Apple tart galette is a gala event with Gala Apples like these… or any organic red apples you can get your hands on apple picking!
Below is an easy apple galette pastry recipe that’s low sugar and needs no proofing. And the proof is when you make them (…and in photos below 😊).
They are made even more tasty sweet tart good with baked lemon.
If you’ve never had a baked lemon, you’re ready to be taken to a whole new lemon experience from the juicy bright citrusy one to a cooler weather vibe… but still prepare to pucker up! 🍋
So this occasion is a zesty candied lemon and apple event all-in-one. 🎉 And once-upon-a-time I spent my entire week dreaming up event tables with clients… and now I’m doing the same for you.
You can lean into the stuffed candy apples that are fun, easy, and healthy snacks to make that take less effort than apple bobbing… that’s an old apple water in a barrel game like juggling🤹
For this snack apple making craft, be sure to source organic apples for these desserts with the skin-on… where the skin stays on and you get all the fiber and anti-inflammatory vitamin benefits.
…Plus, there’s no waste to handle that’s good for our world that isn’t daily compostable just yet (Debby-Downerwah-wah-wah).
…But hopeful it’s in the works… I believe. 🙏 And we have workarounds today like eating all the edible parts that’s not hard to do.
Which btw, you can do this sustainability move with fresh homemade juice too.
And for these apples, add some cinnamon to your apple-lemon (sweet and sour) for an irresistible zingy pairing. Add a douse of cinnamon that’s good for warming down anxious energies. And cardamom if you want energy-energy. ⚡️
And when it comes out of the oven baked and spiced, you get to be transported a happy nostalgic mood through your senses. 💭
…Do you remember your first apple pie? I remember the apple pie 🥧 store where I grew up. It was out a ways that’s now a bustling town and part of the area I grew up in.
And in those happy memory vibes, you can make your own apple tart galette dessert in the shape you like 🥧, comfort of your kitchen and do no traveling… and have a cozy home and enjoyable experience no matter what the weather is outside.
If you want to lean into apple vibes with sweet and tart, then this is a good easy bake.
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
organic medium apples (red)
cinnamon
1cupflour of choice
1-1/2cupdry oats
lemon, cut in wedges
lemon curd
honey or maple syrup to shine
2tbspcold butter
cold water
Instructions
This will make a galette for 3 rows of medium sized apples.
Prepare lemon curd on the stove. I low heat warm two eggs, lemon juice and zest, 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp flour stirring constantly for a few minutes until flour is fully blended in. I purposefully leave out sugar, but you can add some if you choose. Honey can be added at the end as shine. Let curd cool and refrigerate to help thicken while you prepare the rest of the steps. Save 2 thinly sliced lemons cut in half moons for decoration and taste.
Prepare oat flour: pulse or grind oat into fine flour.
Make the pastry shell: hand blend flours, cold butter, and add enough cold water to create a dough disc. Roll out onto your baking pan and create the pastry shape you like.
Cut two sides of the apple up to the core so you get the arch sides. Cut into thin strips and keep each side intact. Add to the pastry shell along ith lemon slices.
Add cinnamon on top and brush lemon curd throughout your galette.
Bake at 325°F/165°C for about 75 minutes or 350°F/180°C for about an hour until deep golden brown. I usually turn the oven off around the hour mark and leave in oven another 15 minutes.
About 15 minutes before turning off the oven heat, brush honey or syrup on pastry top and sides for additional shine and sweetness.
When you blend autumn leaves together, they look like a colorful painting that life is. And that can give you inspiration for expressing creativity and your creative talents! One way I like to stay creative and express creativity is through baking. I share autumn recipe inspiration below that can help YOU find your colors. 🌈
Autumn bread recipes can be comforting for the soul. After baked, the hearty loafs with sweet or savory flavors bring moments of joy and satisfaction.
And creating your own easy autumn bread recipes is easy when you know what to do! You probably already have the few essential bread making ingredients needed in your kitchen cupboard. So you’re already half-way (or more) there to spark your inspiration. 🎨
After you’ve practiced and perfected your foundational bread making skills (aka making progress over perfection), you realize you don’t need “special” recipes to create your own bread masterpiece that will wow your taste buds and friends.
