Behold, the Power of the Chocolate Chip

By Mimi Hecht 

I can just hear people from the future, saying, "Ahhhh, remember Trader Joe's pareve chocolate chips? We thought the world was ending so we all stocked up. I still have one bag that I saved. Wanna see it?"

BEHOLD, THE POWER OF THE CHOCOLATE CHIP 

This week, the Jewish community — and specially the Chalav Yisroel adhering community — took a hard blow with the news that Trader Joe's famous chocolate chips will no longer remain pareve, soon to be stamped "OU-D" for "Dairy." News from the top is that, in actuality, they will be DE (Dairy Equipment), still rendering the chocolate chips off-limits for the many Lubavitchers who don't eat "DE" and for everyone else, unable to be served alongside meat.

Never before have I seen chocolate chips get so much publicity. Everyone's fainting on Facebook. Gathering the masses in uproar, signing petitions, arguing about the implications, defending the taste and flavor of these beloved chocolate morsels to anyone who dares question their superiority. 

It's interesting how quickly people recognize what they have only when it's threatened. 

(Okay, I know what you're thinking. Here Mimi goes, getting all intense on us. But, seriously people, this is deep stuff.)

We get used to things. We need and desire our homes, our clothes and our cars with such liveliness, but as soon as they are "ours" for longer than six milliseconds, it's all too easy to forget the life we had prior to their purchase. The life we had when everything depended on owning them. And the same things go with "smaller" blessings that we encounter without thinking thankfully. Like that someone invented those Garden Veggie Straws we give our kids guilt-free. Or that there is something called nail polish remover. And seriously, what would we do if they discovered that Facebook was illegal and needed to be shut down? (Personally, I just got goosebumps.) 

I wonder if anyone over the years has stopped to think, "Wow, thank goodness these chocolate chips are pareve. What would we do without them?" Probably not. Sure, we're conscious that we love them. After all, they're mostly everyone's chocolate chip of choice. But we toss them into the cookie dough with abandon, hardly stopping to think that maybe, just maybe, one day they could be a distant memory. 

I can just hear people from the future, saying, "Ahhhh, remember Trader Joe's pareve chocolate chips? We thought the world was ending so we all stocked up. I still have one bag that I saved. Wanna see it?"

I think its rad that women are sending around the change.org petition. Power to the people. If there's a chance it can stay pareve, let's push for it! But let's also hear the deeper message from this unfortunate news and what it's unleashed. Let us all be grateful that not only does there exist this brilliant invention called the chocolate chip, but that its species comes in a variety of brands and packaging that, should we be forced, might actually make a fine new option. 

We must ask ourselves: If our lives are filled with the knowledge of all we have to be thankful for, would some chocolate chips really throw us off? Are our lives really so narrow that they become disrupted this easily? Are there other, bigger, issues that should be vying for our time, our voice? What, here, is really the issue? 

I encourage you to ponder these questions. As central to our lives as this sweet creation is, there is something very freeing about not being victim to a few morsels of chocolate.

I really need to stop complaining

Today, I mentally and verbally complained that:

I woke up too early

We ran out of Raisin Bran 

My cleaning lady was 15 minutes late

My drink at Starbucks tasted slightly different 

I don't have a backyard

My toddler is tantrum-y 

I hate my sheitel

Facebook isn't sending me my messages

I need more dressers

My parents don't live close enough 

My toilet is clogged (complaining, even though I have two bathrooms!)

I can't take pictures on my Blackberry

I can't find my blue winter hat

Nothing exciting came in the mail

And then....I saw this:

I bless all my LadyMamas with the strength and clarity every day to be truly happy with what we've been given.  May we all constantly heed this brave man's lessons—but from good things! 

Happy Mom Tip: Let Them Own It

By Rivkah Caroline
Rivka is an Efficiency Coach that helps moms, individuals and companies be more productive. She lives with her husband and seven kids in Key Biscayne, FL.  Visit her site www.sobeorganized.com for more great solutions on exporting the stress and importing the fun! 

The more I let others carry their own

  responsibility, the less weight on my shoulders...

Let Them Own it

There is a wise saying, "Be kind to every-one because every-one is fighting a battle of their own." Is the quote perceptive? Yes. Is it true? Sure. Is it easy to translate into our every day lives? Not really.

We don't live our lives in a bubble and of the dozens of daily interactions we have a small percentage are going to be challenging.

Some examples from my past 24 hours: Insurance company denying additional therapy for my son, angry driver behind me on the highway, gas station attendee who wanted me to pre-pay and tell her exactly how many gallons I would be filling up, my son being pre-occupied and getting onto the school bus with no socks in his shoes, long lines at the drive in bank...the list goes on. You get the idea because first cousins of these events happen to us all, every day.

I have realized that while I can't control all the variables around me, I can control how I react. I can be constantly found repeating, "Let them own it." Who knows where the angry angry driver was heading? Maybe an emergency. It really is not about me, and not worth getting upset over ... let him own it. The ridiculous line in the bank ? Certainly not worth honking ... let them own it. I tidied up the front of my car and texted a few friends.

The more I let them own their own issues, the less frustration in my life. The more I let others carry their own responsibility, the less weight on my shoulders. The more tranquility I can bring into an interaction with strangers, the less of my headspace it takes up. So let others fight their own battles, and every once in a while consider giving them an ounce of kindness to help them out on the battlefield of life.

My Own Mama Manual

By Mimi Hecht
(Written for www.alefnext.com)

"I would take motherhood and learn not only to love it, but rock it."

I’m not going to lie. I used to think being a mom was for losers. Or, better yet, that you become a loser. Sure, baring offspring is an essential and rewarding part of life as we know it, but who really wants to trade in their vintage-leather handbag for a diaper bag? Who actually invites the selflessness it all demands? Come on. Spit-up? Early rising? Oh, and not to mention my one biggest fear growing up: child labor.

As much as I always knew I wanted to raise a family, I looked to the future imagining I would be forfeiting my personality, self-expression, time and, oh, just about everything else I love about life. It’s not that I feared that I wouldn’t love my kids. And, growing up as one of seven kids, I saw the beauty in a large brood. But, to say the least, I didn’t idolize, nor anticipate taking on, the image of the self-sacrificing, raggedy Jewish mother that was so often praised.

Luckily, my very own first birth taught me that my happiness and confidence as a mother would be in my own hands.

Continue reading here!

Happy Mom Tip: Stop Doing What You Dislike

Happy Mom Tips

By Rivka Caroline 

Get rid of it. Or find ways to make the loathsome chore pleasant! 

Happy Mom Tip #10

Stop Doing What You Dislike Doing...IMMEDIATELY! 

We know the famous Mishneh about not doing something we don't like to some-one else. In addition to this stellar advice I'd also like to cut the sentence to fit this blog namely : Do not do something YOU don't like. Period. 

Seriously, define what is loathsome to you and commit to get rid of it, outsource it or do it differently. 

Life is too short to be spent doing things that drain you. 

Is ironing boring you to tears? Barter with a neighbor. Still no luck? Call local ironing services and eat macaroni and cheese for an extra night if budgeting is tight. 

Doing things differently involves paring something really fun during the boring task or immediately after. So if scrubbing down the shower is horrific be sure to blast some awesome music or treat yourself to a Skype session with a good friend overseas.

The main point is to identify what is unpleasant and to make it go away...or at the very least be creative in ways to make it pleasant!

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Rivka Caroline is an Efficiency Coach that helps moms, individuals and companies be more productive. She lives with her husband and seven kids in Key Biscayne, FL.  Visit her site www.sobeorganized.com for more great solutions on exporting stress and importing fun!