Episode Notes

I didn’t know I needed Emily’s book until I started reading The Taste of Joy: Mediterranean Wisdom for a Life Worth Savoring, released earlier this year. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people moved to bigger houses and smaller towns, and some moved out of state. Emily A. Francis and her family flipped the script on their life story; Emily wrote a plot twist she didn’t see coming.

They left their life in Atlanta, Georgia, creating a new life in Malta. Malta is part of the European Union and has been an independent country since 1964. Emily is sharing why her family moved to be part of one of the healthiest lifestyles in the world and invites us to live mindfully and naturally to nourish our bodies and souls.

Emily is a highly sought-after speaker, radio host, columnist, bestselling author, and wellness expert with a vast array of education and experience. The Taste of Joy: Mediterranean Wisdom for a Life Worth Savoring, is her fifth book. Her knowledge of the body and the body/mind connection is extensive, and her commitment to total body, mind, and spirit wellness is her driving force. She has a few degrees and hosts the internet radio show “All About Healing” on Healthy Life Radio.

In moving to Malta, Emily has become deeply involved with local food production on the island. You will hear about how capers are farmed, prickly pears, figs, and the best sea salt in the world. She writes a regular column titled “Emily in Malta” in the local tourism magazine Oh My Malta, where she interviews local farmers, fishermen, and chefs on single-ingredient farming and reveals the secrets to living a clean life. Home | Emily A Francis (emilyafrancisbooks.com).

The two-lane cobblestone roads in Malta were built for horses and carriages in the 1800s, not for school buses. Emily gives an excellent description of how she gets around and how she seized the opportunity to create a new life from not having a work visa. In 2020, Scott, her husband, and two girls, Hannah and Ava, decided to move with their three or four pets, sight unseen, from southern Georgia to Malta.

Before she and Scott moved their family to Malta in 2020, their life in southern Georgia became untenable with gun violence, active shooter drills in schools for her girls, the insanity in politics, and too many genetically modified food products that have long-term adverse effects on our bodies. Seeing a man with his four-year-old daughter in the grocery store carrying a gun, not in its holster, pushed her over the edge. A confluence of events came together with Scott’s IT work, and 30 employees and their families joined them to create a new life in Malta—a multigenerational family style of living. Emily boldly created a new life and discovered a new happiness she had never experienced.

She says, “I worked on my mental health for years and was stuck in an environment that did not lend itself to health and wellness, kindness, and inclusivity. It was a super southern town. I wasn’t happy. I tried but ended up faking it.” Surprisingly, her new life came out of the misery of a global pandemic.

Paul Parker, producer/director of Paul Parker Productions in Malta, wrote a beautiful preface explaining why people need to read Emily’s book. His reasoning ends with this statement, “Because everyone needs a bit of Joy in their life and an anchor to reel them back into reality and enjoy what’s around them every day.” Paul is referring to Emily as his anchor these past three years, giving him a new perspective that people who live in the Mediterranean take for granted.

School for Emily and Scott’s children, who were six and nine at the time of the move to Malta, went from school shooter drills to a welcoming environment where teachers openly say, “I love you.” They kiss the children’s foreheads, calling them an endearing term, Poopas, meaning dolls,” Emily says. Children are reassured that they are part of a school family and have an extended community of support. During lunch, children learn where food comes from by learning to garden in the school’s garden. I almost started crying at realizing how much harm we have put upon our future generation of children in the United States. Now is the time to redefine our lives and infuse the joy and zest for living into our lifework.

Emily gives us context around why it is worthwhile to ponder the following questions. The questions are:

• Can you think of a defining time in your life when you were allowed to do something bold and brave, but you didn’t take it?
• How has that affected your life since that day?
• Did it change you?
• Did it make you shy away from ever trying it again?
• Do you believe that you only get one chance, and if you don’t take that one that, there will never be another chance again? 

To trust the timing of things, Emily has a few other questions below worth exploring. They are:

• What is meant to be yours now?
• What opportunities are you preparing for?
• Are you doing the necessary work to take the opportunity when it shows up?
• Are you brave enough, strong enough, and trusting enough to board the bigger boat?

Listening to our conversation will pump you up and give you a sense of the possibilities of creating a zestful life.  Her book, The Taste of Joy: Mediterranean Wisdom for a Life Worth Savoring, will give you more ideas to bring joy in your life and recipes you can use at your next meal. DOWNLOAD