Unlike Valentine’s and Mothers’ Day, there aren’t any cards for Pancake Day, or to give it it’s traditional religious name, Shrove Tuesday, so you might have missed it.

When, at the tender age of 18, I escaped to University, my grandmother (who arrived in this country from Vienna as a refugee in the clothes she stood up in and a suitcase full of baking utensils) provided me with a frying pan her pancake recipe. Sadly, the frying pan has long gone, but the recipe is indelibly printed in my brain.

During my student years pancakes became an instant filler; so simple, so cheap. When entertaining, I would drench them in a boozy orange sauce, serve with cream and give them a fancy French name. During my vegetarian phase, they became a main dish, stuffed with a medley of vegetables and covered in a spicy sauce. For my son, they were a weekend breakfast treat – smothered in golden or maple syrup, sugar and lemon, or melted chocolate.

The word ‘Shrove’ comes from an ancient word ‘shrive’ – meaning to absolve. On the eve of the Christian season of Lent one visited the priest, confessed one’s sins and then went home and used up all the goodies that you weren’t allowed to eat during the fast.

Religion may be out of fashion these days, but there’s still something wholesome about dealing with the past. A friend of mine is going through a rather messy divorce. Those of us who’ve already got the T-shirt, will sympathise.

Dealing with the day-to-day practicalities of moving house, separating out finances and coping with solicitors is hard. More so, because you’re doing all this while coping with the emotional trauma of ending something that began with such promise; a public pledge of life-long commitment ‘for better or worse’ turns into a bitter and expensive legal fight about money (as one of my friends put it).

I’m inspired and impressed by her resilience. Although the divorce is exacting an inevitable toll, she is focusing on letting go of a painful past and discovering hope for a new future. A renowned yoga teacher, she finds peace and strength in her discipline of meditation.

“There are some days where I try to think of every excuse under the sun to not stand on my mat...It’s not warm enough. The room doesn’t feel right. I don’t have the right gear. I didn’t sleep so well….Truth is, there is ALWAYS time to tend to your heart’s fire and feed your pulse of life....”

Whether you’re into yoga, traditional religion, communing with nature or whatever – taking time to let go of the past and reset your compass for the future is as much food for the soul as pancakes are for the body.