The Anne Report, Nature's Renewal Plan, reminds us that life always goes on. The Main article, Life's Secret, reminds us that the secret is always available in each now moment. The Healthy Living article, Breakfast Biscuits, provides several biscuit recipes for your morning enjoyment. The Anne Talk is The Weeping Willow. 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 14, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

Nature's Renewal Plan

Dear ,

We rarely have freezing weather where I live, but this year we had three chilly nights when the temperatures dipped into the 20's. Even though we covered our tropical plants, the large ginger stalks, that covered my office window, didn't make it. When the plants were alive, I felt as if I were in a jungle when I looked out the ginger covered window, but the yard now looked like a plant graveyard, with stark plant skeletons punctuating spots of green. The ginger plants will grow back, but it will take 6 to 8 years for them to reach their full beauty and cover the window again. Most of the fern cover froze too, and I grieved for my magical plant kingdom.

Anne's Office Window

Finally, we had to cut away the dead fern stems and ginger leaves. I groused as I looked out the window and waited for nature's generous renewal. First the azaleas bloomed; the butterflies and bees took flight. The ferns unfurled and, while I loved the ginger covered windows, it was time to give up my grieving to allow myself to appreciate the wonder that continued outside. Regardless of the losses, I began to enjoy nature's reconstruction project. The plant covering my office window previously obstructed the brilliant swath of color directly in front of my window. I had not been able to see the birds, the bees, or the butterflies.

Nature does have its way, not only with the plants, but with us. My wonderful aunt, Mary Anne Jenkins, passed away on February 26. She was the last of my father's and mother's siblings. She was no doubt my favorite aunt. She was sassy, smart, and clever. Not only was she a renowned artist, she was quite the humorist. As I look out my window, I see three butterflies. Butterflies represent new life. I'm taking them as a sign. I trust you are flying free like the butterflies in your new life and, as with the ginger plants, I will trust that there will always be a renewal of life in some form. I will miss you.

Until next week, this is the Anne Report.

Anne

  Main Article

Life's Secret

The secret to life has been on display for years. It's so simple that we discount its potency in and relevancy to our lives. What is the great secret? Love, peace, compassion, all the essence characteristics and forces of spirit, are available in the present moment. Until we stop our minds and tune into these ongoing aspects of well-being, we continue our longing, searching, and seeking. The big surprise is that we are those things. We are peace, love, and compassion because we are one with the Source of those things.

As we begin to focus on the present, we become aware of what is. We learn to observe what is without judgment. This first awareness brings great relief because the mind stops positioning itself to grasp and grope life. When the mind stops scheming, peace surfaces. When we practice mindfulness and a nonjudgmental awareness of the content of our lives, we initiate a courtship with the mystical. We glimpse an expansive, unlimited reality. At some point the awareness of deepens into the Great Awareness. Integration of the awareness of and awareness itself, puts an end to suffering, longing, and seeking, but it does not end meaningful activity in our lives.

We often resist the process that brings unsurpassed peace and satisfaction because we fear inertia and boredom. When our whole lives are based on searching for enlightenment, we are less than willing to give up that search. The search defines us and the ego is quick to offer help. It delights in pulling out the sacrifice card. "You have to sacrifice who you are for peace and fulfillment. You will have to be a goody-goody. Who knows what will happen to you? You are naive." The egoic mind warns us about the treacheries of this still awareness. The ego heralds The Seeker's Manifesto, "Seek and do not find. Seeking alone will bring you what you want."

Awareness, liberation, and peace require no sacrifice. When we reach a space where we don't need to fix ourselves any more or earn our right to exist, when we relax at the core of who we are, we will still exercise, clean our homes, and participate fully in life. We will travel, read books, watch a movie, and go scuba diving. We will meditate, make love, and cook gourmet meals. We may visit the new spiritual teacher who comes to town, only now out of curiosity, rather than out of desperation. Living fully and embracing our spiritual identities does not bring contraction to our lives; it brings expansion. There is no sacrifice. Growing into our spiritual identities is like giving up a one dollar bill so we can accept a hundred dollar bill. This is a change, but it is not a sacrifice.

Stillness practices abound. They include the more formal disciplines of meditation and vipassana, as well as the disciplines that serve as a bridge to the mind. These bridge activities slow the mind and heal our painful emotional defense systems. The bridge disciplines include forgiveness, gratitude practices, and a variety of other therapies. Regardless of how we let go of the old or when we let go, we will let go. We will go home to ourselves. "My final prophecy is love" says Braco, and it seems like a destiny worth believing in, because love is not only our natural state, it is who we are. Love takes flight in the stillness and the seeking we once identified with becomes the finding of our hearts. Without sacrifice, we come home to ourselves and discover once again the unfettered truth of our true identities. Now is the time, the only time, to let go, to stop the resistance to the destiny of love. And when we do, we always find that our lives are always EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne Affirmations

"Love lights my mind, ignites my innocence, and guides my finances. It surrounds my career, informs my activism, initiates deep insights, and guards my perception. Love calms fear and soothes outrage."

"The universe provides me with a generous income. Led by spirit, I show up and do my part."

Quotes

"Awareness normalizes that which is abnormal. It turns tension into relaxation and congestion into flow. Awareness is the single most important factor in the integration of the fragmented self. Whatever we are aware of, we transcend."
-- Vic Ho Chin

"Do it now. Sometimes later becomes never."
-- Matthew Kaplan

"Complete forgiveness means you offer grace without grudges. This is unconditional love at its finest hour."
-- Elizabeth Gillis Wann

  Featured Product This Month

  Healthy Living

Breakfast Biscuits

My daughter, Elizabeth, buys bananas for the twins. Their appetites vary from moment to moment. She ends up freezing half of them because they are overly ripe. After making countless loaves of banana nut bread and banana smoothies, she was happy to receive this recipe from a friend. When I visited, I made a couple of batches. This is the quickest and easiest hearty biscuit-like recipe I've ever tried.

Original Recipe (see modifications at the bottom)

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw oats (I did not use quick cooking oats.)
• 1/4 cup of nut butter
• 2 medium sized ripe bananas

Mash and blend bananas until they are liquid. Add nut butter and oats. Mix thoroughly and dip in round dollops on greased baking sheet. Cook at 350° until golden brown (about 12 to 20 minutes), depending on the size of the biscuit. Makes about 12.

My daughter liked the original version but I wanted a little more flare.

My Souped Up Version

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw oats (I did not use quick cooking oats.)
• 1/4 cup of nut butter
• 2 medium size ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup agave
• 2 T ground flax seed

Follow above instructions and top with chopped nuts and bake. Also good with added chocolate chips.

Another Variation: Carrot Biscuits

Anne's Carrot Biscuits

Add to above recipe one finely chopped medium-size carrot and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 clove, 1/4 teaspoon ginger. These taste great the day after, when the spices have matured and intermixed.

P.S.: I tried using ground nuts with a tad of olive oil when I didn't have any nut butter and the substitute worked well. I used a very small food processor to make a nut butter substitute. Process nuts and about 2 teaspoons of oil until creamy.

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

  Anne Talks

The Weeping Willow

  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

  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.