Have you ever had a book that changes the way you behave and changes the way you think about things? Well, there’s a book that I read years ago that changed the way I look at interactions with people.
It’s a book written by Don Miguel Ruiz called The Four Agreements. If you haven’t read The Four Agreements, you need to read it. It is spiritually based, but to me the key piece of The Four Agreements are the actual agreements.
The first one is to be impeccable with your word which means that you don’t talk bad about others. And more importantly, you don’t talk bad about yourself. You don’t gossip. You don’t condemn, you don’t complain. Try to be impeccable with your word for a day. That’s a challenge, I guarantee you.
The second one is don’t take anything personally. That’s huge. Most times when somebody does something that offends you or upsets you, it has nothing to actually do with anything you did or said. The author goes on to say, “The person who takes things personally shows the highest form of arrogance.”
Now, I like to be confident, I like to be solid in what I do, but one thing I don’t want to be is arrogant. When I read in The Four Agreements that the person who takes things personally shows the highest form of arrogance, it made me really think about it. Am I taking things personally? Try that one on for a day. It’s going to be a challenge.
The third agreement is don’t make assumptions. For example, when somebody sends you a text in all caps, you assume they’re mad and then you take it personally and then you start to get upset and then you become non impeccable with your word. So, don’t make assumptions; it’s a slippery slope to breaking the other agreements.
The last one of The Four Agreements is always do your best. The neat thing about that one is your best will vary from day-to-day. Some days you may have a cold, you may not feel a hundred percent, but always do your best. If you always do your best, that’s all anybody can ask of you.
If everyone would live by the Four Agreements, it’d be a much better world. My challenge to you is practice living these by working on one a day each day for a month and notice how it changes your life, brings you more joy and abundance.
I’d love to hear how it goes for you. Contact me at jack@gybcoaching.com.
