The EZ Secret Newsletter

Published on Tuesday Mornings
Living EZosophy: Volume 63, February 12, 2013

Anne Sermons Gillis
Contact Information:

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

Anne's Websites:

AnneGillis.com
TheEZSecret.com
Anne's Newsletter Archives
Anne's EZosophy Blog
Anne's YouTube Channel

Valentine Wishes

Happy Valentine’s Day on Thursday. It’s the love holiday and my tenth wedding anniversary. My husband and I met in 1998 and married in 2003. Relationships are powerful conduits to the experience of love. I used to try to get love until I found that the love experience is about living love under all kinds of unusual and trying situations. Love is unconditional, and I am the only one whom I can hold accountable to the standard of unconditional love.

Here are two of my favorite love thoughts:

• “I can experience love directly even when you are upset with me.”
• “I can feel love toward you even when you don’t feel it toward me.”

Another tip, if you want to eat out with your loved one on Valentine’s Day, go for lunch instead. It’s much easier. Just a thought.

And a Valentine thought:

Love is sufficient, not deficient, not theoretical, nor hypothetical.

It’s such a spectacle, quite delectable, so detectable.

So take this day, to live love’s way. Happy Valentine’s Day.

PS: I’m trying out to be a lover rapper.

Joy Making

Do you want more joy in your life? If yes (really, who wouldn’t say yes), then consider attending Joy Class. Joy is a master teacher. Being in joy (enjoy) requires attention and attendance. What we attend to, we create and attract, and in this crazy, fast-paced world, we tend to be too serious. There’s a somber attitude that blankets modern life. Even though joy is ever-present, regardless of external circumstances, we stay glued to life’s maelstroms.

One cannot fill his or her mind with resentment, pain, and disaster and expect joy to surface on life’s horizon. To repeat and make it as clear as possible: Don’t think we can be dismal folks and something uplifting is going to rip away our solemnity, turn us around, and make us joyful people.

Les Brown says that secondhand violence is as dangerous as secondhand smoke. It’s secondhand because it’s not happening to you. Thinking along these lines, we realize that secondhand pain, suffering, and struggle are detrimental to the way of ease and joy.

The News, Hollywood, and the Internet offer a steady stream of secondhand suffering and pain. All suffering affects the mind and heart, whether it originates from the inside or from an outside source. When we drink in bad news day after day, we begin to feel powerless, helpless, and hopeless. It’s best to take the news in small doses, but if you watch the news on television or read the newspaper, do it consciously.

When you see blood and gore in the news, stop internally and see the situation in its perfection, with all grievances healed and bodies in radiant health. You may want to pray for a good outcome from the situation or take action against an injustice. Since the mind absorbs what it sees as if it is happening to the viewer, be conscious and say to yourself, “This is not happening to me.” You may not have to go to these lengths; these are just suggestions. Just stopping and remembering the present moment is helpful to guard against drinking in secondhand violence.

Joy Class

Are you convinced? “Yes, sign me up for Joy Classes. How do I get started?”

1. Class starts first thing in the morning because we start our day with an agenda. Too often we are harried about the tasks of the day before we even begin. Perhaps thoughts like the following would serve us better than ego’s over-burdened rhetoric. Use this or makeup your own. Don’t carry the burden of time-pressured doing into the day.
   
   Today is a great day. It is full of wonderful unexpected surprises. My Higher Power (The Universe, Source, Life) is in charge: therefore I am safe, happier, and at ease. I let go, knowing that my good is here and it waits for me around every corner. I am no longer addicted to the drama drug. Ease and joy are honorable, safe, and available. Today I allow more ease and joy into my life. I turn away from external drama toward the inner stillness of my being. I say yes to today.


2. Start a Daily Joy Meditation. Begin by meditating on the word joy for ten minutes each day for a week.


• Find a comfortable place.
• Turn on some relaxing music.
• Set your timer for ten minutes.
• Sit down.
• Thump your chest 20 times lightly to activate the thymus, the feel good gland.
• Breathe in thinking the word joy and breathe out thinking the word joy. Develop a rhythm with the word and the breath. If your mind goes away, as it will numerous times, gently bring your focus back to the joy mantra and breathe. No shame; no blame – you will do this imperfectly, and that is perfect.
• When the timer rings, bow your head, while holding your hands in the prayer position (this is a mudra), and say, “Joy to my inner and outer world.” You can say this out loud or silently.


3. Use the Joy Mantra throughout the day. Throughout the day, contemplate the word joy. There’s a power in words that allows their essence to filter into our lives when we focus on them. That’s why mantras are so effective. For a week, let your mantra be “Joy to my inner and outer world.” Don’t try to be happy; just focus on the phrase. You do not have to believe this; just do it and see what happens. Focusing on joy is like magic. It pulls the mind into a quieter, more receptive reality and turns down the drama.

