YSOS Book Club: The Four Agreements
The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book
Don Miguel Ruiz
When I kicked off this spiritual/self-discovery odyssey back in fall 2010, The Four Agreements was one of the first books I picked up with this theme. I’ve read it twice more and it’s an absolute favorite.
At 138 pages (if you read the prayers in the back), it’s a quick and easy read (you can easily get through it on a two-hour flight, even at a leisurely pace), but a profound one. I’ve gotten something new from it every time I’ve read it, and I look forward to picking through it again.
What are The Four Agreements? Labeled as “A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom,” it’s a code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom that examines the source of the emotional and belief-based limitations that keep us from fulfillment and self-actualization. Here’s the synopsis, taken straight from the inside cover:
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.
Don’t Take Anything Personally (Penny note – the most powerful for me!): 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.
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.
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.
This is a beautiful, meaningful book that bears such a wonderful message. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
Gettin’ Religion on Spirituality
“Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for people who’ve already been there.”
I open with that quote because I want to make it clear that this is NOT a post about religion. I’m not interested in talking about what you should or should not believe, what denomination is the “right one,” or whose God is correct. This is a bash-free zone. This post is about what it means to be spiritually connected.
I didn’t grow up with much of a religious or spiritual background. As I came into adulthood, I figured church was a good idea – for other people. I thought I was too broken for God to love me, that I wasn’t living the right kind of life and really didn’t care to make those kinds of changes. It looked like a lot of judgment and shame. No thank you.
With those kinds of messages being a common theme, it’s not surprising that a lot of people feel the same way. Atheism seems to be a popular pick among folks asked to identify their religion. We were all fed someone else’s idea of God – and some of us got a heapin’ helpin’ of scorn from people who said we weren’t living a “Godly life.” These people had appointed themselves as God’s ambassador here on earth, just dying to set us all straight and tell us what we should be doing to “get right.”
I’m here to beg of you: Cast that off. Right now.
Here’s one thing that I absolutely believe: There is no way to cultivate a true sense of serenity, surrender, and inner peace without faith and trust in a power greater than you. You can call that power God, Buddha, Yahweh, Allah, the universe, the human collective. It could be mother nature. It could be the wind, or the sun. It could be a freakin’ pack of turkey hot dogs (though things without expiration dates tend to have better shelf life as a higher power). It is absolutely your belief to own and mold as it fits you. It doesn’t belong to anyone else but you.
In the face of a personal crisis, I began to find the importance of developing a relationship with God. My definition is more closely attuned to the Christian tradition, but remember – that’s MY belief! I was in church nearly every week for about two years, for much of that time lucky to encounter a priest who had a very loving, centered message. He has since moved away, and I miss that leadership, but I still have God, and I actually feel closer to him than ever before.
I’m not a regular church attender anymore, mostly because I have not found another church home to replace the one I miss so dearly. The “human message” got too much in the way at some of the other places I tried. I will also note that my definition of God has changed and grown as I have. At the present time, I don’t need the overwrap of formal ceremony to feel close to God, but I have also very much respected and loved the reverence of that ceremony.
This piece of my spiritual development has been absolutely key to feeling at peace. I feel loved, from both my higher power and myself. I feel supported. I trust that no matter what hard times I’m facing now, it’s all part of the unfolding master plan. I wouldn’t say that I never worry, but I certainly worry a whole lot less.
In short, I stopped centering my faith around other people, and instead centered my faith around God. I had to find my own meaning of God first, and not someone else’s. For me, it’s worked.
What do you do to feel spiritually connected? What is your definition of a higher power?
The Fulfillment Without
It’s my opinion that a whole lot of us go through life thinking we’d be a lot better off if we just had something different. I know I was there for a long time.
If only I drove a different car, had a different job, had achieved something “more” by now. If only my weight was a certain number (always lower than what it is now), if my thighs were thinner, if my nose were different. If only I dressed a certain way. If only I owned that cool pair of sunglasses or rockin’ designer bag. If I had that perfect relationship partner. If I were younger. If I were … something else.
I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. I figured these outside things would “make me happy.” It was only through cultivating love for myself that I’ve been able to overcome these “ifs.”
I was looking for fulfillment and approval from things and people outside of me. And guess what? I never got it. Even getting the “things” I thought I wanted still left me feeling empty.
I had to remedy this by looking for fulfillment within myself. Here are some things that helped me:
Hearing a loving inner voice: So, how do you talk to yourself? Listen to your inner dialogue. Do you catch yourself saying things that you’d never say to another human being? Pay close attention especially when you make mistakes. Replace harsh words with gentler dialogue.
Feeling love from a higher power: Check out my post about spirituality. For me, I found it very important to believe that a power greater than myself loves me unconditionally, will take good care of me, and ultimately has my best interests at heart.
Not comparing myself to other people: As the saying goes, “compare and despair.” What you see on the outside is just how someone presents themselves to the world. Inside, they’re facing many of the same struggles that all of us are. Resist the temptation to compare your inside to someone else’s outside.
How have you found fulfillment from inside yourself? What kind of dialogue makes up your inner voice?
You’re Afraid of More Than You Think
Question: What’s your greatest fear?
Let me guess your answer: Public speaking. Flying. Heights. (My answer: balloons. I’m not kidding. Really. Don’t ask.)
Allow me to suggest a few answers you might not have considered: Intimacy. Vulnerability. Abandonment. Confrontation.
It might not be the stuff of your nightmares, but it is the stuff that’s haunting you during your waking hours.
It’s true: I’m more comfortable addressing a room of 250 people than standing in close proximity to a balloon animal-making puppeteer at a kid’s birthday party. The latter is a much greater test for my deodorant’s strength.
But do you want to know what terrifies me even more? Sharing my real, honest thoughts with you, especially when they aren’t happy or positive. I don’t like appearing imperfect either. Then you might not like me. You might tell me I’m bad or go away altogether. I’d really hate that, because then I’d feel like I’m unworthy.
A fear of helium-inflated latex might be awkward and embarrassing at times (it has earned me some puzzled looks, to say the least), but those other fears have been much more limiting and harmful to me, because they cloud my relationships and day-to-day interactions.
Those fears have caused me to do things I didn’t want to do, feel things I didn’t want to feel, and left me feeling guilty when I dared go against what someone else wanted me to do. As you might have guessed, I was walking around feeling a whole lot of misery.
Now, my life is all about identifying, facing, and overcoming those fears. I’m working on it every day, and I still fail at times. But you know what? I’m a whole lot better.
Keep coming back here … I look forward to sharing my journey with you, and I want you to share yours too, no matter where you are now.
What are your greatest fears?
Young Spirit, Old Soul 