live the four agreements

This is the first of the four agreements, and probably the most important. As the Buddhists say, right action follows right speech. For too long, I have been denigrating myself, and then denigrating others in an attempt to feel better about how terrible I felt being me.

No more. Be impeccable with my word. Say what I mean, and mean what I say, with love and compassion for myself and others.

It’s slow work but I have finally begun!

...but this is the exact behavior that makes my life so great compared to many unhappy years.

Always do my best, always do my best, always do my best.

Just reminding myself :)

1. 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.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. 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.

4. 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.

I may have to buy it so that I can keep re-reading it. I really like the philosophy, it’s sort of the way I live anyway but I can obviously do it a lot better by consciously practising.

I just received a copy of this book night before last, I am currently about to start the third agreement, I have not been able to put this book down since I first started reading it. Everything makes so much more sense in this writing and I have already started practicing being impeccable with my word, and I can already tell a difference on how I perceive things, a small difference, but a difference nontheless. This will definately be a book that stays with me for a long time.

I’m working on being impeccable with my word.

I’ve been keeping my four agreements in the front of my mind. Don’t make assumptions is a current theme. I’ve been asking a lot of questions that I would not have in the past, instead of letting my mind create dramatic and complex stories. Along the same lines, I’ve acknowledged uneasy feelings and been super-communicative (ie: http://www.43things.com/entries/view/2009322).

I’ve not been doing the affirmations, but plan on restarting within the next day or two.

I’ve also started reading Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz with my partner (http://www.43things.com/person/Jradosky), in which there is a lot of four agreements “stuff.” In chapter two, for instance, Don Miguel expounds on the idea and effects of domestication.

Finally, I bought the Four Agreements Companion (http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781878424310). I’ve not started it yet, but plan to once I’ve finished The Mastery of Love.

:)

the four agreements, at least in some form, every day. Passing judgment is so rampant, it starts to drive me crazy.