…And that can even be a table centerpiece for a few days, just long enough for you to have that enjoyment factor before it wears off. 😉
The simple things like bread can bring the most joy in this life. 🎉
And with satisfied feelings, bread baking is more an art, than a science experiment with baking measurements (in case that scares you off).
Bread chemistry science happens in the oven, so it’s mostly outta your hands! That can be comforting and take the pressure off.
And below step-by-step, I show you the easiest bread you can make and bake.
Your part is to put your love in your bread dough making process, and not to get mired down with complicated step-by-steps that doesn’t always pan out.
…And I learned this over many self-taught bread lessons. The a-ha is that sticking to the basics pans out every time. And that’s good for balancing Vata where the balance recipe is consistency.
The secret in making good bread is using your calm energy and heart where you enjoy the process. And maybe finding your bread making relaxing place, kinda like the one you find outdoors on a perfect fall day with no clouds in the sky.And then when the clouds roll in, spend time in your kitchen making progress on your bread baking skills. 🥖
Bread Making 101
Starting with pizza dough or crust is one easy way to learn bread making.
Because pizza crust is bread, and even if there’s no or low rise (or you don’t get it exactly right the first time), it usually tastes great. And will get eaten in minutes if you have delicious ingredients as toppings.
Oh, btw, did I mention I was a pizza maker for 4 teenage years, lol?
So in many ways, I got my feet wet with bread baking lessons starting from a young age. And in my more mature weekly recent home baking experiences, my pizza making lessons come inspired from those years.
When I do the bread in the young at heart way, then it works out. And you can do this too with practice.
You need four common ingredients: bread flour, water, salt, and instant yeast.
(Tip: keep the salt and yeast in separate corners of the flour before the dough is formed, as salt can kill the yeast early on).
After breaking down the gluten by kneading and then forming a cohesive dough ball, you can let the dough rest and proof in a covered plastic bowl for a couple hours or longer. That’s proof that even bread need rest! 😁
You will get the hang of the elastic dough texture (like soft Play-doh) after you do it a few times. It becomes some of the easiest baking prep you can do!
Instead of intricately cutting out cookies or delicately icing your cake just right, bread doesn’t need slicing or icing precision. You might add a decorative incision or a glaze at the end, but those take less focused gaze on your part.
You can make rustic and airy bread when feeling a bit Kapha tired because it doesn’t require finesse (for my Great British Baking show friends who like to make cottage loafs). 🎪
The hardest part (if there is one), is remembering to make and prep the dough hours or a day in advance, so the dough has time to proof. You let nature of time do the work.
So here are the easy steps to by pass flops. This is the skinny on what does work for quick bread making wins… and without making skinny bread! 🍞
Learn to Make Inspired French Bread Pizza Crust
Once called “poor man’s bread,” this is actually an American invention that students love. In the public high school cafeteria I ate in, French bread pizza made a debut on certain days kinda like Taco Tuesdays.
With the same 4 ingredients you make pizza crust dough (mentioned above). After proofed, move the dough over to your baking sheet, and shape your dough in an oval or more football shape than a pizza circle.
Use a little bench flour to prevent sticky dough on your hands and the baking sheet.
When you’re about ready to bake and your oven is pre-heated to 350°F/180°C, you can flatten the dough center if you’ll be adding toppings that are wet like tomatoes.
Or make your traditional French bread pizza with cheese and sauce only, and leave the center alone so it can rise in the middle (or the reason why you proofed the dough in the first place).
The trick to airy bread loafs, is to gently handle your dough (kinda like in baking cakes where at times you want to fold in your batter or ingredients like meringue whites, so you don’t flatten and knock out the air you just worked on).BUT, you’re the artisan, so you decide!
And then bake (or be-ake! in Great British Bake Off terms).
Healthy Autumn Bread for Balancing Vata and Kapha
Keeping bread healthy, breads that have light airy pockets like French bread interiors or pita bread will not be as heavy and can melt in the mouth.
Here’s the quick bread breakdown low-down on body science:
When bread first enters our mouths, the breakdown starts as an enzyme called amylase in your mouth that initiates the process. Bread is one of the unique foods that doesn’t have to get to your gut first to start digesting (breakdown).
And it’s also one food, if not chewed well in the mouth, that can sit in your stomach like lead (or at least feel that way).
