Greetings Daizies,
I’ve been reading The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz, this week and the messages really resonated with me. It’s a Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. A short read, I had renewed this book twice already since I still hadn’t gotten around to reading it for over a month. It was the selected book for a book club I’ve never made it to but still follow along in the group chat (my bad lol). Once I finally started diving into the content, I could see why people have said they’ve read this book a few times and enjoy coming back to it. I think it’s a book that people in their 20s will find super helpful in these stages of transition and uncertainty but really anyone could find this book beneficial to their growth. So let’s get into the powerful messages I think have helped shape my week so far and hopefully the weeks thereon after.
The First Agreement: Be Impeccable With Your Word
Your word is the most powerful thing you have as a human. You can use it to create love and make others feel great or you can use it to destroy and spread negativity. I want to use my words for good and be mindful of the words I’m putting out into the atmosphere and even the words that I have in my head. The mind is a fertile ground for all sorts of thoughts. So either I can have seeds in my head that’s planted by fear or seeds in my head planted by faith and believing in myself. I choose the latter.
The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally
The things people do is not really about you, it’s about the stories in their mind, the experiences they have, and their individual movie in their mind that causes them to act that way. Whether someone is praising you and thinking you’re the greatest person on Earth, it’s best not to take that personally. They’re praising you based on what you’ve done that’s special based on the agreements they’ve made. You can easily offend that person in the next breath, and before you know it they’re shaming you. It’s hard but I am making an effort to just remember that the way people act isn’t a reflection of me but it is a reflection of them.
The Third Agreement: Don’t Make Assumptions
My takeaway from this chapter reinforced the importance of communication. It’s so easy to view what someone has said or done as something deeper than it really is. How many times have we interpreted a text message or a conversation with something as something different than it actually was? The assumptions we make feed into insecurities that we may already have. We form stories that support this assumption and make ourselves go crazy when we are simply lacking information. Ask questions, have open conversations with others, and don’t always expect the worst.
The Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best
Summing all of the agreements together, this was a warm reminder that if you’re always doing your best then there’s no way you will feel disappointed in yourself.
My favorite quote from this section was “ The best way to say, “ I love you, God” is to live your life doing your best, The best way to say, “Thank you, God”, is by letting go of the past and living in the present, right here and now.”
Which of these agreements resonates with you the most?
What agreements do you live by?
What other books would you recommend for personal development?
As always,
