11 - Do your BEST

We now come to the concluding stanza of Longfellow's wonderful poem the Psalm of Life and it reads as follows :

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait. 

In the concluding stanza, Longfellow urges us to go about our Life, nonchalantly; focusing on our work and to leave the rest to destiny. We must understand this last stanza in the overall context of the poem and the preceeding stanzas, where Longfellow has drawn our attention to the subtle manner in which Life ebbs for each one of us.

Through each of the stanza's, he urges to the Awake, Alive, Ahead, Bold and Purposeful, giving of our Best Everyday, leaving our stamp behind and having Hope as our guiding star. If this be so, he points out that Life is very simple just go about your job without expectations. However in the last but one verse, he makes an emphatic statement that we must do work to achieve something and we must pursue our goals and then in the last verse, he tells us that patience is the most important virtue that one can have !!

Life is to be Lived with passion and enthusiasm;  The joy of work must be in doing it - not only in the rewards of it; Make everyday count. Then you will never have any regrets that yesterday was just a dream and tomorrow an elusive illusion!

Action Points :

• Check if you get irritated easily - by people, situations, work
• List out your irritants; then outline your plan to overcome them
• Ask yourself if the rewards of work are the ONLY motivators that drive you?
• Re -read the The Psalm Of Life and see if each stanza has a meaning in your Life!

     Power Act - from www.actspot.com is focused on -
                          Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.