If you have a Vata sensitive stomach or bloating that’s common, or more a Kapha body who’s trying to lose weight, then not eating as much dense bread like sandwich rolls and fast food buns definitely helps your healthy cause.
Whole grain and sprouted breads are wholesome alternatives that could be a game changer for your heartier and healthier bread life.
And when you have a sweet tooth, these are some autumn healthy wise tips and healthy recipes that can easily turn into healthy autumn bread recipes.
What I most appreciate about easy autumn bread recipes are the intense hearty flavors. Hearty is anti-inflammatory spices and ingredients. It’s healthy comforting food alongside your meals.
You can sweeten pair with a divine pear and cinnamon duo or add a chai tea flavor twist. And you can turn autumn bread recipes into a bread cake, scone, or muffin recipe with just a few simple tweaks.
And these 3 sweet autumn baking recipes below are the healthy (my fave kind!)… with these ABC’s: apple, banana, or citrus orange. And loaded with other fall healthy spice and vinegar ingredients. And have no shortage of flavor burst wow! 🤩
Fall Apple Bundt Bread Cake with ACV (or pears) are loaded with polyphenols and apple cider vinegar is shown to lower blood sugar levels that’s good for losing weight and reducing risk of diabetes.
Chocolate Banana Cake Bread – banana and cocoa is loaded with polyphenols. Both will help to put a smile on your face so you don’t have to reach for processed foods and refined sugar sweets that lead to weight gain.
Chocolate Banana Cake Bread Recipe
Orange Scone – orange zest as a sweetner is loaded with Vitamin C and flavanoids. High in fiber and water content, that will help you feel full so you don’t eat other “bad” sweets with refined sugars.
And before I leave you this week, I’m sharing some work inspiration from having professionally planned thousands of party menus with Lebanese food stirring up memories because of the pomegranates, that are an in-season autumn fruit. The red rubies are a dazzling pop of color that leave a juicy finish.
S’mores waffle are a metaphor for getting the life you want of getting s’more! 😊
S’mores waffle recipe below 🧇
Looking at each waffle cell can help remind you that you’re not limited to syrup or honey in just one cell. There can be a sweet overflowing abundance.
This week I made a sweet snack: waffle s’mores. S’more please! 😋
What I love about waffle machines are that you can make individual, or to-order waffles in my home kitchen restaurant (haha).
My way is imperfect (aka easy but delicious!) and fast.
And you have waffle bites in less than 5 minutes and enjoy in less time that keeps the happy going… especially on a weekend jammed with other activities.
Waffles are great without having to fire up the oven or a sautee pan when you’re not in the mood or it’s warm outside (like these 80-degree November days).
I have a simple Cuisinart waffle maker that I like and is budget-friendly.
And you can use any waffle iron that suits you.
It’s an investment compared to buying frozen waffles at the store that gets expensive.
And the other equipment that helps is an oil spray bottle.
Then you don’t need to add oil in your waffle batter recipe. You use less and that can be healthy good and economical. And spraying, makes waffl-ing fast (...ok, what is the term for cooking waffles?). 🧇
In a pinch, you can use an emptied regular 16.9 oz water bottle.
Then screw a clean spray nozzle spray to the bottle, like the kind you use to water mist a plant that’s easy to find at a convenience store, if one’s not in your home.
And then add pour in your choice of mild oil. You can choose from canola and coconut, to light neutral EVOOs.
Then lightly spray the waffle maker, top and bottom. And with light oils you can make fun savory waffles and s’mores waffle flavors.
Just sayin’! 💡
And whatever kind you choose,the waffles come out easy… sometimes in seconds.
You know it’s done because you get a lightly browned waffle.
Ahhh… and there it is, fast and easy. Forget about pancakes.🥞 Those are so-last year. Now, I just made the pancake people unhappy.
Just kidding, but I probably will stick to waffles myself.
…And you?
Sharing about waffles, I’m reminded of some franchise hotel breakfasts where they have self-waffle machines.
So that’s where you may have practiced before too. Those are the sweet morning kind served indoors. I made the s’mores kind good also for outdoors. 🪵
So, to make the melted s’more waffle sandwich, just tear or cut with a knife your waffles into 4 or quarter sections, and use 2 sections for the top and bottom “buns.”
Add your sandwich ingredients like chocolate and marshmallow in the middle (check that the middle layer ingredients don’t go over the sides of the waffles).
