Anne's Note reminds us that Making ease is contagious and it can be our way of helping make others' lives EZier too. The main article, Haven't Got Time For The Pain, offers a path that leads us away from egoic suffering. Healthy Living discusses how the Off Gassing of various products we use can introduce harmful chemicals into our homes. The Anne Talk is an interview of Anne by Kundan Chhabra: How to Love Yourself and Others. The Featured Product this month is Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic.

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

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

On Sunday mornings in church we have a time for hugging or shaking hands. There’s a blind woman who sits near me, and when I approach her I always say, “Hi, Bobbye. It’s Anne.” Her husband says I’m the only person who says my name out loud. He wonders why others don’t do that. It makes sense to identify myself. After all, she is blind.

It’s heart-warming when others, especially strangers, make small gestures that make my life easier, whether it’s opening a door or letting me go in front of them at the store. It’s a good practice to be courteous and kind as others pass through our lives.

Making ease is contagious. Once we start doing it for others and ourselves, we are apt to catch the “Ease Disease.” Even though life is hard, it is not hard all the time. It’s great to know that we can participate in making the world an EZier place for ourselves and everyone else. Can you image the old slogan, “Life is hard,” giving way to a new way of life where people routinely say, “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.” It’s a great vision. Let’s make it happen.

Anne

  Haven't Got Time For The Pain

“Suffering was the only thing that made me feel I was alive. Thought that’s just what it cost to survive in this world. ‘Til you showed me how, how to fill my heart with love, how to open up and drink in all that white light pouring down from the heavens. Now I haven’t got time for the pain. I haven’t the room for the pain. I haven’t the need for the pain, not since I found you.”

Even though most people are familiar with Carley Simon’s song, “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain,” they do not remember the lyrics quoted above. This provocative song kept moving through me, but I could only remember the line, “I haven’t got time for the pain.” This often happens; a piece of familiar music crops up in my mind, that matches my current life situation. Maybe my subconscious was disclosing that I was in denial about my pain.

I shared my theory with a friend who asked if I had listened closely to all the lyrics. I had not, so I bought a copy. The song was not about denying pain; it was an ode to ego driven suffering. It was a song of deliverance, of salvation from the egoic mind. That song became the EZosophy theme song. It was about moving past the self-identification we have with suffering.

Click the image to watch Carly sing that song.

There are three levels of suffering we negotiate, navigate, and run from:

• Top of the mind suffering – This aspect of the mind tells stories about events, circumstances, and relationships. It weaves stories into beliefs and evaluates and categorizes them.
• Suffering caused by subconscious beliefs and decisions – These hidden beliefs are our filters. They falsely define our self-worth, the safety of our environment, and the way we relate to others. “I’m not okay. Life is not okay. I will spend my life seeking to make life okay, even though I know for sure nothing is okay and never will be.”
• The split – This aspect of mind creates the split. It cuts us off from knowing who we really are, makes us up, and defines us story by story.

Most self-help, religions, and philosophies seek to rectify one of these levels of suffering. The irony of these systems of redefinition and change is that they become slaves to the split mind. They serve what they are attempting to rectify. The only way we can change or fix this problem is to give up trying to fix, change, inspire, improve, or motivate ourselves. One cannot fix what is not broken, and we are not broken.

If we expect to transcend these layers of ego driven suffering, we must stop the mind. We don’t need a thoughtware upgrade; we need to give up seeking answers through the traditional means.

But, how can I use my mind to bypass my mind?

• Seek help – Help from an unlimited source, but not help to solve our problems; help to rise above the illusion that binds us to our present story. It is this story that guides our lives.
• Seek surrender – Surrender means humbling our minds. It means to stop spinning stories about every tiny thought that crosses our minds. Our minds have been self-important and have delivered us into a life defined by The Story of Me. The Story of Me says, “I know what to do to fix this.” But this Me Maker doesn’t have a clue. It keeps us spinning, and we call this life.
• Seek stillness – Instead of seeking solutions, thoughts, and ideas, take time to seek that which is so complete it need not be resolved. It holds everything; it softens life; it dissolves fear. It is in this stillness that answers render questions irrelevant. It is in this stillness that we experience directly who we are. Without the direct experience of who we are, The Story of Me continues to dominate the mindscape and create a virtual reality. When we experience who we are, we can finally see a veil-less reality. Life itself speaks as and through our lives.

