Anne's Note reminds us to slow down from life's busyness. The main article, Install the Help App, reminds us to ask for Help. The Healthy Living article is Morning Music: A Natural Upper. In the Anne Talk Keith Blanchard asks Anne about EZosophy. The Featured Product is The Easy Disciple DVD.

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

I’m sitting in my comfy chair, my legs draped over an ottoman. It’s a low light day and the air is nippy outside. It’s a time of hibernation, yet our culture demands that we be at full attention and frisky, even when everything else in nature is resting.

It’s taken me years to let go of the busyness of western life. I’ve learned to spend more time relaxing and I’m liking the restorative mode.

You may remember that I was diagnosed with spiky brain waves and the doctor wanted to put me down, like they do animals, by giving me an anti-seizure drug. Fortunately, I have another specialist on my medical team – me! And I made some changes in my life. I went to an acupuncturist, who stuck needles in my brain points, divested myself of several obligations, and made it a priority to listen to good music, rest more, dawdle, and work less.

I haven’t had my brain waves checked, but the symptoms are gone. I’ve made a complete discovery. I’ve discovered that doing too much causes brain farts, and who wants brain farts?

If your flow is slow this winter, maybe it’s time to let go. It’s nature’s message: rest more, relax more, and be sure to make your life EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Install the Help App

Sometimes we feel a rumbling beneath our identifiable emotions. It doesn't feel terrible; it's just unsettling. Its existence makes us think that something is wrong. We spend a lifetime with its intermittent presence, and regardless of what we do to fix it, this edge comes and goes.

There's not much written about this unsettled space; there's no life manual to guide us. If we direct our attention to the space and demand it reveal itself, it moves deeper in. Maybe we can't really do anything about this in terms of traditional psychology, but we can approach it in a new way. Here's an emotional app for you to consider.

Initiating the Help App

Sit quietly and experience this lower-level pain. Don't label it as fear, confusion, anger, or uncertainty; just experience the sensations. Sensations would be tight shoulders, short breaths, or a sinking feeling in the heart or gut area. Let the sensations be okay; no fixing them or trying to figure them out.

Next take a radical step – surrender. Put in a request, an all-encompassing, unlimited prayer, to whomever or whatever is there. Don't whine, don't pine, don't yearn, cry, or be dramatic; just simply say, "Help."

Say "Help" several times as you sit in open and honest communication with your Higher Power. Twenty minutes will provide plenty of time, but if you only have 10 minutes, that will suffice. Listen; feel. Be aware of what surfaces.

You might find judgments arising, especially stringent standards you hold yourself to or debasing beliefs you hold over your life. Regardless of what surfaces, surrender. Repeat silently, "Help." Find compassion and apply it at every turn of the mind.

Problems might appear, such as situations in which you feel trapped, or maybe you’ll experience abandonment. Let the problems, thoughts, and emotions slide by as you continue to repeat, "Help." When you are complete, write down any information or experience that you might want to read later for inspiration.

You may not receive any specific insights or information. This is really not the purpose of the exercise; those would be more of a byproduct of the process. The real purpose is to let the mind take time off from its judgments, its tight constraints, and its control of life. This practice allows us to access a higher power and teaches us how to let go.

Follow Up Procedures

Throughout the day take a moment to say "Help." Lay your burdens down, for just an instant. Trust that something bigger than you responds to you. These moments of surrender help you realize that help is always present. It teaches you to stop the personal mind control and reminds you to trust that the universe is always there for you. This powerful process helps clean out the emotional and mental debris that clogs up the flow of well-being.

Self-help steps into too many territories. It isn’t big enough to cover the full spectrum of the human condition. Self-help should be interspersed with infinite help. Reflection and surrender bring balance to the action oriented ways of the western mind. Doing, being, trusting, letting go – all have their place in this rich consortium we call life.

We know how to manage life, how to fix life, and how to make things better, but when we don’t have a clue which way is up, let’s use the Help App to make our lives EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"Having a difference of opinion is not an emergency or an excuse to be judgmental, cruel, harsh, or insensitive."
– Anne Sermons Gillis

"Thought by thought, words weave their way into stories and they take our emotions with them." – Anne Sermons Gillis

Affirmation

“I am vibrantly alive, profoundly safe, and powerfully present.”

Free Verse

Grey paints the sky from corner to corner.
Dampness washes over me.
I shiver as mist dots my face.
Fair weather walkers stay inside as I walk this weather-imposed road less traveled by.

  Anne Art

Click image for a larger view

Click image for a larger view

  Featured Product This Week

  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.

  Healthy Living

Morning Music: A Natural Upper

We set the mood for the day in the morning, and what could more uplifting than zippy music? Studies show that music eases pain, makes exercise fun and easier, improves sleep quality, reduces your appetite, dissolves stress, improves mental functioning, and makes you feel good.

Below are some of my favorite uppers - guaranteed to put a little zip in your day.

Happy Anne

  Anne Talks

In this week's Anne Talk Keith Blanchard interviews Anne about EZosophy. Valuable insights about ways we can live our lives with greater ease.

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