Anne's Note reminds us how to move on in life. The main article, Life Is What It Is, reminds us that life simply what it is. We make it meaningful by where we place our focus. Healthy Living reminds us to Try It One Time. The Anne Talk is EZosophy. The Featured Product 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 ,

Recently we took a trip to the east coast. We stopped by Asheville, NC. I’ve heard on several occasions that Asheville would be a good place for me to live, and so I decided to check it out. I was blown away, and all the friends who pushed me toward Asheville were right. It is my cup of tea. Jim was equally enchanted, and so we decided to move to that area. I think our sudden decision startled us. It seemed to come out of the blue, but we both knew it was right.

When we returned home, each of us started the task of paring down and separating the stay things from the go things. We have the throw away things, the trash things, and the sale things. It’s surprising that we’ve amassed so many things in the nine years we’ve lived in this house.

We will miss the people, the community, and our lives here. When I moved from Memphis to the Houston area, I felt miserable about leaving my friends. One day I sat quietly and heard, “If you don’t move, think of all the friends you will never meet.” I expect this to be true for this move as well. I’m choosing to focus on what I’m getting rather than what I’m losing and leaving.

It will take a few months to pull this off, and even though the process will be labor intensive, I can chose to make it an adventure, rather than a burden. It feels good to get rid of things that no longer serve me. It’s time to travel light, and that’s what I’m about these days.

Thanks for being on this journey with me, and when you think about it, please send some easy vibes.

Anne

  Life Is What It Is

My husband and I are on I-45 riding to our dentist appointments. It’s Friday. You will receive this on Tuesday. This moment, while I am riding and writing, will be gone, and when you read this, it will be about something that happened in the past. Our drive to the dentist has no existence in the moment you read it. Just like our drive, most of what occupies our mind has no existence. It’s not wrong; it’s just important to make a distinction between thinking, what occupies the mind, and reality.

Even though things of the past are not happening now and are nonexistent, they are not necessarily useless. We take the things that happened, turn them into stories, and share them. It is in this sharing that we bond, create empathy, illuminate imagination, and learn strategies for navigating things that come our way.

Meanwhile, back on I-45, we drive with trepidation, given it’s a 45 mile trip across Houston, from our home to the dentist. By now most of you have heard of the flooding in this area. We pass a road closed due to flooding. We are near endless devastation, but if you ask I-45, it knows nothing. Traffic is zooming by as always and life buzzes as if nothing ever happened. That’s how life is; it picks itself up after the fall and ambles its way forward.

I may be wrong, but I’m thinking the process of living is EZosophy. Life doesn’t hold onto the past. It keeps present-ing. Life doesn’t acknowledge future; life is fresh. Life has no beginning or ending. It is presence, and it is only now. We use the word life to take in the past and future, but if living is really life, then life can only be now. The power of the now blessing is that when we are radically present, our emotional baggage dissipates. When we are fully present, we don’t need to use our energy trying to control, trying to be right, full of regret, or in taking extraordinary measures so as to never make a mistake.

The following rules of presence draw us from the imaginary world of the mind and more into the present world of essence.

The Rules of Presence:

• Lighten up. Somberness gets us nowhere. We don’t even like ourselves when we are terminally serious. Smile. Sing a song. Do something unexpected. Break the trance-like idea that your tasks are burdens.
• Don’t plan too many events in a short period of time. It will trigger hurriedness; when  we hurry, we can never be present.
• Show up. Pay attention. Listen. Be with the person who is with you, not in an imaginary dream or cyber world. Listen even when people ramble. Be solidly present, and you may notice them coming more into the present themselves. Rambling is a talkaholic's way to spread a circle of numbness. This circle is the defense of the egoic mind against a nonexistent enemy. Don’t numb out in the presence of others numbing out. Stay fresh and relevant. Don’t reference their moods to determine how to feel. Be the light and let them feed on your light. When you tune them out, you let them drain you and you go unconscious, meaning you’ll be like a zombie. Your resistance causes a state of unrest, and you can be triggered by the slightest event, action, or words. When you have an inner dialogue, thinking about how negative they are, you go numb AND have a racing mind. Surely this is not a grace place. Staying present and alert is really the easiest way to handle people who are conversationally inappropriate and emotionally inaccessible.
• Get peaced off. Take some time each day away from your routine duties. Give yourself a peace space. This might be meditation or reading an uplifting book. Watching television or reading a murder mystery will not provide a peace space. One can do those things. They are not bad, but they are no substitute for soul food. When our soul lacks real food, it goes for synthetic foods such as overeating, overdrinking, drugs, and shopping. These things never satisfy, so we try to get more of what will not work. Feeding our souls is the easiest  way to avoid addiction and addictive processes such as collecting wooden elephants or race cars.

The above are not actual rules. They are suggestions to consider when our lives are off track, or when we realize that we can deepen our relationship with life. Nothing has to be wrong to realize that the sweet can be sweeter, and when things appear wrong, when life seems sour, we can use our experiences to make a sweet and sour sauce. It’s time to move from accidental ease toward intentional ease, and when we do, we discover that life can always be EZ, or at least a little EZier.

Anne

Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

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  Healthy Living

“Try It One Time”

Sometimes we do not try new things because we are steeped in old habits. At other times the commitment to an activity seems too great. Getting out of our routine is emotionally healthy and it's even fun and may not take as much effort as you think. Here are some things you can do for a short time or one time. It’s easier to bring spice to life when we make it easy to do. You can do it one day at a time.

• Ride your bike. Don’t think you have to ride every day for 30 minutes. That idea might keep you from getting on your bike; just do it one time.
• Eat raw food for one day. It will give your digestive system a rest and you’ll feel great knowing you’ve given yourself a body treat.
• Go without that unhealthy item for one day, be it sugar, sodas, or fried foods. Maybe you could do this after your raw day. It’s great to come up with new eating styles. Get out of your current eating habit.
• Call an old friend you’ve been meaning to call.
• Go to a park. Walk around. Drink in nature. Think of it as a holiday.

These activities give you an idea of how to spice up your life. You can easily become a habit buster when you choose to shake up things little by little, and when you do, you might find that you are having more fun. When one is a thrill seeker, it’s time to rest and stay home, but when you do the same thing daily, and never step out of the ring you’ve drawn around your activity, it’s time to step out.

Anne

  Anne Talks

This week's Anne Talk is EZosophy. It is talk about EZosophy that Anne gave at the Unity Church of North Houston, Texas on May 5, 2015. Time: 28:30

  Anne Art

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Click image for a larger view.

  Quotes

"Your mind has to keep spinning to hold your version of reality together."
— Gangaji

"What is the function of the artist?" Amanda demanded of the talented trespasser. "The function of the artist," the Navajo answered, "is to provide what life does not."
— Quote from Tom Robbins' book Another Roadside Attraction

"Logic only gives man what he needs; magic gives man what he wants."
— Tom Robbins

"I'm yearning to be free, but my one and only slum lord is me."
— Anne Sermons Gillis