A Few of My Favorite Things - Easy Holidays

Fortunately I had an easy Christmas with just the right amount to do. I was out of town until around Dec 14, then went on a 3 day retreat, so I decided not put up a tree.–but I wanted to hang my favorite tree ornaments; Ho, Ho, I hung them on the pulls to my secretary and other furniture. I hung my stockings on the stairs

I only gave two gifts - one to a friend who lives on a fixed income; I knew she would really appreciate the presents. She appreciated the earth friendly detergent I gave her – enough to wash her clothes for months (I knew she was out of detergent!) and a ceramic knife she was longing for. The other present was to my best friend who had already bought presents for me (too late for the no gifts speech) and I easily found something for her.

My daughter prefers me not give her anything and not having to buy a gift for me, makes her life easier too. If I want her to have something, I can buy/make it for her without having a holiday as the reason. I love being a mother, a friend, a wife, a person, rather than being a harried consumer vying for the next bargain.

Making holidays difficult and rushing through life, are not on my to do list. Savoring the moments, the holiday songs, cooking a few luscious dishes – these are the things I love. Seeing friends, drinking in the beauty of each moment – these are my things. Recently a New York Times article said that the people who are happiest are those who don’t think a lot – those who keep their minds still. I laughed when I heard that – the mystics have known for eons, but when the truth hits the Wall Street Journal, my insides tingle. Holidays bring a certain delight and yet life in its fullness is so amazing. Life itself is a permanent gift. Kirtana’s song, “Deathbed Song,” states, “If I had the chance to do it over – I would open each day like a present. Tender toward what ever came my way, every texture, joy or pain, searing sun or healing rain… for I have seen the mask of my beloved.”

I love you and appreciate the role you play in my life – that makes us playmates; life is our playground and it’s time for recess. Happy New Year.

http:www.ezosophy.com
anne@annegillis.com

Silly Holiday Songs

Joy to the World


Joy to the world the time has come to have a little fun.
We frowned and frowned, our smiles are upside down, we’ve been too serious, we’ve been too serious, we’ve been, we’ve been too serious.

We came to earth to have some fun and laugh and sing and dance.
We brought our light to bring delight and not be serious, and not be serious, and not and not be serious.

We lost our way forgot to play, and acted like adults, we worked and worked
Forgot life's perks
We been too serious, we've been too serious, we been, we've been too serious.
We choose today to come alive and joke and laugh and play
We pledge our light to shine so bright
And not be serious, and not be serious and not, and not be serious.


Happy Mind Tune “Jingle Bells”

A day or two ago
I thought I’d lost my way
But then my ego disappeared
And I began to play
I heard my happy thoughts
and felt a great big smile
And then my ego jumped back out
and acted sort of wild.

Oh, ego thoughts, ego thoughts,
ego ain’t the way
to have fun in a safe healed mind
that does not want delay
Oh ego thoughts, ego thoughts,
ego ain’t the way
to have fun in a safe healed
mind that does not want delay.

Playing with my friends
on this most important day
I feel my courage jump right in
and I just want to say
I like you very much and
hope you always know
that I’ll love you no matter what
through wind and rain and snow.
Just happy thoughts, happy thoughts,
happy every day
I make choices with my mind
in a very helpful way
Just happy thoughts, happy thoughts,
happy every day.
I make choices with my mind
in a very helpful way.

Hark the Harried Angel Sings Codependent Version

Hark the harried angel sings
Two more days and I’ll have wings.
If I’m good and help you out.
I’ll get wings without a doubt.
If I’m nice and do not fuss
If I help clean up the dust
If I make my presence bright
I’ll be one of God’s true lights.
Hark the Harried angel sings.
Two more days and I’ll have wings.

Hark the harried angel sings
I’m so tired of doing things
I’m so tired of being good
I am tired of all those shoulds
I just want to take a rest
I just want to be the guest.
I am tired of all this stuff.
I am feeling mighty rough.

Hark the harried angel sings.
Two more days and I’ll have wings
I gave up my heavenly chores
It won’t be hard any more.
I gave up being nice.
I gave up the heavy price.
No more sacrifice for me.
I am feeling very free.
Hark the Happy Angel sings
Now I have my holy wings

Silent Minds (tune of Silent Night)

Silent Minds
Holy Minds
Thoughts of Light
Give us peace.
Heavenly states of consciousness
Innocent states of love and bliss
Christ is born in our hearts
Christ is born in our hearts.

Abundant states of consciousness
God our source Gives us all
Life and health and peace of mind
Joy and fun and plenty of time.
We are blessed by our source.
We are blessed by our source.

We are love. We are peace.
We are light. We are joy.
We are gifts of love itself.
Bearing light and sharing wealth.
Christ is present within.
Christ is present within.

It Came Upon My Mind to Clear

Tune: “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”

It Came Upon My Mind to Clear
Those pesky thoughts of doom
to cancel all the shame and guilt
and give God’s love more room.
A good thought here
and good thought there
an affirmation or two
and I can join with my Holy mind
and keep love shining through.

Let joy ring out in all my thoughts
and then my mind will sing
and peace within will come at last
and I can have my wings.
I thought my mind was doing fine.
I loved my inner child.
I loved my neighbor as myself
and had stopped acting wild.
But then the bottom fell out.
I acted like a jerk
projected fear and blame on friends
and focused on their quirks.
The ego thoughts were rampant
the holy thoughts were gone
And I forgot my sacred self,
felt lost and all alone.

I wanted to find a way
to restore love and light
to sing with angels heavenly choir
and sleep real good at night. I prayed, affirmed, and asked for peace
in every way I could,
then love came down and pulled me back
and transformed ego’s shoulds.
A flash of light, the sound of joy
came flooding into my mind
and love’s pure innocence took my thoughts
and I was no longer blind.

The love of God had pulled me out
and taught me how to sing.
It kept me safe and far from harm
clutched tightly in angels wings.
A sane thought here a sane thought there
the holy mind marched on.
Now I can rest and feel God’s love
‘Cause I have found my home.

There’s peace inside where stillness lies
there’s joy deep within and I am blessed many ways
with abundance, health and friends.


Tune We Three Kings

Change your thoughts, yes turn on the light
Keep the faith and things will be right
Inner knowing gets you going
Toward the truth that sets you free.
Ego’s world can get you down
Kick your butt and make you frown
Keeping you waiting eradicating
All the good that you have known.
Take your mind and let it be
Filled with great prosperity
Christ’s love shinning
No denying life is full of mystery,

© 1998 excerpts from Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic by Anne Sermons Gillis

Doing V Being

I wrote this on Nov. 17, 2006. This was before I was a bloggin’. It is so funny and irreverent, I just wanted to share. I’m still irreverent, but in so many ways I don’t even think like this anymore. Thank God, I grew up some or maybe I grew down.

