Let's talk about AwDD. This is not the same as AD/HD. While you may not suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder it's a pretty sure bet you do suffer from Awareness Deficit Disorder - you just may not be aware of it. Pun intended.

Ever stand in your own living room; hold an item in your hand; put it down; turn to do something and then spend two hours looking for it? Hands up those whose most memorable searches have stretched into days?

How about those of you who live in large towns which have stores with big parking lots. Ever spend an unproductive half hour wandering up and down rows of cars with heavy shopping bags in your arms - trying hard to look nonchalant but feeling like an idiot? How is it possible that you have absolutely no idea where your car is when you yourself parked and locked it and strolled away from it less than an hour ago?

It does get worse as you get older but it can strike at any age. In fact young children can be fabulously, intensely unaware of reality.

In my work as a Life Coach I often have clients who are overwhelmed and stressed out.

"Life is a great adventure and sleepwalking through it is not an option," I tell my distracted clients. "Pay attention to your attention. If you want to realize your dream in life you're going to have to stay awake to do it".

When working with a client who is living too much inside her head and not at all in her visual field I sometimes prescribe a walk.

"And don't come back until you've counted 30 red cars," I order. "Why?" " No particular reason. It'll put you in motion and you'll be surprised what you notice about your neighborhood while you're peering down side streets and driveways."

It's also true that while these overachievers are busy trying to accomplish a task they often forget to obsess about inconsequentials.

Another favorite exercise I like to assign is drawing a plant or a flower. This can be daunting for non-artists. But the object is not to turn out a masterpiece. The object is to pay attention to reality and reproduce it on paper. If the real flower has three leaves and your drawing has five you might consider honing your attention skills.

I encourage my frazzled clients to practice awareness at any moment of the day. When they're waiting at a car wash, for example. Instead of daydreaming or creating imaginary conversations they can pay attention to the people around them or the worker drying their car. Does he have a system? Does he dry the glass first or the body? How old is he?

This year we have all been made aware (there's that word again) of just how devastating AwDD can be. A well-educated sophisticated college professor parked his car and strolled away from it leaving his 10-month-old child securely strapped in the back seat. Four hours later the child was discovered dead. Just to show that AwDD is not gender-specific a pre-school teacher parked her SUV and strolled into her own school leaving two of her little charges baking in the back seat.

Recently, I opened my paper and read about a local man who went to work leaving his sweltering 5 month old securely strapped into her car seat. He was arrested five hours later on suspicious of negligent homicide. Authorities later decided not to press charges stating that the incident was an accident and the man was not at fault. Which is interesting because it implies that we have no control over our awareness. We are not accountable for being present in our own lives.

This same man held a news conference to state that he was going to lobby auto manufacturers to be required to put safety devices in all cars to remind parents that their children are in the car with them. Let me repeat that. There is a proposal for legislation to require auto manufacturers to install devices in all vehicles to remind parents that their children may be in the car with them.

These heartbreaking stories bring awareness to our awareness. Or lack of it. Something we take for granted, like breathing, becomes a precious commodity.

Of course, awareness is always a matter of life or death. Yet though we hire personal trainers to work out our muscles we consistently neglect to exercise our most basic tool of survival.

Like love or wellness we don't value our awareness until we experience the consequences of its absence.

Don't wait too long.

Life happens whether we choose to see it or not.