The EZ Secret Newsletter

Published on Tuesday Mornings
Living EZosophy: Volume 64, February 19, 2013

Anne Sermons Gillis
Contact Information:

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

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  Love Laws

Love is a slippery thing. We try to define it, obtain it, and apply it. Love is probably the most written about topic in the world. When I do a "love" word search on my personal computer contents, the results yields an amazing number of songs that sport the word in its title. How many love songs are there? Too many to count. Love is the building block of life and the thing at the end of the rainbow for those who seek a better life.

Three things come to mind when it comes to experiencing love:

• We must believe that something exists that is bigger than our limited perception - call it mystery, call it source - and this unlimited field of consciousness is permeated and sourced with love. And this thing "love," whatever it is, can nurture, guide, and protect.
  
• We must heal our sense of unhealthy guilt and shame and believe that we need not earn the right to be loved. Love is an unconditional offering.
  
• We must give up our need to control and protect our ego so we can surrender to love.

There are laws that govern our physical world and laws that govern our soul. We exercise, eat well, get plenty of rest, and hone our driving skills - all of these fall under the physical laws that govern our survival and well-being. Love, however, is the highest law. It defies what the mind can categorize, fix, or generate. We can't control, suck up to, or earn love. We can't milk it from others. When it comes to love, there's only one choice: it's now or never. We can never experience love in the future.

Enlightenment is the recognition that you don't have to wait for love. All the essential ingredients for spiritual flourishing are immediately available. This idea might not grab your attention, but it always grabs mine. It illuminates my game - the game of keeping my mind running down the rabbit hole. It calls me into question about what I really want. I know for sure that if I want to experience love now, I can't carry old, worn out stories into my current thinking. "You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one." (Facebook quote; unknown author)

Physical and emotional life requires adjustments, new perspectives, and assistance, but love is the supreme law, and it requires nothing; it asks nothing. Our job, basically, is to get out of the way and receive the ever-present, all knowing, nourishing, protective, and guiding force we call love.

I have my favorite thoughts that knock me off my pettiness, my limitations, and my drama. and I'll bet you do too. When I get knocked off my ego, I can fall into Love. It's time to give up "getting" and to settle into the art of love. Let's throw Descartes out the window with a new law: "I love: therefore I am." Much better. Agape rocks.

  Love is Not What You Think

Click the graphic above to watch the video.

This video is a recording of Anne's talk at Unity Church of Brazosport, Texas, on November 18, 2012. It emphasizes that love is not a thinking process. Love is the medicine that cures everything. It doesn't arrange life to line up with our wants; it transforms our internal reality so that our problems lose their relevance to struggle. They become nonissues.

Scientists have now discovered that there is a heart brain, as well as a thinking brain, the one we all know, and this heart brain is an opening to love that transcends that which is limited to the physical body. Anne includes the story of a baby boy who was born without a brain, yet who lived for three years, indicating that our heart brain can run the body even without a thinking brain.

She uses a hypothetical situation to clearly illustrate that love is more powerful than fear. Love is not what we think -- it is beyond the mind.

  Waking Up Through Taking Risks

I take risks. When I was younger, I jumped off a water fall, stayed alone in the mountains fasting for days, and even held snakes. Come to think of it, as an older person I went into the Amazon jungle at night, climbed a small mountain in the Himalayas (it didn't seem so small when it took 6 hours to reach the top), and arrived in Seoul with a guide book and no plans.

BUT, and it's a big but, the real risks are the inner risks. The big risks are the ones where I let go of my concepts of who I am and free fall into life without evaluating it. I take the risk of being present and resting in the stillness. This process is the mental renunciation of me as a body, a mind, a past. This is the risk of waking up, and it's the only risk that is worthwhile.

  Healing Request

"The human heart can break. It shatters. There's proof of that inside my chest ... Ella may be with us for a few weeks, a few months, a few years; who knows?" These words were written by my friend's son-in-law. Her granddaughter, his daughter, has a rare form of cancer that is in her brain and spine. Little Ella-Reid has been valiant in the fight for life. They seem to have exhausted all of the medical options. Now the fate of this precious five-year old lies outside the medical world. Would you take just a moment now to pray for, send good thoughts toward, affirm health, or hold a moment of silence, for little five-year-old Ella-Reid and her family? Less than a minute will do. Your healing gift will surely be received.

  Health Tip: Ward Off Colds and Flu

Our nose offers us great defense by filtering and warming air before it enters our body. During the winter months we might want to help it along. Make your own nasal assistant. Place a few drops of rosemary essential oil in a small glass bottle with ½ an ounce of carrier oil, such as Whole Foods brand sesame or almond oil -- even grapeseed oil. Rub a bit in each nostril at the beginning of the day. It fights infections. Use it before you get on a plane or enter a classroom. It's magic.

  Tribute to Linda Leschak

I met Linda at the Theosophical Society. I saw her several times before I really saw her, but when we touched, I was in awe. What a wise and wonderful person. Linda was diagnosed with liver cancer in August and left this planet on January 27.

