The Anne Report, The Power of Personal Contact, emphasizes the importance of our reaching out to others. The Main article, Experiencing the Truth, discusses how to find truth by first stopping our search for it. The Healthy Living article provides a recipe for Breakfast Carob Mousse. The Anne Talk is Relax, Don't be Serious, Let Go Meditation. It was presented to Unity of North Houston, TX on May 3, 2015. The Featured Product this month is Anne's new reprint of EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or At Least Easier Living. Click here to learn about Anne's newest book, Words Make a Difference.

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

Living EZosophy, February 28, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

The Power of Personal Contact

Dear ,

There's nothing better for a grandmother than to be with her grandchildren. It's been grandmama heaven here in Mt. Pleasant, SC. I have grand twins, boys. At almost three years old, they experiment with everything, from testing their mom to playing with toy trains. They change moods swiftly, going from exuberance to screams of distress, within seconds. What is so wonderful is that no matter what they do or what mood they are in, they always return to their default positions of childlike wonder. And it's contagious – that joy.

The Grands' Toy Vehicles

There are some establishments that combine child care and elder care. Bravo. When we are with people, we entrain with them. If we are with people who are angry and fearful, all the time, we tend to get a little paranoid or irritated. The old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together" is true, but we can extend it to say that when you hang around a group of birds too long, you start to chirp like them.

We can't avoid some people or some groups of people, but we can chose to hang out in places that support childlike joy and enthusiasm. Contact with joyful groups, people we love and trust, not only provides soul food; it can extend our lives more than seven years. Forgive me for bringing this up in so many newsletters. It's just that we tend to isolate more as a society than ever before, and we need to find our way back home to each other. Contact with others makes us thrive, and I'll probably keep beating this drum. "Reach out and touch somebody's hand; make this world a better place," should be a twenty-first century mantra. Together we do what we cannot do alone. So reach out today, because when you do, life will be EZier and EZier.

Until next week, this is the Anne Report.

Anne

  Main Article

Experiencing the Truth

There's an old saying: 'When a fool looks at a finger pointing to the moon, all s/he sees is the finger." When we use words to describe truth, often, like one who sees only the finger, all we see are the words. Week after week, I invite you, with my pointed finger, to see the moon. We all want the moon, and if we are going to find it, it is important to know where to look.

We live in a society that needs to wake up, but until we experience who we are, we cannot even discuss truth. Who we are cannot be spoken of; not because it is a secret, but because who we are is an experience, not a definition or interpretation. We can speak of what we are not. We are not our minds. We are not our bodies. We are not a sum of our experiences in the world. We are not our emotions. We are not our legacy or heritage. We are not our knowledge or intellect. We are not our accomplishments, our education, or our limitations.

It's time to notice, if just for a moment, who we are. When we stop our minds, even for an instant, and experience who we are, truth fills our awareness. Most people prefer to fill their minds with concepts and theories. The well-meaning philosopher misses the truth s/he so readily discusses. Truth is now. When the mind stops, the journey stops. Truth is direct and not mitigated by the mind. When the indefinable truth becomes the guiding light of our physical expression (our body, with its personal identity), we lose our attachments. The direct knowing of truth dissolves control, manipulation, and power-seeking, and it nullifies a host of other divisive practices. When we wake up, we don't have to please others. We don't contort ourselves and continually apologize for our existence. When we wake up, we simply say, 'I am awake now. That won't happen again."

When I was young, I knew there was something missing. I went on a search for that something. I didn't know what it was, so I tried to find the truth. I went on a quest and discovered that truth is ultimately all there is and all exists in truth, like the fish who went searching for the ocean. 'Do you know where I can find the ocean?" 'You are in it." 'Oh no; that's just water. I'm looking for the ocean."

My first ah-ha occurred when I stumbled on the idea of relative truth. Relative truth was like a fresh breeze that unlocked me from the stranglehold of right versus wrong. Soil is good. Soil is good to grow flowers. Soil is bad. Soil is not good in a cake. Soil is defined by its use; soil is neutral until we give it meaning. Learning about relative truth was liberating, but at some point, I realized that relative truth is bereft when it stands beside ultimate truth.

Fortunately I stopped looking for the truth and found something deeper that was never lost. Like the ocean to the fish, truth is subtle, and like the ocean, truth is powerful. I don't believe we can have a universal truth, but 'we can have a universal experience" (A Course in Miracles). There's a line in a song, 'Love in any language, spoken from the heart – brings us all together, never apart." It's not the words we use to define truth, but the underlying essence that gives truth meaning.

It's ironic to use words to describe that which cannot be grasped through words nor found through seeking. I understand the search; I really do. I've searched teaching after teaching. I've meditated, contemplated, educated, and manipulated my mind toward the goal of truth. I've been around the world and through many altered states. I've fire-walked, vision-quested, fasted, consulted gurus, sung bhajans, performed pujas, worn pyramids on my head (I am not joking), and meditated in Himalayan caves. All this was interesting and fun at times, but the insatiable thirst for truth was only quenched when I stopped the search and rested in the truth.

