I used this quote from Swami Rama recently in class and thought I would post here for contemplation/discussion!
The goal of life is not the drama being played, but the lesson that it offers. Every human being is the playwright of her or his own drama. Most people forget this. They think the dramas of their lives are created by God, or by others, or by the chance of mathematical probability in an inconceivably vast universe. They also fail to remember that the drama of life is just that, a play that is momentarily being acted out for a desired result. Instead of understanding life as a play, they take life to be the ultimate. Then the lessons promised by the drama are missed and a great deal of pain and sorrow is experienced.
So it is. This is how our individual development is shaped. We create and recreate dramas that we fail to see as such dramas. We mistake them to be the ultimate, and get tossed about in the turmoil of pain and pleasure. Finally the day dawns that we turn toward another perspective. We are able to step back and watch the drama from a distance. The pain diminishes and the wisdom and humor of the drama become more apparent.
~Swami Rama
4yoga 
Thank you so much for posting this quotation, Erica! I really enjoyed it when you shared it in class, and I enjoy it even more now that I can read it and think about it further. The sentence “we are able to step back and watch the drama from a distance” really stands out for me because I sometimes have glimpses of that perspective and realize, when I do, that things make much more sense.
I thought of you too, Angie, with the recent dogie drama 🙂 in your life. What great teachers those four legged creatures have been in non attachment! You don’t really need that door, those walls, etc. (only humor intended)
Ha! You are quite right, Erica! I hadn’t thought of it before, but a big part of animal rescue/rehab is meeting the animal in question where it is, letting go of your attachments for how it “should” be, and helping it move into a more healthy state. I cannot believe I’ve never drawn the parallels to yoga before–thanks for pointing me that direction!