Merry Christmas

What the Opposite of Making a Difference? A Be Cause

My cause is a be cause. I don’t want to be all that I can be. No army for me.  If I spent my life being all that I could be, would I have anytime left to enjoy my life – to live my life?

 We live in a productive society. Indolence is not a virtue, but many of our values, those get-ahead, make-somebody-of-yourself; make-a-difference values, are not conducive to life itself.  

I am not trying to make a difference because who I am is the difference.  In living and being open to the next encounter, a difference is made.  If I wasn’t there, things would be different. Difference is everywhere with or without me. Life itself is full enough and arranged so that I don’t have to get in there and clean up a mess. Life is not a mess. If there are any messes around, maybe I’ d be the mess. But even saying that I am a mess is another attempt by the mind to create a problem. The mind creates its value and meaning by fixing our messes. We love messes. It’s the mind that messes with life.  We act like our messes are tragedies, but our messes are our messes and we guard them closely. We intellectually and emotionally guard our stash of drama and mayhem. Our mess makes us special.

Drop the drama, drop the pain - realize we’re all the same.You’re not broken, you’re not wrong - life is perfect; sing it’s song. There is something right with us. Let’s get in there and look for that. Life is beautiful, let’s look for that beauty.  Pathology (Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease and I using this word to describe our mental states) is not all it’s cracked up to be and it’s a lie. Lives are not pathological, they are mythological. We are a part of a grand story. We don’t need to be reduced to the “what’s wrong, fix it” game when we can tune into the presence of what’s right. And in the words of songwriter and singer, Tim Bays, “life had many speed bumps, its detours and its sorrows, but a thousand things went right today and will again tomorrow.”

Making a Difference?

All of my life I had dreams of making a difference. I wanted to change the world. The journey started when I was a junior in High School. I wrote a paper on US Latin American affairs, studied US Latin relations and was chosen as a church delegate to visit Washington, DC and New York City. In Washington I met with my congressman and with my senator’s aid. I toured the congressional and senatorial building and even had lunch in the congressional dining room. I looked around and tried to imagine who those important people might be. In New York City I met with UN officials and studied the process of world cooperation in government.

The seeds of ambition were nurtured over the years through my participation in politics as a teen Democrat. My father was a member of the NC House of Representatives, so I had a blast as a page when I was only 13. I campaigned for zero population growth in my early twenties. I started attending national and international gatherings for planetary healing. In the early 90’s I was one of the hosts of a small international event held in rural Texas. We decided to take a break from the business and I put together a spur of the moment talent show featuring conference participants. I was the master of ceremonies. Due to some intense mystical occurrence, I entered an altered state of consciousness. It was the realm of divine comedy. The show was awesome and somehow the boundaries and borders melted between participants and we became a global family. The experience did not end for me at the close of the show. All night I lay awake filled with the most incredible energy. It was the light of comedy. It came in waves. It seemed like comedy heaven.

I was so inspired that I started a campaign to have a court jester type person in the US House of Representatives. In my altered state it seemed like terrific idea. I wanted to perform for the president in the congressional building for a joint session of the senate and the house. I vividly imaged that occurring. When I came off my visionary mountain, I dropped the idea. Some things that seem to make sense when I am on a spiritual high seem ridiculous when I re-enter the ordinary world.

The next year I was invited to a conference in The Philippines. It took place in the congress building in Queson City. There was a parallel conference which included theater people from around the world. They put together a show to be held in the congress building. I was hanging around watching practice when group leader asked me if I would represent the indigenous of North America and do a performance. I said responded affirmatively, but explained that it would be an offense for me to represent another culture, but I would do something appropriate to honor the American indigenous. I gave a dramatic depiction of how the early settlers depended on the indigenous for survival and how later we met them with a sword, decimating their people, lands and culture. I asked for forgiveness and begged again that they show us the way to a sustainable planet. There were thousands of people in the audience including diplomats, ambassadors, cabinet members, the heads of the military, indigenous datas (that’s the leaders), the members of the house and senate and the president. It was not exactly as I had pictured it, but the key ingredients of my dream were there: performing in the congress, a joint session and a presidential attendee. For me it was a powerful demonstration of the mind and heart in unison to create and manifest a dream. It seems that in wanting to make a difference, I was the one who benefitted the most. This was one of many extraordinary experiences that have taken me from pillar to post of life’s adventure.

