The Four Agreements was written by Don Miguel Ruiz. It is called a book of Toltec Wisdom.The Four Agreements offers us four rules to live by to help us live our life in love. The first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. The second agreement is” Don’t take anything personally.” “The third agreement is “Don’t make assumptions”. The Fourth agreement is “always do your best”.
This sounds easy enough but if you gossip at all it is not possible to be impeccable in your word. Don Miguel says that words are a contract with other people. If we accept what other people are telling us it becomes a contract. Many times a child may be told that they are stupid or not good enough and they will believe it and live that out. It means not saying mean things about others . Take time to think before you speak.
Don’t take anything personally makes sense. What another person does or says to us is just our perception. We do not know if what we believe is true. We do not know if what they say or do is true for us. What other people do or believe is true for them but not necessarily for us. If we can detach from reacting to others beliefs or judgments and just let them have them it frees us up. They have their perception and you have yours. “You eat their emotional garbage, then it becomes your emotional garbage. But if you do not take it personally, then you are immune in the middle of hell.”p.49
What a difference we can make in our day if we just quit listening to the news. They tell the story of the day from their perception. They can take a story about our economy and have us thinking that we have nothing, we are all suffering. I heard of a news person recently, who wanted good stories and was deluged with stories of people helping other people. Our news thrives on fear, and scarcity and violence.
The third agreement is ” do not make assumptions”. All living human beings have had this happen. Have you ever had someone slight you, only to find out that they did not realize they had forgotten you. Or you wave at someone and they do not wave back. You wonder what you did. Then you find out they did not see you. Or you think that someone you love knows what you think just because you spend a lot of time with you. And then you find out that they are not mind readers after all. I have had people say to me, well they should know what I think about this. One thing I tend to assume is that if I like it, my family will like it. OR a big one is that what I think is correct and if they do it a different way it won’t work. It comes back to the addage that what we believe is our story.
The fourth agreement is ” always do your best”. This agreement reminds me of living in the moment. It does not say to try harder. It comes back to living with passion, joy and enjoying each and every moment. When we do what we love or love what we do we bring our best to the table.

The chapter that resonated so much for me is “breaking old agreements”. It can be a revelation to look at ourselves as an observer. What is that person(me) doing. I am reminded of a story about a woman who was making a ham. She cut both the ends off. Her husband asked her why she was cutting the ends off. She told him that is how her mother cooked ham. He encouraged her to call her mother and ask why she cut the ends off. Her mom told her that she cut the ends off so it would fit in her pan.
The moral of the story is that we sometimes continue doing things in our lives that make no sense. They may work perfect for other people but not for us. Sometimes this happens with our life work. We may be doing a job because our parents thought we would be good at it when we were children. We may also have agreements with ourselves that are not for our best good. For example, working out is important for good health. But sometimes we have to sacrifice something to spend time with our kids our our parents. Or we may need more sleep. I meet many people who get very little sleep because they think other things are more important. Other things may be more important than sleep, but it would be a good idea to step back from ourselves and take a look at what we are doing. Who are we trying to please or be by overdoing.
I would recommend that you read this lovely book. I also have “The Voice of Knowledge Cards”. I choose a different card by shuffling the card then picking one. It gives me a thought of the day. Today I got, “When you unlearn, your faith returns to you, your personal power increases, and you can invest your faith in new beliefs. On the opposite side it says,” The way to transform what you believe about yourself is to unlearn what you have learned.” What a perfect thought for today. Let me look at everything with the eyes of a child.

I hope you enjoy Don Miguel Ruiz’s books.

Blessings, Eileen