Here we go-

I think we are here to discover who we are and then to rest in that blissful knowledge. From the starting point of Self we naturally create a non-efforting lifestyle that provides safety, joy, peace and adventure. To think that doing will finally uproot our souls into a place of statue and meaning is the logical conclusion of the ego. Fortunately we weary of the doing drama and either through depression, illness or mental weariness; we give up and allow that presence of being its rightful place. When the mind gets out of the way, God steps in. God, God, God.

Not the God of our fathers, not the warring God who sanctions countless acts of violence in the name of peace. Not the God that favors one religion over the other, one people over the other or even who favors of all things a particular football team. Get real. No not that God, but the God of living presence…The presence that pushes aloneness out the door and bestows the soul with a sense of completeness. Only when that God comes in, that Goddess, that being, can our doing mean anything at all.

Doing, as a cure for meaning, has miserably failed me time and time again. Personally, the dance of life has flip-flopped in an irregular sort of fashion, something like a bowel movement. Just when I think I am regular, I step into a holding pattern and I am no longer in touch with who I am. I become an ego frozen in a contemplative pattern of bull shit. It is not until I notice the stench that I realize how my thinking immobility is calling for a mental laxative. I think I need to re lax and the universe sends ex lax. Ex lax is the unexpected seemingly dramatic end to life as I am attached to it being. It is as if life proclaims, “No More, we will have no more of this bull shit.” Then the relationship ends or the illness takes over, or what ever comes along....there's a radical turn over or turn away from that and I emerge like a scared rabbit in a tiger’s body and my mind exlaxes into a new pattern. The bull shit comes out and I reclaim my spiritual heritage. Strange plan. So whether I am kicked in the butt or held by the hand, my soul always provides a space for getting out of the fire and out of the frying pan. Amen.

The News is Not So Good. How About Joy to the World?

By Anne Sermons Gillis

Joy is a master teacher. If you want to tune into joy, then you must attend joy class. Joy is not a serious matter, but being in joy (enjoy) requires attention and attendance. What we attend to, we attract and create. Meditate on the word joy. Contemplate the word joy. Be still and know that I am joy. Joyful thoughts create joyful results. One cannot fill his or her mind with resentment, pain, and disaster and then expect joy to surface on life’s horizon.

Les Brown says that secondhand violence is as dangerous as secondhand smoke. Thinking along these same lines we realize that secondhand pain, suffering, and struggle are detrimental to the way of ease.

The news, Hollywood, and the Internet offer a steady stream of secondhand suffering and pain. All suffering affects the mind and heart, whether it originates from the inside or from an outside source. It’s best to take news in small doses, but if you watch the news on television or read the newspaper, do it consciously. When you see blood and gore in the news, stop internally and see the situation in its perfection, with all grievances healed and bodies in radiant health. You may want to pray for a good outcome from the situation. When we drink in bad news day after day, we begin to feel powerless, helpless and hopeless.

The mind absorbs what it sees as if it is happening to the viewer. The mind records television and movie events as real events. Even what we hear on the radio is indelibly etched in the mind. We listen to the economic forecast or news and go down with the Dow. It’s best to picture the economy as strong. When we imbue what we see and read with consciousness, we are no longer at its effect. Most people think what they hear and see has no affect. This is uninformed thinking. Everything we see, hear, smell, and touch is recorded at some level in our bodies and mind. That television noise we might use to lull ourselves to sleep or to keep us company is programming us to take drugs, eat fast foods, buy cars, and to have heartburn, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and headaches. Only someone who does not know the truth can say, “The TV doesn’t affect me.”

A daily diet of pain and suffering, even though it may not be our personal suffering, leads the way to depression, skepticism or fear. The mind should be our servant. We must use our minds rather than letting our minds use us. Even though simplicity may be difficult for twisted minds, now is the time to lighten up and recreate our lives.

Sing these little songs to brighten your day*:

Joy to the World Tune “Joy to the World”

Joy to the world the time has come to have a little fun.
We frowned and frowned, our smiles are upside down, we’ve been too serious, we’ve been too serious, we’ve been too serious, we’ve been too serious.

We came to earth to have some fun and laugh and sing and dance.
We brought our light to bring delight and not be serious, and not be serious, and not and not be serious.

We lost our way forgot to play, and acted like adults, we worked and worked
Forgot life's perks We been too serious, we've been too serious, we been too serious, we've been too serious.

We choose today to come alive and joke and laugh and dance.
We pledge our light to shine so bright.
And not be serious, and not be serious and not, and not be serious.

Happy Mind Tune “Jingle Bells”
A day or two ago
I thought I’d lost my way
But then my ego disappeared and I began to play
I heard my happy thoughts
and felt a great big smile

And then my ego jumped back out and acted sort of wild.
Oh, ego thoughts, ego thoughts, ego ain’t the way
To have fun in a safe healed mind that does not want delay

Oh ego thoughts, ego thoughts, ego ain’t the way
To have fun in a safe healed mind that does not want delay

Playing with my friends
On this most important day
I feel my courage jump right in
And I just want to say
I like you very much and hope you always know
That I’ll love you no matter what through wind and rain and snow.
Just happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy every day
I make choices with my mind in a very helpful way

Just happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy every day.
I make choices with my mind in a very helpful way.

*Excerpted from Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic © 1998 Easy Times Press

Use your mind as a joy-seeking instrument and bring joy-filled thoughts and ideas to your mind throughout the day.

Aclaim at the beginning of the day:

Today is a great day. It is full of wonderful unexpected surprises. My Higher Power (The Universe, Source, Life) is in charge: therefore I am safe and at ease. I let go knowing that good is her now and around every corner. I am no longer addicted to the drama drug. Ease is honorable safe and available. I chose to allow more and more ease into my life. I turn away from the external drama of the world into the inner stillness of my being. Yes!

Avoid the mental crashes of the obsessive mind. When you travel through life on joy’s highway, you attract and create a life that’s easier and definitely more fun. We’ve been too serious. We strive to be personally successful or bust our guts to make a difference. Both sides of this coin build despair. Striving is heavy. When we do what comes naturally and tune into life’s ever-present joy, the world changes; we become naturally abundant. EZ (pronounced ease) is an idea whose time has come; EZ is our natural state. Joy and ease are an integral part of the same tapestry of life. EZosophy is a philosophy that pulls us into the non-efforting comfort of an organized and friendly universe. Don’t struggle; be at ease, and remember the 8-word EZosophy affirmation: “Everything can be EZ or at least EZier.”

