A Note From Anne

Dear ,

I hope you’ve had a good week. My sister called to ask me if things were weird in Texas. She shared a long list of evidence that things in California were more than strange. She was in the laundry room of her apartment when a man ran by while being chased by the police. He turned and looked her in the eye as he whizzed by. He climbed the stairs, hid, jumped into someone’s patio, before being apprehended. Truly that was weird.

After about 10 minutes of her weird, she asked about my weird. I told her I’d had a mouse. We had a lot of mouse talk and ended up taking about crazy stuff. So by the time we hung up, it was indeed weird in Texas. I do have to say the mouse came back.

So all my talk about simplicity last week became a little complicated. I bought sonic rodent devices, left the lights on at night, and the mouse or rat is either gone or scared to come out. No mouse droppings. Complication is really more about the mind than about the situation. SO, I’m staying with the easy story about the mouse and practicing good mousekeeping.

Take it EZ.

Anne

  Are You Living a Lie?

We live under the influence of lies. A philosopher might call these lies illusions. Lies kill and break our hearts and spirits. Lies dominate our bodies, our aspirations, and our sense of self-worth.

What lies are you living under? Who told you those lies? Who would you be without those lies?

I believed the following lies. Perhaps you can identify:

1. It is not acceptable to weigh over 130 pounds. If I weigh more, I am not okay.
2. My stomach should be flat. If it sticks out, I'm ugly.
3. Wrinkles and white hair make you look old. Old is not good.

These lies are not ones that keep me from being happy now. They used to hang over my head, but now they are just by my side. I rise above them. Yet they are there. They lurk in my mind like an unspoken secret that haunts me. Every day I look at my stomach. How does it look in these pants or this dress? My mother did the same thing. She surveyed her body day after day. It begged for her stamp of approval. I see pictures of woman after woman holding in her stomach or hiding parts of her body. I didn't come to these conclusions on my own. They were handed to me in a bundle labeled, "do this or else." As a woman, I should look a certain way, and if I don't, I may not survive. I don't blame my mother, I don't blame my culture, I don't blame my mind, yet each play an integral part in perpetuating the bondage.

There's also the lie of success and power. If I am successful, then I am powerful. If I have a lot of money, then I am desirable and I will survive. This is the penetrating lie that sucks the life from our men. Women buy into this lie too and go for it or try to get it secondhand, through a partner. In our culture, men are success objects and women are beauty or sex objects.

Even though no specific person defined beauty or feminine acceptability for me, the definition sneaked into my mind. Now that I'm older, health is much more important to me than how I look, but I admit, those lies keep rearing their heads and I still work at undoing the mess. If I truly believe wrinkles are bad, then what will aging do to me? If I believe that money defines me, how will I react if I go through a financial downturn? I know women who will not go out without their makeup on or be seen with wet hair. I prefer to look put together, but if I have to run to the hardware store; the makeup, what little I use, can wait. I put on a cap to hide my frizzy, wild hair or run some water through it and head out. When I was younger, I operated under the tyranny of always having to look good. This line of reasoning is different from getting dressed, taking shower, and wanting to feel clean and look good because it delights me. It's when I try to look good because I think I am defined by how I look that’s the problem.

You may think living under the influence of lies is bad enough, but lies affect us in other ways. When we are lied to on a regular basis, we go crazy. When we have to discount our knowing to believe what someone we love tells us is true, we split our lives into compartmental data. That's why it's so hard to live with an addict. They contort day-to-day reality.

So how do we start unwinding the lies in our lives? I’ve identified about 20 lies that dominate our personal lives. Other lies stem from them, but these are the basics. Click here to open the open the pdf file for the Personal Lie Process. Fill out the questionnaire and begin to expose the lies.

1. Print out your Personal Lie Process (PLP) sheet. Keep it where you can find it again.
2. When you find yourself upset for any reason, turn down the drama and bring out your PLP sheet.
3. Become aware of what you are feeling. Don’t try to fix; just notice the sensations in your body.
4. Ask yourself, "What lie am I believing that is not true?" Look through your list to help you with this process.
5. Remind yourself that this is a lie and that you are safe and okay.

