"The Four Agreements" (Οι τέσσερις συμφωνίες) - don Miguel Ruiz

Οι τέσσερις συμφωνίες 

1. Να είμαστε άμεμπτοι στη χρήση του λόγου
2. Να μην παίρνουμε τίποτα προσωπικά
3. Να μην κάνουμε υποθέσεις
4. Να δίνουμε πάντα τον καλλίτερο εαυτό μας.

 

The Four Agreements  

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word

2. Don't Take Anything Personally

3. Don't Make Assumptions

4. Always Do Your Best

  

"Everything we do is based on agreements we have made - agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that come from fear, deplete our energy, and diminish our self-worth."

"In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible." 

Be Impeccable with Your Word 

 

• Speak with integrity.   
• Say only what you mean. 
• Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.   
• Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Impeccable means “without sin” and a sin is something you do or believe that goes against yourself.  It means not speaking against yourself, to yourself or to others.  It means not rejecting yourself.  To be impeccable means to take responsibility for yourself, to not participate in “the blame game.”

Regarding the word, the rules of “action-reaction” apply.  What you put out energetically will return to you.  Proper use of the word creates proper use of energy, putting out love and gratitude perpetuates the same in the universe.  The converse is also true.

Impeccability starts at home.  Be impeccable with yourself and that will reflect in your life and your relationships with others.  This agreement can help change thousands of other agreements, especially ones that create fear instead of love.

Don't Take Anything Personally

• Nothing others do is because of you. 
• What others say and do is a projection of their own dream.   
• When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

We take things personally when we agree with what others have said.  If we didn't agree, the things that others say would not affect us emotionally.  If we did not care about what others think about us, their words or behavior could not affect us.

Even if someone yells at you, gossips about you, harms you or yours, it still is not about you!  Their actions and words are based on what they believe in their personal dream.

Our personal “Book of Law” and belief system makes us feel safe.  When people have beliefs that are different from our own, we get scared, defend ourselves, and impose our point of view on others.  If someone gets angry with us it is because our belief system is challenging their belief system and they get scared.  They need to defend their point of view.  Why become angry, create conflict, and expend energy arguing when you are aware of this?

 

Don't Make Assumptions

• Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.   
• Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.   
• With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

When we make assumptions it is because we believe we know what others are thinking and feeling.  We believe we know their point of view, their dream.  We forget that our beliefs are just our point of view based on our belief system and personal experiences and have nothing to do with what others think and feel.

We make the assumption that everybody judges us, abuses us, victimizes us, and blames us the way we do ourselves.  As a result we reject ourselves before others have the chance to reject us.  When we think this way, it becomes difficult to be ourselves in the world.

Take action and be clear to others about what you want or do not want; do not gossip and make assumptions about things others tell you.  Respect other points of view and avoid arguing just to be right.  Respect yourself and be honest with yourself.  Stop expecting the people around you to know what is in your head.

Always Do Your Best

• Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.   
• Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Doing your best means enjoying the action without expecting a reward.  The pleasure comes from doing what you like in life and having fun, not from how much you get paid.  Enjoy the path traveled and the destination will take care of itself.

Living in the moment and releasing the past helps us to do the best we can in the moment.  It allows us to be fully alive right now, enjoying what is present, not worrying about the past or the future.

Have patience with yourself.  Take action.  Practice forgiveness.  If you do your best always, transformation will happen as a matter of course.

- don Miguel Ruiz 

The Four Agreements

About don Miguel Ruiz

Excerpt from www.miguelruiz.com

Don Miguel Ruiz was born into a humble family with ancient traditions in rural Mexico, the youngest of 13 children. He considers himself very lucky, as this was where he learned from an early age that everything is possible, if we really want it.

His parents, Don Jose and Dona Sarita, as well as his grandfather, Don Leonardo, all believed that Miguel would continue their legacy in the centuries old Toltec tradition. Instead Don Miguel attended medical school, and became a surgeon.

For several years he practiced neurosurgery with his brothers, and he realized that what needed to be healed was not only the physical brain, but the human mind as well.
A near fatal car accident changed the direction of Don Miguel’s life. He experienced himself as pure awareness outside of the constraints of his physical body. He realized that the Toltec wisdom of his family contained all of the tools needed to change the human mind. Don Miguel promptly returned to his mother to finish his training and he became a Shaman.

Don Miguel moved to the United States to share his wisdom, and spent the next 15 years exploring ways to heal and change the human mind. He witnessed his students struggling to quiet their minds and sought to create tools to assist them. The result of this quest was The Four Agreements®. This book contains a specific series of practical steps, that when used by anyone, can result in consistent and long-term personal transformation.

 

The Four Agreements

don Miguel Ruiz

In February of 2002, Don Miguel suffered a near-fatal heart attack. The damage from the heart attack and subsequent coma left him with a heart functioning at only 16% of capacity and in constant pain. Don Miguel would not accept his doctor’s prognosis that he would be restricted to an inactive life of resting at home. He personally embodied the message he shares, by continuing to joyfully live his life, sharing his message through books, lectures and journeys. Though he was enjoying life he also knew that he was slowly dying and focused on preparing his sons to carry on his legacy.

In 2009 Don Miguel’s body began to deteriorate much more rapidly and he applied for a heart transplant. In August 2010 he was put on the transplant waiting list. On October 9th 2010, Don Miguel successfully received a heart transplant. For Don Miguel this is a new beginning and with deep gratitude and generosity he is eager to share his message with all of humanity.

Copyright © 2010-2013 Ruiz Productions L.L.C. 

I first read "The Four Agreements" in 1997,  I was almost 5 years sober and had learned that in order to find emotional sobriety I had to live a rigorously honest life.  One of the gifts of dealing with any type of addiction is that in order to overcome one must develop and adopt a daily practice of accountability and spiritual  surrender.  

For me it was a "how to" manual for living a good emotionally sober and joyful life in four easy to understand steps.  I found that when practiced daily the life changing affects did not take long to notice. Just the reading of the steps can shift me into an aware accountable mindset.

Coming from these viewpoints also has made a difference in other life practices I have chosen to study. Having an understanding of my role in my life experience has made me a more receptive and willing student. 

"The Four Agreements" is truly a gift from don Miguel Ruiz to the planet.

The other book of his that I have read "The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship " has had the same gracefully profound influence.  I recommend it highly, it is well written and the concepts serve to free up a lot of needless suffering.
I am so grateful for this man and his work. 

Συμπέρασμα: Απλά, τόσο απλά πράγματα λέγονται εδώ. 

Ταυτόχρονα όμως και απίστευτα δύσκολα.

Γιατί;

Μα ακριβώς επειδή είναι απλά. 

Όταν κάτι είναι απλό, είναι και εύκολο να γίνει πράξη, και έτσι είτε το υποτιμούμε. 

Το αναβάλλουμε για αργότερα ή δεν του δίνουμε καν προσοχή, με αποτέλεσμα να μη γίνεται τίποτα από όλα εκείνα που πρέπει να γίνουν.


Works:

• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Wisdom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship (A Toltec Wisdom Book), 1999, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• The Four Agreements Companion Book: Using The Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life (A Toltec Wisdom Book)", 2000, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• Prayers: A Communion with Our Creator (Toltec Wisdom), 2001, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide To Inner Peace, 2004, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery, 2010, Amber-Allen Publishing, 
• Wisdom from the Four Agreements (Charming Petites), 2003, Peter Pauper Press, 
• Wisdom from the Mastery of Love (Charming Petites), 2003, Peter Pauper Press, 

List of works from Wikipedia®