June 2023
What is the Recipe?
Listen to the audio version by Dorothy
Remembering Hans Larsen (January 15, 1932 - May 16, 2023)
"We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course."
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
Are you a consistent tidier or a determined declutterer when your papers pile up and, now frustrated, you don't know where you put that so-important piece of information that you need right now? During one such black-belt marathon that included shredding, sorting and reorganizing, I discovered a note with words by a wise counsellor, long forgotten: "Dorothy, you have all the ingredients, now what is the recipe?" It was an appropriate question as my lifetime experiences were numerous, with a kit-bag full of possibilities but at the time lacking in specificity.
Perhaps you relate? If not, I acknowledge your focus. Many of us have all the ingredients, but do we have a recipe or a plan to complete something we do well, or something that speaks to us? When things build to a crescendo it can be challenging to know where to begin. A quotation on my current Hospice calendar may have the best advice: "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill.
Is there something you haven't done that has remained dormant but still takes up space in your mind, occasionally rising to the surface? Anniversaries and birthdays can 'stiffen the spine', reminding us of the swift passage of time - and how I relate to that! During a training workshop in an earlier career, an associate gave me permission to share his favourite expression: "Time, non-refundable fragments of eternity". While this is true, would you agree that those important priorities could be handled, albeit a tiny step at a time, but in a great way, as Napoleon Hill suggested?
Again this year I will be taking time out during July and August, so the next Innisfree Moment will be in September. In addition to preparing for some new fall projects and updating personal documents, my fun intention is to take some brush-up lessons for the keyboard my sister gifted me many birthdays ago, but often sadly neglected. Perhaps you would like to join me with your intention, one also sadly neglected? What comes to your mind that has been lying dormant, except when it whispers, remember me? Isn't it something you know would give you a great deal of satisfaction when completed, and could the summer months be the ideal timing? Consider this, when you've done it, you won't have to do it ... or, as my friend Rev. Carrie wrote in one of her newsletters: "What seems impossible is simply a miracle waiting to be expressed"! And yes, it is!
The illustration above came about when my late husband John sent me the recipe. It is for Celtic Chicken on a bed of wild rice, containing the Irish Mist liqueur, which I sent to our local newspaper, overjoyed when they featured it for St. Patrick's Day. The griddle soda bread farls continue to be a weekly mainstay with my Irish cousins; the flowers are snowdrops, which many of you know are my favourite; they may look fragile but their hardy shoots are the first to rise through the winter soil. If you would like the recipe, I'm happy to share it; just send me an email. (dblandford1935@gmail.com).
Until we meet again with the next Innisfree Moment in September, I wish you healthy and safe days ahead, rich blessings and clarity as you sift through your ingredients for that one 'recipe' (project) that continues its whispers, and will give you joy when completed. With an intention in place, we can do it, you and I, by taking one tiny baby step at a time!
As always, I thank you for journeying with me. Blessèd be! Namasté!
Dorothy B.
An Innisfree Moment | 2023 - Current Archive | Newsletter Sign-Up
Rev. Dorothy Blandford, Ph.D
Apt. 202 - 1655 Martin Drive
Surrey, BC, V4A 6E1, Canada
604-535-9016
info@innisfreespirit.com