Anne's Note shows how she makes Christmas EZier. The main article, Listening Habits that Others Hate, lists 6 habits to avoid for more effective conversations. The Healthy Living section discusses Anne's EZosophy Mantra. The Anne Talk is It Came Upon My Mind to Clear. The Featured Product is Anne's I Love You CD.

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

I hope you are filling your holidays with fewer things to do and more time to play. It’s taken me years to get over my addiction to holiday stress. I’m sure it’s still lurking in the shadows of my sanity, but aging does a wonderful thing – it takes off the pressure.

I got my tree up before Thanksgiving so I could enjoy it. I’ve baked 5 pumpkin pies. Holiday music wafts through the air. These are a few of my favorite things and I’ve found that doing more of what I like to do and less of what I don’t like to do can really happen. I’ve lived too many years stuck in my routine and even though it feels weird to break out the “Ease” of the season, it is available and appropriate.

Life is as wide open and free in this moment as it is in any other moment and, as for me, I’m enjoying it.

Anne

  Listening Habits that Others Hate

I have several filled-to-the-brim notebooks. They hold notes, thoughts, and projects. I love to leaf through them. I develop some of the thoughts into articles and others I just read and reread; the words are just for me. They seem like old friends and I feel fuzzy when I read them. Sometimes I’m surprised at the wisdom that came through during my lowest points and at other times I am amused by my pettiness.

I came across these six habits in one of those journals. I think I was taking notes while listening to a lecture or CD, but I failed to write down the originator of the ideas. They could have been the genesis of a teleseminar I did on relationships. Regardless of their origin, they offer insight into our communication with others. It is up to us to develop good communications skills. Speaking and listening effectively are equally important in communication.

I am an extravert. Extroverts are famous for the first two on the list. Do you have any of these habits?

1. Interrupting the one speaking.
2. Finishing each other’s sentences.
3. Rushing the other person so they will finish, with such actions as looking at your watch or drumming your fingers.
4. Topping the speaker’s story.
5. Looking everywhere except at the one who is speaking.
6. Overusing the mouth and underusing the ears. Do you give the other person room in the conversation to speak or do you give a monologue?

Sometimes you need to get the person to wrap it up because they are going on and on, they won’t let you get in a word, or you have to leave for another engagement. But there are times when each one of these could be seen not just as ineffective; they could be seen as rude.

Each us of deals with relationships on a daily basis. Relationships are tricky, but when we learn to be good listeners, and give respect to our friends as coworkers when they speak, we will find that life becomes EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"There is a flow that we can willingly participate in. It brings with it more information, wisdom, guidance, and direction than we could have ever thought of or accomplished through effort, logic, investigation, or intellectual pursuits."
– Anne Sermons Gillis

"We play with our thoughts, we capture them, glorify them, and give them a life of their own. For God’s sake, do not believe your thoughts. They are only entertainment – horror movies, romantic comedies, drama, mystery, fantasy, but not reality." – Anne Sermons Gillis

"People make up who we are, tell us, and we believe them. We go on from there, never examining the lies."
– Anne Sermons Gillis

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Wed. & Fri., Feb. 18 and 20, 2015
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  Healthy Living

The EZosophy Mantra

Stress is on the rise. We face noise pollution, air pollution, and mind pollution. We live in a world that is not only high tech, it is high speed. The EZosophy philosophy is more important now than ever.

One of the most important tools of EZosophy is the eight word miracle mantra. The mantra appears weekly in a yellow section near the top of this newsletter, but if you’re like me, you need frequent reminders of things you already know but forget to do or use.

The EZosophy mantra is “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.” When we repeat the mantra frequently it reminds us than many things can be EZ and everything can always be EZier. The mantra is an aid to turn the mind away from life’s difficulties. Even if something is difficult, the way we approach it can make the situation EZier to deal with.

Too often we fall in love with our stress. Our stress starts to define our lives. Let’s start saying “Yes” to creating more E-moments (EZ moments) in our lives by using the EZ mantra. Repeat the mantra and ask, “How can I make this easier?” Let’s start blessing our stress with the EZosophy mantra because when we do, ease and simplicity rise and suffering and difficulty recede.

For more details on stress and how it relates to cancer, visit MD Anderson – Stress.

  Anne Talks

Click the graphic to hear the It Came Upon My Mind to Clear video.

  Anne Art

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