Anne's Note reminds us to avoid the ego's mind tricks and make our lives EZier. The main article, Easy Does It, reminds us that life can be EZier if we're willing to stop being Hardaholics. Healthy Living offers a way to help us enter meditation by providing a "Taming the Mind" Meditation. The Anne Talk is Anne's humorous song about Egor the Ego. The Featured Product this month is The I AM Affirmations CD.

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

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Each one of us has our ups and downs. We prefer to live in up mode and not be down, but as much as we want happiness and peace of mind, there are always times when we fall short of our expectations.

We live in a complex, stressful world, and sometimes even our deepest intention for peace falls through and we find ourselves feeling angry, anxious, hopeless, or stressed. The egoic mind loves this because it uses it to prove how bad, ineffective, dumb, or confused we are.

Imagine standing on the roof of a tall building and hearing the egoic mind shouting at you, “Jump, jump, jump. There’s no hope. You’ve been a fool.” So you jump. The egoic mind then shouts at you, “Now you’ve done it.”

Don’t fall for that part of the mind. We must accept that sometimes we will fall down, make mistakes, feel hopeless, or feel betrayed. One of my favorite self-preservation songs is, “I’m uptight, feeling alright.”  I make up the words to the song as I sing to my bereft self. When I am strung out, I find comfort in support and humor. If one is always uptight and strung out, this calls for action, but life is filled with intermittent, uncomfortable feelings, and to fight them is useless. Accepting where we are emotionally, when we are there, is the first step out of hell and the next step in making our lives EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Easy Does It

I started my recovery in the 1980's. I had a spiritual life, but was miserable much of the time and tired of suffering. I went on a mission to find out what was wrong and how to fix it.

I discovered that all suffering is not necessary. Part of the mind thrives on drama and much of suffering is ego induced. When the ego is in charge, we have Ego Driven Suffering (EDS).

That’s how I came to uncover the Hardaholic in me. A Hardaholic makes life hard and then suffers about it. I suffered about trivial things like maintaining my body, my house, and my car. AND, I discovered that I was not the only one. Millions live in the same illusory state of suffering.

If I have a drinking problem, I would be an alcoholic, but I have a thinking problem; I am a “Hardaholic.” To recover from Hardaholism one must become an “EZosophist” (pronounced Easy – osophist). EZosophy is the art and wisdom of easier living (not trouble-free living). An EZosophist is one who embraces an easier way of life. Much of life is hard; there are real tragedies, but not all of life is a tragedy. Much of what we suffer about is ego driven.

The following are symptoms of a Hardaholic. If you have any of these, you may be in a Hardaholic breakdown.

1. Do you keep a mental list of how much you have to do that day and tell everyone about your difficult day (while holding breath, slumping shoulders, and frowning)?
2. Do you talk about the failing global economy with shoppers at the checkout line? “Ain’t it awful” is a Hardaholic game.
3. Do you go over one year without a vacation?
4. Do you work three jobs?
5. Do you have affairs? Having more than one mate and keeping secrets is definitely the hardest way to do relationships.
6. Do you eat foods whose primary ingredients are a mystery?
7. Do you throw away friends because you have a conflict? Maybe some friends have to go because they support your addiction rather than your recovery, but if you get close to someone and throw him or her away at the first signs of conflict, this is a red flag.
8. Do you use of the Hardaholic mantra "Life is hard" frequently?
9. Do you lie in order to care-take or keep from having someone be upset with you?
10. Do you stay out late every night when your job starts at eight A.M.?
11. Do you grumble about performing life’s maintenance tasks?
12. Do you give the bird to someone while driving (or use other emphatic hand gestures)?
13. Do you sling the internal sledge hammer (self-condemnation)?

The saying “No pain, no gain” is a Hardaholic slogan. Even though we learn from our mistakes and tragedies, painful learning is not the only way. Pain is not the only teacher; it is only one of our teachers.

Lighten up. It is easy to be too serious about life and self-discovery. Let’s not make waking up harder than it is. It is hard to face our pettiness, hard to see how we may have hurt others, but everything - is not hard - all the time.

