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.