Anne's Note talks about Surveying Our Greatest Moments. The main article talks about our Food Choices. Healthy Living provides some ways to Create Meaning in Your Life. The Anne Talk is Dealing with Emotions and Going Beyond. The Featured Product this month is Anne's book, EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or at Least Easier Living.

The EZ Mantra: "Everything can be EZ or at least EZier." – Anne Sermons Gillis

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

I just ran across an old list of the most meaningful and beautiful moments in my life. The list included things as spectacular as my visit to Ramana Maharshi’s Ashram in 2008 to rolling around one day with my neighbor’s dog and her nine puppies. I ended up finding a home for the puppies.  My neighbors left in the middle of the night, leaving the mother behind. This abandoned dog became my fast companion for 12 years.

This poster was in front of the ashram
when I was there. It was an old poster.

I loved making that list. Too often we look at the mistakes of regrets of the past, but that list was of the high moments.

This weekend my step daughter gets married. The whole affair will be over when you read it, but right now there are dealings, feelings, hopes, and dreams spinning around. My little grans turned 10 months old this week, and last Friday my husband finished his last radiation treatment for prostate cancer, and the beat goes on.

Thanks for being a part of my journey.

Anne

  Food Choices

A few years ago I received a Facebook friend request from a man I didn’t know. I messaged him and asked how he knew me. He replied that he heard me in a CD series called “Money Masters.” He was excited about my work and wanted to see me having a wider audience. He encouraged me to write the weekly newsletter you are reading.

He asked what message I wanted to get out to the world. At the time I wanted to share my thoughts on healthy eating and the easy way to lose weight and have a strong body. I wrote many articles, spoke to and with a lot of people, and learned some unexpected lessons.

What did I learn?

• There are only a few people who want to talk ultra-health. It is a small cult-like group. I’m definitely in that group. Our ideas are not too popular and people think we are fanatics. We have to learn to reign in our focus on food and it’s okay for us to be outside the box. We just have to find our tribe members.
• Most people love the way they eat, and even though they want to be healthier, they don’t want to give up unhealthy foods. A health crisis will turn some people around, while others continue to eat the same foods as before. This is the group that says, “You have to die from something.” This group is okay too. They are just different from me.
• It’s dangerous to get in the way of someone and their food choices. People are as intense about food as they are about politics. These people are okay too.

After learning the above lessons I returned to writing mostly about EZosophy. I include health and food in the newsletter, but try keep it fairly low key. I consider this an EZosophy success, I found that going into some territories is not always practical. I have a vegan friend who is all but hostile to meat eaters. I know meat eaters who think vegans are crazy and that they are going to shrive up and die from the lack of protein. The old saying about religion and politics now includes food choices!

The hardest thing about the whole who-eats-what thing is to not judge people or be afraid for those who are unhealthy and who eat foods that are not good for them. The closer I am to someone, the easier it is for me to get triggered by their poor food choices. A little self-talk usually gets me off their case, but not always.

The real issue is not as much about food as it is about nourishment--not just being nourished by our foods, but being nourished by life. It seems that the more we allow life to nurture and nourish us, the easier it is to reflect that sense of well-being in our food choices.

Our attention is best focused on self-care. When we feel loved and supported, we make healthier food choices. When we make food choices from our fear or guilt, we’ve not raised the bar in the quality of our lives. Plenty of people eat healthy foods who don’t appear balanced or happy.

Food is not the magic solution to life. That was a hard lesson. It doesn’t mean I don’t make a lot of healthy choices, or take vitamins. It just means that I had to give up my fantasy that the right food or supplement was going to make the difference I searched for. This may come as a blow when a network marketing professional, who jumps from food product (or supplement) to food product (supplement), learns this lesson.

