Attachments are all around us, we tend not to see them but they are there ready and waiting for the moment when they will hold us back on our Journey.  Like Desires, Attachments are subtle and give us a sense of comfort and a reason to cling on to them.  Attachments come in many forms and affect us greatly, we don't identify with them if our Ego is running the show because they are one of the aspects of life that the Ego is skilled at.  A simple Attachment would be an emotion, for example fear, we encounter a situation that makes us feel uncomfortable like an interview or an exam, we are about to be put to the test and there might be serious consequences if we do not do our best.  Fear will arise, we will be scared of failure, scared that we will not remember the knowledge that is being tested or we might not give the clearest explaination.  As soon as the emotion of fear appears, we Attach to it and once we have done that it can grow, we are already passed the point of no return, the fear grows and eventually consumes us.  Fear will then prevent us from remembering the knowledge that we know we have and it will prevent us from speaking clearly.  The fear will turn from emotion into a physical reaction, before the exam or interview we might feel phycially sick, or during the interview we might shake uncontrollably.  All sounds very normal I'm sure, we have all experienced such events and the reactions that can occur.  The interesting word here is Reaction, it becomes a Reaction as soon as we allow the fear to creep in.  So, how can we prevent the fear from escalating into the impending doom that we want to avoid?  With some awareness and Discernment we can identify the emotion (in this example: fear) as soon as it appears, take a breath and say "...I see you...", now you have the emotion identified your Ego will not be able to drown you in it, you will see it for what it is, identify with it and be able to Respond.  The important word now changes from React to Respond, you have just given yourself enough breathing space to quench the fire that the emotion was about to unleash on you.  Whether it is an emotion or an itch, nothing lasts forever, we have already accepted Impermanence and the constant change that it brings, how could we possible be disturbed by a mere emotion or an itch?  No sooner has the emotion appeared on your radar and been identified, it no longer has the fuel and power that it needs to grow and therefore it will subside and die.

Of course Attachments come in many forms, physical, psychological and emotional, and yet again we should not need to live a monastic life, removing all of the objects around us that we might attach to, we should instead use our daily practices to help us have enough awareness and Discernment to be able to Respond instead of React and thus, take the next best step(s)!