A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Last week I went to a holistic eye doctor and had a showdown with a rat. I ate out on Mother’s Day and found a new restaurant that I loved. I live a very ordinary life. I used to try to be extraordinary and important. What a burden to carry. Now life seems fresher and freer when I’m not trying to vie for importance or attention. Turns out that ordinary can be the door to an infinite sense of well-being.

I’m sending out love to you and ask you to continue to live in EZ.

Anne

  Rat in the House

There’s usually a large bowl of fruit on my kitchen counter. One day I noticed a banana with a large hole. The next day more of the banana disappeared. Over the next few days we lost the entire banana and an apple – core and all. No doubt, we had uninvited company. I named her Henrietta. Jim saw her one night scampering across the kitchen floor - she had a five-inch long body. I felt a chill – Henrietta was probably a rat.

We had a problem. So Jim bought a trap that captures animals. There’s no pain to the mouse – or dare I say rat. We baited the trap, left it out for her, and I tell you, she is one smart rat. She ate the trail of food we put out, but stopped short of eating the piece that would trigger the trap door. She ate well for several nights. I was beginning to freak out about having a rat in the house, so I did what most people do these days; I searched “getting rid of rats in The Woodlands.” I was comforted by what I saw – the picture of a white rat on a pink blanket – she had on a little hat. Okay, maybe Henrietta was cute – it was like having a little guest dog, except this one was not house trained, so she had to go. Even though having a guest may be pleasant for a few nights, I was getting tired of keeping the light on and yelling and stomping before I walked into the kitchen.

The website offered one easy solution. Soak a cotton ball in eucalyptus oil. Soak another one in peppermint oil. Place the two soaked cotton balls in a paper cupcake liner. Put this out where you know your rat has been. I made about ten of these little rat repellant containers and put them all around the kitchen and under the couch. She is a brave little soul. She had made it to the living room. I know because we’ve had a couple of nights with exuberant barking. Lucy stays mostly in the living room, never goes in the kitchen, and, as I’ve mentioned, Henrietta is not house trained, so I saw the little droppings. I don’t think Lucy, our dog, likes Henrietta. I can understand why; this is her territory. She's not too fond of cats either. That’s how those little, unusual smelling gizmos ended up under the couch.

Come to find out, Henrietta may not be as gifted as I once thought. Moving an entire apple in one night seemed ingenious, but it turns out she is a typical rat. Rats despise the smell of peppermint oil and eucalyptus. After I put out the cotton balls, there’s been no sight or traces of Henrietta. Problem solved. But if you walk through my front door and smell something like an antiseptic candy cane, don’t laugh, because after a few minutes, your sinuses will be clear, and you will not have a surprise encounter.

The solution to Henrietta was simple. How often we are resistant to simple and easy living. We build better mousetraps that create obstacles to easy living. It’s like the story of how we spent millions of dollars creating a pen that would write in space. The cosmonauts used a pencil.

What areas of your life are complex by choice? What things do you continue to chase when you could easily let go? What thoughts do you run and rerun that amass evidence that life is hard? EZ Street is a two way street. When you travel one way, you move toward EZ, but when you are on the other side of the road, you go in the direction of hardships. In a culture that conjures up difficulties and feeds on complaining, it is possible to let go of our need to be the champion of challenges.

We can start unraveling Ego Driven Suffering by actively focusing on ease as okay. Ego driven suffering and struggle are linchpins of the old paradigm. The time of EZier living is here, and it is time to become the embodiment of ease. EZ is available and it is available now. EZ is applicable to every situation because not all things are EZ, but everything can be EZier.

Join the EZosophy movement and lay your self-made burdens down. That brings us to the eight word miracle mantra, “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.” Today, regardless of what you think about its contents, is a good day to have an EZier day. Make it EZ, take it EZ, and have an EZier day.

  Health Tip: Eye Health

Last week I visited a holistic eye doctor. I traveled into Houston; it's a trip I usually avoid, but something had to be done. My eyes are not as they should be, and I didn’t want another visit to a doctor who would put dyes in my eye and recommend eye drops with plastic in them.

My chauffeur, Jim, drove me. I bribed him by promising that we could see a documentary that was only playing downtown. We arrived on time, parked in the strip shopping center, and quietly slipped inside. The doctor met us at the door. It was a strange little place. I felt like I was with Mia Farrow in the movie Alice, when she went to see a Chinese doctor. And if you haven’t seen that movie, it’s a must see. Anyway, I followed her to a small room filled with equipment, an eye chart held to a curtain by a clothes pen, and a typewriter. And I thought typewriters died out a long time ago.

I loved this place. It was intriguing. It had character and a campy kind of pizzazz. She seated me and then started to clean the equipment. This is when it happened. She broke my illusion. She used apple cider vinegar to clean the lens. I use a lot of vinegar to clean and I commented, “How great; you are using vinegar.” I already trusted her more. She replied, “Well, we all know that isopropyl alcohol causes cancer.” I felt my chest cave in like something was sucking out the air – there was a little panic. “No,” I thought, “I always thought it was safe.” I replied meekly, “I guess I should stick to hydrogen peroxide.” She affirmed it to be a safer choice.

I returned to my office and researched the staple that’s been in my medical arsenal since I was a kid. She was right. It is not the harmless down home medical panacea I believed it to be – it is toxic. Both isopropyl and ethyl alcohol have their downfalls.