PS… A friend, who had international prominence, told me I needed some impressive pictures and news stories in my PR kit. She had her picture on the front page of the Sun (England). I thought, why can’t I have my picture on the front page of an international newspaper? This little adventure birthed a picture with the president, the international delegates (and you could really see me) on the front page of all the major newspapers in the Philippines. So goes my “Law of Attraction” story. We called it manifesting in those days, not the LOA, but thinking, creating, allowing and receiving were the same then as they are now.

Life and Lovers

Life goes by so fast. I wrote the following piece in 1999 – it seems like a just few minutes ago- when my relationship with my then lover and now husband was fresh and shiny. I’ve heard it did that three bad relationships can do more for your awakening than one easy comfortable relationship. Somehow I think I’ve wrapped several tough relationships and a few good relationships into this one and have manufactured both pain and pleasure. For those who think relationships are the answer; they are not. For those who think being alone and single is Mecca, forget that also. Each state, alone or in a relationship, has its fire and its pleasure. Nothing in form, whether it be health, people, success or accomplishment, offers permanence or lasting satisfaction. What we seek through the acquisition or disposal of things, people and circumstances never delivers us to the Promised Land. All that said I couldn’t resist sharing the following. Here’s to life and lovers:

I am undergoing an experiment. Is life there to support me if I let it? If I stay in the moment will each succeeding now be enough? Will I give up the need to be guided anywhere because there is nowhere to go? Can I give up the need to have things different because I know deeply that the world of satisfaction is not reached through self improvement? Can I give up the need for change and variety long enough to undo my inability to see what is already here. What is here is enough, but because of my conditioning I look outside to others, to the possibility of money bringing freedom and to success as the conductors of happiness.

I cannot fault myself for this journey. True I have frequent failures.. I have enough frequent failure points to take my mind anywhere in the land of doom and gloom. Even free trips are often too expensive. I can no longer afford the luxury self criticism. It eats away at my aliveness. The mind can be like a reckless drive. I get in my mind, turn it on and then go for a ride, but it’s not a joy ride.  I become a reckless thinker and my reality crashes. I  believe that life is a series of problematic occurrences that need fixing. Oh what an endless web we weave when once we practice mental disease. Mental dis- ease is a practice and I have gotten so good at it that I forget there's any other way of perceiving. I suffer from perception deception.

So it’s true, "I am not soaring away into the boundless bliss of infinite love," but I am soaring. I have acted on the courage to free myself from my latest  prison. I am roaming in a life that is more dictated by wants than by needs. I have met the challenge of my heart and have become open to new love.

When I was young it was so easy to surrender to love. I did not know who I was. There wasn’t much to give up or to give from. I gave myself in order to become someone. Now I know who I am and so when I surrender, I give into much more than hoping I will become someone. I know I am already someone. Now I give into allowing that I can become even more if my heart is open. I have known how to be who I was when alone, now the risk is the vulnerability of being myself in the presence of one who can see me.

I am both honored and afraid of this journey into intimacy. Sometimes my mind spins in a mad dance of potential outcomes. I get dizzy and spin out of control. Other times I rest in a deep contentment. I feel dizzy when I look into my lover’s mind and heart. There is excitement in the newness, but as I glimpse the purity of the daily encounter, my mind relaxes. I watch the tea cup brush his lips. These things are becoming familiar, but none the less they are sacred. Does familiarity breeds contempt? Who can look upon the sun closing her eyes and not be touched again and again? So it is with he and me, those familiar things I long to see and repeat for me a thousand times.

So here’s to all you lovers – a little mushiness, a little sanity and plenty of “when it comes to relationships, the experts don’t exist!”

Time

Sometimes time seems so big it just stretches out giving me a forever feeling – it takes a noble stand behind me. What a spacious gift, a queen’s delight.

