Anne's Note shows us how she is Flowing With Life. Anne's main article, Too-Much-itis, reminds us that we don't have to struggle for enlightenment. Healthy Living's article, You may want to toss that floss, discusses alternative methods of flossing. The Anne Talk is Anne's interview with Keith Anthony Blanchard, The-Path-to-Conscious-Awakening. The Featured Product this month is Anne's book, Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic.

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

Living EZosophy, February 2, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

Phone: 281-419-1775
Email: anne@annegillis.com

Anne's Websites:

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Life is going along in its perfection, immune to my plans of moving to Asheville. I’m sort of glad I wasn’t there last week to navigate two feet of snow. While I can deal with snow and weather in the teens, I’m happy not to move in that kind of weather.

I’m working on my next book. I printed out a first draft and it needs a lot of work. I just keep moving ahead. I can’t even imagine writing a book like Michener’s, The Source, that contained 2,000 plus pages. I mean, did that man have a life?

My husband and I have been attending A Course in Miracles classes recently. I first purchased the books 37 years ago; I studied them fanatically for 19 years and then just started living the course, more than studying it. It has been fun to reconnect with a Course community and it is great to join in sangha (a community of others who have practiced well). When I depart from meeting with a group of spiritually focused people, I feel energized and light-filled. It is truly uplifting to be with like-minded people. Fortunately, for those who can’t get around or for those live in what seems a spiritual waste land, we can connect in internet communities. I’ve attended satsangs on the internet that both energized and centered me.

Have an EZ week and know, with me, that life can be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Too-Much-itis

It is great to heal our emotional pain. It is freeing to quieten the egoic mind. It is wonderful to learn yoga and meet spiritual masters. It is exhilarating to practice meditation and feng shui. It is liberating to read spiritual literature, to appreciate everything, and to float in a flotation tank, but sometimes we suffer from too-much-itis.

Rather than going on a spiritual journey, we often go on a spiritual race. Early in my spiritual life, I was plagued by a not so helpful enthusiasm. I read the works of philosophers, psychologists, metaphysicians, saints, and scientists. Everywhere I turned I ran into a teaching that disagreed with something I had just read. I pushed myself harder to try to figure it all out and to make the opposites reconcile themselves.

Then one day, I collapsed – figuratively speaking. I was one tired seeker; so I retired. I no longer cared whether I needed to surrender or to take charge. I couldn’t care less whether I should be meek or expressive. I didn’t care about the existential dilemmas of life. I quit trying to be positive about everything. I stopped being hypervigilant about the words I used, trying to use only spiritual or life affirming words. No more figuring out if my desires were egoic or if they had come as God’s will.

At the time, I had stopped the quest of becoming outwardly successful in the world. I thought that would cure me, but then I fell into the trap of becoming a successful spiritual person. Obviously the solutions weren’t “out there” in the world, so I plumbed the depths of the inner world so finally everything would be okay. But life didn’t get better. It was more confusing. Some days were better than others, but mostly my life got heavier and heavier each day.

I never thought this would happen. Ten years before, when I was in my 20’s, I experienced an extraordinary awakening, but here I was, asleep again, and going faster and faster, so I could recapture Nirvana.

Now, there was to be absolutely no mental agenda. I was finished. I would drink mint juleps on the patio and turn into a lazy, brainless person. I closed the books, stopped listening to my cassette tapes (no mp3s at that time), and started watching the soap opera I had previously abandoned.

A friend commented, “You look so relaxed. I was worried about you. You looked burdened before. What are you doing?” “Nothing.” I replied “I quit reading all my books and gave up searching for the truth.” Until he pointed it out, I was unaware of the shift in my energy. I was feeling lighter. I had more energy and felt happy. My too-much-itis was in remission.

The spiritual path is delicate, fraught with mysteries and seeming inconsistencies. Sometimes we have to do something different, take a chance and move forward, and at other times we have to back down. I had been trying to attain a state of consciousness, rather than being awake to the transcendental awareness of the okayness of life as it was. In that okayness my identity rested, waiting only for me to recognize my Self.

Since that experience of too-much-itis, I have ceased being an avid seeker. I don’t respond optimally when well-meaning people tell me how to do spirituality. I find myself contracting when people try to teach or advise me, and shiver to think of the times I’ve given tepid, unsolicited advice. When I was in the spiritual race, I probably wanted others racing alongside me.

