Chopping Carrots

Today my mind is too full of thoughts, buzzing around like too many summer flies, pulling my attention away from what I want to be a calm and productive day. I realize I’m craving orange on this already distracted, already boiling hot late July day.

I decide to chop carrots to be roasted this afternoon. Even the thought of it gives me great pleasure. A project to focus me.

I chop off their heads and tails with a beautiful black handled knife. Its blade I feel needs sharpening. Still it feels so good. Forcing the knife down across the short ends. Hearing the knife hit the wooden cutting board. Chop. Off with their heads and their tails. Off with that thought and the next and the other.

I take the silver peeler from the small white tin mug on the counter. I scrape it down and away from me, peeling off the rough layers, the bumpy spots. I double back on the places I’ve missed, get down to the vulnerable soft orange beneath. Carrot after carrot. Until each is naked and clean.

I chop the pile of carrots on the diagonal into nice gem-like wedges. Not too thin. Hoping the sweet thickness will come through when I bake them.

I toss them with a little olive oil, Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, and freshly ground pepper. I use a serving spoon, the last piece I have from the silverware set my mother used when I was a child. I spread the carrots out, in one layer, onto a baking pan and slide it into the countertop oven I bought the year my gas was off. It doesn’t heat up the apartment as much as the big oven does.

400 degrees Fahrenheit. 45 minutes. I wait.

From the other room, while sitting on the meditation pillow, I notice the thought-flies have settled. Only one tries to get my attention, then buzzes off and finds somewhere else to land. I sit until the smell of carrots tickles my nose.

I’m curious to know, what do you do to settle the thoughts that distract you?

Here’s to delicious moments!

Warmly,

Tiffany