A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Why do two big events have to be on the same day? Saturday was one of those days for me and I have another one like that coming up. It surely increases the stress level. I've figured it out. Everything happens on Saturday because more people can attend things on the weekend.

Here's where radical acceptance comes in, because this will continue to happen. In our fast-paced world, activities abound and that's not going to stop happening. It's life. Two events will continue to occur on the same day and there's nothing I can do about it.

I have a friend who has more scheduled than I can imagine, yet when I am around her, she never complains or seems frustrated. I think of her during the times when I having one of those long days, "How would she look if she were in the same situation?" I can picture her calm face and happy demeanor and it calms me. Just a little tip: when you need some calm, think of someone who calms you and piggyback on their cool. It’s an EZ way to have an EZier day.

Anne

  The Spiritual Practice of Not Doing

The following was written in my journal on August 22, 2012. Including the date lets you will know that when I refer to yesterday; the yesterday I refer to was last year. It helps with perspective so you won't think I am currently ill or in the circumstances I mention.

"There are so many ways to live your life, so many things to do." These lyrics start the song that we sing at my spiritual center. Yes, there are so many wonderful, exciting, adventuresome things to do, but sometimes I can't do. I don't want to imply that doing is bad. I enjoy an interesting set of choices; I live a privileged life. Yet I would like to be as comfortable with not doing as I am with doing. How would it be to find not doing as attractive and rewarding as doing?

I feel weak – no energy. I think I have a virus. I don't want to work in my garden. I have to fight just to hold interest. I'm having hot flashes on and off. I remember what Nisargadatta said, "If you are not in the present, then you are suffering." Suffering is a hidden operating system for life. It's subtle and takes invisible forms that influence everything in our lives. Most people don't even know they suffer because the suffering is covered in layers of performing, purchasing, and pretending. It takes a brave soul to plummet through defenses to meet the dark night at its nadir. We are all called to this kind of bravery. Until we can stand face to face with any circumstance, we are ruled by avoidance. When we avoid our suffering, we extinguish our success.

That's where I now stand – face to face with not doing. I'm squaring off with my need to do and just letting life be. Doing and not doing are not in competition, but my mind thinks they are. Not doing is not synonymous with being. Being is deep. Not doing is the lack of activity or productivity.

Some spiritual teachers recommend a one-time life practice of becoming totally helpless. Have your friends bring food to you in bed. Do no work. Have someone clean your home. Do nothing or as little as possible for 30 days. It's a practice to take your life off control and put it in surrender mode. It's a time for those protective layers of self-definition to dissolve.

To be honest I have never tried the 30 day laziness training. The closest I've been was when I was traveling and I didn't do any work, but just playing with the idea of laziness is intriguing – especially to an over-achiever.

Embodying the idea of laziness gives me the freedom to recognize what I really want to do with my time. Like me, maybe you will never do a month of laziness training. How about trying an hour of laziness? Just sit in bed. Just an hour of laziness here and there helps burn away restlessness. Just sit and focus on being in your body and breathing. It's simple. There's a deliciousness of life that you don't want to miss because of the battle between doing and not doing. Who wants to live with the hounds of not doing enough nipping at their heels?

Can you identify with this need to straighten out the relationship between doing and not doing? Do you have a balanced relationship between doing and inactivity? It's one of those life's lessons. Don't wait for a health challenge to confront this. It's bad enough to be ill, but to couple illness with an identity crisis is a little much. Find that balance between productivity and inaction, because when you do, your life will get easier and easier.

Take it easy,

Anne

  Quotes

"Give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don't be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
  – Eckhart Tolle

"You meet your destiny on the road to avoid it."
  – Carl Jung

  Reader Comment

Anne, enjoyed your essay on Stillness, which you equate with the portal for inner joy, leading to happiness with whatever we do. That is because in stillness is the field of all possibilities and the home of all the laws of Nature. It is also the state of least excitation of consciousness experienced in meditation.  The Sanskrit word for it, satchitananda - truth, existence, bliss - describes it fully.

One is reminded of a couplet in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's Voice of the Silence:

The Mind is the slayer of the Real;
Let the disciple slay the slayer.

With appreciation and best wishes,
Fali Engineer

  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

  What is EZosophy?

Click the graphic above to find out.

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  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

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 Tip: Diet for Life

The EZ Secret diet is a mental, spiritual, and physical diet, and the diet starts when we awaken. How? Gently wake your body up by stretching – while still in bed. Mimic your cat or dog. They know how to wake up.  Stretch your arms and legs, yawn, and sit on the edge of the bed. Imagine there is a path that goes from your bed to the bathroom, kitchen, your place of work or anywhere you will be. It is the Path of EZ, and this is the path you will walk today. The path contains everything you need today for EZ, abundant, joyful living.

This is the beginning of your EZ training. Training your mind and emotions to live in EZ makes a tremendous contribution to a slimmer, healthier body. It helps you eliminate stressful eating patterns and stops to creation of cortisol – that fat hormone we secrete when we are angry, afraid, or fatigued.

While still sitting on the side of the bed, pretend you hold psychic powers and can see the events in your upcoming day. Imagine yourself happy, laughing, exercising, and eating healthy foods. See yourself with more energy than normal. Know that you walk at the perfect pace and find yourself at the right place at the right time, attracting everything you need in life – good relationships, improved health, and plenty of money to meet your financial commitments, with some to share and spare. As you move along the path all obstacles dissolve before you reach them. Your mind is continually expanding to experience higher and higher states of well-being. Regardless of what happens during your day, your mind does not judge or suffer. You let what is, be what it is, without making it wrong.

As you get out of bed, step on the EZ path, and refer to the Path of EZ throughout the day, and when you do, you will find that your life can be EZier and EZier.

  Anne Talks

Happy Out of the Box Day (2:41)

Free to Be Me (3:09)