Anne's Note emphasizes our need to Embrace the Less is More Philosophy.The Main article, Reality 101, distinguishes living reality from analyzing reality. The Healthy Living article, Natural Cleaning Solutions, provides some safe and easy natural cleaning suggestions. The Anne Talk, Relax into the Stillness, is a relaxing meditation with music to help you find your place of stillness. 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 17, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

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  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

I just walked by my neighbor's home. One of her children had on a Batman costume and the other sported Minnie Mouse pajamas. It was costume day for one child and pajama day for the other. One child is four years old and the other is 8 months. Childcare is fancy these days. My two-year-old grands go to the children's museum and frequently participate in cultural events. Their nanny drives them somewhere different each day. They go to the gym, the library, and the playground. They paint, make hand molds, and learn songs.

A few years ago I had a pregnant friend who played daily Chinese lessons to her daughter in utero. She put her child in an all-Spanish speaking kindergarten so she could learn Spanish and English. Child rearing is different today than it was 40 plus years ago when I had my daughter.

The complexity of a highly technological society has caught up with us and we are caught up in it from conception to the grave. This makes it all the more important to implement the ideas of EZosophy and to embrace the less is more philosophy. I am not there yet, but my husband and I love watching the tiny house shows and recently watched a documentary, We the Tiny House People.

Getting away from the bigger is better syndrome may be the number one priority for people today. The more we have, the bigger the burden. Let's join in a revolution of simplifying our lives and making them EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Reality 101

What is this thing we call life? We strive to improve life. We seek adventure, personal growth, and self-fulfillment, but life is not what we believe it to be. Most of what we call life is our interpretation of life. Can you imagine getting an English translator to translate all your conversations with your English speaking friends? Having an English translator to interpret a conversation spoken in English would stand only to interfere and delay the conversation. Yet that's what the mind does with reality – with life. Our minds interpret that which does not need interpretation.

The mind interferes with life using an endless narrative of conditioned commentaries. Mental constructs include such favorite beliefs as one not deserving good or oldies such as "There's something wrong with me.", "I don't belong.", "Everyone thinks I'm weird.", and "I'm bad." The mind sees reality though these beliefs; when reality comes though, it's tainted and is no longer reality.

The mind then sets a course to analyze, control, fix, and heal these imagined deficits through religion, therapy, being positive, and dozens of other tools and techniques purported to erase shame, guilt, and pain. The mind promises big and delivers small, because this mode of operation requires a lifetime of dedication, growth, and efforting for one to finally be okay. But that day never comes, and life continues to be punctuated with relief, then suffering and dissatisfaction.

The way to enlightenment is not through self-improvement; it is through the direct experience of life and that direct experience is available now. Life is for you. It is for you now. Life is not something that will happen to you in the future if you go through an undetermined course of learning and growth. Life and enlightenment are synonymous. When you are fully alive, you live an enlightened life. This experience is not reserved for the Buddhas and masters of the past. Life is here now for you, period! A Course in Miracles says that delay is not a problem in eternity, but it is tragic in time.

Suppose your favorite vocal artist comes to town and you are fortunate enough to get concert tickets. You arrive with a friend and have the time of your life. You hum, move your body, and clap your hands. You jump to your feet with the crowd and laugh with wild abandon. Never did you consider that you needed to be a better person to enjoy the songs. Never did you work on forgiving everyone that you had harmed or who had harmed you before you could grove on the music. No, you went to the concert and immediately enjoyed what was there. Life is the concert, and it requires nothing more that attendance. Drop the need to fix yourself, just for a few moments, and try the direct experience of life. Just as an experiment: What would it be like to expect nothing from yourself except presence?

Eckhart Tolle wrote the ground breaking book, The Power of Now. It was not revelatory because it contained new and conclusive evidence that now is the point of power. It was not successful because it brought forth previously hidden mystical truths. The things he speaks of have been known and revealed for thousands of years. The book was ground-breaking because people were finally ready to listen to and accept the deepest truth of reality. The book came forth at a time when people were willing and ready to see and hear.

The truth teacher faces a challenge in speaking of that which is direct and simple. Life is now; no waiting. It is not hidden. And life doesn't need a teacher. Life is open to everyone, without the intercession of teachers, priests, or education. How many ways can one package Reality 101? Teachers speak of the obstacles to the truth, the obstacles to reality. Much can be said about the hypnotic trance and the meandering mind, but as for truth itself, it stands unblemished and needs no interpretation.

The conversation about the mind and its construction is not even reality. We speak of the mind as a label for all the habitual thought patterns. When we stop and actually silence our thoughts, where does the mind go? The brain continues to function, but the mind doesn't really exist – not the mind we speak of. We use the term mind because even though it is not reality, the term serves as a communication device. Everyone knows what we mean when we say mind, even though when the term "mind" is examined, we find a slippery slope.

When we live in the present, when we consistently drop our mental assessments, something precious begins to happen. The burden lifts. The efforting stops. Our mistrust of life dissolves. For some the change is gradual and for others there's a sudden thrust into life's sweet spot.

Writing this is like taking a picture of a beautiful mountain. The shot can take place from many angles, but the camera is always pointed toward the mountain. The words are the camera; the mountain is reality, truth, and life. Welcome home to the truth.

Anne

  Quotes

"Change never comes from the voice of reason. It comes from the voice of unreasonable."
— Swami Beyondananda

"Give up your drama, deny your wounds, and turn, instead, to the ongoing essence of reality – Love. This is who you are. No arguing. This is not up for discussion. This is the truth. Quit trying to improve the dark and turn to the light. It is only in the light that you can find yourself."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"You must make all the changes necessary to be as great as you are."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

  Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

Click the graphic above to learn about EZosophy.

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  Healthy Living

Natural Cleaning Solutions

People claim that wearing a copper bracelet brings health benefits. I have several copper bracelets, so I pulled one from its hiding place. The bracelet was tarnished. Accordingly, I grabbed my tube metal cleaner and polished it. It gleamed, but I noticed a strong odor from the cleaner and on my hands. The bracelet smelled like a chemistry lab. Darn, this cleaner was toxic, and no matter how hard I scrubbed my bracelet and my hands, the chemical scent remained. My common sense had failed temporarily, but now I was back on track. I needed to throw that metal cleaner away.

I had two other copper bracelets. I looked up natural copper cleaners and found one using lemon and salt. I walked into the kitchen and found a lemon and some salt. I cut a small lemon slice, put lemon juice and salt on my fingers, and rubbed the bracelet. It was shining in a jiffy. My hand even smelled fresh.

There are many easy and natural solutions. You can clean silver by placing a couple of balls of aluminum foil in boiling water, add some baking soda, and dip your silver into the pot. The tarnish drops off.

Recently I spilled some pomegranate juice on my white linen sofa. I poured hydrogen peroxide on the stain and it was gone in 20 minutes.

Here's a website that offers recipes for 67 homemade cleaning solutions. Homemade natural cleaning products not only save your money, they save your health.

  Anne Talks

Today's Anne Talk is Relax into the Stillness. It's a relaxing meditation with music to help you find your place of stillness. Time: 5:19.

  Anne Art

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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.