Paying Attention

Dear Malady,
I enjoyed the many fine examples Taylor uses in Chapter 2 about paying attention. I was struck, however, by how she closed this section. She just said you need a willingness to pay attention, but I really believe that you need to be in a good place to really pay attention as Taylor describes the act.

If you're not in good health, or have marital problems, or are stressed-out at work, it becomes exceedingly difficult to have the degree of awareness Taylor talks about. I'm not sure you can simply "will" yourself to do it. I think most of us struggle with enough stuff that we're not able to pay attention. But perhaps I should only speak for myself.

In my own life, it has only been after correctly dealing with chemical imbalances and learning how to recognize my feelings in everyday situations that I've been able to "pay attention." Paying attention would have been impossible for me without outside help. I cannot think of any specific "paying attention" examples from my own life at this time.

This chapter fell kind of flat for me. I'm curious to know what you thought of it.

Love,
Gary