A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Anne

  How to Deal With a Midlife Crisis

I have a midlife crisis every year and I'm almost 65. They started when I was a teenager. There seems to be a little part of my mind that figures out when I'm doing too much, headed in the wrong way, or I need a paradigm shift.

We approach the idea of midlife crisis with amusement. What wild things people do to hold onto the past, but people panic when they realize that life is slipping by and they are not living the life they hoped. Others regret not taking chances and feel they had better change now or they will be too old to change later. Women get face lifts, men buy motorcycles, but if we use these yearnings as spiritual directives and dive deeper into ourselves, a midlife crisis or any life crisis can be helpful.

These things will not help a life crisis:

• Trying to recapture the past. The good old days are probably not as good as you remember they were. Drop the past. Live in the now, and please wear appropriate age clothes. No need to explain this.
• Getting another partner. This may help for a little while, but counting on anything outside ourselves as a permanent solution to existential angst NEVER works for long. You will always meet yourself back in the same spot.
• Getting a new car designed for teenagers. A new car does not change you. There is that two month addictive high you get from making a major purchase, but a new car will not change you or your circumstances. What did I say? A new car will not change you. Of course, if you have an old car that breaks down, a new car will bring easier circumstances, but come on, you know that's not what I'm talking about.
• Quitting your job without a clue as to what you are going to do. This will be fun for about a month or until you start running low on cash, but it's not a good idea. At some point you will start freaking out. There are exceptions; just try to see when this idea is sound advice.

Helpful things one can do for a midlife crisis:

• Life Coaching – get support in discovering the direction you want your life to take.
• Silence – learn to be silent. Mediation is one of the great ways to access the stillness of life. Don't go through the rest of your life without going into the deep chambers of the soul. Breathing practices also help still the mind. If you don't learn to get into the ongoing stillness of life, you will miss your life.
• Take a restorative vacation. Don't go to the islands to party. I loved to go to a Catholic retreat center in Memphis and spend a few days in silence and contemplation, especially when faced with an important life decision. Spend time with yourself.
• Take a few minutes each day to do something you really enjoy other than watching TV or surfing the Internet. If you like to work in the yard and feel you never have time to tend to your plants or yard, just take a few minutes to piddle outside. Draw for 10 minutes, read a book for just a few minutes, or take a power nap.
• Clean out your closet and get rid of things you no longer need.
• Clean out a drawer – it settles the mind. There are always drawers to clean out, so this activity should be a staple in your "getting together" toolbox. Fold your dish towels or put your stray nails in a jar. Organize for just a few minutes.
• Start a daily journal. Write at least one page a day. Don't censor your words or try to make it a masterpiece – go with a stream of consciousness. Be intimate with yourself, get to know your subconscious desires, and bring repressed feelings to the surface so you can deal with them.
• Complete old projects or get rid of them. I had wool skirt cut out for about 10 years. I realized one day I would never finish it. I let it go. It was freeing.
• Get involved in a meaningful ongoing group. I've been going to a Monday night potluck since 2006. These people have become my best friends. People who are involved in long term groups live an average of 7 seven years longer those who go it alone.

Crisis offers openings and opportunities. If we move through life never questioning its foundations, we get trapped in our limits. If you face a midlife crisis – face it. Don't duck under plastic surgery or a new home. Use crisis as a way to learn to let go of control and enter its doors with curiosity and focus. If you take a few meaningful steps, not only will your crisis dissolve, you will discover a richer, easier life.

Take it easy,

Anne

  Health Tip: Food Blessing

• Don’t gobble down your food.
• Be aware of each bite and embrace the flavor and its life-giving qualities.
• Bless your food with prayer and thanksgiving.

