
Preparing for Rosh Hashanah | Preparing for the High Holy Days
This video about preparing for Rosh Hashanah was posted a week ago. Now it is one week closer to Rosh Hashanah. In fact, tonight, as I write this, we are less than a week away. The month before Rosh Hashana is called Elul. Its a time to prepare for the Day of Judgment. Even though its a matter of life and death we can somehow we get overwhelmed and let it pass up by.
We’re just like that. The daily- ness of life obscures it’s preciousness. If you feel like Elul is passing you by, you’re in good company- but it’s not too late! You can catch up in no time!!!
PS Because I am posting this video so close to Rosh Hashnah, I am also including some gems of Rosh Hashanah wisdom from my coach, R’ Aryh Nivin.

Mess, Stability and the Elusive Balance
I am a creative person. And I love that. But you know what gets to me? As much as I love all the fun I know that stability is important. And this makes me crazy. Because there are amazing things to do in this world and they don’t always fit into a neat schedule. And my question is, as much as there is value in order, isn’t there is so much value in flexibility and in enjoying the moment? Isn’t there so much life in creating? So what if things get a little nuts.
Here’s the thing, in the world of art, I’m a mixed media collage, definitely not a still life. I’m a little bit of a mess.
Today I had a great conversation with a fellow coach. Before today, my mind would use that phrase to berate me. “You’re a mess! Everything is chaotic!
It was a weapon of shame.
But not today.
Today I learned something cool; Maybe I am a mess. But maybe, (and here’s the cool part) the fact that I can notice that is a sign of something important.
Today, I’m letting go of conflict and learning how its ALL possible.

Transformation Life Coaching Through Writing
Writing is a strange thing. You would think that you know your thoughts – after all they’re in your head! And yet, when you sit down to write you find out things you never knew.
How does that work? If you didn’t know them, where did they come from?
I like to think of it like this. We are souls, connected to infinite knowing. Yet in our daily life its easy to step over that. We focus on survival and accomplishment and the accompanying ego and fears. When we write however, we are one step closer to hearing the soul, to hearing ourselves.
All day long we are getting input. There is no stop button on life. And there is no stop button on our brain. So what do we do?
What we do is we become experts at filtering. We filter out anything that inhibits us from going about our day. We take in just enough input to give us energy and information for the next thing.
This is healthy, it’s called functioning. But what happens to the rest of the information?
What happens to those thoughts is up to us. We can ignore them and miss out on what we know, or we can get deeper… Click more to see the video and get the link for a heart wrenching new blog.

You’re Invited to a Creative Retreat
I have a present for you! It’s a giant, colorful gift in a huge package with bows and ribbons. Its gorgeous,meaningful, will last forever and it has your name on it!
Its a vacation!
In just two months, from Nov 1-3 at the Pearlstone Center in Maryland, I’ll be leading a creative arts and healing retreat for just 30 women.
The Mission.
To give a huge and generous gift to women.
To give women a time to reconnect with their essential selves.
To create a safe and energizing space for growth and healing.
To nurture and encourage women’s natural creativity.
To increase support and sisterhood.
What is it?
The Wholeness and Healing Retreat is a creative,
exploratory hands on, fun healing experience designed for you!
We’ll embark on the Retreat as healing adventure using writing and art to chronicle this journey.
We’ll also be using some secret powers!
1. The power of women coming together
2. The power of letting go and having fun!
3. The power of creative expression.
4. The power of Torah learning.
Click MORE to read all about it!

The Saddest Day of the Year
Sometimes people say, I can’t mourn over the Beis Hamikdash, it seems so far away. I want to feel Tisha Ba’av, but I just can’t. This is normal. G-d understands the limits of our imagination. He understands that we cannot mourn what we haven’t felt.
What He’s asking us is this: look at the world and miss ME. Miss seeing me in the perfect Jerusalem sky, that is now clouded with memories of blood and war. Miss me when you meet a fellow Jew and instead of acknowledging your shared memories and ties, you walk right past them. Miss me in the faces of children that are being hurt and in adults who are lonely beyond belief. Miss my presence. Yearn for me to return to your midst.
Be brave, be vulnerable. On all other

I Was a Powerful Kid
This post is for all those kids ( and their parents) who are powerful. Kids who have big mouths, big opinions, big feelings. Kids who naturally question authority and have spunk. These kids often get the best grades but cause the most trouble. These kids often have the biggest hearts and the most complicated ones. These are not the kids that get the award for best behavior, but when they grow up, these kids may just change the world.
I call them powerful kids. You can call them whatever you want. Just don’t call them bad. Listen to my story and see if you can find yourself in it. I call them powerful kids. You can call them whatever you want. Just don’t call them bad. Listen to my story and see if you can find yourself in it.
Were you a powerful kid? How do you actualize that power in your adulthood? What do you do for your kids who are powerful? Do they press your buttons? If so, I hope this post helps yo understand them. As usual, there is so much more to say, but enjoy this podcast and let it get you thinking about your role in a powerful kid’s life ( even if that kid is you, all grown up.)
And then share this post with someone who “gets it.” Because there’s nothing like the feeling of being understood.
Love, Rivka Malka

I Don’t Have Time!!!
Lots of pics from the latest life happenings! I didn’t have time to write so this is my shortcut diary entry.

Forgiveness
Here’s my intensely personal story. I offer it to you open handed. Take the keys to my heart and walk around. If there’s something here for you – I’m happy. My life is changed and so can yours be.I never thought forgiveness was possible. It was an elusive dream. Here, I’ll tell you how I found it.

The Secret of My Success Part 1
I really need to tell you something. I can’t keep this secret to success myself. Here’s the thing, there are so many parts to life, how can ONE thing be the secret? Think of it like rain – I plowed the earth and I planted the seeds but it takes rain to make things grow. This podacast is about that rain.

Learn to Read Hebrew FREE Live with RM
Who wants to learn Hebrew? (You know you do.) This is going to be so much fun! Starting next week Sunday nights at 9m I’ll be Live Streaming a FREE Learn How to Read Hebrew Class. It’s going to be so awesome! ( In case you couldn’t tell – I’m EXCITED!) The best