So when confusion or pain seems to tighten what is possible, when sadness or frustration shrinks your sense of well-being, when worry or fear agitates the peace right out of you, try lending your attention to the nearest thing … Watch how the one shell you brought back three years ago from the sea reveals itself, at last, as a face that is telling you how to continue. Give your full attention over to the nearest patch of life — to how an apple peels and juices — and after a while each thing attended will reveal yet another way back to the center.
–Mark Nepo in The Book of Awakening