The Anne Report, Sunny Daze!, recounts some of Anne's springtime activities. The Main article, From Crappy to Happy, emphasizes the wisdom of taking life lightly. The Healthy Living article, Keys to Healthy Living, provides tips for living gracefully. The Anne Talk is Anne's video Happiest Person in the World 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, April 4, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

Sunny Daze!

Dear ,

The ancient Egyptians worshiped Ra, the sun God. Ra created everything and many liked to align with Ra, claiming to be his earthly embodiment. I don’t think I am an earthly sun god, but I think the Egyptians tuned into something deeply spiritual and amazing.

When the sun shines, I am in much more of a creative mood. You might say I am under the influence of Ra or the Ra energy. This spring finds me sewing, gardening, writing, doing yoga, walking, and loving life. I am not sure how I fit it in, but 30 minutes spent weeding or 20 minutes writing when I awaken, meditation, cooking goodies, planning lectures – all come easily these days. I’ve even written a book (more like a pamphlet): The Living Book; A Love Story. The fire of Ra has me on the rise, or should I say RA – nita!

Anne's RV cushions on her bedroom floor

I give a workshop and deliver a Sunday morning service next weekend at the coast, the Texas coast, so we will to stay in the RV and play for a week. As I’ve mentioned, we love to go and stay in our RV. I even covered the bench seat cushions to the RV kitchen table this week, and they are bright! I was amazed at the ease with which I covered them.  I found an online article with some sewing tips, used them, until I came to a bump or two. Then just kept asking for guidance. Instructions always came on how to sew or where to pin the next piece. The how-to unfolded as I sewed. One of the cushions was curved, but, with the help of my inner guidance, I figured out how to work with the curve and finished the project with ease. I even remembered a hand stitch I learned in high school home economics that made the finishing touches easier. While some spirituality is heartfelt and blissful, some spiritual advice is practical and comes in handy.

That’s it for this week’s Anne report.

Anne

  Main Article

From Crappy to Happy

I go to yoga twice weekly. Each time the instructor tells us three things:

• Be in your body. Keep your thoughts on what you are doing, and when they wander, gently bring your thoughts back to the body. Be conscious. Be aware.
• Push yourself to the limit, but know what that limit is. Don’t push so hard you hurt yourself. Stop when you feel pain, but push yourself to go deeper into the pose.
• Enjoy yourself. Wear a smile on your face.

The word “yoga” literally means union or joining. Why do we need to join and what do we need to join? We need to join with ourselves because we believe we are separate from everything, including our deepest identity. Yoga is about bringing us together within, and continually drawing ourselves back into our real or true selves.

The usefulness of these three recommendations extends beyond the practice of Hatha yoga. We live in a society where people feel crappy, and, unfortunately, they often zap others with their crap. We also zap our crap. We crap all over ourselves. Hopefully you are laughing now, because part of turning crappy to happy is about not taking life seriously. One of my favorite life sayings is “I am sincere, not serious.” This is where the third recommendation speaks to us. Practice smiling. Look for the master who smiles, not the one who looks gruff and angry. When I think of Desmond Tutu, I think of his infectious smile. My fondest memories of people are when they were smiling and happy. Smiles are contagious. Not the plastered on smiles, the pretentious smile we use to cover up our angst, but the smile that springs from our inner joy. Smiling is a spiritual practice.

The word zap has several meanings. One meaning is to throw something quickly and the other one means to get rid of or destroy. We can zap our crap in both ways. We can throw it around in our minds or we can obliterate it.

We can’t zap the crap until we make room in our consciousness for happiness. Who needs a self-definition like, “I’ve always been a serious person” or “I’m hard to get along with.” It’s time to zap that crap.

There’s always room at the table for sincere suffering, such as when we lose a loved one, but we tend to live in crap that needs to be zapped. The following situations call us to turn crappy to happy:

• Self judgement
• Taking groceries out of the car
• Weeding the garden
• Paying utility bills, or any bill
• Traffic
• Pumping gas
• Work of any kind
• Packing to go on vacation
• Repair problems
• Purchasing major appliances
• Money
• Driving in rain, sunshine, or snow
• Waiting in lines
• Maintaining life
• Judging or criticizing others.

If we can make the crap, we can break the crap. Ego driven suffering is crap, and now is the time to turn crappy to happy. Don’t take that crap; don’t make that crap real. Let it go, because when we do, our lives become EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Quotes

"I am at war against myself. Please take away my weapons."
-- Julia Vivchak

"There is a great error to imagine that one can have a lofty spiritual life when the body remains in luxury and idleness. The body is ever the first disciple of the soul."
-- Henry David Thoreau

"Thought defines our limits. Silence expands them."
-- Anne Sermons Gillis

Thinking Guide

Practice the highest thought technique.

"The Highest Thought is always that thought which contains joy. The Clearest Words are those words which contain truth. The Grandest Feeling is that feeling which you call love."
-- Neale Donald Walsch

This is simple; think of a best-case scenario.

  Featured Product This Month

Click here to check out Anne's newest book, Words Make A Difference, 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.

  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

Keys to Healthy Living

I remember looking at my step mom’s feet. They were cracked and worn; especially her calloused heels. She didn’t know the secret: oil your feet with coconut oil at bedtime, put on some socks, and you will wake up with young looking feet.

We live in a time where ancient wisdom and healing information is dispensed at the corner store, on our tablets, and through our phones. Let’s face it, when we age, we can use a lot of information about our changing bodies and how to care for them. Fortunately, that information is everywhere.

There are three areas we must handle as we age: the physical, the mental-emotional, and the spiritual.

Physical The physical includes a good diet, plenty of rest, and enough movement. Just like an older car, older bodies require more maintenance. Here’s a tip for the aging body – eat simply. Don’t eat more than one protein in your meal, and don’t eat loads of different foods in one seating. The digestive system likes simple; only a few foods at a time.

Mental-emotional If you never have happiness and life is always a chore, you are probably depressed. Get help.  Also try Jin Shin Jyutsu or finger holding, to balance emotions.

Spiritual Until we learn how to quieten our minds, we will struggle and suffer. This is a simple truth. Minds that flit are reactionary. The racing mind takes us straight to a living hell. The quiet mind delivers us. Find daily quiet time for yourself, even if you can’t meditate. Try coloring, drawing, reading sacred texts. Listen to musical videos that slow down the mind. Youtube has a large variety of meditative music and sounds. Here’s one of my favorites that takes one to the Gamma state.

I once had a spiritual teacher who spent two hours or more daily on his mind/body/spirit practices. I thought he was obsessive. Now I find that two hours is not enough. His motto was “Feel good. Teach others to feel good.” Today I see him as wise!

If you are not feeling good, then there’s work to do. It takes a mind, body, and spirit approach to keep us happy and ticking. Let’s do it.

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

  Anne Talks

Words Make A Difference

  Anne Art

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  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

Sunday, May 14, 2017 (Mother's Day)
10:30 AM Service
"Light Your Way Home"
Unity Circle of Light
Creekside Forest Elementary School
5949 Creekside Forest Dr.
The Woodlands, TX 77379

  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.