Dr. Hulda Clark says there are two causes for cancer. One of these causes is isopropyl alcohol. It’s in shampoos, decaffeinated coffee, cereals, hair spray, and vitamins. Both ethanol and isopropyl alcohol can cause skin irritations, allergies, and lung damage: http://www.ru.org/health/the-end-of-cancer.html.

I’m not going to quote a lot of articles, but I can say that I won’t be using rubbing alcohol anymore; I’ll be reading more labels. Our bodies are fraught with toxic overload from what we eat, put on our bodies, and what we breathe. My beliefs about alcohol died this week and my unprofessional advice – stay away from alcohol. Why not make the change? Why not read the labels? The alternatives are just as effective and certainly healthier. Alcohol is a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor, and to me, that just doesn’t sound like something that would nurture my body.

My eye journey yielded great results. My eyes feel much better, the doctor spent a great deal of time with me, and I received an unexpected education about alcohol. Please don’t tell me hydrogen peroxide is a problem. I don’t think I could take it.

  Anne's New Book: Standing in the Dark

Anne's Newest Book Click the image to learn more.	Anne’s new book, Standing in the Dark, is a salve for the out-of-control mind. In a high-speed society that forces time to do double-time and stuffs minds with inestimably complex information, we need mental medicine. Popular mind-bending methods encourage us to come up with the highest thoughts, to be positive and powerful, and to live our passion. Yet That Which is The Highest is beyond what words can touch.
Click the link below to read a review of my new book, by Charles Heineke, my editor for this newsletter, a "Top Reviewer" at Amazon: "Standing in the Dark can be EZier than you may think".
You can buy Standing in the Dark in a printed edition, a pdf edition, or a Kindle edition. Printed Ed.  |   PDF Ed.   |   Kindle Ed. If you don't have a Kindle application for your computer, phone, or tablet, you can download the free Kindle software from this link or connect to the Kindle Cloud Reader in your browser. Your reviews of the book on the Amazon website would definitely be appreciated. If you like the book, you can use the icons below to share it on Facebook and Twitter. Also feel free to share it anywhere else you socialize.

  Quotes

"You will be on top again, but it may not be the same mountain."
– Anne Sermons Gillis

  Video Bits of Wisdom

A while back I recorded a series of 21 short inspirational videos on a wide range of topics. Most of them are under 2 minutes. I'll be spotlighting a different Video Bit each week in this space, with a link to it below this message. When you go to that page, you'll need to click the Play button to start the video.

This Week: "Gut Check"
Click Here for This Week's Video Bit

Click the graphic above to see all of the Video Bits.

  What is EZosophy?

What is EZosophy? Click the graphic above to find out.

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  Anne's Schedule

May 26, 2013
"Celebrating Life"
11:00 AM
Unity of Webster, Texas

  Ask Annie G

Dear Annie G,

What things can you do to break a habit?

Stuck in TN

Dear Stuck in TN,

I could better answer this question if I knew what kind of habit you are referring to, but maybe providing a few examples will point you in the right direction.

If you have the habit of eating late at night, here are some things to help break the habit:

• When you feel the urge to eat, try drinking a cup of unsweetened hot herbal tea to give your hands and mouth something to do. (You can use stevia to sweeten it instead of sugar.)
• Or drink cold tea out of a baby bottle. That gives you even more oral satisfaction and keeps your hands busy as well.
• Go to a hypnotherapist. They can often help you break a habit.
• Replace your urge to eat with another activity, such as drawing, writing down your feelings, or calling a friend (be sure it is one who stays up late.)
• Go to Overeaters Anonymous. They provide great support for all kinds of eating problems.

If you have a drug or alcohol problem, attend a 12 Step program for your kind of problem. You may be able to handle this on your own, but the best chance you have of stopping substance abuse is if you have multiple avenues of support.

If you have a mental habit, such as worrying, try the following:

• When you start to worry, ask yourself “What is my gain from worrying?” Gains can be something like - “Worrying gives me something to do. It makes me feel alive or important. It keeps me safe because I talk myself out of participating in life because something bad might happen. It gives me something to talk about.” Just asking the question stops the mind and points it in a different direction.
• If you are worried about a particular thing, like money, do not listen to or read bad news about the economy. News is crack for the worrier. Read books on prosperity and study techniques on how to handle, invest, and manage money.
• Recognize that worrying is addictive. It provides drama to our lives. Worrying is like watching a TV thriller. It keeps us on the edge of our seats and gives us an adrenaline rush. The rush we get when we worry is addictive. Be willing to give it up.
• Meditate on a regular basis. This helps the mind withdraw from worry addiction.
• Write a statement of intention to break your habit. It could be something like this:

I, your name goes here, intend to give up the habit of name your habit. I recognize that a part of me is powerless over this, but I also know that there is an unlimited part of me that supports me in giving up this habit. I surrender to that part of myself and will do everything in my power to dissolve the mental and emotional patterns supporting this habit. I picture myself happy and habit-free and release this intention to the universe. I rejoice in the freedom I have as a result of being habit-free. So Be It.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on breaking a habit. If you have a specific situation in mind, please write again.

Take it easy,

Annie G

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

  Anne Art

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Click the image to see it larger.

The original single bird art (on the right) was 3"x3". Then I did a mirror image of that bird and added the lighting effect and a background. The larger image shown here is 8"x8.5".

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Editor: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorway and TheDoorwayBlog

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