“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”
~ Laurie Colwin“If you are careful,’ Garp wrote, ‘if you use good ingredients, and you don’t take any shortcuts, then you can usually cook something very good. Sometimes it is the only worthwhile product you can salvage from a day; what you make to eat. With writing, I find, you can have all the right ingredients, give plenty of time and care, and still get nothing. Also true of love. Cooking, therefore, can keep a person who tries hard sane.”
~ John Irving, The World According to Garp
Someone sent me an email yesterday. I present an excerpt here for your interest;
Nicole, I’m really puzzled over your blog. You are a psychic. What the *#@^ are you writing about cooking for? Also, enough with the photos of your garden and your dogs. Anyone can write about that so leave it to them. More how-to’s about being a psychic and your psychic stories. That’s what I want.
Hmmm…
I made myself a pot of tea, went and hosed my vegetable garden, and thought about how to respond.
It’s true. I am psychic. And that is a very big part of my life. But it’s not ALL of my life.
Further to that, this person also wrote:
“It must be wonderful to be psychic. How glamorous and exciting.”
That made me laugh. Glamorous? Not much, my friend. Exciting? Not really the word I would have chosen.
It has been a big week for me – as well as dealing with my horror Lyme meds I’ve been reaching out to support a friend as she suffers a major health crisis, holding the space for others coming through grief and trauma, and guiding a student experiencing a major spiritual breakthrough. I also advised authorities over a difficult matter, comforted a client who had received a positive cancer diagnosis after finally going to the doctor at my insistence, and guided others through life’s major crossroads.
That’s a normal week for me.
I cannot speak for others who are psychic, but I can speak of what this life is like for me.
I adore what I do, but it is also a great responsibility. Being psychic, being aware of the thoughts and feelings of others, having knowledge of situations and possibilities, being compelled to come to the aid of people – it’s exhausting. I can’t turn off seeing auras and energy all around me. I am constantly aware of things others cannot see, some of which, at times, I would rather not know.
And I am always, always on duty.
I’m not talking about the times when I am working with clients, or running workshops or retreats. I’m expecting to do psychic work then, and I’m prepared and ready for that.
The truth is I cannot plan my days with any certitude. It doesn’t matter whether I am healthy or unwell, busy or on a day off. It does not matter what time of the day or night. If I am called to serve, I must heed that call.
I might wake from a dream, or emerge from a meditation with the need to contact someone, provide information and then support them. Perhaps I will need to try and prevent a suicide. I might spend time helping a lost soul cross over, comforting a child and guiding them with their own spiritual and psychic connections, or helping an unborn twin save their sibling. My holidays get interrupted, even when I’m in the middle of the ocean, or I might be suddenly called to intervene with healing a past life trauma for a complete stranger.
The images, information and emotions are like constant background noise. And then sometimes that volume gets cranked way up.
My main method of coping – besides tapping into nature, community and the grounded joys of everyday life – is meditation. Meditation clears the energetic debris at the end of the day, and I can reach out and send love and healing so that others feel supported. Meditation also starts my day. I can set my intent, tune in and open myself to what most needs focus or support, and direct my energies to that end. Meditation makes room in my mind, and it uplifts my soul. It’s one of the reasons why I include so many meditations in my blog.
But that’s not cooking, is it? Meditation is still kind of psychic…
Here’s the thing. Every day I see humanity in all its glorious wonder, frailty, beauty, brutality and ugliness. I taste and feel life as viscerally as if it is all happening to me, and through me.
At times I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, and at other times I feel uproariously free, grateful and alive. I am privileged to see and feel with this weird kind of subtlety and sensitivity. It is an honour to peer into the fabric of the Universe and glimpse some of its magic.
It’s a path I take very seriously.
But it’s not glamorous, or particularly exciting. Instead I find it humbling, hard work and at times extraordinarily rewarding.
So why blog recipes?
Cooking is actually very important to me. Sorry, that may sound a bit trite. Let me explain. It’s where I feel my grandmothers’ hands guiding mine – although they are now passed over. And I really miss my grandmothers! Cooking helps me feel them in the kitchen with me. Preparing food is one of the ways I can show care for my family, friends and community, and it’s the thing I do to stay sane in my often crazy world.
Cooking is often my lifeline, and the thing that normalises me when life feels so very strange. It connects me to my ordinary self. It’s a way to unwind, a form of moving meditation. It’s a way to nurture me and others. Plus… yum!
Also my Nana’s Curried Sausages Recipe beats Jamie Oliver’s and the Women’s Weekly’s in Google rankings. 🙂
Anyway, I digress…
Getting my hands into the dirt in my garden or rambling around my farm talking to the cows keeps me grounded too.
My dogs? They are sometimes the rodeo clowns who prevent me being trampled, sometimes my nurses, sometimes the ones who understand best what I need, and who give me love, comfort and reason to laugh after a hard day.
I’m glad you are keen to develop your psychic skills. But how’s your cooking? How’s your compassion? What are your coping skills? How’s your humanity?
How will you handle being psychic, and all that entails, especially looking after and guiding other people with wisdom and kindness, if you cannot also be rounded and grounded as a person?
Sorry, but I’m going to keep blogging my life – ALL of it – I hope you understand.
All the best,
Nicole
PS – I couldn’t help myself. I guess you mightn’t be reading my blog again after this, so I thought I’d better include one last photo of my awesomely magical dogs…
