The other night I was chopping vegetables for a minestrone (from Alice Waters wonderful new book called The Art of Simple Food). I was angry about something — I can’t remember what — but three times the knife landed on my left hand thumbnail, causing little cuts. I am fortunate I did not actually cut my fingers, but I realized after Cut Number 3 that I was angry and I needed to stop being angry and simply focus on the task at hand: chopping vegetables.

Immediately the anger vanished and I chopped. And chopped. I spent an hour chopping butternut squash, onions, carrots, curly kale, celery, leeks, sage and rosemary. Then I cooked the minestrone which was heavenly.

Lesson of the day: when you are angry, you can’t do anything properly because the energy of the anger takes your concentration away from the task at hand.

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