Not too long ago, I posted about a journey that I feel I want to take in hopes of finding deeper understanding, appreciation, and happiness in life. This summer, I actually did a lot of reading. I read a variety of books and genres, but after I read The Alchemist, I was inspired to read more of that kind. I remembered that not too long ago, I came across a blog (sorry, I don't remember who's) that mentioned The 4 Agreements. I read the brief description of the four and thought that it was an interesting and common sense sort of way to live your life. Well, as part of my summer reading, I decided to read the actual book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and I have to admit that it is what inspired the path in which I want to journey along.
The first agreement, "Be Impeccable with Your Word" is much deeper than what I assumed was to basically choose your words wisely and stand by them. Ruiz states that your word is "a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life." Your word is so strong that if it is misused, it can create a living hell. But if it is used impeccably, it will create "beauty, love, and heaven on earth." The author compares each of us to a magician, where we can either cast a spell on someone with our words or we can release them from the confines of harsh opinions and judgements depending on the words in which we choose to use.
Ruiz also defines impeccable and I found this explanation to be quite profound. Impeccable means "without sin" and a sin is "anything that you do that goes against yourself." If you are impeccable, you do not go against yourself. You take responsibility for your actions and at the same time, you do not judge or blame yourself. The profound part for me was when Ruiz went on to say that this line of thinking takes sin away from morality or religious issues and makes them more "common sense." To me, I take that as we own it rather than feeling that it comes from an outside source. When you take ownership of it, it becomes more personal and more meaningful. You choose to do it because you want to, not because you feel that you have to. So being impeccable is "not going against yourself." (But I do think you need to truly know and own yourself in order to be impeccable with your word.)
Our words can be misused in the worst of ways against one another. We "curse, blame, find guilt, destroy... spread anger, jealousy,envy, hate... gossip." We "pull each other down and keep each other in a state of fear and doubt." When we believe something based on these negative words, we make an agreement with them and they become part of our truths. Once that happens, it is very difficult to break these agreements that we have with ourselves.
These agreements come from anywhere and everywhere (and they are not all bad). They begin to surround us as soon as we are born when our parents beliefs are imposed onto us, then it becomes other family members and friends turn to influence us... babysitters, teachers,.... and finally society as a whole. All of these contributions help to create our own views, our own dream. This book states that we are constantly living within our own dreams and each one of us has a different dream. Because we each live in our own dream worlds, it is very easy to judge and criticize others based on our own opinions in order to validate those opinions. However, our opinions stem from our vision, our dream that differs from everyone else. So is it fair to judge someone else? (However, at the same time, we are often our own worst judge and is it fair to do that to ourselves as well?)
Be impeccable with your word. Use "white magic" to spread love and beauty and begin with yourself. Feel good about yourself, love and accept yourself. And if you can do that than those who use their word to spread "black magic" cannot touch you. This will lead to you feeling "good... happy... and at peace." A personal freedom.
*This is hard to accomplish every minute of every day. I curse. People upset me. I judge others. But I do use my "white magic" more so than I use my "black." I think that it is easier to do this now that I feel like I know myself better and I am more accepting of myself. You truly do have to love yourself first before you can spread the love on to others. I do think more consciously now about being impeccable with my word. I believe in what is said about finding personal freedom, love, and happiness in doing so. In instances where I have truly been impeccable with my word, I have felt all of those. I also believe that people can create their own hell through their thinking and words as I have seen it first hand with people that I know. I choose life, a good life. A heaven on earth. I am trying to consistently be impeccable with my word.
The first agreement, "Be Impeccable with Your Word" is much deeper than what I assumed was to basically choose your words wisely and stand by them. Ruiz states that your word is "a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life." Your word is so strong that if it is misused, it can create a living hell. But if it is used impeccably, it will create "beauty, love, and heaven on earth." The author compares each of us to a magician, where we can either cast a spell on someone with our words or we can release them from the confines of harsh opinions and judgements depending on the words in which we choose to use.
Ruiz also defines impeccable and I found this explanation to be quite profound. Impeccable means "without sin" and a sin is "anything that you do that goes against yourself." If you are impeccable, you do not go against yourself. You take responsibility for your actions and at the same time, you do not judge or blame yourself. The profound part for me was when Ruiz went on to say that this line of thinking takes sin away from morality or religious issues and makes them more "common sense." To me, I take that as we own it rather than feeling that it comes from an outside source. When you take ownership of it, it becomes more personal and more meaningful. You choose to do it because you want to, not because you feel that you have to. So being impeccable is "not going against yourself." (But I do think you need to truly know and own yourself in order to be impeccable with your word.)
Our words can be misused in the worst of ways against one another. We "curse, blame, find guilt, destroy... spread anger, jealousy,envy, hate... gossip." We "pull each other down and keep each other in a state of fear and doubt." When we believe something based on these negative words, we make an agreement with them and they become part of our truths. Once that happens, it is very difficult to break these agreements that we have with ourselves.
These agreements come from anywhere and everywhere (and they are not all bad). They begin to surround us as soon as we are born when our parents beliefs are imposed onto us, then it becomes other family members and friends turn to influence us... babysitters, teachers,.... and finally society as a whole. All of these contributions help to create our own views, our own dream. This book states that we are constantly living within our own dreams and each one of us has a different dream. Because we each live in our own dream worlds, it is very easy to judge and criticize others based on our own opinions in order to validate those opinions. However, our opinions stem from our vision, our dream that differs from everyone else. So is it fair to judge someone else? (However, at the same time, we are often our own worst judge and is it fair to do that to ourselves as well?)
Be impeccable with your word. Use "white magic" to spread love and beauty and begin with yourself. Feel good about yourself, love and accept yourself. And if you can do that than those who use their word to spread "black magic" cannot touch you. This will lead to you feeling "good... happy... and at peace." A personal freedom.
*This is hard to accomplish every minute of every day. I curse. People upset me. I judge others. But I do use my "white magic" more so than I use my "black." I think that it is easier to do this now that I feel like I know myself better and I am more accepting of myself. You truly do have to love yourself first before you can spread the love on to others. I do think more consciously now about being impeccable with my word. I believe in what is said about finding personal freedom, love, and happiness in doing so. In instances where I have truly been impeccable with my word, I have felt all of those. I also believe that people can create their own hell through their thinking and words as I have seen it first hand with people that I know. I choose life, a good life. A heaven on earth. I am trying to consistently be impeccable with my word.
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