Anne's Note, May Love Guide Our Actions, encourages us to measure our actions by how loving they are. The Main article, Maybe It's Time to Surrender, invites us to surrender to the wisdom within which knows our inherent greatness. The Healthy Living article is Keeping Our Brains Fit. The Anne Talk, EZosophy Vows, is a talk given at Brazosport, Texas on Oct. 30, 2016. The Featured Product this month is Anne's new reprint of EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or At Least Easier Living. Learn about Anne's newest book.

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

Living EZosophy, November 15, 2016
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

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  A Note From Anne

May Love Guide Our Actions

Dear ,

What an intense few days. We are in high drama. The presidential election's suspense is over and the reality of a new president settles into our minds. Some people breathe a sigh of relief, while others breathe a sigh of resignation.

It's like a test to prove who we are. Are we people of compassion and people of integrity? Will we stand tall in our inner beliefs of the ongoing presence of peace and ease or will we contribute to the ongoing delirium of drama? Political by-standing provides the stage for outrage, angry righteousness, fear, cynicism, and a sense of entitlement. Our job, as EZosophists, is to step away from the drama and into the EZ.

We are energetically joined, and when we join the upset of life's circumstances, we contribute to the demise of peace. Let's take action if we must, but whatever action we take, let's do it centered in love and join together to support our great nation.

On a lighter note, as my grand twins continue to mature into their twos, my son-in law says he feels likes he's been taken hostage and he's negotiating with terrorists! He wasn't laughing! But I was.

Until next week,

Anne

  Main Article

Maybe It's Time to Surrender

It's ingenious how the egoic mind sets up emotional and intellectual climates that keep us at arm's length from the truth of our being. While there is much cleverness needed to set up this spring loaded mental trap, it's a kind of maneuvering that goes against our best interests. One of the most common existential dilemmas comes in the form of opposites.

We have a thought that we are too much for others to handle. If we speak out, people can't take it. If we are fully alive in the presence of others, who are in the midst of some dilemma or not as accomplished as we are, we somehow do them a disservice. If we are brilliant, we will be lonely because we will be put on a pedestal, envied, or thought to be too big for our britches. We believe our aliveness, enthusiasm, and light hurt others. Our brilliance is too much for others to handle. We will outshine others and they will be left in a darkened misery. We are embarrassed to be lucky, happy, and healthy. We don't want to disturb others' supposed suffering.

Then there's the voice that drones on about us not being or doing enough. You should be out there. You should be more successful, powerful, and outspoken. "Show up. Do something!" So we busy ourselves through a flurry of meaningless activity in hopes that our attempts will make us important or enough.

A battle ensues between "You are too much" and "You are not enough (you don't do enough)." Given these parameters, we are doomed to swing back and forth between fear of succeeding or just being okay and the fear of failing, not being important, or the dread of nonexistence. There is no winning, and we eventually resign ourselves to the "damned if you do; damned if you don't" philosophy. If we give up, we will probably resign, then realign and get our hopes up once again, find a new project, and get back out in the no-win game of life.

But suppose we surrender? Suppose this defeat reveals the hopelessness of this inner game, and, rather than giving up, we abandon the ego's plan. We surrender and begin to operate from the space that we don't know what to do or how to operate, but we know there is a power that flows through us and informs us that does know. It is a voice that knows our true value. It is a speaking silence that anoints the present moment and leaves us in the undeniable place of comfort and peace.

One time I was caught in the ego's stomping ground. I knew whatever was running me at the time, was up to no good. Regardless of what I did, or how I did it, my attempts were meaningless. I surrendered. I got in bed and sat. I declared that I would not get out of bed until something changed. I didn't care if this resulted in hunger or lack of activity. I would be as resolute in my quest as Gandhi. I could not go on as I had been. I sat moment after moment saying to life itself, "I'm not budging until something changes. I don't know what to do or how to do it. This is your game, not mine. I am out." I sat for about two hours in complete surrender. Then, without notice, something rose inside. I picked up my to do list and sprinted through each task with an amazing efficacy and energy. There was no hopelessness, no despair. I went on with my normal activities, but my inner light was turned on and I emerged into a brand-new world. My egoic mind was no longer in charge.

I remembered once again that no matter what inner dilemmas or drama my mind sets up, there is always a path to surrender. That path doesn't weaken us; it makes us stronger. While it is not morally wrong to live a life of resignation, it is a great waste of a life. There's always the alternative path of active surrender. Oddly enough, surrender is the path we choose that says we give up our right to choose as we've been choosing, and it takes us past the choosing mechanism. It is a choice not to use itself. This is a path of EZ, and, when we follow it, it not only leads to illumination, it also makes our lives EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

"6. Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard."
– Isaiah 58 6-8

"Something magic happens when we take our eyes off ourselves and put them on those around us. We might think we have nothing to give, but the greatest thing we can give is our attention. People are hungry to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and noticed."
– Anne Sermons Gillis

"Less bad is not good enough."
– Unknown

  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).

  Healthy Living

Keeping Our Brains Fit

My mom's mind left long before her body. The same is true of my sister and my uncle. It was sad to watch wonderful people that I loved disappear bit by bit. I've read about genetics and memory, but it seems that newer research reveals that genetics can be altered by the environment. That means that even the food we eat can affect our memory.

My friend, Denise, who is always researching the brain, asked me if I ate late at night. I asked why and she told me that the brain detoxifies at night when we sleep, and if it is busy digesting food, it cannot devote its energy toward detoxification. She knows of my quest to keep my mind fit, so she recommended, "Don't eat three hours before you go to sleep." I think it's a good practice and I'm implementing it. I asked her to follow up via email. Here's more detail on her advice.

Anne, the "not eating" approximately 3 hours before sleep is from Epigenetics (the science of how our environment can turn on or off our genes). Our body has two basic modes, processing and healing. Our body only heals while resting / sleeping. If you go to bed and your stomach is still processing food/drinks, the body is in the processing mode. Because your system slows down so much when you sleep, the processing of food/drink takes much longer (generally between 5 and 8 hours while sleeping, instead of the 3 hours in waking mode). This means your body is not able to go into the healing mode AND that is the only time (REM sleep) you can detox. So, a good deal of our sleep never goes into the healing mode, and apparently when this is constant, the toxins that build up in the brain are not able to detox (and scientists are saying the toxic material in the brain is the activator of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia).

Here's a list of foods and drugs that impair memory:

• Aspartame
• Antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs – Think Xanax, Valium, and Ativan. For more drugs, check out Top 7 Drugs that May Cause Memory Loss.
• Processed cheeses – Think American Cheese, Cheez Whiz
  White foods – pasta, sugar, rice, cakes, bread
• Smoking
• Processed meats, beer, nitrates

What helps our memory?

• Walking new ways when you go places
• Bicycle riding – the brain has to keep judging the way to move and where to put the wheels
• Getting a good night's sleep. Some people say the body gets its best sleep between 8 PM and 12 Midnight. So that idea's out if you live in modern society! See this Ted talk by Jeff Iliff.

Anne

  Anne Talks

EZosophy Vows

Today's Anne Talk, EZosophy Vows, is a talk given at Brazosport, Texas on Oct. 30, 2016. Time: 26:24.

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