Let My Chocolates Go

Since dark chocolate has become the new red wine - lauded for its amazing health benefits - everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. M & M 's are doing dark chocolate; companies who weren't even in the chocolate business are now making weird dark chocolate vitamin/health/food bars; Twix, Kit Kat - everybody is going to the dark side!! Tootsie Roll, are you next?

And poor white chocolate! White chocolate is treated like trailer trash! Next they'll take away caramel and peanut butter (so gauche!) and only have ginger and chilies in chocolate. Oh - and green tea. (And I'm not talking about to drink. We know all about sweet tea in the trailer park and this ain't nuthin' like that.)

Now look, I like dark chocolate. I'm not anti-70% cacao. But I am a freedom fighter - I want a place at the chocolate table for everyone! I'm pro-choice! Sometimes I want a good milk chocolate. Sometimes I want a dark so bitter it makes my mouth pucker. And sometimes, yes sometimes, I long for a ZERO bar!! And chilies, well that's a fad. And lavender? Good god! I want to try it all, but the peanut is a minor god in my country. And I'm not ashamed to publicly adore the Reese's Cup! (the original version, not the dark one or the caramel one or any of the other mutations. Although the giant one and the Reese's egg....but I digress.) You are not somehow a superior being if you prefer dark chocolate. And you are not inferior if you like white chocolate. And if you don't like chocolate at all, that's great too! (I won't have to split any of my desserts with you.)

Try them all and choose the one you like. Don't kid yourself that trading in your milk chocolate for dark chocolate is going to give you another 10 years or cure cancer. Don't let people make you feel bad about anything you eat. (Chances are if they say anything, it's only because they really want to be eating it, they just aren't brave enough to!) Pick the one that brings you the most joy at that moment! Eat healthy most of the time, take your vitamins, but set chocolate free! Don't make it a vitamin! The M in M & Ms is NOT for Magnesium! Let my chocolates go!Let there be room for all the varieties (and all the fun!) in your life. (Who's in for trying the new M & M ice cream? Yay!!!)

Passion, Chocolate and Your Life

Today I read the story of how Scharffen Berger Chocolate got started. Like so many of the chocolate companies, it's a story about passion - two men who became enthralled with making incredible chocolate. Having something you are passionate about is a key factor to staying motivated, excited about life.

If you have a passion - fantastic!! Make sure you allow time to engage in it. Make its pursuit as much of a priority as you can.

I'm more concerned about people who say they have no passion and have no idea how to discover their passion. I'm telling you - you have to plug into this source of energy and engagement. Life is too short not to. Here are some questions/ideas that might help:

Was there something you really loved as a child? If you don't remember - ask your family. You may not embrace it in the same form you did as a child, but there may be an idea there.

Is there something you are intrigued by? It could be anything - ballroom dancing, true crime, art, chocolate! What would you like to learn more about? Look into it, do a web search. If it draws you in, if you lose track of time - that could be it! The world is such an exciting place - there must be something you'd like to know more about!

Is there something you really like to talk about? I've always loved to ask people about their most loved and most hated candies. I love it! It cracks me up!

Don't censor yourself. This is where people blow it - they start saying, well, I can't do that or that's stupid. Don't take any idea off the table. If you're excited by it, give it a chance to develop!! See what happens!

It's okay to let go of an old passion that doesn't light your fire anymore. You change over time, so should your interests.

Try something new. There are so many places you could go that you've never been. So many groups you could join (check out meetup.com and take a look) and free classes and seminars you could attend. Don't let fear keep you from discovering your passion. Don't stay stuck in your rut.

If your life is boring and passionless, it is your own damn fault! Life is waiting to show you how fabulous it is and how much more you can become.

It took a lot of passion to turn the bitter cacao seed into the amazing "food of the gods" - chocolate. Who knows what wonders could be created through your passion? Find it!

Forrest Gump - Genius or Idiot?

Yeah, yeah - "Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get." Whatever Forrest. Whitman's tells you exactly what you're going to get. In fact, a lot of times we do know exactly what we're going to get, we just don't want to take responsibility for it. Gasp - I didn't know I was going to go broke! Gasp - I didn't know I was going to get so fat! Gasp - I didn't know he was going to hit me again! Gasp - I didn't know! I didn't know! Yeah, deep inside, you did. You knew that you should save, but you chose not to. You knew that if you kept eating so much and not exercising you would get fat. You knew the abuser would hit you again. Not always, but more than we want to admit, we know exactly what we're gonna get.

And the worst thing that happens with a box of chocolates? You bite into one you don't like. Life can deal you a much harder blow than that! Many of us WISH life was like a box of chocolates.

Forrest Gump is an idiot.

Not so fast.