Then put your sandwich back in the waffle maker until your sandwich ingredients are melted (like a panini maker).
All this can take less than 5 minutes to make when you become a pro waffle maker.
On the lighter topics, this is my new home kitchen tool obsession. 😊
And speaking of home, most of us spend our days checking on people, things, pets, plants, a chore’s progress, or what we’re making.
But often we forget to check on the most important thing… Ourselves. It’s easy to distract ourselves with what we can see in front of our eyes (that’s not always a mirror).
Our eyes are the gateway to our soul and influence our mind.
Changing to Abundance Mentality (For Getting the Life You Want)
And when I gradually switched from a victim mindset to an abundant one, that’s when I could start manifesting and co-creating new and better things. That’s creativity in the highest.
Wow, that’s a big leap forward but that’s where I’m going this week.
Because I believe there’s nothing more important than getting ourselves and our mind-body aligned with what we want in life.
Our decisions come from the lens we look out from. And in how we nurture our lives. We can make fear-based decisions that don’t help us.
I know this because I lived for the first 35 years of my life with a victim lens that I wasn’t even aware of. You can learn this in relationships where you react. And those reactions give you highlighted feedback.
And you can learn from other clues. Like when I created a vision board when they were popular (maybe they still are?), none of the pictures I cut out and pasted on the board panned out because I was looking from the wrong lens. Those ideas came from the same limiting victim mind that I used to look out from in my everyday life.
And after a massive corporate layoff I was part of, I had a chance to make bolder self-improvement changes as I restarted my life in most areas.
That’s when I connected the dots, expanded my horizons, and put to use my knowledge of the mind-body connection.
And I worked to slow down stress. That’s not totally doable or ideal working in the city. But, it was a big step forward from my past.
Plus, living in a city environment, there are more options, like many yoga studios and classes to choose from. And the environment you’re in can help to center your intentions as it did for me.
And in the slow seasons of life when I was waiting for areas to pan out, I evolved into a better version of myself.
As I leaned into character trait desires I wanted in mind, body, and spirit, they gradually became my life in alignment.
And the veil of the victim mentality disappeared somewhere in those seasons. And when it did, I could see that in the past I held myself back. You know, those parts of you that make up you, but that your work never sees.
And changing those parts change you. For a better life, an adult walks or runs, and a butterfly flies. Neither creatures crawl around with the earlier life limitations.
With the ability to look up and out, you gain abundance with a higher viewpoint, which helps you to better look in.
Changing Perspectives (For Getting the Life You Want)
And that starts by changing thoughts. Last time I shared on negative energy and that’s how life can be unless we proactively make the switch throughout the day so we can get to our abundant thinking.
Sometimes it’s easier to change the home thermostat temperature from cool to heat, than our minds.
We don’t do the switch if we’re not conscious because we have to fight against ego thoughts.
We can live tormented in our negative thoughts without catching on to how much time wasting it’s causing us.
Friend, I lived liked that for many years. So making up for lost time 😂, I choose to never live like that again. And you can too!
You can tell your ego to take a hike! And walk away from others’ egos, and not feeding their egos when they’re acting up.
If you’re aware of the concept of ego and how it’s the root of most people problems, then you’re ahead of the pack. And most high ego folks aren’t reading this because you know, they know it all. 😉
But most don’t consider themselves high in ego compared to so-and-so [insert a name] and those they see in the world acting out. The ego is much more subtle. It’s part of the air.
And just by comparing, that’s ego in action.
Recognizing Ego in Others (For Getting the Life You Want)
When I moved away from the Washington DC area, only then did I realize how polluted the air was, full of egos. It’s a great city with a lot to offer, but living there carries unique burdens.
It isn’t that other parts of America aren’t impacted by politics, but there it is in the air and not just on television or yard signs. People living there are very careful when speaking about politics (a big no-no), and a faux pas to mention in formal public setting conversations. And even informal ones.
Those ways trickled down to the suburbs where I spent most of my time. And early on in my work days, I would encounter other people’s egos all the time in management. I didn’t know what happened to that calm person from a few hours ago.
Today if I encounter those situations, I remove myself. Life’s too short. And that takes you steps away from getting the life you want.
Being under an ego spell, the other person doesn’t realize they’re engulfed by their ego at that moment (but they could if they chose to be more aware). They could choose the better thought channels.
