This episode is a roundup of five things that I have been doing to feel really good this summer (of course all a work in progress!) I’ve been thinking about this topic for awhile now and am so excited to get this solo episode out there — more of a rare occasion for me!

Really hope you like it and get even one thing out of it.

Here, some the other podcasts I reference in the episode:

–⁠Chai on Life Podcast with Elisheva Liss⁠

–⁠The Liz Moody Podcast episode with Laura Vanderkam⁠

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email me at ⁠alex@chaionlifemag.com⁠ or send me a DM @chaionlifemag. Thanks again, see you next week!

Since summer is finally here, I’m sure we all want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time in the sunshine and Guila is helping us with just that. She is spilling all her tips to cooking more efficiently whether it’s for Shabbat or weeknight dinners.

In our conversation, we speak about:

-How she got started as a food blogger

-How her Moroccan background influences her cooking today, and also how it doesn’t

-Where she gets the inspiration for her recipes and how you can do the same

-How to plan out your weekly meals in a way that is not overwhelming and makes it feel so easy

-Her Shabbat planning and cooking process broken down

-Why challah has become a mitzvah she feels really connected to and how she makes time for it

-She takes us behind the scenes of her content creation process from how long things take to film to the editing and even answering messages

-How she brings cooking into her motherhood journey with her kids — from helping them become less picky eaters to bringing them into the kitchen with her when they’re interested in learning

…and SO MUCH MORE

Some of the things we discussed in the episode:

⁠Recipes from Guila with 9×13, sheet-pan ideas and freezer tips⁠

Quick-meal links:

⁠Easy 9×13 Chicken and Rice⁠

⁠9×13 Kids Pasta⁠

Follow on Instagram:

⁠@Tastyandhasty⁠

If there is someone you want to see on The Chai on Life Podcast, email ⁠alex@chaionlifemag.com⁠ or send a DM ⁠@chaionlifemag⁠.

In the episode we speak about:

-How Cathy got started with her own podcast and business she built

-Why she feels it’s way more to focus on “pro-semitism” instead of antisemitism.

-How to become the vessel to draw in the life you want

-The guilt people may feel around having “too much”

-Why so many people feel shame around prosperity and how to transcend that

-Getting closer to Hashem through abundance

…and SO MUCH MORE.

With the development of The Manifestation Method, Ayelet synthesizes Kabbalistic wisdom and modern psychology to help individuals heal their past traumas, and transform their dreams into reality. She is a trained expert in hypnosis, trauma healing, somatic experiencing and meditation. Ayelet’s approach is a harmonious blend of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy, EFT, and Somatic Experiencing, all combined with her signature hypno-visualization techniques. 

Manifestation is something I’ve been interested in for awhile and have been wanting to explore through a Jewish lens. I’ve learned a little bit about it in secular spaces and in this conversation with Ayelet, we really get to the root of what Jewish manifestation actually looks like. We speak about:

-Ayelet’s journey to getting to where she is today doing this work

-How Jewish manifestation differs from the secular interpretation and some myths about it she’s correcting

-Why manifestation is a lifestyle — not just a singular practice and what that looks like

-Her methodology and the specific goals she helps clients achieve

-The power of our words and the way our conscious and subconscious brain works to create a new reality

-What true faith and bitachon really feels like

-How our trauma (whether it’s with a big t or small t) informs the inner work we do today and what that trauma can be used for

-Creating the vessel for the things we want in our lives to actually happen

-The power of rituals

-Seeing miracles in our everyday lives and how to manifest more of them

-The unbelievable power we can all take from the Chanukah lights and bring into our everyday lives

-How she manifested her husband

…and SO MUCH MORE.

Ayelet just takes my questions and brings them to a whole new level with her responses. She both elevates them and takes them deeper in a way that will change how you see the world, your relationship with Hashem and how you deal with the struggles in your life.

To get in touch with Ayelet, visit ⁠ayeletpolonsky.com⁠. Follow her on Instagram at ⁠@ayeletpolonsky⁠.

