The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
by don Miguel Ruiz
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Book Summary Information
Author: don Miguel RuizEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deluxe Edition
Published: 2001-01-15
ISBN: 1878424505
Number of pages: 152
Publisher: Amber-Allen Publishing
Book Reviews of The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
Book Review: The Four Agreements
Summary: 5 Stars
The subtitles of this book are "A practical Guide to Personal Freedom" and "A Toltec Wisdom Book" and I believe that Mr. Ruiz makes a case for both in The Four Agreements. This is a short book (only 138 pages) but it is packed with practical, yet challenging, advice on how to live a more fulfilling life. The four agreements about which he writes are:
Be impeccable with your word. Mr. Ruiz says your word is the power you have to either create or destroy. Recognizing this, we must understand the power of what comes out of our mouths. When we are impeccable, we take responsibility for our actions, but we do not judge or blame ourselves. Mr. Ruiz says that speaking the truth is the most important part of being impeccable with our word. We must stop gossiping. By becoming impeccable with our word, any negativity will eventually leave our mind, as well as our communication with those important people in our lives. Our self-esteem is directly proportional to the quality and integrity of our word. Impeccability of the word can lead to personal freedom and to huge success and abundance; it can take away all fear and transform it into joy and love. It's up to you to make this agreement with yourself.
Don't take anything personally. Personal importance, or taking things personally, is the maximum expression of selfishness according to Ruiz, because we make the assumption that everything is about "me". Nothing other people do is because of you; it is because of them. Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you. Their point of view comes from all the programming they received. If you take it personally, then you take their poison and it becomes yours. When you take things personally, then you feel offended, and your reaction is to defend your beliefs and create conflicts. You have to trust yourself and choose to accept or reject what someone says to you. When we really see people as they are without taking it personally, we can never be hurt by what they say and do. When you make it a strong habit not to take anything personally, you avoid many upsets in your life. There is a huge amount of freedom that comes from taking nothing personally.
Don't make assumptions. The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth and we end up creating a whole big drama for nothing. It is always better to ask questions than to make assumptions because assumptions set us up for suffering. Making assumptions in our relationships is really asking for problems. Often we make the assumption that our partners know what we think and that we don't have to say what we want. We assume they are going to do what we want, because they know us so well. If they don't do what we assume they should do, we feel so hurt and say, "You should have known." Making assumptions in relationships leads to a lot of fights, a lot of difficulties, and a lot of misunderstandings with people we supposedly love. We make the mistaken assumption that everyone sees life the way we do. If you don't understand, ask. Have the courage to ask questions until you are as clear as you can be, and even then do not assume you know all there is to know about a given situation. Also, find your voice to ask for what you want. Everybody has the right to tell you no or yes, but you always have the right to ask. If you don't understand something, it is better for you to ask and be clear, instead of making assumptions. Without making assumptions your word becomes impeccable.
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 moment to the next. If you try too hard to do more than your best, you will spend more energy than is needed and in the end your best will not be enough. But if you do less than your best, you subject yourself to frustration, self-judgment, guilt and regret. When you always do your best, you take action because you love it, not because you're expecting a reward. When you do your best, you learn to accept yourself. But you have to be aware and learn from your mistakes. This increases your awareness. If you do your best in the search for personal freedom, in the search for self-love, you will discover that it's just a matter of time before you find what you are looking for.
Mr. Ruiz has shared four simple Toltec principles that if implemented in our lives, could potentially change everything. This book has the potential to positively impact how you relate to yourself and others.
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Summary of The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
Featured in the premiere issue of O: The Oprah Magazine and on Oprah's Favorite Things 2000 segment, The Four Agreements reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob people of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements -- be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, always do your best -- offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform life into a new experience of freedom, love, and true happiness. This jacketed linen-bound hardcover gift edition features two-color printing and a silk ribbon marker.Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors. Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. --P. Randall Cohan
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