But when it’s too late, they can appear like the Incredible Hulk compared to the normal person they usually are. Where did David go?
They act and say things that are off-base or aren’t how they usually react. You feel a huge disconnect as they try to rile you up with their words.
When you come back to that person later, the person remembers what or at least part of what you said and hopefully what they said. So that’s why it’s good to plant seeds when they’re unconscious. But just enough so you can get out alive, lol.
And often looking back, they’re sorry for what they said that no longer makes sense to them anymore why they struck a chord that way.
Were they just having a bad day? Did their medication not kick in? Or, does the person have split personalities?
Everyone, just blame it on what they ate (that’s not anti-inflammatory 😊), so you all can move on …and keep your ego at peace.
And as we’re only weeks away from the Holidays, I want to bring in the theme of peace as much as possible. That helps us stay calm and is just what the doctor ordered. 🍎
Marshmallow S'more Dessert Waffle Iron Brunch Recipes
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
flour
neutral oil
water
mini marshmallows
chocolate, chopped or mini morsels
Instructions
Make two same-size waffles in your waffle iron (about 3 minutes on medium heat).
On a plate, sandwich marshmallows and chocolate in between the two waffles while they are still hot. Use a plate to press down. Alternatively you can add the chocolates on top for a crunch.
Apple cider vinegar bundt cake is a dessert you can enjoy year-round that’s made gut healthy with ACV that is what inspired this bundt pan cake.
I hope you fall in love with this cake (like I did 😋) and enjoy the recipe that you can share with others!… even if you don’t share the cake with those around you. 🥮
If there’s something we can count on in this world, it’s a good apple that hasn’t changed since I was young. They fall from the apple trees.
And “A” is for apple or autumn and is a great start to fall Anti-inflammatory healthy breakfasts.
Adding apples to your diet is one powerful way…the apple skin is full of prebiotic fiber that’s good to eat if you choose organic apples that are not chemical pesticide-sprayed. 🍎🍏
The apple insides are loaded with various healthy compounds like pectin, quercetin, anthocyanins, epicatechin, and flavanols so they’re an anti-inflammatory super food, and are included in this 200 anti-inflammatory food list.
Mixing up green and red apples give slightly different polyphenols that are anti-inflammatory good for the body.
Apples are also a good alternate cleaning “toothbrush” to have with you when you don’t have your tube and brush on you.
Growing up, Red Delicious apples were the ones I knew. And of those, some were softer or had soft bruised spots.
And it was my job at the grocery store to pick out and bag the firm ones. I felt special being the Apple Whisperer in my family. 😊
These days, Gala apples are pretty common too and Pink Ladys, which used to be less common.
You can’t go wrong. All apples have Vitamin C antioxidant goodness to help protect against free radicals in the cells. And we can never be too young or protective against cancer cells from growing.
An since this apple cake has added apple cider vinegar, it’s a very healthy bundt cake.
That’s usually an oxymoron.
But this cake IS healthy and can be part of the way you start your day at breakfast… while being deliciously tasty too!
You can look forward to pairing apple cake with a fall pumpkin coffee if that’s your jam ☕️🎃
Pumpkin latte anyone? 🧋
You can also substitute apples with pears that has a similar crunch and sweetness to apples.
They are part of the same Pome fruit family that apples come from with a core and small seeds.
Easy Fall Bundt Apple Cake with Coconut Oil
These recipe steps will fill about half a bundt pan ring like the one shown here. National Bundt Cake Day is November 15 and that’s actually a good time to bring out this autumn dessert all will fall in love with! 😍
If you want a full bundt pan (and not just a ring), then double the batter size so it fills up closer to the top.
-3 cups all-purpose flour or a combination of your favorite flours (whole wheat, buttermilk, or gluten-free flour)
-Cinnamon
-Kosher Salt
-1 cup liquid (you may not need all the liquid and then you can make a beverage drink, like I did).
You can use apple juice, apple cider, or lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar for an acidic taste boost…
¾ cup applesauce
¾ cup coconut oil (you can melt in a bain marie, and you can use less for less fat in the cake).
Bain marie: put solid coconut oil into a smaller bowl and place inside a larger bowl and then pour hot water into the larger bowl. This works well with mugs and ceramic bowls (that can handle heat like microwaveable bowls)..
