We notice the obstacles because we have to get around them to proceed. But what if we go through life only noticing obstacles, problems, and difficulties?

we can repeatedly observe the mechanics of a mind that is rarely satisfied with what it has at the moment because it is always yearning for some manufactured ideal.

I was surprised by how often my attention is on myself, my feelings, thoughts, and ideas, rather than the world around me. I was surprised at how my attention shaped, actually became, my experience.

“Usually thinking is rather self-centered. In our everyday life our thinking is ninety-nine percent self-centered: Why do I have suffering? Why do I have trouble?” SHUNRYU SUZUKI ROSHI

As long as we hold fast to our ideal of what we deserve from the world we blind ourselves to the gifts we are receiving.

We can open our eyes. We can begin asking a different question. Instead of the question “How can others be of use to me?” we can ask, “How can I be of use to others?”

Without a conscious shift of attention to the myriad ways in which the world supports us, we risk our attention being trapped by problems and obstacles, leaving us to linger in suffering and self-pity.

To live a life of gratitude is to open our eyes to the countless ways in which we are supported by the world around us. Such a life provides less space for our suffering because our attention is more balanced.

Over the years she has trained her mind to focus on the gap between her ideal of the world and her reality.