When Your Own Wiring Turns Against You, How Do You Stay Soft?

Why the beam of attention shorts, how that crackle feels in your skin and bones, and what it really takes to make it shine steady again

PROLOGUE | A SMALL, STEADY LIGHT

Draw in a slow breath—four counts in, a gentle pause, four counts out.
Behind your brow a pin‑bright lantern chooses what enters: the pop of a friend’s laugh, the ruby pulse of brake lights, the cut‑grass wind that whisks you back to Little League. That lantern is your attention.

It runs on quiet self‑regard—the soft, patie…