Ruthi is a Marriage and Family therapist. For more than 15 years, she has conducted seminars, lectures and online classes for parents.

As a therapist, Ruthi specializes in parenting, teens and relational issues within the family. Her ultimate goal is to help parents have amazing relationships with their kids, to see themselves as leaders to their children and to build the next generation strong, moral and passionate. She is also the mother of 8 kids bli ayin hara so she has a little experience herself in the thick of it.

Ruthi has worked closely with Rebbetzin Sima Spetner, the renowned chinuch expert from Eretz Yisrael, and has become a teacher of her work. She was basically like an apprentice and went around Israel with her for years, eventually even taking over some of her classes. Now, she’s continuing to bring that wisdom to others.

She is running a 10-week seminar based on Rebbetzin Spetner’s teachings this summer which starts Monday June 16, via Zoom to anyone around the world. To sign up, contact Rivky Weiss at 216-965-4107.

If you happen to be listening to this once the class is started, you can still reach out and catch up on the recordings that you missed.

In our conversation, Ruthi and I speak about 

-how she became so connected with Rebbetzin Spetner and what that relationship looked like at that time

-How to get back in touch with your intuition when it comes to parenting and why it gets lost for so many of us

-How to know when a kid’s behavior is important to respond to or you can let go a little bit more

-How we can bring Hashem consistently back into our parenting

-How Ruthi achieved such a beautiful relationship with her own kids with one of the main things she credits that to

-How to get through hectic and changing summer schedules and any upcoming travel you may be taking

-What a realistic life looks like when you have multiple children of various ages and genders under one roof

…and so much more!

This episode is informative, relatable and just so necessary when it comes to all we’re dealing with consistently as parents. I hope that Ruthi will help you take some of the pressure off and really allow you to have fun and enjoy the summer with your family. Enjoy!

While today may feel a bit commercial, or not worth doing anything for — which I find happens sometimes with holidays like this in the frum world — celebrating yourself is a necessity.

One of my teachers and mentors, Sara Yoheved Rigler, always says in her Kesher Wife Webinar (available through Jewish Workshops if you want to join) how important it is to reward the body when you do something that’s hard for you. It could be keeping your mouth shut when you’re so tempted to speak lashon hara or say something critical to your husband, getting up multiple times in the night to tend to your sick baby, working hard to prepare for Shabbat, etc. The examples are endless.

So today, take a break from the fast-paced world of motherhood and life and reflect on how far you’ve come, how amazing you are and how much you’re doing to bring Hashem’s light into this world just by living in it. Here, some of our motherhood-themed podcast episodes for you to listen to today or any time you have a minute.

1. Secrets to Building a More Connected Marriage with Rebbetzin Debbie Greenblatt
   • They say that the foundation for healthy kids is a healthy marriage. Working to connect with your spouse and make sure your relationship is strong is just as much about parenting as it is about your own wellbeing. This episode will help you get there.
     
     
2. A Deep Dive into the Mystical World of Mikvah with Renowned Educator Miriam Goldberg
   • Like the marriage episode above and the entire point, mikvah is an essential part of the family-building process. If you feel disconnected from it, or just want to gain more depth from the entire experience, this episode is for you. There are so many beautiful insights and will leave you with an renewed excitement about this monthly endeavor.
     
     
3. Raising Empowered Children while Nurturing Yourself with Parenting Coach Yael Sunshine
   • We all want our kids to be healthy and happy adults one day and we all want to get through the parenting experience with our sanity and wellbeing intact! Yael Sunshine is helping us with all of that.
     
     
4. Simplify Your To-Do List and Feel Like a Queen with Home Management and Organization Expert Leora Blumenthal
   • Running a home often falls more on the woman of the house than the man. Regardless though, we all want great systems in place to take some of the burden off so we can become more efficient and therefore have more mental space and actual time for the things we really want to do. Leora Blumenthal is a true expert at this and is helping all of us get there too!
     