Go Green Cake Bake

Hi Folks,

I posted my intention to bake a cake on Facebook last night and Mary Valk asked for the recipe if it turned out well. I won't taste it until tonight, but it smells great so I'm sharing the making if the cake, now. This is not the healthiest cake in the world, but I'm going for a natural cake without chemicals. I did make and exception with the cherries. 

Bottom Layer for Cake

Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Put about 1/2 stick of organic butter in a 9 X 13 inch pan and melt it in oven. Take pan out cover the bottom with as much raw turbinado sugar as you want (or use organic brown sugar). Slice fresh pineapple and place in pan. Put Maraschino cherries in pineapple holes. Fill in other spaces with chopped pecans.

Set aside and get out three bowls

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Bowl one - Fill with 3 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour ( I used King Arthur white whole wheat)

1 ½ tsp. baking powder (Use non aluminum version - regular baking powder has aluminum which is linked to Alzheimers)

½ tsp. baking soda

Mix all these ingredients and set aside

Bowl two - fill with one cup of plain yogurt  (try Horizon with the fat - be sure to stir the cream in from the top before using - this is the best yogurt I've ever tasted - I only eat milk products on special occasions - most people do not do that well with dairy products) and two teaspoons of real vanilla (notice the imitation is made of chemicals). Set aside.

Bowl three - Two sticks of salted organic butter, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I like pink Himalayan sea salt - Celtic sea salt is good too).

1 ½ cups organic sugar (fair trade evaporated cane sugar) http://www.greenamericatoday.org/proGrams/fairtrade/products/sugar.cfm

 

Whip these together until fluffy - or do the best you can. Fluffy might be an overstatement of what's possible here.

 

Add four room temperature organic locally produced free range eggs (help end factory farming for chickens - the chickens suffer unmercifully in these big farms, not to mention how unhealthy the eggs are - chemicals, etc injected in hens).



Add 1/3 flour mixture to sugar mixture, then 1/3 yogurt mixture and continue until all ingredients are mixed. Put mixture on top of the pineapple concoction.




Time to tasty - wow gooood!

 





Put it in the preheated 350 degree oven on top shelf. Smell the wonderful kitchen aroma. Wait about 30 minutes and check the middle to see if it's done. My oven cooks pretty fast but put it back if it's not done. Pardon me on this, I'm sure you have this much sense.



Baking away.







It's a done deal.

 Will turn it over later tonight before I go to my friend's home.



And don't forget to compost the waste.



http://www.howtocompost.org/

Now this is a healthier cake. Healthier for my friends and myself and healthier for the planet. Go green.

WARNING - do not cook in a glass pan. The outside gets done too fast. Use metal pan. I dumped the cake out and found the center to be raw. I didn't find this out until it was cool. It passed the toothpick test so I didn't know there was a problem. I did not want to turn it over again - one time over was a feat. So I then cooked it 40 minutes longer with the pineapple side up. I just kept putting butter (it seems if I add butter or rum to anything it tastes great) on it so it wouldn't dry out and it tasted yummy. I think I used three sticks of butter in this cake so you know it was rich.

Posted by Anne Sermons Gillis

No Post Ends in Environmental Rant

Do not toast my post for no post is near.
But I’m having a good time; I’m in good cheer

And soon I’ll get back to quips and words

But for now I’m content just looking at birds

By the river, by the pond and by the lake

so check back again and make no mistake

I’ll be back to add my voice or just forget this blog it’s all your choice.

Okay maybe a I’ll write a little something.

I really have been looking at the birds. Yesterday we turned the sprinkler on our parched garden and backyard. Within just a short time the birds came in mass. I’ve never seen so many cardinals in one place. They just sit in the trees and water showers them. We have a little bird bath and I saw a big – ish bird bathing there – a thrill for me. Today I see honey bees at the bird bath.

Since last week my husband and I have been in Wimberley, TX in a cabin, on River Road, tent camping on the Guadalupe, gotten in a short visit to Palmetto State Park and a day at Huntsville State Park. Since Jim retired we have had plenty of time to drink in the magic weather and to spend time in nature. Our little dog, Lucy, got a piece of the action and today she road in a canoe for the first time. She did great and we think we have a good boat dog. Well, we haven’t tried her in a motor boat.

Tonight I’m going to another meeting about stopping the toxic injection wells in Conroe, Texas. As the crow flies, that’s pretty close to me and it’s in a urban setting. http://www.stopthetoxicwells.com/ We have been working for years to stop this egregious crime against our water, the air and the people who live in this area. Our governor, Rick Perry, appoints the commissioners to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. They rubber stamp every application for new business unless there is enough outcry to defeat them. Certainly that wasn’t enough for the Baytown citizens who just lost on the new coal mine issue. Yes, we need more mercury in the air, more acid rain. We have the support of all the politicians in this area, thousands of citizens and reports that prove this is a bad move. People and agencies against the wells have spent well over a half million dollars in protest. And people want get democracy in other parts of the world. I’m waiting for it in our country.

What's the Difference Between Being Nice and Just Keeping My Mouth Shut?

False "being nice" means unconscious behavior that keeps us stuck in avoidance of how we feel, how it is for now and what is really going on.

True "being nice" flows - it's a natural behavior that doesn't require much thought. When we feel safe and no longer need other people to feed our need, we are genuinely nice.
Keeping our mouths shut can be the conscious decision to see things another way - to define the situation so we decide to forgive the other for their unconscious behavior or perhaps we put our inner reality on the shelf at the time and then take time when we are alone to see what bothers us about the situation and how the situation might serve us.

Keeping our mouths shut can also be avoidance. If we keep out mouths shut and work through our issues about the circumstance, we are freed, but if we keep our mouths shut and never deal with the issue, we add to the numbness of our souls.

If keeping our mouths shut helps us not to blame others or take their inventory, it's a good thing.

If keeping our mouths shut means not to yell and scream at someone, it’s a good thing.

It is our responsibility in our healing process to find a compassionate way to express our feelings. Giving unsolicited feedback to others is usually not a good idea. Most people complain so they can work through their feelings. The solutions they seek are on a feeling basis not an action basis. All these ideas are slippery because each action and behavior has a light and shadow side. It takes consciousness, compassion and awareness to determine which action to take.

