The creed of a true saint is to make the best of life, and to make the most of it.

Two instructions sit side by side here and both are needed. Making the most of your circumstances calls for effort and ambition, while making the best of them means accepting the material you were actually handed instead of the version you wanted. Either one alone goes wrong, since pure acceptance drifts and pure ambition never arrives anywhere.

Look at your situation and ask which half you are short of right now. If you have been straining against something unchangeable, practise the accepting one. If you have been calling resignation peace, do the other. Most of us default to one and need reminding about its partner.