Sometimes time stands before me shrinking while issuing frantic demands; it runs away and gives itself to others, leaving me with toppling tasks and breathless beginnings. I get a paupers gift, but never enough time for anything.

If I could seize the clock and make it give and never take, then I suppose I’d be awake. I’d live in now and not beyond, time would not march, it would just sing along with me in perfect time.  © 2009 Anne Sermons Gillis

Is Freedom Doing Your Own Thing?

Recently I cleaned out some old files. I found delightful little snippets of insights tucked away; they were forgotten over time. Today these quotes would be online, but in the old days we received our quotable wisdom "Xeroxed" on a piece of plain white unrecycled paper.

I thew some of them away, but this one - I have to share.  Unfortunately, as with many of those quotes, the author is unknown.

This one is entitled "Doing Your Own Thing - Is That All?"

There is to me a terrible agonizing loneliness in trying to live for the self alone. Fritz Perl's declaration of freedom has often been quoted, "I do my thing and you do your thing." The quote is actually:

"I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I; If by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.

There is some valid truth in those words as well as some extortions as well. To me there comes an underlying sadness as I read them. How much more appealing is the version written by Gestalt psychologist, William Tubbs:

BEYOND PERLS by WALTER TUBBS

If I just do my thing and you do yours,
We stand in danger of losing each other
And ourselves.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations;
But I am in this world to confirm you
As a unique human being
And to be confirmed by you.
We are fully ourselves only in relation to each other;
The I detached from a Thou
Disintegrates.
I do not find you by chance;
I find you by an active life
Of reaching out.
Rather that passively letting things happen to me,
I can act intentionally to make them happen.
I must being with myself, true;
But I must not end with myself:
The truth begins with two.

Back to my insights:

When I was young, ideas flowing from Perl and Ayn Rand were exotic. As a kid working on my need to individuate and break away from limited beliefs, I counted on it being okay for me to be me, and I thrived on rugged individualism. I did not want to be a compilation of others' expectations or needs. But now I am an adult; I do as it says in First Corinthians 13, "When I became an adult, I put away  childhood things. " As an adult, I clearly understand the interdependence of friends, families, communities and countries and understand that me doing my own thing was an integral step in growing up - but it was only one step of many. If I started walking over a bridge and stopped in the middle and stayed there, I would never get to the promised land.

It is sad to see those whose growth was stumped, those people standing on the bridge. They are emotionally challenged especially when they see the world only through the eyes of me, my, myself and mine. This mindset is the genesis of the need to control, power grabbing and the fear of lack.

Sometimes I am afraid of people that seem to be in life only for themselves. I forget that they are still like children, clutching to ideas and actions, that they believe will make them safe and lovable.

Freedom for me arises when I give up my fear and forget about protecting myself from people who differ from or disagree with me.  Mind me, I am not talking about living in a physical war zone, I am speaking of living in an ideological war zone. Freedom comes when I choose to love first. Freedom comes when I choose to love before the other person understands me or likes me. Safety comes when I show up in life undefended, unwilling to put up walls or to erect verbal angry righteous walls.

Our country is polarized. One of the talking points in a certain belief systems is, "Freedom is not free." This is a great truth; however, freedom for one cannot come at the expense of another. Freedom is not free because freedom means giving up our need to be right, our need to win and our need to triumph over others. Ultimate freedom is an internal state.  Freedom is more about not being washed around by emotions or not freaking out over world events and conditions.  Freedom comes when we live by an internal code of ethics that makes no ones existence wrong. Freedom can not be bought, legislated or fought for. It was imperative to free slaves with a legal decree, but prejudice and hate still haunted the lives of then freed slaves as it does today for those of color.

I'm skipping around here with the word freedom - it is a word we use so often -  we casually throw that word around, but to me freedom is what I seek. I am not seeking a freedom from the oppression of others, I am seeking freedom from the oppression of me. Freedom to me is about freedom from the ego. And I will say that the more I remain present and open to life as it is, without mentally figuring everything out and just letting what is, be - the more freedom I feel.