I think the topic could be a book something like: "What I Thought and Didn't say Keeps me in Perpetual Trouble."

Life is Not Serious

I have a slogan, "I'm sincere, but not serious." It's easy for me to write little sing-song poetry. It's trite, yet I like the whimsical nature of the rhythm and rhyme.

So here's one of my little ditties.


I am okay but I forget


That I am whole and hold regret

For things I’ve said and all I’ve done.

Why can’t I let the past alone?

I am not bad or wrong or crass

I am a wonder not my past!



I’m not an outcast, I want to see

that all the world belongs to me

and yes in turn I want to know

that I belong to it also.

I’m sane and smart and I am one

with everything under the radiant sun.



I am one with sky so blue

With friends, strangers and family too.

I’m not alone, I hold your hand

And together we’re more, we take a stand

To love, protect and cherish life

To end our struggle, toil and strife.



I take my freedom, it’s my choice

Not to listen to that imprisoned voice

I can not do my life alone

I have to live in a welcome home

of care, good-will where life abounds

where no one’s lost where all are found.

Empowering Messages

http://empoweringmessages.com/visitors/AnneGillis.shtml

This comment on ease was made a few years ago;  letting go of suffering has no time limit.

Anne Sermons Gillis
annegillis.com

I'm in Mood for Food

Seoul Food

My friend called today from Florida. She's at a health institute. Much of the focus there is on food. The plan suggested for her is virtually impossible for her to manage at home unless she was wealthy or had hands that worked. She has rheumatoid arthritis. Her hands - not so good. She calls them claws. There are not going to be able to grow sprouts and to juice. But maybe those hands will fool her. She wants off the toxic meds. She believes her healing path is through food. I know food is seminal in healing, but when you can't get the recommended food for healing - what does that do for your heart, your hope, your dreams?

My husband and I fast on Tuesdays. My friend the chiropractor says it’s not a fast. The new definition of fasting is “to reframe from certain foods.” But he is old-fashioned so according to the old version of fasting, I guess we’ve doing a cleanse. I'm hungry. I'm not grumpy or agitated but I'm dreaming of eating a whole wheat homemade cracker that I made yesterday. This tasty little cracker has seeds in it along with olive oil and salt.. Tomorrow I'll be back on my regular food plan and in the morning I will barely think about food. I'll down a ground flax seed, apple juice, cranberry juice and spirulina concoction and be off on a one hour bike ride. I'll return home and eat or maybe I'll wait until after I walk the dog. Food is not such a big deal the day after “cleansing” because it is no longer the forbidden fruit.
I grew up in a food obsessive family. When someone in my family talks about a party, a vacation or a wedding you’re going to hear about the food. I did a picture book of my trip to Korea and Thailand and it is full of food – street food, eating on the floor food, seafood, food before it’s cooked, food in paradise, bakery food – it’s nuts this food thing I have.

Our favorite restaurant closed recently and my husband and I are bereft. We heard the rumors of closure but we had to see for ourselves. We rode our bikes down to Teasars and peered into the darkened rooms. Until recently this was a chandelier-filled den of pleasure. Now nothing is left except the ghosts of delicacies. We have to find a new place to spend our anniversary. It’s like we lost a family member.
I believe in food magic. The right food can cure anything, it can ease pain – we’re talking chocolate here, food can make you hyper, lift your spirits or soothe you. Food can win friends, make life more social.

I have a position on food. It’s not good, it’s not bad. Life is my oyster and I’ll have a little butter on them, if you don’t mind. And pass the hummus please.
Anne Sermons Gillis annegillis.com

You Can Smell the Peace

 This morning I went to the Unitarian church to hear my friend, Tony George, play drums. He did an outstanding job. Our friend Paul Klein led the pact and a handful of musical masters shared soul and rhythm with the congregation.

I returned and found my tail-wagging wildly enthusiastic dog, Lucy, waiting. As I often do, I went for the floor and we rolled around together. We had a grand time and in between our antics she managed a sniff or two. I watched her smelling me. It was so intimate. She’s sniffs me all the time, but until today, I really didn’t take part. Today, I offered no resistance and became a co-conspirator in this animal act of recognition. “Oh I know you, this is your smell.” In the past, I’ve smelled her too, but not to recognize her, just to manage her health. Does she smell, does she need a bath, do the inside of her ears smell funny? She’s the only living animal I smell.

With a few exceptions – I smell people’s breath, their B.O. and their gas, and that’s not pleasant. I don’t intentionally smell others, no sniffing and drinking it in. No smell and tell. Their odors just happen to be in line with my olfactory receptors. These human odors don’t have much character. I can’t ever remember thinking, “You have such lovely breath.”These are not terms of endearment. I can’t imagine living 300 years ago. Smelling was not an elective. Every day was a smellathon. If you were near anyone, you knew it. Now we’re sanitized, scrubbed clean and antibacterialized.

I read somewhere that if you lick your arm, and wait 3 seconds and then smell it; you can smell your breath. It does work. I think that’s why I brush my teeth three times a day. And in full disclosure, I admit I do smell under my arms frequently because I don’t use deodorant. This is my maintenance smelling.

This reminds me of a smell joke. Can you believe I actually know a smell joke? Actually I know two. A janitor is in the elevator. He is alone and lets out a big one. It was one of those stinky ones so he sprays some Pine-sol. When the next person get in the elevator he exclaims, “What the heck? It smells like someone shit a Christmas tree.”

I can’t resist. My mom told me this next smell joke. It was so uncharacteristic of her; she was a little on the prim and proper side until she got Alzheimer’s. Then all that propriety sort of leaked out. “The blind man passed a fish market. ‘Good evening ladies.’” I think that was the family dirty joke.

Now, back on track. I wish people were not so standoffish – you know that 18 inch rule - too close and we’re in someone’s space. I wish people could get close enough to recognize each other’s fragrance, that one identifying odor unique to him or her. I remember that deep time of intimacy with a new lover when I wanted to drink him in. I would smell his clothes – his chest - I just wanted to be closer. I wanted my breath to bring him into me.

I wonder if we knew each other intimately - I knew your smell and you knew mine, could we call ourselves enemies? Could we forget that primal musky call to life? Could we go to war and kill each other? If I was intoxicated by your essence, what would I do? What would you do? What would we do? If were that close, would we go to war?

Bike Ride

This morning I rode my bicycle. When I looked at the drop off on the path's edge, I was afraid, but when I kept my eye on the center of the path, where I wanted my bike to go, I felt confident. When you look for danger, the world is a dangerous place.