     
5. How The Five Elements of Chinese Medicine Can Help Us Bring More Peace and Connection Into Our Parenting with Miriam Pineles, DACM
   • Miriam Pineles is a real healer. She is more than an acupuncturist, she sees people deeply for who they are at their core. She runs a course to help parents see and help their children through the five elements of Chinese medicine. This episode is a little preview on that — still filled with awesome tips to get you started!
     
     
6.  A Therapy Session on Women’s Health: Self-Care, Postpartum, Perinatal Disorders, Loss and More with Rebecca Ashkenas, LCSW
   • The postpartum period is one of the most sensitive times in a woman’s life. It’s often filled with emotion, lots of adjustment and sometimes, disorders that can become more serious. I speak about a lot of this with therapist Rebecca Ashkenas. There are important practical tips as well as just validation for all the new mamas out there.

Would love to hear something you’ve learned from any of these in the comments below!

Rebekah holds a degree in fashion design from Parsons School of Design, and for many years worked as a graphic designer. Rebekah’s passion for the environment and helping people improve their lives drove her to change careers and create her brand, Balagan Be Gone.

Rebekah’s straightforward approach to managing “stuff” and her no-nonsense ability to get to the heart of what is important combines with her people skills to help people take control of their lives through organization. She is the author of Organized Jewish Life and the podcast host of Journey to Organization (linked here!)

In the episode, we speak about organization and decluttering from a mindset approach as well as a practical one. I love what she says when it comes to clearing out your space to make room for shefa and abundance to flow into your life. We speak about getting rid of the “just incase” mindset and what our relationship with Hashem has to do with decluttering.

We also get to tachlis questions like what to do with the plethora of kids projects and toys that may come into your home, whether to involve kids in the process or not and how to do so, what to do if you’re feeling overwhelmed at getting started and how to break free of that, what to do with seasonal items in your home and soooo much more.

Also, I hate to bring up Pesach – and don’t worry we have time! But it is coming and while you certainly do not have to declutter and organize your whole house for Pesach, there is something about this time of year with spring coming that makes you want to feel lighter, clean things out, and just get control of everything after a long winter where things may have built up. There is the phrase, spring cleaning, after all. So Rebekah has a special program called Painless Pesach which is a 36-day decluttering challenge that starts on February 23 (That is next Sunday) and just $36, so a dollar a day.

The program is really smart because it’s broken down into really small steps so every day of the 36-day challenge, you’ll get a video prompt in your inbox with something to do that takes just 15-30 minutes per day. There is live support via WhatsApp and Facebook and a workbook included so you can track your progress. By the end of the 36-day challenge, your whole house will be decluttered and you will just arrive at the seder table feeling like a lighter, clearer version of yourself and what could be better than that? 

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE PAINLESS PESACH PROGRAM!

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What are your tips? Add them in the comments!

1. Listen to daily messages about emunah. Maybe it’s a daily email like Emunah Daily, or by calling Rabbi Golombeck’s emunah and bitachon hotline. 732-719-3898 or in Israel, 079-704-0068 Gitty listens to just 30 seconds of it and keeps it on her speed dial. A super easy, low-commitment way to start, end or boost the middle of your day.
   
2. Get a friend who also wants to grow in emunah and read something short in emunah once a week. I’m learning Building a Sanctuary in the Heart with a mentor of mine. You can find a friend, Rebbetzin, chavruta from Partners in Torah, a woman from shul, any way to connect and learn.
   
3. Thank Hashem daily and put Hashem in your life. “That’s the thing to remember,” Gitty shares. “It might not be so natural to us. Even if we say it in our own words. I just want those words in my mouth until it becomes natural.”
   
4. Believe Hashem is as real as your friend, your husband, your sister and talk to him nonstop. Hashem loves you, Gitty explains. He is here for us all the time and wants to hear from you. It’s not like a friend who is sick and tired of hearing our complaints. Hashem is never tired of us. It doesn’t have to be any kind of formal davening. Even as a busy mom, when you’re taking care of the kids, just keep Hashem in the picture.
   
