Anne's Note, Changes, discusses how our perspective about a situation can change our interpretation of it. The Main article, Does Chatter Matter?, contrasts "chatter" with "matter" and helps us to better determine what really makes a difference in our lives. The Healthy Living article, Carrot Breakfast Especial, is a quick, healthy, blender drink you might enjoy. The Anne Talk, Relax into the Stillness, is a guided meditation that helps us move into the space of stillness. The Featured Product this month is Anne's newest book, Words Make a Difference.

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

Living EZosophy, September 6, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  A Note From Anne

Changes

Dear ,

My sister, Sue, visited Houston this week. My niece, her daughter Caroline, was celebrating her 30th birthday. Jim and I met Sue and her husband for dinner in downtown Houston. While we were walking downtown, following dinner, her son called. I overheard a part of the conversation. She said, "It's like an oven here. It's like someone turned on an oven!" I smiled inwardly because it is a little cooler this time of year than normal. One of my husband's favorite sayings, is "It's all relative." This thought applies; to her the heat was almost indescribable and to me it bordered on pleasant. It was in the high nineties, at 7 PM at night, but we haven't had 20 days with temperatures over one hundred as we frequently have during the summer.

Anne and her sister, Sue Sermons Tarlton

The idea that things are relative can take some of the suffering out of our perspective. It seems unfortunate that we haven't sold our house, after having it on the market more than a year, but when I look at the pictures of the flooded homes in Louisiana, it gives an expanded meaning to the word unfortunate.

If I take the word "un" from unfortunate, I'm left with the word fortunate. It was a word that was there all the time, but it was upstaged when I put the prefix "un" in front of it. Shifting my mind from unfortunate to fortunate takes only a few seconds, and it is more fun to hang out with the word fortunate. I am fortunate to have family, fortunate to have a dry home, and fortunate that you are reading these words. Wasn't that easy? The word fortunate is a cozy word to partner with. Try it on in your life and see if it fits. I bet it will, and when you do, your life will definitely be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Main Article

Does Chatter Matter?

Is the word "chair" actually a chair? No; it is a word we collectively choose to use, so when we speak, we understand what we are referring to. Words are reference points, but they are not reality. I can say, "I am happy," but the words themselves are not my emotions. I can say "I am happy" and actually be depressed. What I've said is irrelevant to what is happening internally. When someone asks me how I'm doing and I respond, "Fine," that's chatter. "Fine" is not a valid reference point for what's going on with me. It's a formality. People who ask how we are doing are usually just chattering socially accepted niceties and we respond in kind.

Thoughts are words, but they are not reality; they are removed from reality. This comes as no surprise. We know the concept, yet we operate under the influence of thoughts. We are highly prejudiced and regulated by our thoughts, especially the bizarre ones. We think about complex situations that will never occur. We ask our friends' take on these illusory scenarios. We drag the past into our thoughts to give them life. Our minds are on a treasure hunt for something that will never make sense or for something that will finally make things better. But, words can't deliver; they can't give us what we want. While chatter doesn't matter, it can have a profound effect on us. Our chatter beats us down. Chatter drains our energy.

Chatter is like plastic food; thoughts are like plastic food: if you try to eat plastic food, you will go hungry. The plastic food is a representation of food, not food itself.

We long for reality. We can think about reality, but reality can only be experienced; thinking adds nothing to reality. Thinking is the process that turns reality into good or bad – advantageous or disadvantageous.

Does our chatter matter? Most chatter doesn't matter. When we are driving and a squirrel darts out in front of the car, we don't think, "The squirrel, a member of the rodent family, is moving at a fast speed across the road and in .5 seconds the car will run over him. He will die; his blood pressure will elevate, then will slow down, and if I hit him head on, he will die. I have .03 seconds to turn the car to the right so as to avoid running over the squirrel. I am now lifting my hand to the top of the steering wheel and using both hands to turn the wheel." No, we quickly, without conscious thought, turn the wheel to the right to avoid the squirrel. We didn't need a complex set of words to avoid the squirrel. And we don't need a complex set of ideas to supervise each moment.

The mystics say that most of humanity is asleep. Why? Because we think that thoughts are reality. Thoughts are things. They have mass and energy, but they are not reality. They have a magnetizing ability to attract form, but they are not the form they attract. The chatter is like a drug that keeps us lulled into a virtual reality. Our mind is like a video game. We have rules and play a predictable game – in our minds.

As we mature, we often realize we are living synthetic lives. We question and search, as did Jim Carrey in The Truman Show movie. At some point we may realize that we have directly experienced reality, but we were so preoccupied with words, thoughts, and emotions, that we failed to notice. We've looked toward the action of life, not the being of life. This is when we flock to Western psychology to find answers, and, while we may get some relief from our synthetic interpretation of life, it is Eastern philosophy that provides the clearest roadmap. Eastern philosophy knows and teaches the importance of the still mind, how to witness our thoughts, and detachment.