“Suffering was the only thing that made me feel I was alive.” Thank you, Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman, for putting the modus operandi of the egoic mind in lyrics and rocking our world with the thought that we don’t have time for a pain that can be washed away by that white light coming down from the heavens.

There is a fascination with suffering that can be changed. We can surrender to an EZier reality. We can let go of the ego driven pain, and, when we do, life is always EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"Life is wordless. Words are a controversial substitute for life."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"Words lie. They take you to a dark spot and drop you off. Words lift. They make the sky look possible and lay you down to sleep in the stars."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"Life emits an extraordinary passion. It's never dormant. It's always alive and blossoming."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

  Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

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  Healthy Living

Off Gassing

Ever buy one of those plastic shower liners that smelled like chemical soup? That odor is what is referred to as off gassing.

We are putting new carpet in our upstairs, hoping to lure a buyer. One of the reasons I had not purchased new carpet was that I was concerned about the off gassing. The chemicals released from new carpet can be quite toxic and it can take years for all the chemicals to evaporate. Unfortunately, the healthier alternative can cost four to ten times more than traditional carpet.

When the job is complete, I plan to ventilate the upstairs and open my windows. I purchased a new fan and couldn’t believe my nose. The plastic fan blade let off a terrible odor. So I placed the fan outside so it could off gas before I brought it inside.

Here are some products that off gas in our homes.

Dryer sheets – “Here is a completely useless product that does nothing but add VOCs to your clothing. Chemicals include chloroform, Pentanes, and more, to the point that the Material Safety Data Sheet suggests it can cause eye and skin irritation. Ultimately, anything that is designed to make your clothes smell nice is releasing compounds you don't want in your house.”

Petroleum candles – Buy and use vegetable based candles.

Air fresheners – Use natural essential oils. Skip the chemical ones.

Nonstick pans – The makers of Teflon say they have taken out the toxins from the non-stick pans, but even if they have, nonstick pans don’t last that long. Don’t buy cookware that has to be replaced in 3 to 5 years. A good iron skillet will last a lifetime. Try some nonstick organic olive oil spray on your stainless steel pans to keep your eggs from sticking. You can make your own nonstick alternative.

Nail polish remover – I stopped using nail polish, except on rare occasions, when I noticed that my nails still smelled like polish remover 3 months after I had removed the polish. If you use nail polish remover, use it in a well ventilated area or, better still, go outside. After using, immediately wash your hands and fingernails.

Household cleaners – Use natural cleaners. Orange oil, diluted with water, makes an effective cleaner. White vinegar is perfect to disinfect and clean glass. Fortunately there are a number of green cleaners on the market, such as Dr. Bronner’s, Mrs. Meyer's, and Seventh Generation. Here is a slide show. You must click the slide numbers at the upper right to see the various products.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has a household products database you can access to learn about the ingredients of products you use.

Pesticides – Use borax, diatomaceous earth, orange oil, and cedar oil. Check out these 10 organic, homemade pesticides.

The chemical off gassing in our homes is often hard to detect, but with a little detective work, you can discover and consequently reduce the off gassing in your home. Adding a few indoor plants and avoiding the toxic products listed above will take you a long way in creating a healthier air quality for you and your family.

Anne

  Anne Talks

Click to listen to this interview of Anne by Kundan Chhabra: How to Love Yourself and Others. It provides more practical examples of how to apply EZosophy in your daily life. You can also download an mp3 of the talk. Time: 1:07:16

  Anne Art

Vine
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Spirals
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