Book Review – The Four Agreements
The Four Agreements
By Don Miguel Ruiz
Published by Amber-Allen Publishing
This book was recommended to me by some good friends (thank you David, Shawn and Gene). I’m glad they did. It’s a quick read I completed in an afternoon and its brevity and conciseness is part of its charm.
In essence, Ruiz’ message, based on ancient Toltec wisdom, is that we’ve all made agreements to believe certain things, most of those beliefs based on falsehoods. The process of indoctrination into these belief systems Ruiz refers to as our domestication, and that terminology is apt. Through our domestication, foisted upon us by society, family, friends, religion and other sources, we end up living lives contrary to who we really are. Ruiz emphasizes the need for every human being to live their lives in congruence to who they truly are, not who they pretend to be in order to please internal and external judgments.
The four agreements Ruiz offers, if adhered to and assimilated into our daily lives, allow us to push past unhealthy and dysfunctional agreements we’ve made and form new agreements that foster us living lives as we truly are. Only by being who we really are, living the lives we want to live, can we do honor to ourselves, God, or whatever energies in this life we personally feel deserve honor.
The four agreement are:
- Be impeccable with your word.
- Don’t take anything personally.
- Don’t make assumptions.
- Always do your best.
I won’t go into deep explanations of what each of these agreements means. Rather, I strongly advise you to pick up this delightful volume and read Ruiz’ explanations for yourself. You won’t be sorry.