Anne's Note highlights The Value of EZosophy in Today's World.The Main article, Acceptance, invites us to learn to accept what is and then deal with it appropriately. The Healthy Living article, Sleeping Beauty (Finger Holding), shows us an easy way to help us fall asleep by simply holding our fingers. The Anne Talk, Happiest Person in the World Meditation, shows us how to actively show compassion to others. The Featured Product this month is Anne's latest 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

Living EZosophy, May 3, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

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  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

We had two home showings this week. (For those who don't know, our home is for sale. At this point, after many months, it seems like a permanent condition.) Our dog Lucy loves showings. When we leave the house, she comes along. We had two picnics, since both appointments were at lunch time. After lunch, we took a little stroll around our neighborhood park. (See the park picture under Anne Art on the right.)

I bought my first house when I was 19 and sold it to purchase another one when I was 20. I have owned and sold a dozen houses, and the real estate business has changed drastically since I purchased a condo in 1969. It was hard to understand the concept of condo living in 1969. Now there are condos everywhere. In the dark ages, we never left our homes when there was a showing. We didn't have door locks on the front door for the Realtor to let herself in and there was no Internet, brochures, nor fancy real estate magazines. Yet somehow homes sold.

My dog lies on the bed as I type on my backup computer. She’s asleep. She rolls around every few minutes and makes a sound. In contrast, I'm connected to the Internet by wifi while I type away. AT&T recently dug cables to increase our Internet speed one-hundred fold. Just what I need, more information faster! Lucy's life is simple and mine gets more complicated by the minute. My hat is off to futurist Alvin Toffler, who wrote Future Shock in 1970. It describes a psychological state that occurs when too much change occurs over a short period of time. Toffler states in a later book, "Between now and the 21st century, millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future." Translation, if you are feeling over-whelmed, you are probably normal. We are on a fast course to releasing the past. It's over before we even get there. The upheaval of the foundations of our civilization make EZosophy more relevant than ever. The eight word EZosophy miracle mantra, "Everything can be EZ or at least EZier," makes a powerful contribution to simplifying the present and allows us to turn down the volume on our ego driven suffering. Join me and others who realize that EZosophy is not just a philosophy; it is a way of life.

Anne

  Acceptance

Emotional suffering plagues humanity. It strikes harshly at some and only nips at the heels of others. We often deny it. We fail to acknowledge our discontent, but our denial creates a roadmap that delivers us onto the highway of emotional pain.

Once we've recognized our pain, we try to get rid of it. Our first attempt involves managing our outside lives. We set goals, avoid people who upset us, read books on how to make our lives manageable, ask for advice from friends, or make elaborate plans for success. We take control of what is happening. We take action. We change partners, quit our jobs, move south to avoid the cold, move north to avoid the heat, or stop over-spending. We try any changes we think will improve the situation. Even though there may some successes, the strange, undefinable uneasiness continues to nag at us.

What more can we do? Fix the mind. We've learned that our minds can assist us. Our efforts can be simpler and easier when we live with an attitude of appreciation and positive expectancy. This is a helpful approach, but sometimes even this strategy wears thin. Once my car heater was broken. It took weeks before I could get it fixed, so I tried to find good things about freezing while riding in my car. One day, I had a fit. "I am so tired of riding around in a freezing cold car. This sucks." I roared loudly, then I relaxed into the situation as it was. My attitude could take me so far, but I needed some emotional relief.

While changing our attitudes has benefit, it is not always the answer for us in the moment. The answers change and we have to stay in tune with what is best for us at the time. Fundamentalist thinking takes one answer and tries to make it fit every situation, every time. When I tried to think good thoughts about my car being cold, while being upset in the  moment, that was fundamentalist positive thinking. I was trying to be positive all the time. After I let my festering emotions express themselves, I was in a place where I could apply positive and possibility thinking.

Belief systems and ideas are only beneficial to the degree that they give us freedom from our current upset or from long time limits. There is never a one answer fits all philosophy.

We are relentless in our search to end suffering. Have you tried to give up your desires to help find emotional release? Spiritual teachings point to the suffering brought about by desires and attachments. Buddha says, "When we free ourselves of desire, we will know serenity and freedom." While giving up desires might bring peace, it is possible for the plan to backfire. When it does, we end up creating another kind of suffering. We set up the mind so it can never bring what we need. Giving up desires is possible, and desirelessness can bring peace, but if our ego oversees this transformation, and it frequently does, we continue suffering. Giving up desires must come from a sacred space, not a place where we deny ourselves in order to get spiritual gains in return.

