We live surrounded by things we have stopped noticing. The ordinary objects and people and places that make up a life become invisible through familiarity.
The recovery of attention is partly the recovery of the ability to look again at what is already in front of us.
This is not a sentimental exercise. It is a way of remaining alive to the actual texture of our experience. The person who can still be surprised by a familiar street or a familiar face has not yet become entirely numb to the world.
Many of the practices that have been recommended across traditions — prayer, meditation, certain forms of reading and walking — can be understood as methods for learning to look again.
They work by interrupting our habit of moving through the world on autopilot. They create small moments in which we are forced to register what is actually present.
The capacity to pay attention is not just a cognitive skill. It is also a moral one. The world is full of things that deserve more attention than we usually give them.