BTW I'm going for the smart, sassy, old geezer look here. How am I doing? This is my new Giant bicycle. It's the Suede model. It came with a faux leather cell phone holder. I have a three wheeler but it takes too  much energy to ride in the southern heat. My new model has the high handle bars. I can ride with my back straight. I had a two wheeler, but all two wheelers are not created equally. I was tired of my hands going to sleep when I rode my old two wheeler and having a hunched back. The ride on this thing is amazing. My husband and I ride bikes everywhere we can. This way we get exercise and reduce our carbon footprint. We can get to the bank, grocery store, numerous restaurants, concerts in town and the grocery store by bike.

Since my husband and amazing partner Jim retired we have the time to bike, swim and live a slower-paced life. Life is good.

I Googled myself today and came across an interview made in 2003. The interviewer is Ken Keis. It's an hour - just to warn you, but if you want to make your life easier, it is worth the time.

The art and wisdom of easy living – Ken Keis / Anne Sermons Gillis

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The Truth Contest - Check it Out

I received an e-mail from a group of college students who have a web site devoted to Truth.  They wanted to link my web site to their site. http://www.annegillis.com/ Of course this roused my curiosity. Examination revealed a cool site. As you read their words below maybe your heart will rise in love. They are our greatest hope - an amazing synthesis of possibility and vision. In the midst of the greatest darkness let us see the shining light of this new generation. They see the truth so many us us have carried in our hearts forever. 

The students who developed the site say:
"As young people, we are disappointed with how adults have run this world in the past and are running it now. They are stealing our future with their irrational and irresponsible behavior. It has to stop now.

Everyone should be interested in spreading a universal truth, a truth that can be checked, that can unite all mankind. We cannot survive the divisions that separate us. They result in wars and destruction of the environment. We need to find our common ground.

With honesty, open minds, an open exchange of ideas, good will and the power of the Internet, we will find and spread the truth about life and death.
Check out the entries at the truth contest and send your comments to the site, or leave a comment on this blog."The site is a terrific resource for truth seekers. The Truth Contest - The Truth Contest is really not a competition with a winner. It is just the best way to find, define and spread the truth. The only mission is to find, define and spread the truth, and the main page and comments page show what has been found so far The Truth Contest.


PS  It's the third year my orchid's bloomed. It looks like a check mark.

Broken Foot; My Right Foot, Not My Left Foot

Today marks the eight week since my life turned upside down. It was the day I broke my right foot. As an avid walker, the broken foot halted life as I’d known it. But, yesterday I went for my first bicycle ride in two months.  I’ve walked my dog the past few days. Life goes on.

My husband retired one month ago.  Yesterday was the third month we’ve had sweet little Lucy. This is the same dog I was attached to when she chased a cat.  That’s the brief version on how I broke my foot.

I sit in bed and write this thankful that sitting in bed is a choice – when I first broke my foot it was more of a necessity.  My foot doesn’t feel one hundred percent right but with more time I’m expecting the body miracle to continue to heal it.

As I write these words it’s with ambivalence. Sometimes when people write of themselves there’s truth shared or compassion unveiled, but some words about me and my life and what I do sound like narcissistic ramblings. Some words refresh, some boggle the mind while other words leave us wanting more. Maybe all things written cannot be a home run. Maybe some words can be mundane, flippant or garish. I honor words. They can take us from the ordinary into sacred space. Maybe I expect too much from my words but I know the possibility. I know how words can dance and prance past our minds and into blessing.  I want to care for my words. I don’t like to waste them on broken foot and token mind spasms.  I want them to live and be free. But in the other hand I cannot live in a word prison. I must be free to speak of daily living and dogs chasing running cats and broken feet.  

As I said “today marks the eight week since my life turned upside down.” No word dread, enough said.

Don't Miss Your Bliss

We look for happiness in people and circumstances. We track down seminars and therapists to relieve pain and birth joy. Sometimes what we think is our finest hour, is our greatest mistake. In the endless looking, we engage in a mentalness that keeps joyful bliss behind the clouds. We forget, that happiness, joy and bliss are now. And only now.

Bliss is life. Freedom comes when we stop looking for others to change or for the world to catch on or wise up. Even if our mate changes, and treats us like royalty, we will not experience bliss. The mind fabricates another story. The job becomes the robber baron or the breaking-down aging body dominates our mindscapes. Maybe we wrap ourselves with second hand drama, such as our mates’ or kids’ lives. In most lives, story time lasts forever. It’s time to stop, even for just a moment. If we don’t, we miss our bliss.

Most people tell you to follow your bliss. If you have to go anywhere other than now, you are going away from the immediacy of life’s bliss. Don’t tell me about your life, how bad things are. I’m not talking about your life. Your real life is covered with the tale of your emotional and physical history. Take away the “my” story and you have life. And life is good. Life is Source.

Your bliss is really not even your bliss. Bliss is just bliss and it shines in everything just as the sun shines down on the planet. One doesn’t get up and say, “Is my sun going to shine today?” It’s everyone’s sun and really no one’s sun because ownership doesn’t apply.

Don’t think you can’t experience bliss, that it’s reserved for mystics, gurus, masters and holy people. Bliss is for you and it is for you now. Forget the mental directive that tells you to clean up so you can experience bliss. Bliss is not a future possible event. Can you imagine getting up in the morning and saying, “I shouted at my friend yesterday, I don’t deserve for the sun to shine on me.” Or “Due to my family history, my past, my unresolved anger, my lack of self esteem, or my inability to sustain healthy relationships, the sun will no longer shine on me.” Thinking that bliss is not available to you now is a story so strong that it obscures your ability to experience what is here and now. Remember the fish who went looking for the ocean and when told he was in the ocean he replied, “Oh this is just water. It can’t be the ocean. I’m going to look somewhere else.”

We love our thoughts, nothing’s wrong with them, but if we just listen to the sound of words rattling around in our heads all the time, we lose life. Have you ever been with someone who talks nonstop? It’s draining. Yet that’s what our minds do, they go nonstop. I’m asking you to stop, just for a moment and look deeply into life, the life that is here and rest in that. Don’t effort to do it, just look whenever you think to look. Make it easy. Do it as an experiment and see what happens. Watch your mind trails, where do they go? Most of the trails are old and worn. They form the trance. Wake up. Just do it. NOW – just for a second. Don’t miss the bliss. It’s now. No exceptions.

Affirmations for Getting Out of the Box

• Today I refer to the present, not the past, in order to truly see my life as it is now.

