The Anne Report reminds us how leaving one place can be a Returning Home to the Heart. The Main article, Take It EZ On Yourself, addresses perfectionism and compassion. The Healthy Living article discusses BPA, with an extra bonus of Anne’s famous cucumber salad. The Anne Talk is Anne's Celebrate Life Meditation. The Featured Product this month is Standing in the Dark. 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, March 7, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

Returning Home to the Heart

Dear ,

I returned from my trip to Charleston Saturday night. While I love to visit my wonderful grandchildren, I am always happy to return home. There's always something cozy about home. There's a warmth in returning home, and just as I love to return to my physical home, it's always is wonderful to return to me. Me is my home too. Home is not only where the heart is; home is the heart.

When I'm in my heart, I feel cozy, safe, and more like me than ever. When I'm down, there seems to be a sucking in my heart area (center of my chest). To comfort myself I imagine there's a movement in the heart area. Sometimes I picture a water drop landing in a still lake, with circling away from the center, sometimes the ocean wave coming to the shore and then receding, or perhaps a whirling of green light. I combine my visualization with breathing in and out, and after a few minutes there's a break, and I start feeling like myself again. We all need to not only be at home in our world; we need to feel at home in our bodies, minds, and hearts. And the good news is that we have the power and ability to go home to our hearts in every moment.

Until next week, this is the Anne Report.

Anne

  Main Article

Take It EZ On Yourself

I used to have a large silver tray that was difficult to polish. In one of my dematerializing phases I passed it on to my daughter. I was happy to see it go, but the tray lives on in my life. I polish my daughter's silver when I visit her, and, of course, that darn tray is among her silver items.

Last week, as I polished the tray, I laughed, thinking, "And I thought I got rid of this thing!" Like life, we think we have dealt with some character flaw or external situation only to find it popping up again at some unseemly time.

When people say things like, "I worked on myself and I now completely love myself," I smile at their naiveté, knowing at some point they will figure out that there are layers of untapped self-reproach that will eventually surface. It seems we're never too old for self-criticism, but we can reach a point when we no longer think it's a big deal to think negatively about ourselves for a fleeting moment. Preferably, there comes a time when we just let our thoughts go, without self-recrimination about the individual inner words or thoughts. We can detach from the contents of our thoughts and let them pass through.

It is a wise thing not to give power to our recurring character flaws. We can commit to change our behavior in the future and apologize for acting out, but being surprised that we still, and most likely will always, harbor certain reactionary emotional patterns, is useless. As subtle as these patterns may become, elimination is futile.

I used to have a picture of Jesus and other masters in my office. Once someone said, "You should get rid of that picture of Jesus. He looks angry." I told him I liked the picture and consequently named the picture, "My Pissed Off Jesus." The picture paid tribute to the baser parts of humanity. Even the most spiritual among us has our off days and that's okay. Some might think it blasphemous to refer to Jesus as anything but perfect, and they see his perfection only in good behavior and blissful thinking, but that's the reason I would never take up their line of reasoning or religion. In my religion, imperfection is an ongoing part of divinity, and the way we view divinity is up to us, not up to any set of hand-me-down values or beliefs. I've never had room for a God or spiritual teacher that was less compassionate or loving than myself. What would be the point?

I used to be a perfectionist. Everything had to be neat, exceptionally clean, and in order. I gave up my incessant cleanliness. Things were messier, and I felt a little better, but for some odd reason, I still was driven. What a joke on myself; I thought I had given up perfectionism. I no longer cleaned and organized endlessly, but my internal world was riddled with perfectionism. If I didn't meditate long enough, I would criticize myself, but when I did meditate for a long period of time, my internal dialogue told me I didn't do it the right way – The internal criticism continued, “I had too many thoughts; my mind wasn't still enough! I was too critical, not compassionate enough. I was too worldly.” I moved from traditional perfectionism to spiritual perfectionism.

The seminal message is to be compassionate to ourselves at the very moment we perceive internal struggle. Self-criticism at any level is another form of struggle and drama. Compassion and dropping the drama is the best medicine for the burden we seem to carry, just for existence. Again, it is not about excusing ourselves for unconscionable behavior, but it is about seeing ourselves as an innocent being who makes mistakes, knowing we will never get it all right all the time. The patterns of imperfectionism will resurface from time to time, and we don't need to use them as an excuse to feel sorry for ourselves or to justify drama. It's always time to be compassionate toward ourselves, to let go of drama and suffering, because when we do, we find that life can be EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne Quotes

"Do you have mass-titus … too much stuff in your head? Or maybe you suffer from messy mental mass syndrome (MMMS). MMMS leads to artificial dissemination of prejudice, misinformed beliefs, criticism of self and others, and judgments."

"Do we really need to measure our lives? What is important is what is now. What is the quality of the moment I am living? Great people keep doing the next thing on the table of life, and when others look at what they've done, it looks amazing or admirable. They don't set out to be great; they set out to do what's in front of them to do next, and then do it. They live in a flow; they are not under the gun to perform."

"Everyone has an inner angel, and if we pay attention and give extra care, we can often assist the appearance of that hidden angel. Not only do we serve others when we give a love transfusion, we serve ourselves. Maybe we should have tee-shirts that say, "Gave Love Today," instead of "Gave Blood." Love is life's true blood. Without love, support, and positive attention, we become dusty inside. Let's turn on the love and give it to ourselves and others, because when we do, it only takes a little polishing to bring out the shine."

  Featured Product This Month

  Healthy Living

BPA

I like to buy my cooking oil, and even my mayonnaise, in glass bottles. I may be too cautious, but I think the oil leaches into the plastic. I don't like the thought of eating plastic oil. I buy almond butter in glass jars, tahini in glass jars, and will often opt for a nonorganic oil in glass over an organic oil in a plastic jar. The plastic may contain BPA, phthalates, and other chemicals. You may want to think about this if it's not on your radar. Research shows that 90% of Americans have BPA in their urine.

On an uplifting note, here's one of my favorite salad recipes, Cucumber Salad. It's so good that my husband and I call it "Salad Crack." It is addictive.

Cucumber Salad Recipe

Mix two tablespoons oil, vinegar, and mayonnaise with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of chopped yellow onions or 2 chopped green onions (not shallots, not white onions, sweet onions, or red onions) and one teaspoon of dried dill weed (not dill seed). Add two cups of sliced cucumbers or one of those long English cucumbers.

It tastes great if you can make it in advance, but it's still great when you make and eat it immediately. For variety I sometimes add red bell pepper, tomatoes, and/or romaine lettuce.

Happy eating.

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

  Anne Talks

Celebrate Life Meditation

Take a few minutes to listen to Anne's Celebrate Life Meditation. Time: 8:42

  Anne Art

Click the image to see a larger view.

Click the image to see a larger view.

  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Saturday, April 8, 2017
2:00-4:00 PM
"The Golden Rules of Conscious Relationships" $15.00
Sunday, April 9, 2017
11:00AM-12:00PM
"Living an EZier, More Peaceful Life"
Unity of Brazosport
507 S Brooks St. (Hwy 36)
Brazoria, TX 77422

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.