The Four Agreements based on Principles

Principle: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom is a self-help book by Don Miguel Ruiz. It emphasizes personal understanding and happiness based on ancient Toltec philosophy. Let’s investigate the major points of this exceptional book.

#1 Agreement 1: Be Impeccable with Your Word This first agreement describes the need to take responsibility for your own actions and to focus on speaking with integrity and choosing your words carefully. It emphasizes a more old-school look at the word “impeccable”, which means “without sin”. In other words, what you say and do should not go against yourself and should always be done with personal integrity.

#2 Agreement 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally This agreement emphasizes the need to have a strong sense of your own self rather than relying on the opinions of others. The latter frame of mind opens you up to significant disappointment and hurt, particularly as it is impossible to please everybody, and personal disagreements are inevitable. Once you stop taking things personally, Ruiz believes that negative feelings will also lessen or dissipate.

#3 Agreement 3: Don’t Make Assumptions Ruiz highlights the importance of stopping yourself from assuming what others are thinking. Instead, asking questions and working to ensure that communication between yourself and another individual is clear are much better pathways for forging relationships. Making assumptions reveals internal biases and can easily create interpersonal conflict.

#4 Agreement 4: Always Do Your Best This agreement focuses on uniting the previous three and emphasizes the idea that doing your best means that you will not negatively judge yourself even if you fail. Ruiz claims that doing one’s best is the greatest antidote to regret and will often lead to success even in the face of great diversity.