So back to us - together. We are not islands. We think we are independent as a unit, but how many of us grow our food or provide fuel for the cars we need to take us to work. Where does our money come from? Other people. We are woven together in our physical needs and in our emotional needs. I thank William Tubbs for reminding me and hope that you know that I know that we are in this together. For better or worse.

You Never Get Anywhere When You Go on a Guilt Trip

We have riots, murders, war and people starve to death. There is real suffering everywhere. Is it okay to have it easy, when people are suffering and dying?

When I was growing up one critical issue was the children in Africa. Information about their plight was disseminated at mealtime. I didn't know whether the kids were actually starving or if the story was fabricated to force me to eat. Sound familiar?

It took almost thirty years to realize that being a member of the clean plate club was no longer desirable and that my eating habits would in no way affect the amount of food available to African children. I stopped forcing myself to eat everything on my plate, (actually I started taking only amount I wanted to eat) but the guilt of having in a have not world remained. As an EZosophist I question the value of that kind of guilt.  Guilt about Africa or other under advantaged populations qualifies as Ego Driven Suffering (EDS). Concern and compassion are very different than guilt.

Today, I know that children, and their parents, are starving to death, not only in Africa, but in other places as well. Women are beaten, crowded prisons are commonplace, drugs abound on the streets and teachers live on small salaries.

There is instant impetus via TV, newspaper and radio to trigger guilt and upset. Television allows us to be at the crime scene minutes after a shoot out and turns war into entertainment. Newspapers give the necessary statistics to support lack thoughts and make us believe that the economy is going to fall apart tomorrow. People have the information to make nuclear bombs in their garages.

 Is it possible to have an EZosophist outlook when the planet is operating in a state of emergency? Can urgent times be met without urgent attitudes? Can we develop an easy attitude in uneasy times?

Yes, not only is it possible to have an easy attitude, it is desirable. In times when the outer world is changing, the population is exploding and children have taken up arms, it is necessary to cultivate an easy inner environment.

While growing up we made decisions that subconsciously guide our current perception. Many of were taught that life is a hard proposition, work is to be dreaded and taking time off to play requires guilt rather than enjoyment. Everything is serious including getting up in the morning and exercise.

Given the belief that life is hard, we made a decision, now forgotten, that life is hard and that suffering is necessary to be human. This is the birth of Hardaholism.

The Hardaholic Mind (HAM) goes on a mission to prove it's case. The HAM searches for the evidence that life is hard. The mind overlooks all the evidence that supports joy, aliveness and ease. No matter that we don't have to hunt bears and grow our own corn, we have the insufferable task of unloading the dishwasher and taking out the trash.

Not to mention having to answer the phone when a sales person is perched at the end of the line waiting with a pre-approved credit card. What difficult situations!

HAM feast.

Our media reports evidence that supports the life is hard and dwindling down to a few endangered resources. The HAM loves the news because it isn't looking for the creativity, compassion, wisdom and power of the people. The HAM stalks poverty, pain and struggle and finds it. "There is pain and suffering. People are starving. How do we handle it? We can't just shut our eyes. We must be informed. “This is the mind trip the ego delivers. “Do not to think of ease - because there is real suffering on the planet.” The mind drones on.

Is there a solution? What can an EZosophist do to be responsible and yet avoid martyr like suffering and useless pain?

Of course, there's an answer. The master told us of an inner-directed state called the peace that passes understanding. EZosophists rest in the inner state of peace while dealing with the outer commotion.

The EZosophist learns to distinguish between genuine suffering and EDS. Suffering is germane to some circumstances, but when suffering occurs as the result of a life script decision, aliveness diminishes
.

 EDS fuels our guilt, makes us feel sorry for ourselves without just cause and allows us to stay powerless, hopeless and helpless. Awareness of self-manufactured suffering is the first step to choosing out of it.  Drop it. EDS is an addiction that robs us of the pleasure and ease of life. We must opt out by lifting our thoughts out of the mental gutter.