• Today is a new day and I face this day with an attitude of expectancy.

• I encounter miraculous circumstances today.

• Regardless of what I thought and felt in the past, today is a new day. I eagerly expect and receive my good.

• Today I think out of the box as I release worn out behaviors, patterns and beliefs.

• I consistently refer to a self-image of being wise, intelligent and lovable.

The Green Spot

My daughter called the Charleston (SC) Green Taxi Company to take her to the airport. How about that? Hybrid taxis.

We were to meet in San Francisco. Denver Flight F9 696 was delayed, and it was a close connection even if I had been on time. And to top that off I had to pick up and then recheck my bags with the new carrier. After speaking with several people about my situation, I was told I could not make my overseas flight. I thought of my daughter and I having to take separate flights. I wouldn't take no for an answer. I pictured both of us making the trip and then spoke to the right person. A Frontier flight attendant took up my cause and made the impossible happen.

In San Francisco, another jack rabbit Frontier employee, raced with me to my daughter (who had a late Delta connection- when I was on the plane in route to San Francisco, I thought she would be on time and waiting on the plane), took us through barriers, under ropes and delivered us just in time to make our flight. Two winded, but happy women, sat down and embraced. We arrived safely in Seoul, spent a few days, and headed for Thailand.

Following are green observations from my travels.

• Seoul, S. Korea and Bangkok, Thailand are major metropolitan areas. Greater Seoul sports a whopping population of 24.5 million, and the Bangkok area is home to 15 million people. Seoul is clean and one feels safe to roam around town. The traffic should be horrific, but the streets seem orderly, even during the busy times. What makes a city of 24.5 million orderly, clean and easy to travel? Public transportation. The Seoul Metropolitan Subway is one of the most heavily travelled in the world with more than eight million trips made daily. More than 70 percent of the subway is underground.

• The Bangkok Skytrain opened in December 1999. It revolutionized travel within the congested Thai capital for millions of city commuters. Trips that previously took an hour now take minutes.

• The Bangkok Metro, officially called the Mass Rapid Transit, opened in July 2004. More than 180,000 persons ride the metro daily. Wouldn’t you love to travel from The Woodlands to downtown in 10 to 15 minutes and save tons of CO2 emissions? The metro serves the areas not serviced by the Skytrain.

• Seventy percent of Thailand’s energy source is natural gas, which burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels. It has fewer emissions of sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen than coal or oil, and when it is burned, it leaves almost no ash particles.

• Neither country uses chorine or fluoride in their water. Of course the people don’t drink the water, but I don’t drink unfiltered water here either. My hair shined for the first time in years. Other countries that do not use fluoride or stopped using it when the toxicology reports came in are: West Germany, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Italy, and Scotland. This is a controversial subject, but I use reverse osmosis to filter out those chemicals. The fish and micro organisms, which get our runoff water, have no choice as we continue to poison them with the chemicals. My friend, Dr. Anthony George, says, “We live in a chemical stew.” And unfortunately we are in the stew pot.

If you are interested in the toxic effects of chlorine or fluoride you will find over five million articles on the internet. Here are a few links.

http://www.toxicfluoride.com/
http://www.wholywater.com/fluoride.html
http://www.nontoxic.com/water/moreonfluoride.html
http://www.nontoxic.com/nontoxic/chlorine.html
http://www.lightparty.com/Health/DangersOfChlorine.html

It looks like green is a turn on near and far. I saw recycling, green attitudes and general conservation. How refreshing. Let’s continue to join the global community as green citizens.

Green Tip

What can we do to put more green in our lives? Use beeswax candles with cotton wicks, soy candles or other vegetable based waxes. Paraffin candles are toxic when burning and 40 % of our candles have lead in the wick. For more information read http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/candles.cfm

Waiting: Make it Count

Do you fidget when you wait? Do you see waiting as a major inconvenience? People get irritated or hostile in traffic jams. Waiting before events or meetings, is inevitable. We wait in the doctor's office, the grocery store, the department store and the automotive shop. Waiting is a part of our culture. For many, waiting means wasting or lost time. Do you really want to take a large segment of the time in your life and waste it? One thing you can bet on, the more you resist waiting, the more of it you will receive. Like Job, what we fear befalls us. Let's look at new ways to experience waiting.

1. Waiting is a call to slow down.

Life has a way of providing slowdown when we hurry. Waiting is one of these slowdowns. Use this time to breathe, be still inside and to center. Think about your life. Am I doing what I want to do with my life? Am I having fun? Can I do something to change the things so I can get more of what I want? “Life is great when you like to wait.” You make waiting what it is. You give the experience of waiting all the meaning it has for you. What will you choose?
Which One are You?

There was an old woman who stood in a line
She whined and pouted as she waited her time
She stuck out her tongue
And acted the part
Of a put out female with out any heart.

There was a great woman who stood in the queue
Good naturedly smiling, her grace she imbued.
She beamed and sparkled in sheer delight
Patience her virtue, she was happy and bright.

2. Be open to synchronicity (meaningful coincidence). You might have a close encounter with a person in line that provides a lesson for you. The spiritually aware understand that no encounter is accidental. Treat the person who is next to you with awe, knowing the encounter is not a mistake. Become alert while waiting; don't go unconscious. “The more you wait the better your fate!”
Once upon a time, before cell phones, my car broke down in rural Mississippi. I went to the closest home to use the phone. A wonderful woman greeted us and invited my husband and me in. She fed us, entertained us and captured our hearts. We waited for a tow truck for several hours, then left promising to keep in touch. We actually corresponded for years. We wrote of our trials and joys. I drank in her words. Her courage, to get out of her go nowhere life, start her own business and to strike out as a single mother was dear to me.

3. "Slowliness is holiness." The eastern mystic Babaji says that slowliness is sacred. In our culture, we value rushing, expediency and productiveness. The subtle nature of the heart reveals itself when we slow down. When we rush around in we stay of the outskirts of life. We are around but not in our lives. Use waiting as a time to be. Question your driven-ness always to be doing or accomplishing. “Meditate while you wait.”
4. Redefine WAIT: Wonderful Adventure In Time (WAIT). Every moment is precious. Each here and now offers the entry into infinite peace, love, prosperity and joy. Being present and alive in the here and now moves us into a timeless reality. The only time we are free is in the now. At last, at last – free from the past!

Glad to Wait

If you get mad when you wait
Your life will be full of hate
Irritation and frustration too
You’ll go through life without a clue
Of all the gifts you might have had
By staying cool and being glad.

