About Don Miguel Ruiz, the author
With over 7.2 million copies sold around the world and translated into 40 languages, “The Four Agreements” is a (wonderful) reference book in the world of self-improvement and New Age beliefs.
Before being a world known author, Don Miguel Ruiz was a surgeon in Mexico when he had a near-death experience in a car accident. This emotional shock got him to leave everything behind and go back to live with his mother where he learned from the wisdom of the Naguals (Mexican shamans) to the point that he became one of the Nagual of the Eagle-Knight lineage.
He devoted his life to share with many people as possible the mighty Toltec teachings in order to “wage a war against the invasion of the parasite of the mind” : fear.
About the Four Agreements
According to Don Miguel Ruiz, every single idea is a seed in our mind and it’s only up to us to replace all of our poisoned thoughts (fear, hatred, anger, sadness…) to modify our reality and set ourselves free, be ourselves and love ourselves unconditionally.
In “The Four Agreements”, the author suggests to follow four key principles to remove suffering from our human experience and turn it into bliss.
It requires concentration, mastering skills and patience …. But it’s worth it!
The book is not thick but every sentences are filled with wisdom and common sense. Wasn’t an easy task to sum up all these beautiful thoughts in only 11 takeaways!
Summary of the book « The Four Agreements » by Don Miguel Ruiz
What this book brought me
I really enjoyed “The four agreements” which I often recommend to people that are not fans of self-improvement books which they find too edgy: If it had to be one book to read, it would be this one. Easy to understand, straight to the point … Don Miguel Ruiz approaches the law of attraction, the idea that speech is creative, the necessity to be authentic, control our emotions and learn to forgive to achieve happiness. It’s pretty thorough !
The concepts reminds me a lot of two others books that I always carry around, “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron (Read my summary of « The Artist’s Way » here!) and “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch 💗.
Also, Can we pause a moment on the first agreement ? “Be impeccable with your word.”
I keep failing every time I try. With all the positive thinking books I read, I know that my words are creative and have an impact in the Universe but I can’t help ranting all day (about my rude neighbors, the barking dog from upstairs, the lineup at the post office ….) because I’m so used to it and I guess that, somehow, it makes me feel good about myself.
That being said, when someone does something i would personally never do, I try to remember that they don’t have the same education, same rules, thus, not the same reality. I try to be more empathetic and kind. It’s true that it makes life sweeter (and more friendly relationships).
When I finished the book, I tried to list some of my fears and the issues that they bring in my life.
I dug into my memories to know what were the root causes of this anxiety. What agreements could have I possible made in my Book of Law regarding these thoughts and how could I modify my perception of reality to free myself from these fears?
For instance, It’s been over a year that I’m depending on Uber to go places because I’m scared to pass written and driving exams in Los Angeles. Why ? I did it for my French driving license and I never had an accident…
Which toxic agreement is anchored in my mind that creates this ridiculous issue?
Digging into my memories just brought up some uncomfortable feelings: when I was 18, it took me FOUR tries to pass my written exam because I was in a bad place then, where I felt clueless on everything I was doing. I was really upset.
Also, the guy I was taking lessons with was a real pervert and being stuck with him in the car for hours was a real torture.
Didn’t take more than this for my mind to associate “Driving exam” with “NEVER AGAIN”.
Realizing that my anxiety is unreasonable (not every instructors are nutcases), I decided I would pass my written and driving exam before June 2019. There, set in stone, I’m doing this!
And the list goes on, with all the fears that bug me: fear of paperwork, fear of disappoint others, fear of feeling guilty to be far from family, fear of being myself, fear of failure but also fear of success…
It’s very interesting to step back and analyze our own Book of Law to get to know ourselves better and free ourselves from the dusty agreements.
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You might also like
You can watch this conference by the author Don Miguel Ruiz who suggests to change our own perception of reality to be happier:
Also, I highly recommend you watch this documentary on Anthony Chêne’s channel about near-death experiences and read “Life After Life” by Dr Raymond Moody who shows the importance of living a kind and open-minded life.
Feel free to leave me a comment to let me know what you thought about this book. You can also share this article and like my Facebook page!
Thanks!
Have a great week and take good care of yourself!
🔮 Élodie 🌟