 Often when intense feelings are triggered by the plight of starving children, it points to personal feelings of starving for attention, time off or affection.  When we stop projecting our pain onto other s and turn attention to ourselves, we can provide the attention and care we need for ourselves. Thus we empower ourselves with the energy needed to help in external crises.

We are innocent. We don't need to suffer about every little thing. We are privileged people. Becoming underprivileged will not help anyone. One of the best things we can do for those who suffer and have pain, is to appreciate what we have, count our blessings and be thankful rather than being guilty . 

The EZosophist feels compassion for those who suffer poverty, pain and physical peril without taking on the pain.

Again, the answer is easy: Identify the EDS; Drop it; Appreciate what you have; be compassionate towards others suffering, but don't take on the burden. Remember, if you take on other’s  suffering, then you probably are not dealing with your own. Do your work and you will make life easier. And remember the eight word miracle mantra; everything can be easy or at least easier.

Excerpted from "EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or at Least Living."
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EZosophy Interview

If you would like to make your life easier, listen to this EZosophy interview. Life is hard, but it is not hard all the time.

EZosophy Interview With Anne Sermons Gillis

This interview was sponsored by Robin and Gregory Mascari of Enlightened Networking. To sign up for access to interviews go to Enlightened Networking/

Every week they feature top business leaders, speakers or authors who share what it takes to live a richly fulfilling life. 

Don't Be Careful

“Being present means living without control and always having your needs meet. For people who are tired of the pain, nothing could be worse than trying to control, what can’t be controlled. If you want real control, drop the illusion of control. Let life live you. It does anyway. You’re just telling yourself a story of how it doesn’t and that’s a story that can never be real. You didn’t make the rain to the sun or the moon. You have no control over your lungs or your heart or your vision or your breath. One minute you are fine and healthy and the next minute you are not. When you try to be safe, you live your life being very very careful, and you may end up having no life at all. Everything is nourishment. I like to say. ‘Don’t be careful, you could hurt yourself’.”*

*Byron Katie excerpted from “A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony With the Way Things Are.”

Yesterday we drove about 300 miles as we did the day before. As I’ve grown older, I find myself being more fearful of traffic. My vision is not as it was in my youth, but I seem to be cautious even when I am not the driver. I sometimes avert my eyes when we get what seems too near a car; I anticipate problems, my adrenaline flows as if I am in danger. Jim drove the whole way.  I decided to be fully present to what was occurring. I realized how fear was my “protection”, it takes me away from the reality of the moment. My mind thinks that to meet reality where it is, provokes danger. The joke was that the only danger around was my fear. My fear is like a poison I take to make myself healthy. I got into this reality thing, dropped the fear and looked out with/through awareness. I tuned in with deep curiosity and all of the sudden it was all a miracle. The posts rising from the soil. Consciousness looking out a body and speeding along through space. Wow, the noises, the new images swiftly appearing and disappearing. I cannot say that I remained in this heaven on earth but I can report that heaven is alive on the freeway and it is alive now. This stillness, this peace, is bigger than the noise, the fear, the tractor trailer trucks, the smog, the halting traffic and flashing red, yellow or blue lights.  Maybe some enlightened soul named it the HIGH WAY because right in the middle of the chaos, the sizzling asphalt – amidst the clamor of people rushing towards or away from home, rises life, and it is sweet.

EZosophy as Spoken at Unity Church in Wimberly, Texas

Want to make your life easier. Tired of the drama - take an early retirement from the theater of your life, jump off stage and join the reality of life. No more dramarama - make life easier.

Listen to these ideas and turn down the mental intensity. It's time to get out of the asylum! Be free. Just click the link below for fun listening and remember the eight word miracle mantra, "Everything can be easy or at least easier."

http://unitywimberley.blogspot.com/2010/10/ezosophy-living-in-ease.html

Never Clever

Just a few words today. Doing a regular blog has become an irregular event. With all immodesty I can say that the lack of motivation to write new material has its cheerful place in my life these days. I have been putting old handwritten notes and writings on my computer. Some of the stuff of the past is pretty catchy. I always have a problem with most of the stuff because, as beautiful and clever as much of it is, the thoughts are based on the belief that there is something to improve or fix. I just don’t believe that. Yet I am amazed at how readily that kind of self-help material just almost writes itself. So rather than resist, I just write it.