So next time you have to wait
Be with it, don’t hesitate
Relax, smile and be of cheer
Connect with self and those who’re near.
Life’s too short to throw away
Enjoy the wait and make it pay.

We define the quality of our lives moment to moment. Let's transform the thought of waiting from
one of inconvenience and wasted time into one of possibility, wholeness and rest. When we do this, our lives become easier and easier.

Waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting...
The end.

Anne Sermons Gillis is an author, speaker and life coach. Contact her at 281-419-1775 or at annegillis.com

I Love Lucy

What started out as a Saturday bike ride, ended up as an adoption outing. My husband and I rode by the Animal Shelter dog adoption in front of the theater. I just wanted to stop and look. Here's what I looked at - Lucy and she's in my bed right now - scared little girl. She'd been lost, found by the animal shelter, spayed, fostered and adopted in the last three weeks.

My Spiritual Oddyssey

 I began my spiritual journey when I was around four years old. In grade school, I ventured from church to church, looking for the truth. My neighbors were always glad for me to tag along, and I received a broad base education on the ins and outs of religion, hope and spiritual styles. As a teenager I read Edgar Cayce and stories on reincarnation; I hoped to reach a level of understanding and wisdom that would serve me as well as others. My mom had her finger in metaphysics, as did my grandmother and great aunt. Their open minds provided me with a thirst to explore, question and examine life.


In 1973 I started meditating. This opened up other worlds, new dimensions. In ‘76 I had my first awakening. Experiences come and go but waking up is more of a change of paradigm and a new permanent way of living. Since I then have stringently followed the inner trail to truth. I ventured to India in 1989 to be near a powerful guru. I spent years in that discipline. In 1995 I met a woman who turned my mind around. She was a Cherokee elder. I understood things about creation that I had only glimpsed in the past. I felt a lot of personal power – the infinite possibility we have as creators and my ability to create things beyond my wildest imagination.

In 1997 I met Gangaji, who moved life to another level – personal power could be helpful and certainly could change the world for good, but there was something more. That something is difficult to put into words. I again traveled to India and brought home every book I could haul back on the topic of non-dualism and vichara. Ramana Maharshi’s grace filled me. I went beyond that which can be taught. I stumbled across John Sherman’s work. I was looking for someone who was familiar with vichara. I found that John had been changed by Ramana and Gangaji. I read his words and felt as if I’d met a kindred soul. Life can only be only experienced, not learned, controlled or rehearsed.

So naturally, I’ve wanted share that which cannot be taught, with others. Fools rushes in - you know the drill. I’ve hesitated many times because the place I point to is easily overlooked and too often marginalized in the westerners need to learn, grow, pigeonhole, compare and produce, but regardless, I decided to share the message in the best way I can. The books I have from India are not available in the USA, but I did remember a book that touched the truth. The book is confrontational, iconoclastic, challenging and hilarious. It is Anthony Demello’s Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality. That’s why I signed up for the Wednesday night spot – wanting to share the wisdom lurking in the corners of our souls with souls who are open to the perils and opportunities of reality.

No book is perfect and sometimes I think DeMello’s message narrows and loops us back to the old paradigm, but just when I think that, he seems to unlock the mind in new and exciting ways.

I hope to see you in class. Know that I love you and that the I that loves you is bigger than time, form, emotions and bodies. The I that loves you is not the body of Anne Sermons Gillis, even though that body and all bodies live in that. I am that. You are that and that’s all folks! 5:15 Creative Life Center, Spring, Texas. Call me for information. 281-419-1775.

The New Money Magicians

I explored the alternative spiritual path for years. It was lonely because I thought I was the only one. I took a Silva Mind Control class in 1978. The training took place in a church. “What kind of place is this?” I asked the instructor. It’s a metaphysical spiritual church. She gently nudged me to attend. I cried at the first service; I was no longer alone. There were more like me and they were everywhere.

My childhood was average; meaning dysfunctional. I grew up as a normal neurotic. Money confusion as a tradition.. Money was worshipped on one side of the cultural altar while being demonized on the other. Money lived in me as a tantalizing creature who offered pleasure and pain. People at my new church, didn’t chant the proverbial money is the root of all evil axiom. I found solace in the idea that money was not my source; rather there was a principle, AKA God, that provides for my needs. Money was neither glorified nor disparaged; there was a clear message about money; my attitude could either attract or repel it. I could stop being a victim and become a victor. It was my spiritual heritage. I learned to manifest material things, paid off my debts, harmonized relationships, attracted money and created a wide array of spectacular experiences. As I spiritually matured I realized that my happiness was contingent on circumstances and acquisitions. Even when I did great things to make a difference, I returned to suffering. I wasn’t suffering so much about money: I just rested in that lonely question “Is that all there is?” The normal progression of confusion, knowledge, attainment, clarification and spiritual growth occurred. I learned that as Eva Peron said in Evita, “and as for fortune and as for fame… They are just illusions … they are not the solutions they promised to be.”

Today I find a disturbing phenomenon. It’s money magic. The new money magicians don’t defame money; they deify it. I was happy when “The Secret” came out. It is nifty for people to learn those old time laws of attraction. We are creators, not victims. Yet something sticks to my craw over the new found sorcery that breeds from the supermarket to the stock market. Spiritual people buy the idea that more or better stuff or even more and better experiences bring happiness. Please tell me who needs, deserves or should have a 10,000 square foot home or a shiny gas guzzler? Our trees are slaughtered and resources compromised, while money magicians get more of everything. Like Jesus, I want the money changers out of the church. People commercialize spirituality – and we are the people. It’s not morally wrong, it’s just spiritually devastating.

It’s easy to get sucked into the new frenzy of Master Minding, group incantations and positive thinking. People, new to the ideas, are on a metaphysical honeymoon and the energy is enticing, but really, if you are still just finding parking spaces after 20 years of study, I think there’s a maturation problem. Unfortunately many of the law of attraction activities, focus on spiritual materialism. Money and then more money mean success. Even gratitude can be valued as a commodity, rather than a state of being.

People focus more on getting than receiving or giving. Receiving is an effortless art and true giving feeds the soul, but getting more things or more spiritual experiences, leads back to suffering. Getting and getting more, better or different, is ego’s plan to scare the fear away, but it never works.

Metaphysics is based in mind. Spirituality is based in the heart. Trying to get more gives us a metaphysical “to do list” which can never be completed. The ego demands more action, more planning and more control. The ego analyzes every situation and buys or rejects ideas based on keeping the body or certain mental constructs safe. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else will be added unto you.” It is exhausting to couch everything in positive terms. Spontaneity suffers as ego controls. The Jesus plan is so much easier than using the mind as our ruler, decider and conflict generator.