  Anne's Books

Standing in The Dark

EZosophy Book

Offbeat Prayers

Click here to see all three of Anne's books

What people are saying about Standing in the Dark:

"Standing in the Dark, by Anne Sermons Gillis, isn't just another positive thinking book. It's a book about the difficult times in life and what we can do to make it through them. It does, however, give us positive ways to make life easier. It's a short book, but it's one that may just turn your thinking on its head, which will probably be the best thing that's happened to your thinking in a long time. It's about how to bring more ease into a life that isn't easy all of the time. Anne discusses six main areas of life: Ease, Mission, Health, Relationships, Money, and Loss."
  – Charles David Heineke, Bonham, TX

What people are saying about EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or at Least Easier Living:

"Although most conscious people understand that life doesn't have to a struggle, the "how to" has been missing... until now. Anne's book makes it "easy."
  – T. Harv Eker - Bestselling author and Founder of Peak Potentials Training

What people are saying about Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic:

"I love your book. It is filled with much wisdom, humor and heart. Really beautiful."
  – Alan Cohen author, Enough Already, mentions Anne and EZosophy on page 99

  Quotes

"There's no business like flow business."
  – Anne Sermons Gillis in 2001

"Being irritated with your loved ones is a sign of projection. You fool yourself into believing you are not happy because of how they act. Best to just stop with the idea that you are not happy, and leave them out of the inner dialogue."
  – Anne Sermons Gillis

"Down with hard attacks. Up with ease."
  – Anne Sermons Gillis

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
  – Sir Winston Churchill

  EZosophy CD/DVD Spotlight

Each week in this space we'll be featuring one of Anne's CD's or DVD's. Click the link below to learn more.

Self Affirming CD: I AM Affirmations

The words we use with “I am’” are powerful. They create our day-to-day experience of life. This CD offers 24 minutes of uplifting I AM affirmations with a musical background. Enjoy affirmations such as “I am lovable, I am healthy, I am joyful, and I am powerful.” The affirmations are also spoken in the second person so as to experience what it feels to have others affirm your being. These affirmations include such thoughts as, “You are wise, you are generous, you are gentle and you are peaceful.” These are great to listen to as you fall off asleep, as you drive, work, or meditate. CD: $11.99 Downloadable I AM Affirmations & MP3 file - $7.99 http://www.annegillis.com/Books-CDs-Etc.html#SelfAffirm

  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.

  Anne's Services

  Schedule Anne

You may reach Anne 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.

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  Anne's Schedule

September 11, 2013
Wed., 7:00 PM
"Get in The Spirit"
Creative Life Spiritual Center
5326 Spring Stuebner Rd., Ste. 200
Back Building
Spring, Texas 77389
281-350-5157

September 11 & 13, 2013
Wed. & Fri., 10:00-11:50 AM CDT
"EZosophy"
Lone Star College
Montgomery Campus
Conroe, TX 77384
936-273-7000
Offered as an ALL Class

  Anne Talks

Communicating Love

Love is Not What You Think

Thinking is Optional

  Ask Annie G

Dear Annie G,

I have always been a Christian, but I find puzzling elements in the church, such as the teaching of God as unconditional love, yet the church seems to have a lot of conditions on that love. I also find it off-putting that God is referred to as "he" all the time. I've read about other religions, and I don't think that God, referred to as a woman or goddess, is completely right either. What do you think God is?

Amber S.

Dear Amber S.,

Thinking of God in terms of male and female is the problem. God is not human.

Most people stop with a relationship with God that simulates a parent-child relationship, but mystics go beyond the form, dogma, and the window dressing of religion to dwell in the infinite grace of love. As one begins to assimilate the nourishment of boundless joy and well-being, s/he drops the language of religion.

What is God? My answer is not unique. God is indefinable. I can say what God is not. God is not a person with a white beard. God is not vengeful. God is not tricky. God is not Santa Clause handing out favors to good people.

When we take away all belief systems, words, codes, and rules - when we dwell in the present moment without trying to grasp for what we want to get or get rid of what we don’t want - when we give up our self-importance and need to control - what is left is the space where God shows up. No one can say how you will experience that. It comes in waves of bliss, gratitude for existence; it incarnates in sacred forms and filters into our lives through compassionate thoughts and ideas. It becomes helping ideas, the solution to our problems, a powerful attraction to serving the community or the desire to alleviate suffering. It seeps into our lives as creativity and surfaces as enthusiasm and energy.

Amber, your questions reveal that you might be outgrowing your concept of God. It can be a scary time to give up your past beliefs, but if you follow those hunches and questions that bubble up from the deep, you will soon be on the path that will take you home.

Thanks for asking,

Annie G

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

  Anne Photos

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Mushroom Two - Underside
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Mushroom Three
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Editor/Publisher: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorwayBlog.

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