Four principles for living an authentic life. By Don Miguel Ruiz.
Based on Toltec teachings, these deceptively simple notions have deep implications, specifically in how you relate to yourself.
This book focuses on four principles for living an authentic life. Based on Toltec teachings, these deceptively simple notions have deep implications, specifically in how you relate to yourself.
The Four Agreements #
- Be impeccable with your word.
- Don’t take it personally.
- Don’t make assumptions.
- Always do your best.
Other Highlights #
- The world as we know it is a dream.
- Be impeccable with your word applies to yourself in equal measure as it does to other people. It’s encouraging self-compassion.
- I can’t shake the feeling that people will read this and not take responsibility for their actions. I don’t think that’s a valid read based on the author’s point of view, but it’s come up in some post-reading discussions.
- My biggest takeaway was a lesson life has been teaching me for some time: in so many ways, it’s a variant of hurt people hurt people. Mostly people act out of pain, things they haven’t processed or integrated yet. This doesn’t separate the act from the impact, to be clear.
- “If you consider hell a state of mind, then hell is all around us.”
- The agreements we make are inherited and taught. These are not always authentic to ourselves.
- “You don’t need to blame your parents for teaching you to be like them. What else could they teach you but what you know? They did the best they could, and if they abused you, it was due to their own domestication, their own fears, their own beliefs.They have no control over the programming they received, so they couldn’t have behaved any differently.”