This morning I was reading a prayer written by Ramana to Ganesha. I was thinking “What in the heck was Ramana doing, writing that prayer?” I was looking at Ramana’s picture, which was in the article, and I could swear he winked at me and said, “I’m just like you. I write what flows. Some people love that and so why not write it?” It was clear to me that he knew the prayer was unnecessary, no need to pray when life and all its events are the highest prayer of all. Amen.

I've been working on some new CD's for sale. The first one turned out okay but the second one was defective - meaning I sounded like a sing song school teacher who could not read well. I will redo it. When I say life is perfect, with no fixing necessary, I don't mean all events and endeavors turn out perfectly, I mean that peace is always present regardless of the unfolding drama before us.

Adopt a Country: A Metaphysical Program of Healing and Support

Several years ago I decided to adopt a country. Just as people adopt children, we can adopt a country. Well maybe not “just like.” This is, of course, metaphorical. The point is to use our minds to champion other countries. Have you wanted to make a difference? Here’s a great opportunity to do spiritual service work.

No country is a standalone proposition. The entire world is sewn together in our hearts, though our finances, through trade, travel and family. So here’s your part if you choose to become a part of this mission possible. You can adopt a country and hold them actively in your heart for a period of time or maybe you want to take this on for the rest of your life. Choose a country. Study your country; see the faces of the people, learn the greatness in the country and of their problems and challenges. Find out the relationship your native country has with your adopted country as well as the history with the country. Lookup their flag and listen to the music of the country. Eat a meal from your country. What are their customs? What languages or languages are spoken? Pray in your own way for the country or use one of the two affirmative prayers below.

Affirmative Prayer for The Well-Being of the Country

I acknowledge the creative potential within me as a potent force of peace, prosperity, and sustainability in (Name of Country). I call forth the essence of the people of (Name of Country) and surround them with the light of well-being. I call forth the infinite within the citizens of (Name of Country) to create vision, joy and passionate aliveness with themselves, their neighbors and good relations with all global citizens. I bless the people and their thoughts. I bless the land, the waters, the animals, the plants, and the air of (Name of Country). (Name of Country) is a country built on wisdom, compassion, vision and love. You and your people will grow and prosper in all of your affairs. The political systems of (Name of Country) are economically healthy, sustainable and serve the people for their highest good. (Name of Country) is an integral and well-respected member of the global community. Unexpected good comes to you day by day, unobstructed by events and circumstances of the past. The people of (Name of Country) know who they are as infinite wise creators of a powerful nation under good. It is with deep pleasure that I present (Name of Country) to the world as a safe, healthy nation. So Be It. ©2005 Anne Sermons Gillis

Affirmative Prayer For Prosperity

I (and the name of the country you choose) give up all worry or struggle about money. I release all destructive negative family and cultural patterns of lack, struggle and stress around money and abundance. I turn my mind away from doom and gloom reports concerning money, the economy and finances. I refer to my personal self-images of wealth and well-being. I will not let the Dow get me down. Stocks, bonds, currency, inflation and/or devaluation of the dollar, none of these can touch the true source of abundance that flows through the universe and through me. Market predictions, economic upturns and downturns are the effect of consciousness and I refuse to participate in the wild effects of human mind because the God-mind its abundant nature is constant and unchanging. I will not worship the false God of lack. I am not concerned in accumulating mass wealth as a means to make myself important and to gain approval. I will not participate in the addictive spending to numb out uncomfortable feelings. I will conserve not disturb my planet. I can have a consciousness of abundance that includes me as a part of the universe rather than one that sees the universe as mass resources ready to serve me.

Affirmation for the country you choose to pray for

You are a great nation, one under God with my nation __________________. I see (name of the country you are praying for as a prospering county – abundant in love, resources, good relationships and in good relationship with the earth. So Be it.