3 large eggs, room temperature
Use coconut oil to prepare and coat the bundt pan and then coat with flour (or cocoa powder) and tap out the excess, so the bundt cake comes out more easily. Alternatively you can use other oils.
Add apple juice liquid (about half to start) to the wet ingredients (applesauce/eggs). Then blend in the wet to dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon and any spices, and salt).
Mix with a spoon. It will be a soft, moist (but not liquid-y) batter. That’s why I would use a spoon and not a whisk for easy cleaning without clinging batter.
And then gently mix in leavening agents (1-1/2 tsp baking powder plus ½ tsp baking soda).
Spread in a bundt pan. I use an offset spatula to even out. You can also use a knife and/or tap down the bundt pan on a table for leveling the batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
Voila! Baked 🍎🥮
You’re looking at the bottom of the cake in the bundt cake pan. And you’ll know it’s finished when you can pull out a clean toothpick tester.
After the bundt pan cools for about 10-15 minutes, then remove it from the pan.
You don’t want to remove it while it’s piping hot warm, or else the apple cake can easily break.
After the cake is out of the bundt pan and is fully cooled (you can refrigerate covering it with the bundt pan so it doesn’t dry out).
Then cooled, you can glaze. You can lean into the coconut flavors and melt chocolate coconut oil in a bain marie until you get the right consistency.
For a thicker glaze, use more chocolate to coconut oil ratio. It’s your creative bundt!
…And sooo shareable as you get even slices with the classic fluted bundt pan.
…Looks like a FESTIVE holiday wreath. 🎉
…Ready to make this apple cider vinegar cake that keeps the doctor away?
3cupsall-purpose flour or a combination of your favorite flours (whole wheat, buttermilk, or gluten-free flour)
cinnamon to taste and pinch of salt
1cupapple juice or apple cider (and combo with apple cider vinegar with total 1 cup liquid)
3/4cupapplesauce
3largeeggs
3/4cupcoconut oil
1-1/2tspbaking powder
1/2tspbaking soda
pinch of salt (kosher salt suggested)
cardamom spice (optional)
Instructions
Combine wet and dry ingredients. Tip: mix with a spoon. It will be a soft, moist (but not liquid-y) batter. Also, mix coconut oil with apple sauce for easy moist mixing.
Tip: Prepare bundt pan with coconut oil and lightly dust with flour to prevent sticking. Tip: use a tea infuser for even, light dusting.
Pour cake batter into cake pan.
Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes (or until a long toothpick comes out clean).
Tip: Take out cake after cooled (so it doesn't collapse or break on you).
Instincts help you out. You’ve probably heard of the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO).
During the global lockdown, we went with our better instincts to make decisions, as no one knew for sure immediately what next steps to take.
Deeper joy is unleashed here in my Sunday brunch experience.
Some healthy outcomes during that time were that a lot of people grew, became more resilient, and today are still reaping the benefit of becoming better versions of themselves. That’s something to celebrate! 🎂
Even though “missing out” wasn’t something we chose, that’s what most of us did to stay safe and healthy in the world.
But tell that same story logic to a child or a teenager (…or the child still in us 🧸), and missing out on events can be devastating. But it doesn’t have to be!… and below I share two ways that “missing out” can be the biggest blessing for you and us all.
If our happiness is based on external situations, and not on ourselves, we can suffer sadness and disappointment.
Instead, inside us, we have the peaceful joy instincts built-in that today we may or may not have developed fully yet like we would in learning a skill.
…Wherever you are on your journey now is great. You are exactly where you’re meant to be, and you have a choice to replace what doesn’t work best.
And from what I’ve experienced, I know those deeper instincts are there to help us if we’re ready.
They give us more peace and steer us to our best life. And I wish I tapped into my inner joy instincts sooner in life.
Feeling inner joy gives us better control over our lives and our feelings in situations we can’t always control dealing with specific people, places, and things we encounter.
And with practice, we can bring out our inner joy and turn it into a daily healthy habit we apply (replacing our original “happy” lens that doesn’t always help us).
I know this all too well from my younger days when I got excited about going to parties that sometimes got out-of-hand… a little too many Animal House-type parties that I wish I could take back now (…and go figure I became a professional party food event planner as my first career to round it all out).