Are we willing to have easier lives? Can we have friends other than our wound mates? Are we willing to stop our obsessing minds in mid-thought? Let’s do it. EZosophists, take over the world. We should start a cult. We could get attention from some paranoid groups who seem to thrive on finding groups to call "cults." I saw a television program that called the 12 step programs a cult. Talk about an obtuse assessment. Diehard Hardaholics will mouth off about us: "Can you believe it? Those EZosophists say that life can be easy. Everyone knows that this country is built on the American dream. If you work hard you can have a house and happily retire at the age of sixty-five. Life is hard. I walked four miles to school when I was young and I will never let anyone forget it. I milked cows at 5 AM in the morning in 15-degree temperatures. I remember when a loaf of bread was only five cents. Today’s kids don’t know anything about life. They have it so easy. Those EZosophists are dangerous. One orange at Christmas…." You get the picture.

The American Hard Association says that every two minutes one million people complain about the economy, three hundred thousand drivers shout obscenities, and two thousand people buy clothes that are too small because they are planning to lose weight. A nonexistent poll confirms that three out of four people glare at the person in line who needs a price check.

EZosophists, rise up as vanguards. In a time when the word "hard" is used over 4 million times per second in America, why don’t you relax, shut down your hard drive, and take it easy. Become living examples of the mantras "Easier and Easier" and “Easy does it.” Go to the very core of our society; sit down and take a break from the pedagogy of Hardaholism. While Hardaholics are hard at work, be "easy at work." Take overdue vacations and insist that life become easier, freer, and lighter. Write our politicians in support of a national comedian to sit in congressional and senatorial meetings. Revive the court jester. Why does life always have to be serious to be effective? Board meetings are boring. Let’s spread the humor rumor: "Humor heals." We must set our boundaries with Hardaholics. When a Hardaholic gives us one of those "hard looks," we must be willing to triumphantly proclaim, "It’s not that hard." We must close the school of hard knocks. This is a fervent call for EZosophists everywhere to unite and lead our world down the Easy Path. The hard way has failed us repeatedly. We can no longer hide our light, our mission, and our passion. We must ease on down the road, remembering that the word enlightenment means, "To make light again." Burdens are heavy and burdens are the mainstay of the Hardaholic. EZosophists, refuse to see all of life as a burden. The message is not new. A friend put it succinctly when he said, “My yoke is easy, my burden light.” The time for the EZosophist has come. It is here. It is now. And remember the eight word miracle success mantra, “Everything can be easy or at least easier.”

Anne

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

"Taming the Mind" Meditation

Everyone knows that meditation reduces stress. It connects us to a deep stillness that brings peace to our daily lives.

Sometimes it is easier to meditate than others. The other day I sat with high expectations of touching my center, only to be met by a roaring mental train. “If I could just be in a group of people meditating, that would slow my mind.” I’ve learned that my mind settles down faster when I’m in a group meditation. A thought sneaked across my mind, “There’s always a group meditating somewhere; join in. We are all joined in mind.” Immediately I imagined a group of monks meditating. “There is a bond not only between the people in the group, but in some way each group around the world is joined.”  This realization took only a moment, and as I entered into this group mind, I felt a wave of calm. I was at peace. Meditation came easily.

Photo source: Pixabay.com

Maybe this experience was unique, but I suspect not. Next time you sit to meditate, before you go into your mantra, breath, or your special way to tame the mind, visualize yourself sitting with a group that is already meditating. Use your intuition to mentally locate and join with a group in meditation. Then go about your regular meditation. Let me know how this turned out. I suspect it will work for anyone with a mind open to unique experiences in consciousness. The best way to experience the self is to rest in the stillness and silence of being, and meditation offers us a path to just that. Happy, peace-filled mind, and may the divine impulse live in you, as you, each and every day.

Anne

  Anne Talks

This week's Anne Talk is Egor the Ego. It's one of Anne's short humorous songs she performs with a hand puppet named Egor. It's cute and you'll enjoy it. Time: 1:57

  Anne Art

Click the image to see a larger image.

Click the image to see a larger image.

  Quotes

"Good-bye present moment. I’ll be back.” My mind is MIA.
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"What reaches you, teaches you."
— Unknown

"How we treat others reveals what we believe about ourselves."
— Anne Sermons Gillis