Is there a way to fix the problem of emotional suffering? The real solution lies in not doing anything to fix the problem in the moment that it emerges in the mind as a problem. The release occurs when we do not define what is going on as a problem. The best way to let go of the idea that the situation is a problem is to accept what is happening as it is and then to give up the upset. It may take a few moments to let go. Maybe one needs to yell as I did about the cold, but at some point, even when riding in a cold car, it's best to accept what is and quit suffering about it.

This doesn't mean not to fix a car heater or not to get a higher paying job; it simply means not to luxuriate in the drama of psychological problem creation. Our resistance to what is, is the primary cause of ego driven suffering (EDS). When we accept what is happening without judgment, we develop an inner harmony that allows reality to be as it is, rather than as we interpret it. The what is will change, but when we carry the what was over into the what is now, we permanently obscure reality. We never see what is happening. We spend our lives in an internal dialogue, not as a witness to life as it is.

How can we accept what is, as it is?

• Get Physical. When the mind creates a problem, we tense up. Instead, relax, pull the shoulders back to open the chest, then breathe fully into the lower abdomen, next the chest, and finally exhale.
• Do Nothing. Drop the mental strategies on how to fix the current situation. Don't butt into the moment. We may want to make changes, but the first change is to drop the emotional upset, not to take action while upset.
• Inquire. Ask the questions, "Will suffering about this help anything?" and "What is the payoff for keeping this upset?"
• Resign as the Czar of Control. Realize that we can't control everything.
• Don't complain. Complaining is like gossip. It hurts the giver and the receiver. If you have to complain, write down every upset you have about the situation, then write "Let it go." across the paper and burn it. See your upset leaving as you breathe out and see calmness coming in as you inhale.
• Accept that you can't accept. If you've tried to release and can't let go of the upset, give yourself a break. "I want to let go of the upset, but I can't. I completely love and accept myself even when I can't let go. I am completely okay with feeling not okay." It's best to start acceptance where we are. If we can't accept our imperfections with grace, our alter egos continue to sabotage our attempts, lauding over us an impossible standard of perfection. After we accept ourselves as we are, we can move on to accepting life as it is.

The supreme challenge we have in life is how to accept what is when it is. We can go down a thousand paths to search for inner peace. We can excite exotic prayers and stretch until we are limp, but until we learn to accept what is, as it is, without judgments, our path will be strewn with suffering.

The Anne Talk meditation in this issue invites you to be the happiest person in the world. This requires giving up ego driven suffering (EDS). Would you be willing to give up your image as one who has a hard life and exchange it for an image of one who is happy beyond all cause and reason? If so, I can safely predict that your life will be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"I am like you and you are like me. And when we pretend to be different, we miss the mark of who we are."
— Excerpt from Anne Sermons Gillis’ poem, We Are the Same.

"From religion to invention, the contemplation of possibilities ushered into reality the things we often now take for granted."
— Rev. John Gilmore

"Awareness is the gate to mental and emotional freedom. Awareness holds our thoughts and emotions, but it is not guided by them. Theologians study the sacred; mystics experience it. I’d much rather be a mystic than a theologian."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

  Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

Click the graphic above to learn about EZosophy.

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

  Healthy Living

Sleeping Beauty (Finger Holding)

Years ago I sat by a pool near the beaches of Rio De Janeiro and learned about finger holding. It's an energy art that brings balance and harmony.

Last night I told my friend Cathy MacKenzie that I had not slept well for the past few nights. She asked if I had tried Jin Shin Jyutsu. I asked, "What is that?" She described the technique and I remembered the finger lessons I had 25 years ago. Cathy went on to say, "Hold one finger and then breathe in and out for five breaths. Continue for each finger until you fall asleep."

Click here to watch a
Jin Shin Jyutsu how-to video.

I was eager to follow Cathy's suggestion. So after I arranged my 5 pillows, put in eye drops, secured my sleep mask, and closed my eyes, I held my index finger and counted five gentle breaths. Perhaps this will not work all the time for everyone, but I did fall asleep and slept much better than normal. Wow, how EZ was that?

We all, at times, find ourselves lying awake at night, struggling to go to sleep. We might be working a problem in our heads or be doing battle in the hormone wars. So perhaps when you find yourself buzzed when you would rather be sleeping, try a little finger holding. Even if you don't fall asleep right way, this exercise is relaxing and eventually, if you keep holding your finger and gently breathing, I bet you will fall asleep.

Good night.

  Anne Talks

Today's Anne Talk is Happiest Person in the World Meditation. It was presented on March 6, 2016 at Unity of North Houston. Time: 4:24.

  Anne Art

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A Park in Anne's Neighborhood
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  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time.

Sunday, May 22, 2016
11 AM Service
Unity of Brazosport
507 S. Brooks St. (Hwy 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422
Phone: 979-798-4171

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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.