Anne's Note describes a Wedding in Hermann Park. The main article provides some Action Steps for a Happier Life. Healthy Living lauds Pistachios and includes a Recipe. The Anne Talk is Happy Lighten Up Day. The Featured Product this month is Anne's book, EZosophy: The Art and Wisdom of Easy or at Least Easier Living.

The EZ Mantra: "Everything can be EZ or at least EZier." – Anne Sermons Gillis

  A Note From Anne

Dear ,

Yes, we had a wedding. Jim’s daughter, my step-daughter, got married under a covered structure in Hermann Park in Houston, Texas. The ceremony was to take place on a grassy expanse, but instead we watched the ducks swim in a newly formed lake, meaning it formed that day, beside the marital gazebo.

It is hard to hear anyone, much less a marriage official, when it pours down rain. That’s what great about the kids – they had a wonderful time. They heard the important words. The audience was irrelevant to the bride and groom; to them no one else existed but the two of them. After the ceremony, they ran out into the torrents of rain and played with pure delight.

Ukulele tunes filled the air, the tres leches cake was cut, and we consumed spinach and black bean tamales. It ended so quickly. The on-looking homeless people were fed and sent off with tamales, sparkling water, and cake. Friends and family drifted off into the rain and two very happy kids departed as husband and wife. The day passed the lemonade test. The ingredients were weird, but the recipe turned out great.

Anne

  Action Steps for a Happier Life

It’s easy to become cynical as we age. We’ve seen it all, done it all, and we are set in our ways. Regardless of our age, it is possible to have a happier life. Try some of these ideas and see how simple changes to your routines can create profound results.

• Accept the bad things in life as a part of life and don’t get so bent out of shape about them. Don’t feed impatience with self-righteousness. So you missed the mail carrier. It’s okay. Temper tantrums are childish and not for adults. So someone is following too closely. Ease up on your irritation. You are all right even when things are not going your way.
• Speak to the people you meet when walking and look them directly in the eye when possible. When we look deeply at others, we drink in the divine. We are all the same light shining through infinite forms and when we recognize this in others we diffuse the egoic mind.
• Exercise – even if it just means parking your car a little further away from your place of destination. Find one easy thing you can do today to make you move a little more and incorporate this new activity into your daily routine. The body is filled with spirit and this integrated energy needs to flow freely throughout the body or we develop illness.
• Enjoy your food when you eat it. Be present and don’t just gobble your food while working. When you enjoy eating, your food is healthier for you. I’m not making this up!
• Stay involved with living things. Be around children or pets, or take care of plants. Staying cooped up in our homes or offices, without touching life, leads to an unattractive kind of deadness. You can’t do life alone; you will dry up.
• Learn a new skill or craft. Learn how to make homemade papers, how to bake, jewelry making, try a new recipe, learn how to train your dog, or write your memoirs. Stay fresh.
• Perform a random act of kindness or responsibility. My husband and I walk every day. We have rescued dogs, picked up trash, returned shopping carts to the shopping center. The other day we rescued a wheel chair. We called the phone number on the wheelchair and found the owners; they came and picked it up. They were very grateful.
  I have picked up turtles that had strayed too far from the lake and into traffic and moved falling branches away from tender plants on our walking trails. I clean public bathrooms to make them a little better. Every night, when we go to sleep, we can know that we’ve left the world a better place because of our actions.
• Donate money. Even when you have little to give, give something. Remember the widow’s mite story in the Bible. Holding onto our money is like wearing money repellent. It pushes money away. Giving, even if it’s just a little, grows faith in something bigger than our circumstances.

Life requires active participation. We can’t sit around, listen to news, and expect good things to happen to us. We have to actively engage in life enhancing activities so as not to become prisoners of habit and narcissism. We must broaden our viewpoints so that we don’t become narrow-minded and inconsequential in our own lives. When we engage in life we are happier and we find that life becomes EZier and EZier.

Anne

  Anne Art

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  Featured Product This Month

  What is EZosophy?

Click the graphic above to learn more.

NOTE: If you are viewing this on a cell phone, be sure to scroll to the right to see the other column.

  Healthy Living

Pistachios & a Recipe

I love pistachios. The once obscure nut is everywhere. Just check out anywhere and you will find a bag of pistachios begging for consumption. They are a fun nut. It takes involvement to eat one. It’s easy to pop off those shells until you find that one relentless nut whose shell has a small crack. Who wants a nut to get the best of them? It’s a challenge. Here's a video on how to open the stubborn ones.

It may come as a surprise to you that the largest producer of pistachios is Iran. Pistachios do not require as much water as pecans to grow. It’s a little fuzzy where I heard that and probably irrelevant since I will probably not plant a pistachio tree. But, as water resources dwindle, it makes sense to grow crops that need less water. California’s water crisis is sure to be repeated in other states, and, nut for nut, pistachios are a good investment for tree farmers.

What are the health benefits of eating pistachios? They:

• Clear arteries that lead to heart disease
• Give relief to erectile dysfunction
• Lower cholesterol
• Stabilize blood sugar levels
• Help prevent weight gain (Source)

Pistachios are great alone, but if you are a foodie, you might want to explore the use of its subtle tastes and try this recipe.

Roasted Yams with Citrus Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 pound yams, scrubbed, cut into 1/3-inch-thick rounds
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 cup unsalted, (reduce salt in recipe and double honey if you have salted nuts) shelled raw natural pistachios, toasted, chopped
• 2 tablespoons raisins

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place yams and 1 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss to evenly coat. Arrange yams on prepared sheet in a single layer; roast until tender and lightly browned (about 25 minutes).

Meanwhile, whisk remaining 3  tablespoons oil, cilantro, shallots, orange juice, lime juice, and honey in a small bowl. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer yams to a platter. Drizzle salsa over and sprinkle with pistachios and raisins. Bon Appetite Recipe.

Anne

  Anne Talks

This week's Anne Talk is Happy Lighten Up Day. Take a few minutes to lighten up your day. Time: 2:46.

  Quotes

"Worry is an advanced plan for failure."
— Anne Sermons Gillis

"Love is the spiritual weapon to end all war." — Yogananda

"Focus on being interested, not interesting." — Unknown

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