Think about how most of us approach a box of chocolates. We're excited - we can't wait to dive in and try some. We open it with a sense of wonder - thinking of all the possibilities it might contain. Caramels, nuts, chocolate covered cherries, truffles - what delights will we find within? Few of us are thinking, "Oh crap - what hellish thing might I bite into?" We're not thinking about closing it up and staying in bed - we're going in!

If we could approach life like a box of chocolates - thinking of everyday as a new box - filled with possibilites - 24 hours in which something wonderful could happen - how much happier would we be? After all, the past really is over - what's done is done - we can only move forward from where we are. And each day really is a new chance to be and have whatever we want.

Forrest Gump is a genius!

Um...maybe not.

The decisions we made yesterday do impact us today. We can learn from them, take responsibility and make better choices. (We can avoid the orange cream or we can stop eating BEFORE we want to puke.) At the same time we can recapture our sense of hope and wonder - and realize that each day can be better for us. Something wonderful can happen.

Forrest Gump is Forrest Gump and life is life - each person's will be different and unlike any other. But many times you do know exactly what you're gonna get. (Just make sure some of it is chocolate.)

Authenticity and Pez

True authenticity is hard to come by. We all want it - we want to be true to ourselves, we want others to be who they really are - we despise fakery. Yet true authenticity requires time and bravery. Time to really discover who you are - how can you know how you really feel about an issue if you don't take time to study it and think about it? How can you know what chocolate you like best if you haven't taken the time to try several? How can you know what religion best suits you if you've only gone to one church? How can you know yourself if you never spend any time alone?

The hardest voice to hear in this life is your own. You have to struggle to hear it over the din of the media, your parents, the government, advertisers and everyone who has an opinion on who you are and what you should be. And bravery - how brave are you, really? True authenticity means you form your own ideas and opinions and have the courage to voice them. You might do something crazy like leave a movie you think is idiotic or laugh so loud heads turn. You don't say yes when you mean no. We all think we're authentic, but if we're honest, most of us fall far short of the mark. We hide ourselves in the hope that others will like us or approve of us.

But you can't hide your essential nature.

Let's take Pez for example. They makers of Pez are coming out with chocolate flavored Pez. While I find this idea horrifying, I still want to try one. (I feel compelled to try any new candy involving chocolate or peanut butter even in such a remote and disturbing way. And anything sweet they fry at the State Fair. But that's another post.) I have tried chocolate Skittles and chocolate Twizzlers and my cry is for authenticity!! Skittles and Twizzlers are not meant to be chocolate - they need to stay true to themselves and not try to be chocolate. They honestly suck at being chocolate. I feel chocolate Pez will also be a sad attempt on the part of a perfectly good candy to be something it is not. Why be a crappy, chalky pseudo-chocolate when you can be a perfectly good weird fruit flavor? They can make giant Pez, they can make mini Pez, they could even try chocolate covered Pez, but a chocolate flavored Pez is well, gross. And perhaps a bit creepy.

Isn't Pez really all about the dispenser?

If the Circus Peanut is made in a chocolate version it is a sure sign of the Apocalypse.

Stay true to your essential nature. We can't all be chocolate (the world needs its fruits and nuts as well).

Marcus Aurelius and the Ice Cream Truck

I never have cash on me when I need it.

I was walking yesterday and heard that siren song of childhood - an ice cream truck! It's been years since I heard that sound - and even longer since I actually made a purchase. I never wished so much that I had cash on me. I alway liked the treats with chocolate or caramel - those Drumsticks (what the hell kind of name is THAT?) - cones with choc0late and nuts. I can to this day eat an entire box of ice cream sandwiches. My brother always chose that sherberty thing with the gum at the bottom or the red, white and blue rockship popsicle. Do they even still have those?

Since I had no money and couldn't buy anything, I did the adult thing and thought about what was so damn captivating about the ice cream truck.

I think it starts with the thrill of the unexpected. You never knew when the ice cream truck was coming - it just seemed to show up. You would hear that happy, tinkling little tune and run pell mell to get some change. It was a random act of joy and celebration of summer.

Then it was deciding - what would you get? What did you feel like? What would be best? You only bought ONE ice cream treat - you had to choose and choose wisely. It was definitely part of the fun. Also - you only got ONE - you were forced into moderation. That treat tasted so good because you couldn't eat too much. You savored it.

And you were totally in the moment as soon as you heard the music. Marcus Aurelius said "Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it: Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see." When the ice cream truck came, you were completely in the moment, completely alive. You weren't thinking about how many days until school started or if that cute boy liked you - the ice cream truck was here!

The lesson? Let yourself have more ice cream truck moments. Engage your senses - hear the music, taste the flavors, run for the sheer joy of running, laugh because it's summer and you're alive. Oh - and always carry cash.