Truth is here and now. The mind and its chatter have no value unless it serves this truth. The truth isn't spelled out or explained; there are no clever techniques for grasping truth. But, like a road sign, I continue to point the way, and the road sign is a stop sign. Stop. Our best action is nonaction. Let's listen to life, not talk over it. No longing, milking, or gaming life. Stopping the mind and becoming aware of what is in our bodies, watching our words, and being present bear enormous fruit. H.W.L. Poonja tells us, 'In this lifetime, in this year, in this moment, you have the absolute potential and the absolute capacity to realize who you are."

It's time, right in this moment, to stop. Stopping means surrender. Surrender means to lay down the mind and to stop trying to plan and figure out how to be a better person. Stopping means we just surrender to the good person we already are. The present is devoid of the past, even if it's something we did three minutes ago. We must let the past go. We do that by halting our thoughts about what happened. The present is pure and clean, and it holds our true self in high esteem and perfect balance. Doesn't this sound like the place to be? Let's join in a new dispensation of truth. Let's rest in awareness, rather than participate in mind sports, because when we do, life become EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne Quotes

"Thoughts that originate from the surface of our minds are sequestered by the ego and used for protection against the world. It is an unnecessary protection, but, none-the-less, the egoic mind has an elaborate agenda that keeps us occupied with seductive, but useless, data and activity."

"Every religion tells us to seek, in some way, usually their way, access to the present and Presence. Most religions are so messed up these days with onerous requirements, that the good news they proclaim is hidden under that old basket. Today, millions seek the non-traditional path of spiritual awakening. We are no longer interested in dead end paths. We want that which serves all and passionately loves all, and we want it now. The good news, the really good news, is that it is available now."

"Not even the best of chefs can throw together a gourmet meal in a few minutes. Often the flavors of a dish must ripen. The most tantalizing dishes take hours to cook, but before the cooking, a great chef has to master the art of cooking. The art transcends recipes. A master chef learns to be one with the food. It is as if the food speaks as to how it can best blend its components and tastes so as to brim with sensual delight.

We are like the food, the chef, and the art of cooking. We have to be a master of all three in order to live our lives from the center of well-being. TV shows are often preceded by a message like, "Live from the Kennedy Center." We have to be the one who says to and of ourselves, "Live from the center of peace, intuition, creativity, and love – I present Me."

  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

Breakfast Carob Mousse

I love this dish. I adapted it from a recipe that used chocolate in lieu of carob. The recipe is lost somewhere in my recipe graveyard but I remembered the gist of it. It had few ingredients and was simple to make. What a change of pace for breakfast. It looks so decadent and is a pleasure to eat. And the recipe is very forgiving. It's hard to mess this up. I sometimes use a whole banana, sometimes a half one. If the banana is ripe, I don't need any sweetener; if not, I use either agave or real maple syrup.

• 1/2 large avocado
• 1/2 to 1 ripe banana (not so ripe it is brown inside)
• 2 Tablespoons of carob powder
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup if needed
• 1 T. cinnamon optional
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne optional - gives it a little bite

Cacao nibs optional. I like the crunch it gives this.

Mix in a small food processor, or with an immersion blender, and if you don't have one of those, try a fork or potato masher. Eat. This makes a great breakfast food.

Most are familiar with the health benefits of bananas and avocado, but what about carob? What does it offer?

Health Benefits of Eating Carob*

• Carob tannins contain Gallic acid that works as an analgesic, anti-allergic, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiviral, and antiseptic.
• Carob improves digestion and lowers cholesterol level in the blood.
• It is used for treating diarrhea in children and adults alike.
• Since it does not contain caffeine, carob benefits people with high blood pressure.
• Regular use of carob helps in preventing lung cancer.
• The vitamin E content in carob helps in treating cough, flu, anemia, and osteoclasis.
• The Gallic acid in carob helps in preventing and treating polio in children.
• Carob fights against osteoporosis, due to its richness in phosphorus and calcium.
• Carob pod husks are chewed by singers to clear the voice and throat.

*Source: Real Raw Food

If you have any healthy living tips for the newsletter, send them to me at anne@annegillis.com.

  Anne Talks

Relax, Don't be Serious, Let Go Meditation

Take a few minutes to listen to Relax, Don't be Serious, Let Go Meditation. Anne presented it at Unity of North Houston, TX, on May 3, 2015. Time: 4:32

  Anne Art

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  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017
5:30-6:45 PM
Words Make a Difference
lecture and book signing
Unity Bookstore, 2929 Unity Drive
Houston, TX 77057
713-782-4050

  Call or Email Anne Now to Schedule
  Her for Your Meeting.

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.