A Note From Anne

Dear ,

It's a good week on planet earth. I leave early tomorrow morning for Hilton Head, S.C. My precious niece, Elizabeth, is getting married. Can you imagine her excitement? She's headed into a week of parties and will be the positive center of attention. Few ceremonies in our culture allow people to be the point of receiving recognition for just being. The wedding ceremony is one of these.

It is important to support our family members when they go through a special time. He or she may not even have much personal time to spend with us when we attend, but weddings, quinceañeras, bar mitzvahs, and yes, even debutante balls, are about acknowledging the importance a person has in our hearts, families, and society. When people are supported, they step into the world giving – not trying to use the world to supply them with what's missing in their lives. So next time you have to attend that family party or wedding – do it with a generous heart. You have the opportunity to silently give. Your peaceful presence can affect the mood of the entire event. You will find that when you give to life, it always gives back. Life is like a mirror – if you smile, your reflection will smile back at you. If you stick your tongue out, your reflection will do the same. Take it easy, make it easy, or have an easy day.

Anne

  Make it EZ or at Least EZier

I'm sitting in my back yard. The weather is amazing and, other than the weed eater going full force in the neighbor's yard, life is still – but since Lucy barks at the yard man, the noise is deafening, the stillness is less apparent. I'm not sure how it happens, but it seems than someone is always making yard noise. I go out to meditate or write and "BUZZ – machinery moans."

Papaji proposed this question to his students: "There was a man who lived over a mechanics shop. The shop was open long hours and the deafening noise made it almost impossible to meditate. What should the man do?" His wisest, long-time students came up with many ways the man could transcend the noise. Then Papaji asked a new student what he thought the man should do. The student replied without hesitation, "He should move." Papaji noted that we are often so centered on putting up with intolerable situations or thinking there is a spiritual answer, that we overlook the simple answer. Leaving a bad situation may not always be the answer, but sometimes it is the best solution. If I lived in an area whose air quality was very poor, I think I would just move. Not everyone has the luxury to move, but when we have the means to make healthy changes in our lives, it's probably the best idea.

Too often we overlook what is simple and easy because we try to be spiritually high and mighty. A Course in Miracles says, "Simplicity is difficult for twisted minds." Our allegiance to complication is astounding, yet we have an innate wisdom that can transform any situation when we open ourselves to more ease and simplicity in our lives.

At times we have to move away from situations that harm us, and sometimes we have to dive into them to make them go away. Even when we take no action, many problems resolve themselves. Each of us is on a pathless path of self-realization. We have an individualized plan that moves us deeper and deeper into life's blessings. We can complicate this process by following each thought down the rabbit hole of emotion and desire or we can tune into the stillness. We may have to move away from the lawnmower so our minds won't be in a constant fight with the noise, but wherever we are, the stillness is there.

How did I handle the loud noise in my backyard? I put my fingers in my ears and sat looking at the plants and sky and eventually the noise stopped. I hear birds and a plane overhead, but no leaf blower or lawn mower assaults my senses, and I'm writing.

Do you want more ease in your life? Of course, we all do. If you let the eight word miracle mantra become your foundation, you will find that life blossoms in ways that delight and amaze you. "Everything can be easy or at least easier." Carry with you the mind of the beginner and the mind of timeless wisdom, and then when you encounter a difficult situation, you do not miss the abounding obvious solutions. When you quit turning life into burdens and look for a simpler and easier life, you will find that it's always been right here and instantly available to you.

Make it easy, take it easy, and have an easy day. You can do it.

Anne

  Quotes

"Love is not selective, desire is selective. In Love there are no strangers.”
  – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Should I look for spiritual love, or material, or physical love?”

"Don't ask yourself this question.
Discrimination leads to discrimination."

"Love doesn't need any name, category, or definition."

"Love is a world itself.
Either you are in, at the center...
either you are out,
yearning."

  –Shams Tabrazi

  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 Heineke

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

  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.

---

  Anne's Schedule

February 6 and 13, 2014
Thur., 1:00 – 3:00 PM
"EZosophy"
Lone Star College ALL Program
Kingwood Campus
20000 Kingwood Drive
Kingwood, TX 77339-3801
281-312-1600

February 9, 2014
Sun., 11:00 AM
"Strength"
Unity Church of Practical Christianity
15920 Piper’s View Dr.
Meadow Community Association
Webster, TX 77598-2550
281-520-4047

February 19 and 26, 2014
Thur., 10:00 – 11:50 AM
"EZosophy"
Lone Star College ALL Program
Montgomery Campus
3200 College Park Drive
Conroe, TX 77384-4500
936-273-7000

March 4 and 7, 2014
Tue. & Fri., 10:00 – 11:50 AM
"Alive, Awake, Aware"
Lone Star College ALL Program
Montgomery Campus
3200 College Park Drive
Conroe, TX 77384-4500
936-273-7000

  Health: Controversial Foods

We all have our favorite foods and we don’t want to know anything bad about them. My friend and editor, Charles, recently send me a piece on peanuts. Even though peanuts can be high quality food, getting high quality peanuts is a challenge. I have stayed away from peanuts for years because of the possible toxins they contain. This is somewhat iconoclastic because my family used to be in the peanut business. My uncle did peanut business around the world and was instrumental in making peanuts a worldwide food. Peanut brittle was a family favorite. But, forsaking family loyalties, I use sunflower seed butter as a substitute and it is exotic and yummy.

When researching peanuts I found this great site that calls many of our most loved foods into question. They label them as the 10 most controversial Whole Foods.

• Beef
• Dairy Foods (Cow's Milk, Cheese, Yogurt)
• Eggs
• Nightshade Vegetables (Bell Peppers, Cayenne pepper, Chili pepper, Eggplant, Potatoes, Tomatoes)
• Peanuts
• Sea Vegetables
• Shrimp
• Soy Foods (Miso, Soybeans, Soy Sauce, Tofu and Tempeh)
• Tuna
• Wheat

10 Most Controversial WHFoods

They are controversial because some of them cause allergies, the cultivation or gathering of some are environmentally damaging and causing irreversible damage, or the toxicity of some of them make them undesirable.

Back to peanuts. Peanuts often harbor aflatoxin, which is a carcinogen. The lowest amounts of aflatoxin were found in the big supermarket brands such as Peter Pan, Jif, and Skippy. The highest levels were found in peanut butter ground fresh in health food stores. Click here for more info on Peanuts. That may be because they are roasted, but those brands have additives I don’t like, such as sugars and hydrogenated vegetable oils. If you are a die-hard peanut butter fan, do some research and read your labels so you can get the best quality and most nutritious brand.

Up for some peanut nostalgia? Listen to Peanut Butter, sung by The Marathons, 1961: http://youtu.be/-V9ikQn58NY.

  Anne Talks

Breakfast of Champions

The Fly and the Locust

  Anne Art

Click the image to see a larger image.

  Click the image to see a larger image.

Remember, if someone forwarded this email to you, you can click this link to have a copy delivered every Tuesday morning to your own email inbox.

If you're currently subscribed and no longer wish to receive this newsletter, click this link to UNsubscribe.

Editor/Publisher: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorwayBlog.

Share Anne by sharing this issue.