The Four Agreements ~ A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

The Four Agreements
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.  

Sometimes there are things you read that stick with you. Other times the words pass by - leaving little impression. I went to my bookshelf to find this book so that I could re-read it. I didn't fully appreciate it the first time around.

Well I couldn't find my copy so it looks like I will be ordering a new one soon. 

In the meantime, I wanted to share some quotes I found on Good Reads with you all. There are so many listed that I just took the first page and gleaned the ones that spoke to me the most. 

Enjoy. :)

 “If someone is not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you. If that person doesn't walk away, you will surely endure many years of suffering with him or her. Walking away may hurt for a while, but your heart will eventually heal. Then you can choose what you really want. You will find that you don't need to trust others as much as you need to trust yourself to make the right choices.”

“Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally... Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.” 

“I will no longer allow anyone to manipulate my mind and control my life in the name of love.” 

“If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don't tell us something we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate. Even if we hear something and we don't understand we make assumptions about what it means and then believe the assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don't have the courage to ask questions.” 

“If you live in a past dream, you don't enjoy what is happening right now because you will always wish it to be different than it is. There is no time to miss anyone or anything because you are alive. Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and being only half alive. This leads to self-pity, suffering and tears.” 

“But it is not what I am saying that is hurting you; it is that you have wounds that I touch by what I have said. You are hurting yourself. There is no way I can take this personally.” 

 “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.” 

 “You can have many great ideas in your head, but what makes the difference is the action. Without action upon an idea, there will be no manifestation, no results, and no reward” 

“Wherever you go you will find people lying to you, and as your awareness grows, you will notice that you also lie to yourself. Do not expect people to tell you the truth because they also lie to themselves. You have to trust yourself and choose to believe or not to believe what someone says to you.” 

“It is when we lose control that we repress the emotions, not when we are in control.” 

 “True justice is paying only once for each mistake. True injustice is paying more than once for each mistake.” 

“The big difference between a warrior and a victim is that the victim represses and the warrior refrains.” 

 “Whenever we hear an opinion and believe it, we make an agreement, and it becomes part of our belief system.” 

“Humans hardly know what they want, how they want it, or when they want it.” 

“Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use your power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” 

“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.” 

 “We are so well trained that we are our own domesticator. We are an auto-domesticated animal. We can now domesticate ourselves according to the same belief system we were given, and using the same system of punishment and reward. We punish ourselves when we don't follow the rules according to our belief system; we reward ourselves when we are the "good boy" or "good girl".” 

“Humans punish themselves endlessly for not being what they believe

they should be. They become very self-abusive, and they use other people to abuse themselves as well.” 

“We judge others according to our image of

perfection as well, and naturally they fall short of our expectations.” 

The holiday season is in full swing and a very stressful time of year. Take time for yourselves. Reflect. Order a copy for yourself if you do not already have one. The reminders are powerful and more relevant than ever in this day and age.

Please share your favorite quotes.