Anne's Note, Dealing With Life’s Difficulties, tells how we can better handle the difficulties we experience in our lives. In the Main article, The Supreme Okay, Anne shows how all of life is sacred. We don't have to choose between the mundane or the sacred. The Healthy Living article, You Can Retrain Your Brain, provides some ways to help you expand your mind. The Anne Talk, Communicating Love, is a recording of a talk she gave on February 17, 2013 at Unity Church of Christianity in Webster, Texas. The Featured Product this month is Anne's reprint of 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, October 11, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

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  A Note From Anne

Dealing With Life’s Difficulties

Dear ,

Our trip to see the grands was postponed because of Hurricane Mathew. My daughter and her family evacuated to Atlanta. We rescheduled the trip and when you receive this email on Tuesday morning, we will still be on the road. A two-day driving trip is what I call a “real trip,” but fortunately it’s not a mind trip. It’s worth every second of the trip. We will take Lucy, our dog, too. The boys call her “Ucy” and while they don’t interact with her much, she fascinates them.

Many watched the weather reports as hurricane Matthew swept the east coast. People ask how to be EZosophists when such trials and tribulations occur. EZosophy never denies that we face difficult times and circumstances. EZosophy reminds us that even when things are most difficult, there is always an EZier experience of the difficulty. We have the help of friends and family when we go through hardships, and we have an inner strength that rises to meet the worst of situations.

A friend recently lost his beautiful 31-year-old daughter in a car accident. She was badly burned and wavered between life and death for almost two weeks. Her heart finally gave out. Her father shared how much it meant when people from his past, even his childhood, contacted him to offer condolences. My friend facilitates an A Course in Miracles group. The principles of love and his understanding of the continuation of life, hold his hand and walk beside him through this difficult time. Sometimes they even carry him. He counts on an inner strength to guide him through each new day.

Tragedy and adversity are real. Not only do we deal with personal issues; we see the pain of the earth as she cries and shakes. We see starving children and animal torture. There has to be a way out of the pain that allows compassion to remain. There has to be an EZier way, and EZosophy offers that way. Keep remembering that “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.”

’Til next week.

Anne

  Main Article

The Supreme Okay

I stood in my closet and surveyed my clothing options. As always, at this time of the year, I wear shorts. The sweltering weather squeezes the life out of everything, so I dress in the coolest clothes possible. My two books were complete and my trip to Charleston was delayed due to the hurricane. The day leisurely stretched before me and even though I had several maintenance tasks planned, I wanted the exuberance of living to tap me on the shoulder and lead me into a new adventure. I was ready for the promised land of life. As I rummaged through a neatly stacked assortment of shorts, I uttered a prayer. I believe there's always a preferred path of doing, and I ask frequently for guidance to that path. I asked “What would you have me do?” Almost immediately I realized I was asking for some important task to fill each moment and wanted that task to bestow meaning and purpose on the day. Cleaning my bedroom would only take a few minutes. I would complete that task and then follow the direction of spirit. After making the bed, I could do the real work.

Immediately, my heart overflowed with joy. I felt unending peace. I was filled with a voiceless burst of knowing that it didn't matter what I did. All I needed to do in any endeavor was to be present and aware. There was no secret plan of doing; there were no special tasks that would make life right. Meaning and purpose exist regardless of the task, and I take meaning and purpose to the task. It’s not the other way around; the task itself creates no meaning. What relief; I wasn't missing some necessary secret formula for happiness that could only be found through some mysterious magical mission. All I ever had to do was bring love and presence into every action, thought, and deed.

I cleaned up the bedroom, no longer thinking of the activity as meaningless. I was filled with wonder as the sunlight danced on the floor, and I marveled at the ingenuity and craftsmanship of my dresser. The need to be important and do important things vanished and took with it the relentless burden of effort. I stood in the presence of completeness, wholeness. I was in and of spirit. Invisible Presence stood with me. All dimensions of life supported a Reality of which I was an integral part. Time dissolved as I embodied life and rested in Life’s deep pleasure. I was home again.

I know that Radical Presence brings meaning and fulfillment to each moment, but that knowing becomes an intellectual knowing rather than an actual realization. It seems like a cat-and-mouse game of forgetting and remembering. How could I forget that each instant is imbued with optimum Okayness? But I do forget, more times than I can remember.

In 1997 I had an awakening to the Supreme Okayness that lasted several years. It was such an all-encompassing knowing that I closed my spiritual center, Connection, and embarked on a journey to discover how to live when I wasn't chasing enlightenment or trying to improve myself. I was already who and what I wanted to be and I didn’t have to study in order to fix life nor did I have to discover myself. I was free to enjoy life. As the years passed, the light of knowing dimmed and brightened and life became a series of waking up, going to sleep, and reawakening.

