I came upon this book after reading an article in the Rolling Stone about Jeff Bridges. I liked the way he referenced it in relation to his life. I'm normally not one who can stomach much of things that are categorized under New Age (violation of Agreement #3: Don't make assumptions), but I found a few things here that were very helpful in thinking about problems my 23 year old son is facing and problems that I am facing in my own life. The crux of this book are the four "agreements" that you make with yourself: Be impeccable with your word; don't take anything personally; don't make assumptions; always do your best. Simple, but powerful if you take the time to follow Ruiz's explanation of each. I'm not one who feels the need to believe in God, but it is easy enough to get beyond Ruiz's appeals to a deity (a very diffuse sense, ultimately having more to do with a Buddhist sense of love than the grand bearded father), and find a spiritual sense that celebrates a freely lived life in the acceptance of death's inevitability (cf. George Harrison's "the art of dying"). My only complaint is the essentially individualist nature of this "path", and the difficulty of linking it to a sense of social and political action, but then Ruiz would say that is my dream and no one should take it personally.

Re-reading ( on 27th April, 2021) and applying this book and it is giving me so many shivers. Gosh! I can’t explain the overflow of love I am feeling for people ( large and small, hateful or loving)

"The whole world can love you, but that love will not make you happy. What will make you happy is the love coming out of you."----Don Miguel Ruiz

Applying this daily and I cannot tell you how true it is! :)

Only few books have had any real capacity of altering my life and this is one of them!...

New age psycho babble that nearly had me giving up, but it was so short I persevered. The middle part was good, how to change your life with the four agreements: speak impeccably, don't take things personally, do your best and some live each moment or something. Good stuff, but not ground breaking or earth shattering. We know all this stuff, but it is nice to be reminded and hopefully inspired to do better. Unfortunately it ended with more new age stuff. It's sort of a sandwich and just like an Oreo, the best stuff is in the middle. It's most redeeming quality is that it is very short.

I’ve been avoiding this one because I thought I’d hate it like I hate all sort of positive universe stuff, but this one was pretty insightful. It’s short and you can get thru it in an afternoon, which is probably why it’s a best-seller. There is wisdom in here—it’s not like crazy over the top good wisdom, but good reminders for everyone to let things go.

Şimdiye dek okuduğum en kötü kişisel gelişim kitabıydı. Buram buram satış politikası kokan, uygulaması hiç de kolay olmayan şeyleri basite eksik bir şekilde indirgeyerek milyonlarca satan bir kitap. Bunlar şöyle: Sözcüklerini özenle seç, kişisel algılama, varsayımda bulunma, daima yapabildiğinin en iyisini yap.
Baktığınız zaman başlıkların hepsi değerli duruyor ama açıklamaları o kadar yüzeysel ki... Beni rahatsız eden bu yüzeysellik oldu, adeta aforizmalardan oluşuyor. Herhangi bir arkadaşınız da size bu önerileri verebilir, nasıl yapılacağı açıklanmıyorsa hiçbir önemi olmaz. Bu kitapta geçenleri yapabilmek için inanılmaz sağlam bir irade lazım, irade için de konsantrasyon ve anda kalma yeteneği. İradeniz yoksa anca okur, gaza gelir ve arada hatırlamak üzere unutursunuz. Beşinci anlaşma çıkmış bi' de, altı yedi diye gidiyor mu bilmiyorum ama bu kitap gerçekleri yansıtmıyor, size duymak istediklerinizi söylüyor sadece o kadar. İnanılmaz bireyselci bir kitap ayrıca ki insanın kendini geliştirmesine engel bir durum bu. Okudukça aklıma Eckhart Tolle, Ernest Wood geldi, Şimdi'nin Gücü, Zihinsel Konsantrasyon (Yoga ve Meditasyon diye geçen kitap da aynısı) gibi kitapları okuyun. Anda kalın, iradenizi güçlendirin, gerisi bir şekilde gelecektir. Ezoterik öğretileri çok basit bir şeymiş gibi yalan yanlış yansıtanlara prim vermeyin.
Kısacası New Age akımının dibi, tek tanrılı dinleri kötülüyor falan, spritüelim diyen kitle arasında popüler olmasına şaşırmamak gerek. Takip edilecek çok daha güzel öğretiler varken oradan burdan alınarak birleştirilmiş bu kitaptan uzak durun.

از کتابهایی که حرفی برای گفتن داره و اگر با دقت و حضور ذهن خونده بشه میتونه خیلی کمک کننده باشه. به خصوص توو روابط و مشکلات.

موجودات بشرى به طور پایان ناپذیرى خود را تنبیه مى کنند، به این دلیل که آنچه گمان مى کنند باید باشند، نیستند...

Ruiz used to be a surgeon, until he fell asleep at the wheel one night and crashed into a wall. He recalls being outside of his physical body pulling two people from the wreckage. The near-death experience woke Ruiz to the teachings of his people, The Totecs, and thus renewed his original commitment to learn the Four Agreements.

This book spoke to me on a universal level because its principles are in harmony with the methodology of many other transformational techniques, and most importantly, with God himself. Ruiz breaks down the four agreements into simple language with spiritual undertones. He stresses that just doing your best in everything you do will help you keep the other three agreements: 1) Being impeccable with your word, 2) Don't take anything personally, and 3) Don't make assumptions.

Reading this book will touch, move, or inspire you with its possibilities for living a powerful and happy life.

