A Note From Anne

Dear ,

It's the time of year that lends itself to wiping the slate clean. Starting tomorrow, "I will live with the intention to complete my goals, live anew, and recreate myself into a better version of me." Even though we may never follow through with our plans, goals, and intentions, there is something soul satisfying with joining into the ritual of planning, goal setting, or imagining life without limits.

I think it's time for new rituals - rituals of being. The above kind of goals worked well when I was younger, but at this time of my life I already know my values and live them. This keeps me engaged. I don't question my identity or yearn for enlightenment. Seeking and improvement goals no longer serve me. What kind of rituals serve me now?

One of my winter rituals is my "eating a pomegranate" ritual. When the fruit is in season, which isn't long, I eat a whole, huge pomegranate about 4 times a week. It takes about an hour to eat the whole fruit seed by seed. I love it. It is meditative, delicious, and creative. Just getting into the fruit is an art. It took me years to come up with my method – which is to cut through the skin making 4 quarters and then pulling them apart. I have a special very large bowl I use for the occasion. I cover myself with a towel and go to it. I don't like to be interrupted in this orgy. Sometimes this is my complete meal.

When I was young, I ate probably 4 pomegranates in total. I had a neighbor in North Carolina who had a tree in his yard. To me they were like the mystery of the ages. Now we can easily buy them and I do. It's a pleasurable, healthy, and intriguing sojourn for me and taking time to slow down and enjoy the moment is the best kind of ritual for me. It certainly makes my life easier and easier.

Happy New Year.

Anne

  Reflections on 2013 & 2014

Some of you need to get off your duffs and make something happen and here are just the tools to help you. If you want to complete 2013 and create 2014, here’s a roadmap created by my friend Robin Blanc Mascari: Completing 2013-Creating 2014.pdf.

Others need to stop because you are going in the wrong direction. The following article was my year-end missive for last year (2012). I think it works for this year as well.

No Goals, No Promises, No Plans

This title might startle you if you are on the road to success. Everyone knows that getting ahead requires perseverance and planning. Business bangs into our heads the ideas of goal setting. Yet, there are other matters of the soul and heart that require more of an un-doing than doing. While others plan for the New Year, maybe you prefer not being on the goal standard. Make your cause a BE cause. Don't be a goal digger. Being here now is the greatest show on earth. Even though goals serve their purpose, it is possible to live in an arena that doesn't require getting things accomplished in order to be okay. The okayness appears first, then the doing follows from that space. When our doing flows from a natural inner knowing, life flows easily and doesn't require the traditional methods to bring forth accomplishment. I refer to this as EZosophy--the art of easy living. When we experience ourselves directly, as we are, then regardless of whether the toast burns or our toe is broken, we come from the support of life rather than from the interference of the mind.

So here's the plan, stop making plans aimed at fixing yourself or bettering yourself. Make plans to be present, to listen, to relax, to stop pushing, and to allow things to be just as they are. This is the no-plan plan. I don't mean sit in a heap and do nothing. I simply mean stop seeking betterment and trying to fix yourself and your life. Struggle is caused by our making the way things are not okay. We can do things without struggle, make a to do list that supports us rather than strangles us, and give up the never ending shout of the ego that we are not enough and we don't do enough.

An "Ole Geezer"

Many of you know that my friend Judy died recently (Nov. 2012). I loved her and her passing was sudden. I used to joke that she was my one disciple. It was true that I was a teacher for her, but as another friend mentioned, the teacher learns more than the student. I met Judy during a series of lectures I gave on relationships. She told me that she was excited about attending the class. Her husband, who's now deceased, said, "Great; that will be really good for us." "Us," Judy replied? "You can't go." And he didn't. She came to listen, but more importantly she wanted me to be her friend. I didn't know this at the time, but her friend Shirley told me, "I remember when she met you. She told me she wanted you as a friend. I remember when she was courting you." Judy never told me that she picked me out. She told me often I was the most important person she met in her life. "I don't know what would have happened to me if I had not met you." I would kid with her by saying I was going to take excellent care of her because it is rare to get that kind of support and acknowledgment. You can see why I loved her! She was genuine; she thought I was an answer to prayer. If I blundered, she acted like Melanie Wilkes (from Gone With the Wind). She overlooked it or lifted me up. She would never think badly of me.

The Passion/Purpose Trap

One of Judy's concerns was that she never found her purpose or lived her passion. I told her all that hogwash tends to lead to longing. "Passion, purpose - watch that; it can be a real trap. Obviously that's not happening. Give up the longing, the regret. You are enough," I told her, "and your gift is not giving a product or legacy of words; you are the gift. Your life is the work. You don't need a plan to be who you are. Who you are touches so many." She was okay with that idea. She began to relax and appreciate that her life did have value. Of course, I supported this truth many times over the ten plus years we were friends, but as the years passed, she believed it more and more. She stopped seeking to a better person and evolved as she accepted herself as she was.