YUM!!

Motivation by Chocolate

The Chocolate Spa at Hershey PA—I spent my last vacation there and I still have chocolate on the brain! Since I am eternally curious I had to learn more about chocolate and Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars. How little I knew about a treat I love so much! As with everything, chocolate has lessons for us:

1.) Nothing worth having is ever easy. I had no idea how hard it was to figure out how to make chocolate and once figured out, how difficult to turn it into the amazing treat we now love! The beans only grow in a certain part of the world, and the trees are very fragile and hard to cultivate. Once you manage to grow cocoa trees, the beans are harvested, roasted and shelled, then ground to form cocoa liquor. The liquor is pressed to squeeze out the cocoa butter. Later the cocoa butter gets put back in (if it’s good chocolate). A few other things are added, then the mixture is conched (or mixed with a conching machine) for up to 3 days at temperatures between 140 and 167 degrees! Then it has to be tempered (or cooled) just right—and then molded. Mess up at any step and the whole batch is ruined. Holy cow! Who knew?

2.) Persistence is a key to success. Milton Hershey failed in his first two candy making ventures. He blew it, lost everything—twice! If he quit then, we’d never have had a Hershey Bar or a Hershey’s Kiss!!

3.) Have a passion—something in your life or your work you are excited about. Milton Hershey became passionate about helping young boys whose parents could no longer care for them. Profits from the chocolate business helped these boys have a better life. His school still operates today. Forrest Mars wanted to build an empire—he was passionate about selling his products all over the world. The number one selling chocolate bar worldwide today? The Mars Bar. Passion keeps us engaged and passion fuels all great accomplishments. What are you passionate about? If the answer is nothing, you need to get connected to something. Otherwise you’ll miss out on being everything you can be and enjoying your journey there.

4.) Stop eating and start tasting. I love chocolate (actually I love most food), and I’ve been eating it since I was a kid. But I never really tasted it. I went to my first chocolate tasting at Hershey (which is much like a wine tasting) where I was told to use all my senses; even listening to chocolate as we snapped tasting squares. The darker the chocolate, the more distinctive the snap. Milk chocolate is too soft to really snap. I learned that a cocoa tree grown by an orange tree can actually absorb some of the citrus flavor which may be tasted in the resulting chocolate. Chocolate from different regions has different flavors. Who knew?
But here’s the bigger lesson—we go through life eating and not tasting. We’re in such a hurry to get to the next step—the next big deal, the end of the day, the wedding—whatever it is, that we miss all the nuance, all the rich detail of the current moment. Spring is a great season to really taste—notice the flowers, the birdsong, this gorgeous world we take for granted. Eat a piece of fresh fruit and savor the juice, the color, the texture. There is more to everything than meets the eye—and we are usually in too much of a rush to notice.

5.) Go deeper. I am always amazed by people who don’t read, who visit the same places, who pretty much have quit learning anything new about themselves or about the world. To me this is like going through life with your eyes closed. The minute you learn something new, your world expands. And it’s exciting! Now when I eat chocolate, I think of Milton Hershey and his struggles in making it, or I eat an M & M and remember how hard it was to get Americans to buy them at first. I try to really savor what I eat and understand what “mouth feel” means when a Lindt truffle melts in my mouth. Pick anything that interests you and go deeper—learn about it. If it’s a person, ask them about their childhood or what their dreams are—there is so much more to the world and everything in it! Don’t let the demands on your time keep you in the shallows of life.

6.) Have fun! I can’t help but associate chocolate with fun. I didn’t see any sad faces at the World of Chocolate in Hershey. Adults and children alike were having a blast - it was like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory without the creepiness factor. Somehow we have come to think of chocolate as bad (except limited quantities of dark chocolate for the health benefits), and we’re just too busy to have fun. Who can waste time at a chocolate tasting where there is e-mail to check? Right, who can waste time living where there is work to do? Trust me—there will always be work, but real fun is getting harder and harder for us to find. Or maybe allow ourselves to find. Sitting in the theater in the World of Chocolate as bubbles came down from the ceiling and 3D Reese’s Pieces flew off the screen—I was laughing with delight. When was the last time you laughed with sheer delight? If you can’t remember, it’s been way too long.

7.) Don’t take things for granted. Did you know that the regions in which the cocoa trees grow has been experiencing drought and over harvesting? That some types of cocoa beans are almost extinct? Can you imagine a world without chocolate? Now, clearly that is far too horrifying to contemplate for long. And Milton Hershey would be aghast—his vision was to make chocolate affordable, not just something for the very rich—and that was what he did with his original Hershey Bar. We take many things for granted—our loved ones, our health, chocolate. Nothing is forever—savor it now. Seize the day—eat chocolate!