My theme for May is the Fourth Agreement — Always Do Your Best —as outlined by Don Miguel Ruiz. The Bhagavad Gita has a similar message in Chapter 18 verse 47:
“It is better to perform one’s own dharma (duty) imperfectly than to perform another’s dharma (duty) perfectly. One is never subject to bad karma by performing one’s prescribed duties according to one’s own nature.”
Don Miguel Ruiz explains:
“Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good. When you wake up refreshed and energized in the morning, your best will be better than when you are tired at night. Your best will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick; it will depend on whether you are feeling wonderful and happy, or angry and upset.”
In my experience, my best can change from one moment to another, from one hour to the next, from one day to another. My best has change over time, but I keep doing my best — no more and no less than my best.
If I try too hard to do more than my best, you I spend more energy than is needed and in the end my best will never be enough. When my perfectionist tendency takes over, I overdo. I deplete my body and go against myself, and it will take me longer to accomplish my goal.
Don Miguel Ruiz goes on:
If you just do your best, there is no way you can judge yourself. And if you don’t judge yourself there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame, and self-punishment.
If I have done my best and my inner critic or the “voice of fear” tries to judge me, I have got the answer: “I did my best. There are no regrets”.
That is why I will just “do our best “in May. It is not an easy agreement to keep, but this agreement is really going to quiet my inner critic and set me free. Again the Gita encourages me: . One is never subject to bad karma by performing one’s prescribed duties according to one’s own nature.”
