I had the opportunity to attend a 2-hour workshop with Don Miguel Ruiz Jr., the son of Don Miguel Ruiz, who is the author of one of my favorite books, The Four Agreements. Mr. Ruiz shared his insights on the four agreements, which are:
The fifth agreement is outlined in his follow-up book, aptly titled The Fifth Agreement.
Throughout his 2-hour talk, Mr. Ruiz gave a lot of great insight. I took almost 10 pages of notes in my mini-notebook. I’ll transcribe them below in the snippets I took them in– I hope they will be of some use to you as you continue your self-improvement journey. 🙂
Every time we take a breath, we allow our environment to nurture us.
Every breath we take is unconditional love.
When we focus on negative things, we make it impossible to experience unconditional love.
We are all dealing with negative assumptions that prevent us from being who we really are.
The main function of the mind is to dream.
Your projection of the mind is your walking dream (this is a premise in the book).
The present is a constant moment that moves with you.
I am the sum of every choice I’ve ever made.
My no is just as powerful as my yes.
The bond between 2 people only exists when we both say yes.
I can only control to the tips of my fingers.
If we are both alive at the same time, we are equals.
I can’t give what I do not have.
Peace is respecting each other’s will.
We let people control our will by letting them give us doubt.
Trying to control someone is lack of respect.
Beliefs can overrule out “Nos” and cause us to go against ourselves. When you say no to yourself enough times, it’s automatic.
We judge ourselves when we don’t live up to our ideal image of perfection. We feel like we aren’t worthy of love until we’re perfect. (This is “domestication.) When you fall short, you feel you’re worthy of punishment.
We shouldn’t judge ourselves for not living up to our ideal self.
We corrupt the good in our life because we are so used to being domesticated.
The same judgments we make on ourselves we put onto others.
A moment of clarity without action becomes something in passing. but clarity with action becomes our life.
When you want to do something for yourself, not for other people, it becomes easy.
When we listen, we uncover reason.
Accept the truth of who you are.
To take things personally is to give someone control over me.
I’m responsible for what I say, not what you hear.
Everyone can have a different view of the same world.
Being “stable” to someone means something different to someone else.
Be impeccable with your INTENT, not just your words.
Love is not created outside of ourselves.
Our ego is an illusion.
I can’t go back in the past and change a yes to a no and vice versa.
If I take things personally it’s because I said yes to taking things personally.
The 4 (5) agreements are like reading a cookbook. If you don’t follow the directions, you won’t experience the outcome.
An assumption is a projection based on our experience.
All potential stories are assumptions to complete our current experience.
Don’t believe your assumptions.
Be patient with life.
We heal with our own permission.
Our emotional body heals with time, but we have to let it.
Always doing your best = unconditional love
The key to enlightenment = effort
Know the difference between “I have to” and “I want to”
I am the constant in every relationship that I am in.
You are the youngest you will ever be.
The only thing that separates us is a point of view.
Compassion allows us to hear each other’s story.