Pesach is the ideal opportunity for change because everything is changing — the dishes the counters and certainly the food. Trying to get your kids off the sugar habit? The youngsters have to give up their regular favorites anyway and by just adopting an extra stringency or two (i.e. “Sorry guys we don’t eat ketchup on Pesach”) you can use the opportunity to create a healthy overhaul to their diet.
“There’s nothing to eat in this house!”
“I know honey. Do you want to try an orange?”
Since it only takes a week to develop new taste buds the orange will continue to taste good long after Pesach is over — providing you don’t go back to feeding them the old way.
Now that the house has been put in tip-top shape why not keep it that way? The month prior to Pesach is filled with sorting discarding and making space. There’s a delicious feeling of accomplishment that accompanies the completion of each task.
After Pesach the pressure is off but the general strategy can be maintained on a minor scale — just “throw as you go.” Aim to accumulate less and recycle more throughout the year. Don’t go back to the old way but rather take advantage of the momentum established by Pesach.

Maintaining the Shift
Of course there is a challenge inherent in the change process: We are creatures of habit. Maintaining the status quo is far easier for us than initiating and maintaining a shift. Indeed familiarity of every kind comforts us and makes us feel safe; if it were up to us we’d immerse ourselves in it permanently.
Hashem knows this. So He sends us Pesach to wake us up and shake us up in its dramatic way. Everything is different and it’s different for a significant period of time. It’s not only the eight days of Pesach but also the weeks before Yom Tov where chaos initiates the period of change.
This is how change routinely occurs in the world. First there is destruction — a tearing down of the old — and then there is the building up of the new.
Pesach as a gateway to a new level of existence runs through our homes and lives like a hurricane spinning out the old and ushering in the new. It throws us off balance. And just as it is meant to do it opens us up to change. Instead of quickly running back to our former way of life the moment Pesach ends we can choose to move forward to new ways of being and higher levels of functioning.

the power of pesach
Pesach is our season of freedom our release from slavery and confinement. We are free to be ourselves. On Pesach we can utilize this freedom to take ourselves further along the road we wish to travel.
We’re halfway to Rosh Hashanah with plenty of time left to accomplish the change we wish to achieve by then. Pesach is a great time to take stock modify plans and adjust the strategy. But we must take the opportunity! We need to get on the Pesach train before it zooms past — and ride it to our destination.
What shall we do with this freedom? Overcome anger? Increase patience? Decrease gossip? Whatever it is it won’t happen unless we put our minds and hearts to it.
Make a time on Pesach just for you a time to sit and reflect on the past six months to assess where you are and where you want to go. Decide what steps you need to take to get there. Are there books you could be reading classes you could take forms of assistance you can seek?
Think of how proud and pleased you’ll be when the new year rolls around and you actually have something concrete to show! Imagine being able to say “I changed! I used the power of Pesach to propel me to the next level. I made progress!”
As you begin to pack up the Pesach dishes and prepare to return to “normal life” keep your eye on your goal. Don’t put everything back just the way it was. Change something.
Change yourself.