So many people believe the spiritual journey is hard and it takes supreme effort. The spiritual path is littered with pseudo martyrs who wear their hardships like a badge of courage. The idea of endless burden and difficulty is wrong. The less I do, the more I have. I’ve found that it’s easier to love than hate, easier to forgive than hold resentments, easier to surrender than to control, and that our Source doesn’t jerk us around - plaguing us with harder and harder tasks until we pass the test of fire. The spiritual quest is a journey without distance, and we no longer need to be the sacrificial lambs of outmoded beliefs. We are free now. We don’t have to earn a place in the annals of spiritual masters; all we really have to do is love what we can, forgive what we can’t love, and be willing to surrender what we can’t forgive. It’s simple. There are leagues of unseen support we can’t even fathom.

When we stand grounded in the belief that the spiritual path is hard, we will be tested again and again, by ourselves, not by our creator. I’m asking you to stand down and consider that our expectation of difficulty continuously obscures the pristine Presence available in this moment. Are you willing for life to be EZier than you thought it was? Can you let go of the complex, complicated, burdensome perception of life and claim your freedom, because if you can, you will find that life will be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

“The egoic mind is a consortium of setups and upsets.”
— Anne Sermons Gillis

“The mind is drunk with thoughts. We must take responsibility and sober it up.”
— Anne Sermons Gillis

“We look for the thoughts in our minds. Suppose we look for silence.”
— Anne Sermons Gillis

  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

You may want to toss that floss

If you want to stop reading the Healthy Living column, I don’t blame you. It can be overwhelming to realize the extent to which the petrochemical world positions itself into every area of our lives. I am amazed that what I thought was going to be a simple article about using unwaxed dental floss instead of waxed dental floss has taken a nasty turn. It appears much of our unwaxed dental floss is made with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). And that’s not good. It doesn’t even sound good. And not only that, floss manufacturers can put stuff on the floss to make it slide. They may even soak it with fluoride. We don’t know what we are putting in our mouths. Many of their chemicals are proprietary, which is another way of saying, “Stay out of our business.” The plastic tape stuff, which is such a joy to use, is not really a good choice. It’s Teflon or PTFE.

Rather than bore you or scare you with all the reasons you might want change your flossing material, consider these alternatives:

• Floss with silk – natural and good for the environment. Petroleum based floss sticks around in our land fills for 40 to 60 years. When it does break down, it gets into everything, including our water. Here's a link for RADIUS Vegan Xylitol Antibacterial Cranberry Floss.
• Try water flossing. Use an oral irrigator.
• Use an air flosser such as a Phillips Sonicare.

We need to floss. Face it. You may be happy with your teeth at forty, but if you don’t floss, you can develop all kinds of messy situations, such as losing your teeth. I am assuming we are all brushing regularly, so that’s why I’m only talking about flossing.

We are all adults. This information is provided to help you make informed decisions about possible health hazards. You are not a bad person if you do make not changes in your flossing habits. You don’t even have to floss; only the teeth you want to keep will be affected by flossing! Flossing is always a choice, and, when we can, when we have the time, energy, and effort, we can toss that floss and go for a healthier solution to cleaning the critters from our teeth.

  Anne Talks

Click to watch Anne's interview with Keith Anthony Blanchard, The-Path-to-Conscious-Awakening: 5-Stages of Evolution For the Spiritual Seeker. Keith's site is http://www.centeroflightradio.com. Time: 57:37

  Anne Art

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  Anne's Schedule

Sunday February 7, 2016
Reading of Anne's children's book,
“The Wacky World of Mrs. Dominoes”
to the Children's Class
Creative Life Spiritual Center
5326 Spring Stuebner Rd., Ste. 200
Spring, Texas 77389 - 281-350-5157

Thursday, February 18, 2016
10:30 AM-12:30 PM, “EZosophy”
Thomas A. Glazier Senior Educ. Center
16600 Pine Forest Lane
Houston, Texas
For information contact:
Lisa Rice at lrice@pct3.com

Saturday, March 5, 2016
10 AM-12 noon, Free Lecture
The Houston Theosophical Society
1550 Heights Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77008

Sunday, March 6, 2016
10:15 AM, “Spiritual Freedom”
Unity of North Houston
“Alive, Awake, Aware” Workshop
After the service; light meal served.
Conscious Giving $10.00 - $25.00
according to your ability to give.
11738 Grant Road
Cypress, Texas 77429 - 281-374-7085

Call or Email Anne Now to Schedule Your Next Meeting with her.

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.