The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz

Genre: Non-Fiction, Personal Growth

Pages: 92

Author: Don Miguel Ruiz – Mexican

‘Language is the code for understanding and communication between humans. Every letter, every word in each language is an agreement. We call this a page in a book; the word page is an agreement that we understand… It was not your choice to speak English. You didn’t choose your religion or your moral values – they were already there before you were born. We never had the opportunity to choose what to believe or what not to believe.’

– Excerpt from the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

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Reading this book was enlightening. We have grown up accepting everything and not questioning a thing. Maybe we question it much later in life, but since we were young, we’ve known Monday as the 1^st/2^nd day of the week depending on what agreement you accepted. *wink* A spoon was a spoon because well, that’s what we were taught. We have been domesticated by our parents, teachers, elders, siblings into a particular path of life since we were born. These agreements have also made us believe certain things about ourselves that society has entrenched in us that are may/ may not be true.

Don Miguel writes this book based on Toltec beliefs and mysteries that he has unlocked over the years; he posits four agreements that we need to enter into with ourselves in order to choose the more fulfilling path to living life.

The first agreement is to Be Impeccable with your word.

‘Your word is the power that you have to create. Your word is the gift that comes directly from God… through the word you express your creative power. It is through the word that you manifest everything. Regardless of what language you speak, your intent manifests through your word. What you dream, what you feel, and what you really are will all be manifested through the word.’

Excerpt from the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

The second agreement is, Don’t take anything personally.

‘Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. when we take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what it is that is on our world.’

Excerpt from the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

The third agreement is, Don’t make assumptions.

‘We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. The problem with making assumptions is that we 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. That is why whenever we make assumptions, we’re asking for problems.’

Excerpt from the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

The fourth agreement is, Always Do your best.

‘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 point to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality and other times will not be as good.’

Excerpt from the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

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I treasured the honesty with which Don Miguel addresses the things that most certainly cause our dissatisfaction, stress and envy as humans. I’d 100% recommend this book to realign our thought patterns and realities.

Please do let me know what you though about the book in the comment section.

Cheers.