This is my second time reading this book and I picked it up again because I felt I was compromising too much in my life and it was affecting my core. I have a chapter to go but here's the summary:

The book cites four agreements that, with practice, will lead you to a happier state of living, essentially and dramatically, lead you out of your living hell. The idea is focused 100% on you. You can only control yourself and only honor yourself.

1. Be impeccable with your word. Your word is your power to create the events in your life. It can create positive events or destructive events. Impeccable means "without sin". So the idea here is that you use your word without sin against yourself. You take responsibility for your actions but you do not judge and blame yourself. There is a big difference. And as you practice your impeccable word don't you think the very actions which might have caused you to judge and blame yourself before will decrease and it will become easier to truly know the difference between taking responsibility and punishing yourself (over and over again).

2. Don't take anything personally. Don't take compliments or insults or anything in between personally. If you know who you are and are impeccable with your word (i.e.: being yourself, not going against yourself) then you will get better and better at not allowing others to shape how you feel about yourself. This particular chapter I struggle with because I personally like to build people up by showing them how I feel about them and what I think about who they are. It is a rare thing for me to tell someone something negative unless i am trying to be a friend to help them through something and they need to hear it. However, I will re-read this to try to gain more meaning and understanding out of it.

3. Don't make assumptions. This almost requires no comment. We do this ALL the time. I know I do. You hear someone explaining their situation and as they are you are summarizing it in your own words in your head, filling in blanks because you want to have the complete picture. Except it's not the complete picture because rather than ask questions to fill in the blanks, you used your own experience and assumptions to do so.

4. Always do your best so that you will not judge and punish yourself. Do things because you want to do them and do your best, not for some reward. Enjoy your life. Live it now. And your best may not be the same every day if you're sick, tired, or you've fallen victim to beating yourself up. Doing your best means doing your best with the previous 3 agreements also and it means you may not always live up to your desire to always honor them. But it's your best so don't judge yourself.

This was quite insightful and full of practical wisdom and ideas that really make you think.

I like that it's short and easy to read, though to be honest it does seem to repeat itself a fair bit. I think that's intentional to kind of help the message sink in, but it had the opposite effect for me and made me want to skim.

It's an accessible kind of book that is a nice easy introduction to opening the mind. It essentially teaches strategies for looking beyond the material world so that one can feel happiness no matter what situation they find themselves in. I like that idea. I appreciate what this book is trying to teach.

Like many spirituality books, however, I was a little put off by the overuse of God. I think that it kinda makes me pull away a bit because everyone has different religious interpretations and beliefs so when a book tells me I have to be thankful to God I feel slightly resentful. Can't I just be generally thankful to whomever deserves the thanks?

Also, the end section seemed a little tacked on to me, like it was just trying to make up the page count. It was still interesting information, but once you finish the section on the fourth agreement you're really just ready for the conclusion.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it; I think there is a lot of wisdom here and it's short and practical enough that even those who may not be as spiritually inclined should get something out of it.

هیچ کدام از کارهایی که دیگران می کنند به خاطر شما نیست. به خاطر خودشان است. همه ی مردم در رویا و در ذهن خود زندگی می کنند. آنان در دنیایی کاملا متفاوت با دنیای ما زندگی می کنند. ما وقتی چیزی را به خود می گیریم، فرض می کنیم که آن ها می دانند در دنیای ما چه می گذرد، و می کوشیم دنیای خود را به دنیای آنها تحمیل کنیم.

It's such a blessing when you find an opportunity, an unrecognized passion, a kindred spirit, and a good book at the exact moment you are ready to embrace it. The moment when you know you need it the most. The moment a particular song, a piece of writing, an incident, a conversation will resonate with you creating vibrations that will affect the rest of your life. When you're not searching for it but stumble upon it by accident. A very fortunate accident.

I don't believe in destiny or any such bullshit. Even though I'm an eternal optimist and a hopeless romantic, I have a cynical side. If bad things happen to you and you just shrug it off, saying, "everything happens for a reason," I need to question- What's the reason I'm suffering so much when I did nothing wrong? Why do bad things happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Don't we all question these things?

Perhaps I'm not mature enough to handle situations that are out of my control. But I'm learning more each passing day. And at the exact moment of my existential crisis, I happened to find a book that spoke to me like it was meant for me, waiting to find me at the right time. It will color my decisions and shape my thoughts for years to come.

Let me introduce you to a book that soothed me immensely when I was hurting a lot. It has acted as a balm alleviating my bruised heart and uplifting my vanquished spirit. When everyone in the world disappoints you, just be sure that you will find comfort in the pages where words weave magical tapestry; when hung on the walls of your heart, it will clear your vision and invigorate you to make the best of what you have.

Because you deserve the world, and to get it, you must make efforts to change yourself from within and let go of the fallible notions the world has instilled into you. You must change the very foundation of the belief system to change your reality. All you need to do is break the agreements you have made to yourself and make new agreements. I hope this write-up is enough to convince you to read this excellent book!

Be impeccable with your word. (mean what you say, keep your promises, don't talk shit)
Take nothing personally. (the opinions of others are none of your business)
Make no assumptions. (harder than it looks)
Always do your best. (impossible to know what that is unless you actively push yourself toward greatness.)

The parentheses are my interpretations, informed by the text of the book. I'm not going to throw this book in anyone's face. As with all personal growth and guides of a more spiritual nature, they're either going to resonate or they're not. I love the ideas of this book and would love to strive to live by them but I don't have the discipline as yet, or an unbroken heart--since I'm being honest--that could not take hurts and betrayals personally.

So I give it five stars for the world that is possible should we all harmonize with its message entirely. But I'll do my best, and come back for a check-up. :)