The Anne Report, You're So Vein, proposes the idea of a camera to capture our thoughts. The Main article, Thought by Thought, describes the way our minds build our reality. The Healthy Living article, Dryer Sheets, encourages us to consider what chemicals may be found in our dryer laundry products. The Anne Talk is Breathe: Surrender: Living in the Present. Learn about Anne's newest book: The Living Book. The Featured Product this month highlights Anne's second book, EZosophy: The art of EZ or at Least EZier Living. Click to read What is EZosophy?  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, August 22, 2017
Published Weekly on Tuesday Mornings

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

Anne's Websites:

  The Anne Report

You're So Vein

Dear ,

Below is a picture of my upper right thigh. Notice the vein. I wouldn't have noticed it except my iPad camera focused on my leg and I was fascinated by what I saw. What clarity! What definition! I could see cells or uniform crackles, whatever they were, so I snapped the picture. Though the picture wasn't as amazing as just viewing my leg through the iPad camera lens, it was still pretty darn cool.

Wouldn't it be amazing if there were a camera that could take a picture of my thoughts? I could print them and view them as if they were a photo. What would I find? What words would be chasing around in my psyche? I predict there will be that kind of camera in the future. We can already take pictures of electrical frequencies in the brain, so it seems to be something we are headed toward. BTW. Full disclosure. Once I had an EEG. The doctor said my brain waves were abnormal, and not in a good way, like the meditating monks, but I'm just going to live with my funky weird brain. I don't think it is any worse than that little vein in my leg, and I kind of like that vein anyway.

The more specific technology gets, the more powerful our diagnostic equipment, the more likely we are to see our physical and mental blemishes. Don't buy into it. The body is a miracle and life is perfect, as it is. My friend told me of a man who died of cancer. He was in his eighties. He wasn't diagnosed until after he died. I like that plan.

That's it for the Anne Report.

  Main Article

Thought by Thought

We build our reality word by word; thought by thought. Then the mind interprets this made up reality, based on previous decisions about life in general. It's called "the way we see things," and the way we see things convinces us that life is a consortium of random events, perpetrated on humans, and that humans must take control of this blanket of oppression. And the humans that must take control are us, of course. With a purpose and a plan, we set out to control life. This exhausting quest, this self-made, self-defeating, unreliable, and uncontrollable reality is hard to stomach, so the mind tidies up the mess. It obscures its ability to see what it is doing. It hides its maneuvers in nooks and crannies. We stumble along in life, guided by secret mental alliances, until we realize that something is drastically wrong. It might start as a rumbling or unrest, but eventually our discontent calls for a dramatic self-examination. We don't want to look inside; we are afraid we'll uncover some deep, dark secret confirming our worthlessness. Eventually, we decide we would rather face the pain of the unknown, and even the possibility that we are bad, than to steep in our present pain.

When we truly go on the quest, we discover that not only is there nothing wrong with us, nor was there never anything wrong with us; it was all a mistaken judgment on our part. We concurrently realize there is nothing wrong with reality. We come to understand that our quest, our task in life, is to dismantle the egoic mind and to discover the simple, pristine privilege of life and living. It's a stark realization to learn that we are makeup artists. We made it all up. We made up the stresses, the reactions, the defenses, and the need to control. This realization delivers us to the most important choice of our lives. Will we retreat into the familiar, well-worn tale of our personal reality TV show or will we venture into a space and place that does not require control or domination? Will we discover life or will we make it up, through interpretation, the way we've done in the past?

When I awakened, for the umpteenth time, my awakenings seemed to come in humps and jumps, and confronted the mind trap I'd contrived; I felt free. Something greater emerged with this opening. My life was one of a seeker, but suddenly I was a finder. I found what I was looking for. What a remarkable experience, yet, with the snap of its finger, my egoic mind called me back. It brought swaths of evidence to lure me to the problematic reality that defined me and life itself for so long. It's surprising how happy we are finding solutions to problems. But to bask in our ingenuity, we have to believe that life is a problem, with infinite horizons of problems, so we can solve them. Yet, and I'll have to pat myself on the back for this one, I have a good memory, and I remembered the promises of the mind and how they were always broken. My mind wanted me to continue to fight for peace, but I wasn't buying it.

I write frequently about the nature of the mind and the egoic mind, because when I was fortunate enough to find someone who was talking about the nature of the mind, I soaked up every word. I fantasize that there are others, like me, hungry for a different kind of food. I knew it wasn't my circumstances that kept my life capsizing. Positive thinking brought some relief, but it was a band-aid, and I needed surgery. I had thrown myself into therapies such as Rational Emotive Therapy, Transactional Analysis, and Gestalt. Yes, it helped, but I was still on a slippery slope of misguided realities when I tried to harness my potential and control my mind. I needed a vast change in the way I viewed reality, and that's what I got. When I got out of the way of reality, my opinion fell to the ground and I was a free person.