She went from being a physically healthy, vibrant woman to being a vibrant woman with a terminal condition. She lived fully up until the last minute. She wrote a blog chronicling the last months of her life. The humor-filled anecdotes were an inspiration. She continuously lifted the spirits of those around her.

I conducted her Life Celebration service. In order to know her deeply I read her articles and blogs. After reading them, I felt as if I'd lost a good friend. At the service her husband read her last words. She was on a ventilator and so she couldn't talk. She wrote instructions and goodbyes for him on a notepad. He had the slips of paper and read them to us. They shared love and all kinds of good thoughts right up until the last moment of her life. She chose to be taken off life support and knew that would end her life. After being taken off life support and taking morphine, she gently passed away in her husband's arms. Linda was a writer. The first blog is so funny -- about her calling herself L Squared and her reasons for that. I just had to share Linda with you. The following are Linda's two sites:

Click an image to visit that site.

Linda wrote the following poem as a teenager. I think you can see she has talent for seeing things in a special way and she had a campy sense of humor. Remember, she was a kid when she wrote this.

Halfbreed

Mary had a little lamb;
she also had a goat.

She kept them both together,
'til one began to bloat.

She took it to the doctor,
to see what he would say.

He told her she was pregnant,
and 'bout due any day.

So Mary waited patiently,
and stayed with her all night.

She brushed her with a curry comb,
and wrapped her up all tight.

At daybreak she awoke and found
a baby small and fair.

Part lamb, part goat; a halfbreed,
and Mary named her Cher.

  Listen to Your Heart Video

Here's a beautiful video that lets us glimpse the gentle and peaceful life of Emperor penguins in their snowy Arctic home. Many scenes are shot at close range by a group of intrepid photographers who braved the frigid Arctic environment. Mike Rowland's gentle and beautiful music is a fitting tribute to the easy grace of the Emperors. You'll enjoy this candid glimpse into the lives of Emperor penguins.

Click the graphic above to watch the video.

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April 27
"Buddha at the Gaspump"
Interview by Rick Archer
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  Ask Annie G

Dear Annie G,

Pot lucks are getting to be complicated since everyone is on a different program with their diet. Is there one single dish that one can prepare that will satisfy "Vegan", "Gluten free", "Wheat free", "Paleo Diet", "Dairy Free", "Macro". It seems we might be working our way toward "Food Free". Maybe we should all become "Breathairians" (but then, the air seems risky if you live in Pasadena, TX). What's a girl to do?

Phina Flowers

Dear Phina,

We are fortunate to live where we actually have "styles" of eating. I think of the quote we have extrapolated from a Lincoln saying: "You can please some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time." applies here. As I once heard Gurumayi say, "The fastest way to hell is to try to please others." All that said, my advice would be to fix the dishes you personally like to cook (or non cook, as with raw dishes) and eat.

The following is my personal all time favorite potluck dish. It goes over well, it's easy to fix, and it works with a large number of diets.

Asian Salad
 
Salad Ingredients

• 1 lb packaged broccoli coleslaw mix (or diy shredded broccoli stalks, cabbage, & carrots)
• 6 leaves Napa Cabbage, cut in fine strips
• 1 zucchini, coarsely grated (peeling it first if not organic)
• 1 large handful fresh basil leaves, finely shredded (chiffonade-roll leaves and cut horizontally with scissors)
• 1 large handful fresh mint leaves, finely shredded
• 1 large handful fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (optional, if you like heat)
• 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces

Toss all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside while you make the dressing.
 
Dressing Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup Coconut Aminos, Nama Shoyu, Braggs Aminos, or wheat-free Tamari
• 2 tablespoons raw honey, coconut nectar, maple syrup, or agave nectar
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
• Generous drizzle of olive or sesame oil

Combine ingredients in a blender until fully incorporated. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.

You can just use the dressing, broccoli coleslaw mix, and cashews and it still is yummy. I admit adding the herbs does create a complex taste for the more sophisticated palate.

Anne

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

  Quotes

"Dharma, a Sanskrit word, is defined as right conduct for right living. Here we have the emotional highs of love and joy, both freely displayed for their own sake, on whomever or whatever is present, like sunshine that does not pick and choose. Just as lamp posts at regular intervals provide sufficient light to make the whole road safe to drive, a few persons with orderly thinking and feeling can draw down the bounty of Nature to nourish the whole of society."
-- Fali Engineer

"I don't know what is best for me or you or the world. I don't try to impose my will on you or on anyone else. I don't want to change you, improve you, or convert you, or help you, or heal you. I just welcome things as they come and go. That's true love. The best way of leading people is to let them find their own way."
– Byron Katie

(The ego can find fault or the loophole in any thing we say; read the previous sentences with a mind open to the possibility that what Katie says has merit. If you are a student of Lao Tzu, you may remember the philosophy she speaks of.)

"Sun shining through frozen clouds - a Promise of things to Come..."
– Anita "Jo" Lenhart

From her Still Breathing: Unpublished Essays and Untitled Poems

  Anne Art

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Editor: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorway and TheDoorwayBlog

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