I wish she could have been at her memorial service. The room was packed. We even had to add chairs. Person after person addressed the crowd, recalling how much she meant to them. Shirley, her friend, stood to speak. "I heard Judy talk about Anne all the time -- Anne, Anne, Anne, but I want to say that all Anne was to Judy, Judy was to me. She was my teacher, my guide, my dear friend." And she was not the only one who considered her their mentor. Judy was the compassionate sage that held everyone's hand.

When I think about plans and goals and feel any urgency, emergency, or a pull to perform, I think of Judy. She didn't work for many years due to crippling arthritis and chronic pain - life was on her schedule. She might wear her pajamas all day. She called herself a geezer, and we laughed about what we called "geezering." "What you been doing today?" "Oh, just geezering."

Life is paradoxical and setting goals may be just what you need, but if you push yourself, if you are always too scheduled, if you are missing the sweetness -- you may just need to geezer a little more this year. You may need to un-do more than you do and get off the goal standard. When you get rushed, just put too much on your plate, or indulge in the idea that you are worthless -- if you luxuriate in guilt, it is high time to call off the drama-based self indictment and let yourself off the hook. Think of Judy -- she learned to effortlessly lean into life and so can you. You can be a geezer whether you are young or old -- “no one expects anything from an 'ole (or young) geezer.'"

Happy geezering, and Happy New Year.

  Quotes

A Note From William Bloom

The history of our species is filled with these great cycles of growth and consolidation, spirals. These spirals form the essence of the Hindu Vedas. They are also the spirals of cultural and political evolution.

The freedoms and democracy, for example, that we experience in most of the English-speaking world have been hard won. Arguably it began with the Magna Carta a thousand years ago. It included a revolution and the execution of a king. It finally enfranchised women. And the cycle continues as we continue to find a balance between individual freedom and collective safety.

It is the same with commercialism and greed. Since the 1960's we have witnessed the emergence of emotional literacy, multiculturalism, sexual inclusivity, the celebration of diversity, and green consciousness. Fantastic developments. But then, to our dismay, we have seen a new cycle recently of greed, vulgarity, thoughtless celebrity, and pollution.

And we are naïve.

How gullible it was to think that the growth and gains of the sixties and seventies were simply going to continue until paradise was here on earth. It is always a learning cycle. The flow of development requires integration, steps forward and steps back.

This is also the way of the seasons. Gestation of Winter. Birth of Spring. Growth of Summer. Harvest of Autumn.  Winter again.

So, my friends, be both realistic and profoundly hopeful. In our personal lives and in the collective development of humanity, it is a long journey. Keep your eye on the long term. Trust the process. Make your commitments and resolutions. Pray for humanity. Be an activist. Be wise when we slip back. It is all necessary for integration.

http://www.williambloom.com

  Houston Theosophical Society

Anne Sermons Gillis currently serves as the president of the Houston Lodge of the Theosophical Society.

Meetings are held on the first and third Saturdays at 10 AM Central Time in Houston, Texas.

For more information visit The Houston Lodge or visit our national organization at http://www.Theosophical.org.

We encourage our members to live a life in service to humanity, in stillness through mediation, and in study of ancient wisdom.

  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, 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.

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

January 20, 2014
Mon., 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Purpose and Meaning Group.
Anne speaks on the Ego and EZosophy.
The group meets at the Unity Church
25250 Borough Park
Woodlands, TX 77380
No charge
J. D. Messinger is the facilitator.

January 28, 2014
Tues., 3:00 – 4:00 PM
Life Changing Insights with Dr. Alan Simberg
Listen to Dr. Alan Simberg interview Anne Sermons Gillis. The show starts at 3 PM and Anne will come on at 3:30 PM. Click here to listen online.

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: Chanting

Chanting for Health

Have you heard the Benedictine monks chant? You don't know what they are saying, but it feels great to listen. Visit this link to hear an hour of chanting. They sound regal and the affects are calming. The chants make a great background. Listen to them as you work.

You can click and join along with the monks on the above link (just sound; you don't have to know the Latin) or do your own meditative chant. Find a comfortable spot and tone the vowels out loud (A, E, I, O, U). Make your voice deep. Or try the sounds Om, Aum, or Ah. The "Ah" sound is the same sound in many of the names of God, including the word "God" as well. Other names with the "ah" sound are Krishna, Buddha, Shiva, Ra, and Allah. The "ah" sound is said to be the sound of thought taking form, and the "Om" sound is the underlying sound of all creation.

Try 10 minutes of chanting. It calms, increases your lung capacity, boosts your immune system, relieves depression, and it's easy.

  Anne Talks

"The Weeping WIllow" (1:35) This is a poem by Anne on the environment. It's not a cheerful piece but if you are concerned for our earth it may work for you.

"Relationship Patterns and Healing Them Teleseminar" (1:03:10)

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Editor/Publisher: Charles David Heineke of TheDoorway.org.