I found myself in a little trance as I prepared the cauliflower cheese on Christmas Day. I love the bit when I mix a little cornflour and milk - you know, when you can play with the beginnings of the sauce, making it stiffen if you strike it or stir it roughly then watching it soften, ooze and flow again.
Mixtures that behave like this are called 'non-Newtonian' and there's some fascinating videos on YouTube if you've some time to waste!
But in my reverie I was thinking about labour and birth - how easy it is to disturb the 'flow' and change the nature of things by hurrying them or chivvying. How we can create tension and resistance by less-than-gentle actions, sometimes by accident. And how beautiful it is to see the natural shape and form flow back if we watch and wait.
It's not a perfect analogy... just a few random thoughts over the saucepan!