5. Only listen to positive messages and see the nissim (miracles) that Hashem is doing for us. Gitty shares in the episode about the night that Iran sent hundreds of ballistic missles to Israel and no Jews were hurt, all buildings remained intact, everything worked perfectly. If just one ballistic missile got through it could have destroyed a whole building, a whole city. It’s easy to brush over these events but focusing on the depth of the miracle is vital to seeing Hashem in our daily lives.
   
6. Take pride in this accomplishment and don’t let the yetzer hara discourage you. You can do it. It’s soooo easy to get brought down by the yetzer hara — to have a misstep and believe it to be true, to not feel confident in or even see your own growth. Every step is a step and every moment of connection is a win in that you connected. It’s as simple as that.

Want to learn more from Gitty? Click here for the full episode.

photographer. Which person are you – are you the person who doesn’t read the directions when

you open up your new device? Or are you the one who reads all the instructions and takes all

the training courses to learn how to optimize its use? Maybe you are somewhere in between?

There are many examples in life where we buy something new or try something new where

there will be a learning curve for how to use the thing or do the activity. Right? When it comes to

birthing a baby it’s really no different. This is a brand new experience for you — especially if this

is your first baby.

When it comes to birth, there are those who decide that they want to just wing it – those people

who don’t bother reading the instructions. They know the baby has to come out of their body

one way or another and they trust that on the other side of the birth experience it’ll be okay. On

the opposite end of the spectrum, there is the person who has taken all the classes, hired all the

support people, done all the prenatal exercise and eaten all the nutritious prenatal things. And

of course there’s everyone in between.

When it comes to birth – you get to choose where on the spectrum you fall. You are the only one

who gets to remember this pregnancy and this birth and postpartum experience for the rest of

your life. No pressure

So let’s go back to the camera example. I want you to think about opening up your proverbial

new fancy camera and just figuring out how to use it through trial and error. Sure you could

probably figure out how to zoom in and out, how to change the picture from color to black and

white; but it’s unlikely that you will be able to unlock how to use the more advanced features to

get a really special shot all on your own. Your picture will be okay — it could be pretty cool even!

You will definitely take a digital image that’s nicer than an iPhone picture — but would it have

maximized the potential of the camera? I don’t think so.

Now think about if you had read the manual or maybe taken an online training course for how to

use the camera. Imagine if you had a friend who was a professional photographer who gave

you an hour of their time to show you the ins and outs of how to make the most of your camera.

As I write this, I feel a sigh of relief at how much time and energy I would have saved myself by

educating myself and reaching out for help. Your picture will certainly be more advanced and

more special than if you hadn’t received that guidance.

Now let’s take this analogy to the birth experience. You absolutely can go in with no prior

knowledge, but how much more rich will the experience be if you actually have a sense of

what’s to come and how to navigate it? What if you had a professional, experienced person or

team guiding you from pregnancy, through birth and postpartum? How different could the

experience be?

When you take time to learn and integrate information, you will be more equipped to handle the

experience of labor. You will be better prepared to navigate the “expected” as well as the

unexpected twists and turns of the labor journey. You will be able to respond to the pain/intensity

more positively than if you hadn’t done the preparation beforehand or lack the support that you

truly need and deserve.

I worry that those hoping to wing it will not just get a less pretty picture — they actually may find

themselves on the other side of their birth experience learning some lessons the hard way.

Labor may have been harder than it needed to be. A person may be left second guessing

certain decisions because they didn’t have a sounding board that they trusted to guide them. At

a minimum, there is certainly untapped potential that will be missed. Akin to wasting time,

battery life, and mental energy on figuring out your camera solo but 1000x more important.

So when it comes to the birth experience, I want you to know that there are those “manuals”,

classes, and guides out there waiting for you. Birthing a baby is an enormous life event,

something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. You owe it to yourself to educate

yourself and enlist professional support so that you can maximize the truly transformative power

of the birth experience.