Chatter isn't wrong. It just doesn't matter. It's irrelevant to reality. When we can watch our minds without believing the chatter, we've taken our first step toward the peace-that-passes understanding. The more we disengage from the mind chatter, the more present we are to experience what matters. The innate importance of each moment reveals itself from a vast space that transcends what we call "the mind." Each moment flings itself into reality, full throttle, resplendent with meaning. The moment doesn't equivocate. There is no bad or good moment. The moment doesn't need improvement. The moment is steeped in Source and perfect as it is. The moment carries a wordless pure quality.

It might seem odd that I have written a book entitled Words Make a Difference and yet write an article that talks about the invalid nature of words and thoughts. If you read my book, you will note that I say that at some point words don't matter, but as long as words matter to us, it's best to find a constructive way to use them. The book, Words Make a Difference, is written from a dualistic point of view, and this article is based on nondualism. The ideas only seem to conflict when we use thoughts and words to wade through them. We tell different stories and use different analogies at the transcendent level of consciousness. Nondualism occurs when the consciousness is in a transcendent state.

What do we do with the chatter in regular life? Nothing. We don't have to change the chatter, fix it, or eliminate it. We just need to watch it without interference and, when we do, our lives become EZier and EZier. Is it simple? Yes. It is easy? You decide!

Anne

  Quotes

"The normal reasoning mind is not the only mental activity. When we believe there's nothing more, we block the deep sources of wisdom and information held outside the familiar perimeter we think of as the mind."
-- A BATGAP speaker

"Our convictions make us convicts. We are prisoners of our beliefs and hostages to our unexamined assumptions."
-- Anne Sermons Gillis

"We're energetic beings inseparable from the Universal life force; we don't need any outside system to make decisions for us or tell us how our energy can be raised or lowered. We're all unique, so no one can really make blanket rules about what's right for us. However, this is what many organized spiritual systems and religions seem to do. Once a structure is established, everyone is expected to follow the same tenets. Those who choose not to are judged negatively, and that's how and why organized religions create divisiveness and strife instead of the unity that they're trying to establish with those very rules. Following a religious path doesn't necessarily exempt us from living a life of fear or even victimizing others. Following a personal spiritual path, however, means to follow the promptings of our own inner being and taps into the infinite self we all are at our core."
-- Anita Moorjani, excerpted from her book, Dying to be Me

  Featured Product This Month

Finally, a book of affirmations, action plans, and deep insights into the human consciousness that transforms and heals the soul, the local and global community, and the planet. Travel with Gillis on a journey through deep psychology, metaphysics, and nondualism.

We are responsible for a world that works for everyone and, as a collective assembly of souls, we cannot rest until greed no longer supersedes need. We cannot rest until greed no longer supersedes need. We are called to plant the seeds of blessing along the path to liberation. Revolutionary words call us to a world-wide renaissance of cooperation and community.

• Heal the most basic wounds of our human condition.
• Move beyond narcissism to compassion and justice.
• Become a Global Boom-Box.

You may order it from the website or call me at 713.922.0242 to order directly from me. The price is $16.95 plus $3.99 shipping.

Click here to order Words Make a Difference.

You can also download a Kindle copy of Anne's new book, Words Make a Difference, on Amazon.

  What is EZosophy?

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  Healthy Living

Carrot Breakfast Especial

I have a wild palate. I try things that others might not try. I prefer a mostly plant based diet and having something outside my buckwheat pancake (a rare treat), green drink, granola, or fruit and nuts diet can be challenging. Some of my experiments are not spot on, but some deserve a worthy mention. I think this carrot delight is one of those.

I started with an online recipe and took a wide berth with the ingredients. I loved this vegetable meal for breakfast. It is high in fiber, so my goozzles loved it too.

Ingredients

• 3 medium sized carrots – cut in pieces
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 large romaine leaves (More if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup of plant-based milk – I used almond milk because that's what I had on hand.
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Dash of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup peeled pistachios

Blend all ingredients except the pistachios. When they are well-blended, put in your serving dish and top with pistachios. Eat well and prosper. Yum. Yum.

Anne

  Anne Talks

Today's Anne Talk is Relax into the Stillness. This 5 minute meditation took place on May 7, 2016, as the opening to the Houston Lodge Theosophical meeting. Time: 5:19.

  Anne Art

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  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time.

Monday, September 19, 2016
5:00 PM. Call in to 888-919-2355.
Live online interview by Keith Anthony Blanchard of Center of Light Radio.

Sunday, September 25, 2016
After 11:00 AM service
Book signing for Anne's new book
Words Make a Difference
Creative Life Spiritual Center
5326 Spring Stuebner Rd. Ste. 200
Spring, Texas 77389
Phone: 281-350-5157

Sunday, October 9, 2016
Workshop – Details TBA
Unity of Charleston
2535 Leeds Ave.
Charleston, SC 29405
Phone: 843-566-0600

Sunday, October 23, 2016
11 AM Service: "Living in Ease"
Carmel Temple
1208 Pennsylvania St.
South Houston, TX 77587
Phone: 713-944-0014

Sunday, October 30, 2016
10 AM Service
Unity of Brazosport
507 So. Brooks St. (Hwy 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422

  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.