Book Review: The Four Agreements
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Hi my friends! I am so excited to write this blog. Writing book reviews has been on my list for quite some time and I’m so glad to finally be coming around to it.
I love reading both nonfiction and fiction books, often one of each at the same time! If you follow me on Instagram, you see my morning routine every day includes at least ten minutes (usually around 30) of non-fiction reading. For my morning routine I love to read books that are spiritual, motivational, or educational. Recently I’ve been on a spiritual/self-development genre kick and this one definitely falls into that category.
“The Four Agreements” by Don Micguel Ruiz is a Toltec Wisdom book. The Toltec were a group of Mexican people whose mission was to preserve and spread the spiritual knowledge and practices of their ancient ancestors. The Four Agreements is the Toltec’ “code of conduct” for overcoming self-limiting beliefs and transforming your life to find more joy and freedom and ultimately make the world a better place.
Clearly, the book goes through four “agreements” or codes of conduct to live by in order to free yourself from these self-limiting beliefs that all of us deal with, and how to upgrade your beliefs in order to live an upgraded lifestyle. It begins by sharing the ancient wisdom of how the world’s people learn these self-limiting beliefs in the first place, and how these eventually become our new normal in our adult years. They often lead to depression, anxiety, anger, lack of self-confidence, etc. The following four agreements help you unlearn these limiting beliefs and the book ends with how to break unwanted habits and live your most joyful life instead.
The Four Agreements:
1.Be Impeccable With Your Word
He says that “Your word is a gift that comes directly from God.” It is a double edge sword. One side creates beauty and love, the other creates “a living hell” as he describes it. This goes for both the way you speak to yourself, and the way you speak to/about other people and the world.
2.Don’t Take Anything Personally
What other people say or think about you has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with them. “You don’t need to place your trust in what others do or say. You will only need to trust yourself to make responsible choices...You are only responsible for you.”
3.Don’t Make Assumptions
We make assumptions about ourselves, the future, other people, opinions, etc. and we believe them to be true even if they’re not. We assume others think how we think, we assume others have ill-intent. If we stop making assumptions we are forced to have better communication and an open heart. We can then help ourselves not take anything personally and be impeccable with our word.
4.Always Do Your Best
The last agreement helps the other three become habits. Don’t expect perfection, just your best. “You can only be you when you do your best. When you don’t do your best you are denying yourself the right to be you.”
This is the type of book I was dog-earring pages left and right, writing down quotes in my phone, and left each morning feeling positive and optimistic. I really loved the following two chapters that taught how to unlearn the ingrained limiting beliefs we learn in our early years of life and how by following these four simple agreements we can make a positive impact on the world just by being ourselves. But I’ll save you the summary and let you read it for yourself!
If you’re looking for a new book to read I highly recommend this one! But don’t forget a highlighter too! Click here to buy a copy! What are you reading right now?!