Mourning Doves, Ganesha, Snow in the Garden

The doves perched in that spot for at least an hour and a half–right above the murti of Ganesha.

The doves perched in that spot for at least an hour and a half–right above the murti of Ganesha.
There is a profound difference between being detached, being separate, and not participating fully or at all and being fully engaged in activities but not being attached to the outcome. Sometimes, after I have a fantastic time, I remember the suffering that can follow from longing for more, and I wonder whether it was worth it. I have such thoughts only fleetingly. The more I practice yoga and the attendant non-attachment to particular future outcomes based on past experience and desire, the more I am able to exult in what the present has to offer.
It is my experience that if I can simultaneously accept that I am ultimately not in control even while I am working to meet a particular goal that I feel less stressed by the vagaries of fate.
It’s not easy to do, but I do think that is the balance that the yoga practices–the ones that aren’t trying to have us transcend embodiment–are trying to teach us. And as the weather gets wilder, there will be more opportunities for practice.