Cooking . . . it can be throwing things together to make a dish or a meal OR it can be exact measurements made while following a detailed how-to recipe—just like LIFE!
There are some who go to a culinary school to learn the “right way” to cook and there are some who follow in traditions of those who have gone before to make dishes for which no written recipe exists.
I think COOKING and LIFE are a lot alike:
• measure each step carefully
OR —jump in and throw it all together
(make goals or “wing it”)
• study to learn how to do it “right”
OR —go with your gut to decide what is “right”
(check out resources or go with what has always been)
• sift the flour before using
OR —just dump the ingredients in together
(see sifting as improving my efforts or take less time–dump and go)
• choose a recipe for what you want to cook
and what you want it to look like
OR —work it out as you go along
(looking at what someone else made to help guide me
or just go with what “feels” right at the time)
• make sure you have the ingredients you need
BEFORE you start to cook
OR —run to the store in the middle of cooking to get
something I am missing
(check what is needed to make what I want to make
and get it all together before starting)
Cooking and life . . . hodgepodge or exact science?
My favorite meal to cook is a hodgepodge AND exact science—
roast beef and mama’s homemade noodles . . .
and memories show me my life has been the same!
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Jeanne
Jeanne H Barnett's Blog 
Because of my upbringing I used to be very rigid and everything had to be just so. Through the years I’ve learned to relax and go with the flow a lot more.
So many of my best meals are when I simply throw things into a pot. I may not even be using the correct measurements, or if I don’t have an ingredient, I may improvise – or forego it altogether. In the end it usually comes out just fine. If it doesn’t, that’s okay, too.
This is how I’ve learned to treat life. I’ve spent my whole life trying to be perfect. In the end I was never appreciated for that anyway. Now I don’t break my neck anymore with doing everything ‘just so’. It’s made me much more relaxed.
Absolutely on target! My upbringing instilled “perfectionism” in me that really made life impossible for many years until I learned that life is a mix of many different approaches – “it all depends” is the answer and knowing that removes so much stress. It reminds me I have a choice in what approach I want to take in every situation, every day based on what works for me–YES! Thanks for sharing your insights – good thoughts!