The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Four Agreements is a Toltec book of wisdom. Who are the Toltecs? The Toltecs were scientists and artists who created a society to learn and preserve the spiritual knowledge and practice of the ancient masters throughout Southern Mexico.
What are the Four Agreements:
- Be Impeccable With Your Word.
- Don’t Take Anything Personally.
- Don’t Make Assumptions.
- Always Do Your Best.
These four agreements are simple life principles that I am striving to live by on my journey through Earth. The author describes these agreements as a way of transformation. When we dive into each agreement, the message is about deprogramming the mind from toxic poisons that have been ingrained that causes us to think and act the way that we do. When we have rewired our brains through the process of tearing down false belief systems that keep us in mental bondage, we now begin to live life with inner freedom, free of judgement. We remove the veil that keeps us reined in with limits, and we begin to operate limitless.
- Be Impeccable With Your Word:
The author stated this first agreement is of the most importance, and also the most difficult one to honor in our daily lives. Words give us power to create and this gift comes from God. “The word is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life.” The use of our words can free us, or enslave us, it simply depends on how we frame it.
The author stated that “Every human is a magician, and we can either put a spell on someone with our word, or we can release someone from a spell.” Our words are a two edge sword.
This makes me think about the words I speak from my mouth? Are my words building or destroying? Building feels better because it is righteous, but do I sometimes unconsciously destroy others with my words? Inner honesty says yes, but why? Maybe it has something to do with control, or gaining perceived power. This book made me aware that the words that I speak are directly related to deficiencies in me that need to be healed. How does this healing begin? Awareness.
- Don’t Take Anything Personally:
Whenever we take things personally, our selfishness erupts because we assume that everything is about us. “Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.” Everyone lives there own life. While growing up, we go through our domestication period where we are being conditioned to be a certain way based on our environment. And when these traits are ingrained, we start to formulate opinions.
But a person’s point of view is simply birthed from their brains downloaded programming they received during their lives domestication period. The way each of us sees the movie in our mind is acted out according to the agreements we have made in our life. So when we apply the wisdom that each of our brains circuitry is different, then it should be less of a task to not take things personally, and operate in a non-resistant vibration which provides immunity from negative emotional spikes which erupt when we let things get to us. This unhealthy spike immediately stands up our antennas to defend our beliefs, which then provokes a snowball effect of adverse events.
- Don’t Make Assumptions:
“Without making assumptions, our word becomes impeccable.”When we make assumptions, we tend to believe they are the truth. We make assumptions about what others are doing or thinking, we take it personally, then we blame them and react by sending emotional poison with our word.
I loved learning how the dots connect from making an assumption, to taking things personally, which leads to misplaced words that can lead to conflict. To stop from making assumptions, I need to make sure I clearly understand the communication. If I am not sure, I need to ask more questions. I need to exercise my voice. The entity can always say yes or no, but if I do not ask, it will not be given. Being clear brings clarity without the guesswork.
- Always Do Your Best:
“When you do your best you learn to accept yourself. But you have to be aware and learn from your mistakes. Learning from your mistakes means you practice, look honestly at the results, and keep practicing. This increases your awareness.”
Doing your best does not always grant you the win, but it can make you a leader. People are influenced by people who continue to dig into their hurt locker and find a way to consistently put out there best. Only I know if I have given it my best. No one can jump inside my body and tell me what I have exhausted because that is subjective to personal opinion. But I do think a person’s best can be felt. This can be displayed through sports, in the corporate board room, all the way down to the basics of how well we do chores at home.
“Inaction is the way that we deny life.” Doing our best requires we take action. Without action, we display cognitive indolence which cascades into diminishing our strength in mastering our word, we make assumptions, and take things personally. In my personal reflection, there have been specific times when I have not taken action even when I have been prepared. I now recognize my inaction was because of fear.
I have began to apply not being afraid to make the wrong decision, as long as I make a decision. Of course that decision cannot be reckless, and there must be preparation, but I am taking action, and will attack and adapt along the way. I believe every wrong decision sets us on a path to the right decision, and as long as we do our best, therein lies peace.
The Four Agreements are a journey towards the mastery of transformation. There are nuggets of wisdom packed within the cannons of these pages that spreads soul piercing shots that freeze me still in hopeful thought. These pages make me conscious that there is an omnipresent deity hovering over the most precious details of our life wanting the best for us, & wanting us to embrace and apply the wisdom that is available to all. Making these Four Agreements a part of my DNA takes time, and yes I know I will break an agreement, but when I fail, I will start over again…..