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.
It is very important to
understand this agreement, because we use the word to create a complete
reality. This reality is only true for us, and not necessarily true for
anybody else. Based on this agreement, our personal story could become a
heaven or a hell.
2. Don’t Take Things 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.
In
reality, you are no more than a secondary character in everybody else’s
story, just as they are also secondary characters in your story. When
they judge you, they are actually judging the secondary character in
their story. They do not know you, and believe that you are what they
imagine you to be. It works the same for you. When you judge them, you
are only judging what you believe they are. Whether or not we are close
to other people, we can never truly know them. We can never truly
understand the way they think, how they feel, or how they create their
own sense of reality.
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.
This Agreement has to do
with your personal knowledge, and the thoughts generated by this
knowledge. Our thoughts are the ones in charge of making assumptions. We
think we know. We think, and presume to know. Although some assumptions
might be correct, most of them encourage the emotional disturbances
that we use to make ourselves needlessly suffer.
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.
This
is what turns our imagination into reality. This is how we create all
human civilizations. We could have thousands of ideas, but if we do not
take action, these ideas will vanish and never become a reality.
By practicing The Four Agreements,
we find the truth of ourselves. By transforming old habits, we can
accept ourselves unconditionally. We can recover our confidence. We can
rediscover our inner beauty and our self-love.
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