If you ever watch a dog be a dog, you will notice they pay a tremendous amount of attention to one thing at a time: the poor mailman on the sidewalk, the squirrel on the fence post, the vacuum, the peculiar sound reverberating from your bookshelf speakers, the T-bone steak sizzling in your heavy cast-iron pan.

Humans, like dogs, pay attention. But, humans can do something that dogs can't: we can pay attention to what we are paying attention to. In other words, we can have awareness of our attention. Developing this awareness is important because attention is an indicator of not only interest but pain, pleasure, insecurity and desire.

Our attention can be used as an internal compass to guide us to the hurt that is holding us back, as well as the hopes and dreams that could release us. But, we've got to pay attention to what we pay attention to.