During those immature pre-school graduation days, I wasn’t in control of my life on the inside. I lived for the outward happiness feelings that put me on an emotional roller coaster when situations didn’t go as planned.
And as I grew up… and as you and I are growing now, we naturally grow out of what we already experienced that wasn’t good for us whatever that looked like… and maybe even a bit relieved that we’re past those years and times… grateful we’ve “been there, done that” and not going backward.
For me today and maybe you too… happy fun is re-defined from a new lens of daily joy.
Inner joy is more freeing than external happiness that’s fleeting.
It doesn’t mean giving up on fun because that would be no fun! But coming up with new ways… that’s what I do anyway to please my Enneagram 7. We tend to get our enthusiasm from fun. That’s one thing I hope to never change.
…And that motivated me to set out a fun day (Sunday) anti-inflammatory donut table while Nadal showed his sustainable match win, and the Queen her Jubilee and longevity.
You don’t usually see donuts on an anti-inflammatory menu, but these ACV cinnamon honey ones are without added sugars.
…While creating a menu and daily food joy like with a veggie pizza from a homemade pizza crust or cinnamon donut is nice. It doesn’t make or break the day. That’s an example of finding joy in the moment and then movin’ on.
And that keeps the inner peace, and naturally feeling good in daily calm living. Good grows. And I don’t mess with good growth! 🌱
And if you’re into growing, want new experiences, and are ready to tap more into your deeper sides and joy instincts if you’re not already… or still wondering why that matters or how it’s different than what you could be doing…
Here are a few more differences…
By developing your joy instinct by filling up your moments with your peaceful and calmer desires, you feel less disappointed moment-to-moment (or not disappointed at all) when events don’t happen and situations don’t pan out.
And ultimately, you’re in deeper control of yourself, thoughts, and feelings… and that’s super powerful to your life. Finding deeper instincts feels like a superpower when you discover it later in life.
Finding that life-giving abundant space inside is a gift. I think so, anyway.
And experiencing that chosen path opens you to a whole bunch of other great things you pick up along the way.
…Like, I rid of the worry habit. Worry is helpful until it isn’t. It helps when it gets you to think, and those thoughts help you to initiate solutions or a new way to look at a solution.
But staying in the habit of worry is not helpful or healthy. So one day in the bookstore (…remember those?), I picked up The Power of Positive Thinking written by the late-Norman Vincent Peale, and read the “Worry” chapter in the self-help book.
It starts like this… “Worry is just a very bad mental habit. And I can change any habit with God’s help.”
I read that chapter over and over again and practiced the 10-point steps that literally transformed my life of worry in less than a decade. That sounds like a long time, but most great things take time.
And at the time, I loved it so much that I went out and bought a few additional book copies and gave them to my co-workers around me. And I’m passing it on to you here. Hopefully, you can read it…
How to Stop Worrying Chapter (Steps 1-6)How to Stop Worrying Chapter Continued (Steps 7-10)
So then I carried less unhealthy worry turmoil, and I worried less about my workers as they knew what to do. 😉
So leaning into joy has perks and side benefits.
…I hear myself talking about joy like it needs to be sold as a natural drug, haha. And sometimes it does feel that way in a good way!
Two cool perks about stepping into your inner joy are:
Feeling contentment – and not getting emotional when things pan out or don’t. Being free of this feels relaxing, stress-free, and breathes in more joy. Back in the day, when we didn’t know any better, we would describe this as, “you’re so mellow.”
With contentment, you feel more peace and get more done without the thought-feeling drama.
Your creativity – is the gateway to your highest purpose, second or next act, and clarity with what you want to do with your life if you’re not feeling fulfilled with the one you’re in. You can unleash greater imagination, gifts, and buried talents.
There’s a treasure trove in you. And it costs nothing to discover what’s inside. Not only can it bring new ideas and save you from spending money, but also save you from losing time and unnecessary headaches.
The two C’s can be a ticket to your best life today. They can make the difference or be your launching pads to a “new life” in a world of uncertainty and give you a peaceful escape from your job, especially if you’re not happy there.
If you’re looking for more joy in your life, be encouraged that the way you started out and the path you’re on doesn’t have to be the one you stay on.
And choosing to trust and lean into your healthy natural instincts is easy, light, and aligned when you pick the channels meant for you. ✨
