Jingle Bloody Jingle

And so it begins. Whether you have wrapper's elbow, jingle fatigue or just garden variety festivus anxiety, the big day is nearly upon us. For many we are in prep mode, tinged with mild perfection mania and framed in prayers of not having to go anywhere near the shops again.Bustling around my kitchen is not just a happy place that I find wonderful for my creativity. It is a potent place in which to employ the magical arts, kitchenwitchery if you will. As you may know from my cure all chicky soup (recipe on the blog if you are in need of urgent panacea or goddess forbid have a Chrissy cold) intention is everything when one is stirring the pot, in any sense.Wonderful films like Chocolat remind us of this ancient skill that infuses our food with emotion, with intention and with the power to alter our state. When we begin with gratitude and bless our food, we achieve a state of grace. This is not a 2, 4, 6, 8, dig in, don't wait tradition to be hurried through. Your presence can render it a gift all of its own.Of course, it works both ways and operates irrespective of whether you bring your conscious attention to it or not. If you are busy whipping cream through gritted teeth, beating anti-hypocrisy egg whites for your pavlova of peace or stuffing a perfectly innocent bird full of your festive angst, you can expect that to rise over lunch too. Be mindful of what you are baking into the big day.The funny thing with intention - the crucial ingredient - is that we have an awful tendency to focus on our fears, effectively delivering us the opposite of what we want. I call it manifestering and it is best avoided by flipping your language, the basis of all spelling. If you are clear on what you don't want and how you would prefer not to feel, then find its satisfying opposite. Stir that into your gravy and bake it into your Christmas cookies.We are nearly there. Although your nerves may be fraying, now is the time to engage deeply with your practice. Make it magic and bend it to work with you. This is how to craft your life.Or, in the words of another great Aussie domestic goddess...Breathe. It won't be long now.Mantra by our own Kylie Minogue as snapped by Ellen von UnwerthWords © Kerrie Basha, 2017