There have been many dips and glips since then and my life is not perfect, but I don't live under the extraordinary pressure on contemporary life that most people live under. I wish there were a 1, 2, 3 secret to share that could pull everyone from their mind traps, but there isn't. I can only keep talking about the mind because I've found that when we bring awareness to the mind and its antics, freedom ensues, and naturally, that makes our lives EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Quotes

Anne's Quotes

"The egoic mind takes us on a perpetual hunting expedition for what would make the moment better. It's a useless search. The moment can never be better; it's already perfect. That's why we seek what we already have. Nothing is wrong with the moment; it's our vision that is occluded."

"There are two ways to change in life – one, change our behavior; the other, change our minds. It's probably better to stop fooling ourselves and realize that busy people stay busy people. They are not going to change their behavior. It's a cultural disease. That's where EZosophy comes in. If we are going to continue to be ultra-involved with life, then we can at least change our perception. The EZosophy mantra is the golden jewel in turning our minds from burden to ease: "Everything can be EZ or at least EZier." If your problem is ego-driven, you can make it easy right now. If you have a real tragedy in your life, there is always an inner strength or friends and family to lift you up. You might not be able to end the pain, but the pain can always be eased. Carry the EZ mantra in your heart and you will have what you need to drop life's burden and make your life EZier and EZier."

"Hate is a popular medicine for fear. But it's a medicine that makes us sicker."

  The Living Book

The Living Book, by Anne Sermons Gillis

• Suppose someone told you that you could change your life radically, for the better, if you spent just three minutes a day doing inner work? Would you believe it? Maybe not, but wouldn't it be worth an investment of three minutes a day to try it?
• The Living Book offers just this. Devote three minutes a day to this process and your life will become a living testimony to the seed principle. A tiny seed can grow into a mighty tree, but it must be planted. Plant your daily seed for three short minutes and notice both subtle and miraculous changes in your life.
• In addition to the daily practice, one can use the process when they are stumped or afraid or angry. This process transforms anger into love. When we plant seeds of light into our thoughts and emotional bodies, we move into higher frequencies of well-being.

The Living Book, by Anne Sermons Gillis
PDF Book Download $0.99. Kindle Book: $2.99.

  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

Dryer Sheets

I don't use dryer sheets. It's been so long since I used them, I forgot my reasoning. I knew the chemicals they put off caused breathing problems, but I wanted more. Why do my guts shake when I see someone using dryer sheets? My findings were disturbing. It seems bad enough that dryer sheets are made from fiberglass, but the sheets include these chemicals:

• Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer;
• Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant;
• Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders;
• Limonene: Known carcinogen;
• A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema and central nervous system damage;
• Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's Hazardous Waste list;
• Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders;
• Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic, and carcinogenic;
• Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders; and
• Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled.

Source

Even though you may not be sensitive enough to experience immediate effects, toxic chemicals build in the body and, overtime, we suffer from toxic overload. It's called a body burden.

Liquid fabric softeners can be as bad as dryer sheets and the Environmental Working Group recommends we skip those as well.

There are some healthy dryer sheets and liquid softeners on the market, but before you purchase them, be sure to research the ingredients in your products. You can also save money and be sure you are toxic free. Try one of these alternatives:

• Make wool dryer balls.
• Try adding 1/4 cup (or less) of either vinegar or borax to your laundry wash cycle or add 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle.
• Aluminum foil balls take out the static and you can make your own. Source
• I purchased two plastic balls that work very well.

One out of ten children in the U.S. has asthma. We can't always control our air quality, but we can make good choices when we wash and dry our clothes. Some people find it burdensome to change chemical based home living to healthy home living, but if we make one change at a time, the task might even seem like an adventure. Some people spend weeks searching for that special outfit or lipstick shade while others spend hours on news sites. Our health should be more important than our appearance or our hunger for news. Check out your fabric softeners, whether sheets or liquid, and if you find toxins, it's time to make that change.

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

  Anne Talks

Breathe: Surrender:
Living in the Present

  Anne Art

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NOTICE: Here are two shareables from Anne. Feel free to pass them along.

The World's Best Weight Loss Secret

Thought Freedom

  Anne's Schedule

All times here are Central Time
unless otherwise specified.

Friday, October 6, 2017
Workshop, 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM EDT
"Building Self Esteem and Courage"
5 hours CE credits
Location: "Phoenix Center"
1400 Cleveland Street
Greenville, SC
Click Here for Registration

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.

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The EZosophy Bracelet