Let the practices prove themselves to you, and if you find things moving in your life and mind, you may want to continue the practices for at least a month or maybe even longer.

Avoid the mental crashes of the obsessive mind. When you travel through life on joy’s highway, you attract a life that’s easier and more fun. We’ve been too serious. We strive to be personally successful or bust our guts to make a difference. Both sides of this coin build despair. Striving is heavy. When we do what comes naturally and tune into life’s ever-present joy, the world changes; we become naturally abundant. EZ (pronounced ease) is an idea whose time has come; EZ is our natural state. Joy and ease are an integral part of the same tapestry of life. EZosophy is a philosophy that pulls us into the non-efforting comfort of an organized and friendly universe. Don’t struggle; be at ease, and remember the 8-word EZosophy affirmation: “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.”

Mary Makes Merry

Click the image to watch Mary's YouTube video.

My husband and I consider ourselves most fortunate people. Actually, I am off the charts lucky. In the recent drawing (at Mary’s concert) of three winning tickets, two drawn were mine (I bought five raffle tickets). I have a lovely bouquet of roses perched on my kitchen island. In keeping with that theme, we were honored to host an award winning musician this weekend, Mary Flower, from Portland, Oregon.   Mary boasts more stylistic diversity than just about any other artist currently performing under the "acoustic blues" banner.

If you have a deep and diverse musical appetite, you’ll want to get to know Mary. She is astounding, talented, and brilliant. Just had to share Mary. I know the song I picked to share was not merry, but it is soulful, and being with Mary makes folks plain merry.

Love is Now Video

Below is a graphic from one of my YouTube Channel videos entitled Love is Now. It's a 15 minute audio with musical accompaniment and some beautiful graphics. It's designed to move you from self-assessment to self-love. The audio was originally recorded as a birthday present for a good friend, Bettina Sparkles. But it's a also nice reminder for everyone to love and honor ourselves – a good practice for Valentine's Day or any day. Click the image to watch and hear the Love is Now video.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

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Schedule Anne for Your Meeting

If you would like Anne to speak to your group or organization, you may reach her by phone at 281-419-1775 or click the button below to contact Anne by email. Anne is also available to officiate at weddings and funerals.

Anne's Schedule

February 17
"Communicating Love",
Unity Church of Christianity,
Webster, Texas
11 AM

April 27
"Buddha at the Gaspump"
Interview by Rick Archer
http://batgap.com/upcoming-interviews/
http://batgap.com/

We will post a link when it is online.

Ask Annie G

Dear Annie G,

I love ginger tea. Its anti-inflammatory properties have really helped my aches and pains. Can I drink too much ginger tea?

Lois in LA

Dear Lois,

If you get diarrhea, you’ve had too much. Ginger is a great spice, but I consider it a medicine. One cup a day of Yogi Ginger Tea is probably enough. It’s also good to consider other factors in your ginger consumption as well. Don’t drink ginger tea if you are undergoing surgery in the near future or have just had surgery. It limits the blood’s ability to clot. If you take blood thinners, skip the ginger tea. It is a stimulant as well, so do not drink it at night. Also, if you are pregnant, you need to limit your ginger consumption. It is good for morning sickness, but you don’t want to drink it on a regular basis until after the baby’s born. You’ll probably need it then.

Don’t let these factors dissuade you from your ginger tea. Ginger is good for indigestion, it fights cancer, it deters motion sickness, and, as you already know, it reduces inflammation in the body.

Anne

NOTE: Send your questions on life, health, food, spirituality, and relationships to Annie G.

Health Tip: Homemade Mouthwash

You can easily make mouthwash by steeping one tablespoon of dried thyme in one cup of boiling water. Let cool. Swish away. Thyme has a natural antiseptic named thymol that naturally washes away bad odor. Use as a gargle to heal sore throats.

Quotes

If you accept the idea of an unlimited abundant universe, you can relinquish the desire to manage circumstances and force solutions in order to manifest your desires.
-- Deepak Chopra

Deep in my heart, a winter without words. Yet in that silent snow, I am humbled to find Your footprints gently there.
– Anita "Jo" Lenhart
from her collection Still Breathing: unpublished essays and untitled poems

Positive thinking and negative thinking keep us evaluating reality rather than experiencing it. Positive thinking is a stepping stone to wholeness, but when we reach the promised land, we no longer need the path.
-- Anne Sermons Gillis

Anne Art

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Editor: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorway

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