I think that there are two primary factors that inhibit our ability to pay attention. The first inhibitor is fear. Now, life is not inherently fair. People in the hospital do not deserve to be there. And this fear can evolve into a subconscious belief that a sick person has somehow deserved their illness or that a handicapped person has had a previous life in which they earned their disability.
Fear prevents attention.
Fear closes our eyes, fear stops-up our ears, fear cloaks our hands and hearts and fear clouds our minds. Fear is so powerful it will teach us to overlook what is in plain sight. The grip of fear can literally squeeze off our breathing. Attention requires, at the very least, that our brain be receiving enough oxygen - which is exactly what doesn t happen in the grip of fear. . True attention demands that we throw away everything we have been or hope to be, to face each moment naked of identity, open to whatever comes and bereft of human guidance.