosophy?

Click the image above to learn more about EZosophy.

If viewing on a phone, scroll right to see the other column.

  Anne Talk

Making Life EZier: Interview With Liah Holtzman

Click the image above to watch the video.

Today’s Anne Talk is Making Life EZier: Interview With Liah Holtzman. Anne’s guest shares some things she’s discovered for making her life EZier. Time: 23:37

You can join Anne’s EZosophy team by watching her EZosophy channel.

  Anne’s Art

Click the image above to see it larger.

Click the image above to see it larger.

  Dr. Money Talk

Face Your Fear of Lack and Not Enough

Click the image above to watch the video.

In today’s Dr. Money Talk, Face Your Fear of Lack and Not Enough, Anne shows you how to face a belief in lack so you can resolve it. 4:37

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

  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 video for the prosperity team, and everyone who watches those videos becomes a part of the prosperity team.

  Shareables From Anne

Download and Share these links.

The World’s Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

40 Days to Abundance

The EZosophy Vows

Vows of Seriousness

Anne’s Conscious Christmas Carols

  Anne’s Schedule

All times here are Eastern Time
unless otherwise specified.

No scheduled activities at this time.

  Schedule Anne

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

You may reach Anne by phone at 713.922.0242. Anne is now in South Carolina, on Eastern Time, so please factor in that time zone when calling her. 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.

---

SUBSCRIBE by clicking the Subscribe button below. UNSUBSCRIBE to this newsletter by clicking this link.   Donations If this newsletter inspires you or touches you in some way, please consider donating to help keep the EZ message going out to the world. A donation of $40.00 covers the costs of one month’s issues. Donations may be sent to: Anne Sermons Gillis 234 Morning Song St. Summerville, SC 29485 Or click to send via PayPal. Send Venmo donations c/o Anne Gillis@Anne-Gillis. Or call Anne at 713.922.0242 and she can take any credit card over the phone. Follow Anne:        Share Anne:        Click here to share this newsletter with a friend. Edited and published weekly for Anne Sermons Gillis. Visit Anne at http://annegillis.com.