While being asleep can have its moments—after all, the ego’s circus is alluring and can be quite entertaining—nothing can compare to the sheer joy of awakening to Presence. Maybe at some Divine level we purposely arrange to go to sleep so we can experience the joy of re-emergence into the sacred. Are we like kids who thrill to the ride of a Ferris wheel or a roller coaster? After all, waking up is the consummate spiritual ride and we love it.

All this conjecture is to say, “Make it easy on yourself.” The next time you fall off the spiritual wagon, never fear: at some point you will unexpectedly fall back into the truth of your being. The inner alarm is set to go off intermittently and you won’t be left to your slumber too long. Once you venture onto the path of your Being, you will never be alone again. You will be guarded and guided as you explore the vast unknown. We all need help. We are Infinite Beings squeezed into a finite living space – the body. It’s a tricky situation, but we are safe. The Supreme Okayness reigns in every situation. Get used to it. You can’t escape it. Your only assignment is to count on it, and, when you do, you will always find that life is EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"The privilege of a lifetime is to be who you are."
-- Joseph Campbell

"What are you doing with your mind? Are you responsible with it? Do you stretch it into possibility or corner it at every turn?"
-- Anne Sermons Gillis

"The question, ‘What have I done with my life?’ is not so important. We don’t need to rest on our laurels or feel ashamed of what we did or did not do. A more relevant question is, “What am I doing with my life now? Am I bringing more compassion, understanding, and generosity to the table of life?"
-- Anne Sermons Gillis

  Featured Product This Month

At last, the reprint of EZosophy: The art of EZ or at Least EZier Living, is out. If you've been wanting an EZier life, this book provides a clear path toward EZ.

EZosophy:The Art and Wisdom of Easy or At Least Easier Living is a simple philosophy that radically changes lives. It is a book for the spiritually-based reader who no longer values the ego driven struggle of contemporary life.

EZosophy will help readers:

• Give up Hard Attacks. Hardaholic no more.
• Drop the drama.
• Make your life EZier. Ease is not indolence. Rather, ease is the art of accomplishment without struggle.
• Learn to identify ego driven suffering (EDS).

  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

You Can Retrain Your Brain

Doctors, or body mechanics, of the past viewed the human brain as an organ that had certain limits. They failed to recognize what meta-physicians have known for centuries: the brain is a lot more than what we think. Not only is the brain full of surprises, the brain also has the ability to reorganize itself and to form new pathways. This is called neuroplasticity. This process is similar to regeneration, but it’s really re-appropriation of the brain’s and body’s resources.

My sister, who died recently, went from being a brilliant woman with an IQ of 160, to a walking, non-talking person who had less mental clarity than my dog, Lucy. Such a tragedy. My mother the same, my grandfather, my uncle, all lost somewhere in a land whose surface interface was not in the world we know and live in. I’m not sure where they were, but their brains no longer provided the climate for self-knowledge, communication, and intimacy.

The documentary movie and book, The Brain that Changes Itself, offer insight into the incredible work being done to retrain stoke victims, people with autism, and people with learning disabilities. I highly recommend this movie, which can be viewed on YouTube.

I have a friend whose husband suffered from brain injury. The doctors told her he would never be normal; they had done everything they could for him. He had lost the ability to rhyme, would never be able to write a letter, or communicate in a meaningful way. She did not believe them and read all the recent studies on neuroplasticity and applied what she had learned. Today her husband is a poet and has published four books about his recovery.

Here are some things that one can do to keep their brain active and to ward off dementia and Alzheimer’s.

• Learn something new every day. While crossword puzzles and Sudoku might be fun games, they really don’t help build new brain pathways. As most people know, learning a new language is one of the best ways to build the brain.
• Go barefoot. The brain receives information from the feet, but when our feet are shoe-covered, we limit incoming stimulating data.
• Get off the treadmill. While walking on a treadmill may do wonders for the body, it does little for the brain. Walk outside and take new routes every day. Be mindful and pay attention. Walking off a path on unfamiliar terrain challenges the brain. Pay attention. Be mindful.
• Ride a bicycle. The brain constantly has to adapt and figure out how to handle the ride.
• Cook different foods. Give the body different experiences.
• Travel. A routine life offers little challenge. When we travel we have to navigate all kinds of unfamiliar situations.
• Try Lumosity games. It is a service dedicated to brain workouts. While it may have received some bad press, I think it is worthwhile.

Working our brains not only guards against dementia, it creates a healthier and more interesting lifestyle. The older people get, the more sedentary and set in their ways they tend to be. Don’t lock your mind up behind the computer and TV. As we age, we have fewer responsibilities. Let’s use our time to open up, not close down.

Anne

  Anne Talks

Communicating Love

Today's Anne Talk, Communicating Love, is a recording of a talk she gave on February 17, 2013 at Unity Church of Christianity in Webster, Texas. Time: 24:00.

  Anne Art

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  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

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

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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.