Some of you might identify with my food conundrum. We all have to eat and we all have opinions on what to eat and how important food will be in our lives. Without food we eventually die, but without soul nourishment, we probably long for death to relieve us. Food is a big deal, but not for the reasons we think. Our relationship with food and what we eat reflects our beliefs about life. Yes, go ahead and fix your diet. I admit it can be fun. Just know that eating healthy won’t fix everything. Let’s remember to feed our soul as well, because that’s the place of true nourishment. The hungry heart cannot be satisfied by apples, but when we eat the fruit of the spirit we find that life can be EZier and EZier.

Here's an article that describes the importance of pleasure in eating.

Anne

  Anne Art

Mandala
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Tea Art
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  Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

Click the graphic above to learn more.

NOTE: If you are viewing this on a cell phone, be sure to scroll to the right to see the other column.

  Healthy Living

Action plan for creating meaning in your life

• List 20 of the greatest, most meaningful or most powerful times in your life.
• Write five e-mails or thank you notes to people whom you appreciate and tell them.
• Give a friend a one hour gift certificate for your time. Offer to take them shopping, shop for them, babysit, clean house, cook a meal, prune flowers, give them a massage – whatever your skill is.
• Make a care package for a homeless person and include toothpaste, a tooth brush, moist towelettes, a cereal bar, and a fold up small rain poncho or other items that would work for a homeless person. Keep it in your car and give it to the person you feel guided to serve.
• Smile at every person you meet on the street.

Anne

  Anne Talks

This week's Anne Talk is Dealing with Emotions and Going Beyond. It's a very practical discussion about how we can prevent emotional upset or deal with emotional holding patterns when it happens--what to do with our intense feelings once we have them and how we can go beyond the paradigm of emotions. Time: 54:01.

  Quotes

"No matter how cynical I get, I just can’t keep it up."
— Lilly Tomlin

"Life is a treasure, but if we aren’t fully alive, awake, and aware, it is a buried treasured."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"I can no longer listen to prerecorded messages from your dysfunctional childhood."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

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Want to subscribe to Anne's weekly newsletter? Click the button below to do so. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you can UNsubscribe by clicking this link. Follow Anne:            Share Anne:      If this newsletter inspires you or touches you in some way, please consider donating to help keep the EZ message going out to the world. Donations may be sent to: Anne Sermons Gillis 52 W. Tallowberry Dr. The Woodlands, TX 77381 Or sent via PayPal.   Anne's Services Need a Coach or a Rent-a-Friend? Interested in getting ongoing support? Try life coaching with Anne. Anne offers both short-term and long-term coaching. Contact her for details. Click here to contact Anne by email or Click here to view information on Anne's One Year Seminar and other training too.   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 All times here are Central Time. You must register with Lone Star College to attend these classes. Wed. & Fri., Apr. 8 and 10, 2015 10:00 AM-Noon, "EZosophy" Lone Star College ALL Program Montgomery Campus Sunday, Apr. 12, 2015 12 noon – 2:00 PM "The Golden Rules of Conscious Relationships" Unity Circle of Light The Fountains Center 25811 Gosling Road Spring TX 77389 Phone: 281-681-8883 Snacks Provided. Conscious Giving Appreciated, $10.00 - $50.00 Tue. & Thu., Apr. 14 and 16, 2015 1:00-3:00 PM, "Alive, Awake, Aware" Lone Star College ALL Program Kingwood Campus extension in New Caney (LSC-EMCID Center) Sunday, April 19, 2015 9:30 and 11:30 AM services "Living in Ease" Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church, 1370 N Millbend Dr. The Woodlands, TX 77380 Phone: 281-298-2780 Sunday, May 3, 2015 10:15 AM service: "EZosophy" Unity of North Houston 11738 Grant Road Cypress, TX 77429 Phone: 281-374-7085 Wed. & Fri., May 6 and 8, 2015    10:00 AM-Noon, "Alive, Awake, Aware" Lone Star College ALL Program Montgomery Campus Disclaimer: Some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links and may pay a commission if an item is purchased. Do your own due diligence to determine if a product is appropriate for your use. Editor & Publisher: Charles David Heineke of www.TheDoorway.org.