Using this process will put you on the road to discovering your personal lies and how they affect you, and will bring your healing awareness in to restore you to the original state of innocence and purity. When you stop believing the lies, you will find yourself feeling more vibrant, alive, and sane, and you will have a lot more energy. Fighting lies requires layers of denial and absorbs a great amount of energy. This is your chance to break out prison. It’s true. After all, would I lie?

  Health Tip: Avoid Aluminum

Aluminum is not good for the human body, yet we find it is the most widely used metal in the world. Unlike other minerals, such as zinc, we don’t need aluminum. We find it in drink cans, pots, pans, aluminum foil, antiperspirant deodorant, and even most baking powders.

Most researchers agree that aluminum is not good for the brain; it is a contributor to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. The good news is that we can buy stainless steel or glass cookware, glass bottled drinks, and aluminum-free deodorant and baking powder. There’s no need to put ourselves at risk. Invest in a large glass pan for cooking that turkey and forget the throw away aluminum cookware. The glass is more sustainable and better for your health. Here's a source for glassware: http://www.anchorhocking.com/Bakeware_Facts.html.

For more detailed information on aluminum, visit: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/concerned-about-aluminum-dangers/.

  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

"How many times do we pay for our mistakes? We pay thousands of times. The human is the one animal on the earth that pays 1,000 times for every mistake."
  – Don Miguel Ruiz

"Whose life are you living? Is it your mother’s, your father’s, your culture’s? Every time you seek someone’s approval by doing what you think will make them happy, you are moving away from your life."
  – Anne Sermons Gillis

"You have to maintain your life. You can’t skip over this part. You are not too good to “do windows” when the windows you are cleaning are to your soul. Wash your hair, change those sheets, file, throw away old papers, and don’t feel sorry for yourself. Life is made from the ordinary. The sparkling moments when you are on top or have everyone’s adulation are great, but they are like a shooting star. When the show is over, you have to take care of your life. Just do it; don’t suffer about it."
  – 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: "Maintaining Life"
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.

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

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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,

Can humans communicate with the plant world?

Blade in TN

Dear Blade,

It sure seems as if some people can communicate with plants. My grandmother was the greatest gardener. Everyone knew she not only had a green thumb; she had a green hand too. She knew what plants needed.

Sometimes, when wandering in my house or garden, I’ll have a thought about a particular plant – such as it needs light or more water. Maybe it’s not the plant reaching out to me, but to me, it seems like some form of psychic call. When I respond to that call, the plant usually needs assistance.

Indigenous cultures have communed with plant spirits for thousands of years. They take plant-based substances and have encounters with the essence of the plant. This essence often comes in a personified form. This internal image expands and instructs their minds. They call it plant medicine. Shamans talk with plants and learn how to heal their patients with plant substances or with the spirit of the plant.

My dog knows which plants to eat when she is sick. I’ve noticed that Lucy eats the same plants that my deceased dog Aussie ate. Plant not only speak to humans; they speak to animals as well.

A common image in European culture is the “Green Man.” It is a symbolic representation of the collective consciousness of the plant world. Findhorn provides an amazing example of people communicating with plants. In the ’60’s Peter and Eileen Caddy created a garden that produced 15 pound carrots and 50 pound cabbages in a cold, rocky Northern Ireland. They communicated with the nature spirits who told them what to do to make the soil rich and fertile. They followed the instructions and grew gigantic vegetables. The space eventually became Findhorn and it still operates today as a transformational retreat center. Learn more at: http://www.findhorn.org/.

When plants are hooked up to a Galvanic Skin Response meter and then threatened (for example, they are brought close to a boiling pot of water), the GRS monitor shows a strong reaction. My recent article, My Fifty Feet, talks about how far our influence radiates: http://theezsecret.com/2012/04/06/my-fifty-feet/.

Luther Burbank developed a spineless cactus plant by speaking to the cactus plant with love and compassion, assuring it that it did not need its spines for defense.

Some people prefer to live in a logical world, where the idea of plant communication is ridiculous, but people who live deeper than what the eye can see, know that humans are not the only living forms. We exist as a part of a vast living system that intercommunicates.

Thanks for asking.

Annie G

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

  Video Tip

Write your own fairy tale and make it come true. What a great song, Young at Heart, sung by Frank Sinatra.

Click the graphic to watch the video.

  Anne Art

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Editor: Charles David Heineke of  TheDoorwayBlog and TheDoorway

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