Even though words have meaning, it is our total energetic makeup that attracts or repels our good. Actually you can spot people who are putting out bad vibes. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that 70’s term. I don’t like it when the word police interrupt me to change the way I’m saying things or to point out the problematic nature of my communication. I don’t want to be stopped to hear a word lecture. The lecture is not helpful; it is codependent. Get out of my business! As a 47 year consciousness student, I am aware of what I am saying and how I’m saying it; I just don’t always choose to use those perfect positive magic words. For me, authenticity outweighs perfection.

We start our spiritual journeys as unconscious victims; “He made me angry.” At some point we realize we have choices. We learn to reframe our views and change our perception. Hopefully, we turn from systematic dehumanizing thinking. We move to positive thinking. We move away from primal fear.

Yet regardless of how much we control the negative, insert the positives, or create convenient parking spaces, health, friendships and wealth – we still experience a yearning. We think our thoughts can solve the problem. What we think is not the problem. Positive thinking and negative thinking keep us evaluating reality rather than experiencing it. Positive thinking is a stepping stone to wholeness but when we reach the promised land we no longer need the path.

When we immerse ourselves in omnipresent goodness, the need to change, manipulate, dissect, control or get more, dissolves. We enter the kingdom and rest in the peace of being.

Manifest; it’s a part of conscious living. Take care in your mind. If hungry; eat. If thirsty; drink. If you need to pay bills; attract money. The problem arises when the ego drives us to continually get more. With ego at command central, there is a dominating restlessness that keeps us driving toward meaningless acquisitions and goals. When manifesting is the central theme of one’s life, it is neurotic. The spirit rises in being not in doing, getting or having.

If money magic worked, I would know. It does work to gain more money, but it doesn’t work in the arena of spiritual satisfaction. Money magic dulls the soul and takes us from the present onto a hope that money will provide the means to power, love, importance, or that we can buy the spiritual experiences we need to self-actualize.

If we must question or take action, our effort might best be spent finding out who we are; rather than what we want. We could practice the presence rather than milking it for personal gain.

We heal lack thoughts and feelings when we live in the ever-present state of abundance. Abundance is our natural state. Trying to stomp out fear about money fuels the fear. As these illusions appear on the screen of life, we normally work hard to fill the void. As we fill one void another appears on the horizon. When we stop and realize that the void is mental and that lack is the fiend of dualistic thought, we bring forth the wholeness of present reality.

The mind, when not aware of its true nature, stalks reality with an agenda. It is in the decision to stop the mind, so that it might surrender and rest in a deeper stillness, that we become peaceful. When we can be still and know that I am God, we find a dynamic spiritual rest, which refreshes, restores and renews our lives.

Palindrome

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant.  Make sure you read as well as listen forward and backward. 

              

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old.   The contest was titled "u @ 50"  by  AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.  So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Water in Slow Motion

water is fascinating.  After a drought, rain is magic. Dew in the early morning shines up Mother Earth. This morning's bath  - a luxury. A waterfall brings awe. Huge waves bring humility to surfers. Check out water in slow motion.

EZosophy Philosophy - The Power of Ease

Check out the power of ease. Click link for an empowering message about living an easier life. http://empoweringmessages.com/visitors/AnneGillis.shtml

Think and Grow Up

What we think about, we bring about. We use our thoughts to create separation or closeness with others.

I spoke with friend this morning. She was returning from a doctors visit. It was clear that his opinion on one issue was different from hers. She purred when she shared the good news. "I was aware when I was with him (as in present and thinking) and I didn't react. When I left, I told him he was a kind and compassionate man. It was true"

What a great feeling. What freedom. It is easy to be loving when we are with people who think and feel as we do. The real test of character comes when we encounter those with opposing ideas and beliefs.

What will I do when I think of you? Will I use your beliefs to build an inner conversation that keeps me walled in behind my judgments? Or will I look at you, you as you - not what you do, nor how you think, but just you as you.

A few days ago I went to two stores. I spoke with three employees in one store and one in the other. When I left, I felt light and happy. I felt connected to those people. Why do I feel as if I'd been touched by an angel? - then I knew. While with each person, the inner conversation was silent, you know the one that thinks about how they look or how they smell or how they are dressed. The one that looks up at them or down at them. The voice that pigeonholes them and puts them in that, "I've got your number space." That voice was silent. No opinion. No category - just presence. After each encounter I felt like I was in love.

It's time to think and grow up. Growing up means looking for love in all the right places, looking into the heart and keeping the chattering mind harnessed. Growing up means giving up the idea that life is a problem. Growing up means we can be contented even when things don't go our way. Growing up means not having to be the center of attention. Growing up means learning the balance between giving and receiving. Growing up is not about being serious or adult like. Growing up means laughing and crying at the joys and sorrows of life.  Some people are grown up at 20 while others are brats at 70.  Regardless of our age, now is the time to think and grow up.

Word Drip

I like to be silly and write willy nilly. I like how words sound, they’re so profound. I like how words flow, they come and they go. Yes, it’s time to write. Don’t be contrite. Words are little pieces of hope, of cynicism, criticism and praise. They are magic. They weave spells, create hell and amaze. Words are helpful when not profane and precious when not insane. Really, how silly can you be with this? There’s not enough silliness. Words are too serious. Drop it. Lighten up.

Words, hopping too fast, spell chaos. Words slowly dripping into awareness, feel soft and light. The breath eases when sweet words cross my mind. A peaceful word crossed my mind. Finally. Where have you been? Who could have known that words could be so kind?

Words are symbols of what almost is. They point to an experience, to life; they are but substitutes, not life. Words hold reality away as they swing and they sway. Words drag worn out thoughts and forget the truth. We get caught in wordmires, in the word show and “It’s a really big show.” Words steal our minds. Word robbery. Words capture mind when they play and we think that we are the thoughts, emotions and beliefs they convey. We forget who we are. Socrates pines, there’s no divine. My way robbery. My way is obscured by these wandering, pesky, darting words that nail me thought by thought to a mental coffin.

I built a word door and used words to open mind, to know and flow into a deeper place, a grace place, where velvet words flow into the void. It’s not an empty space, but a place where life brews itself expanding back into words. Words stretch and then contract, taking us out and in. Blessed words that you might be, an opening unto me, so I can stop and look and see, all there is and how to be.