Miguel Ruiz' self-help nonfictional work could easily be summarized in a few words, and if - upon reading the book's blurb here on Goodreads, which basically provides such a summary - you find nothing worth investigating in this novel, then maybe you should rather choose another book. Ruiz' ideas are very insightful and thought-provoking, but in their core nothing ground-breaking and some of his examples are actually rather questionable.

Ruiz basically implies the importance of standing up for yourself, not allowing others to influence your thoughts and your way of living in a negative way, instead living the way you want to live and not allowing expectations raised by society to affect your life. The tone of his prose was rather straightforward, but also condescending at certain points. All the time Ruiz repeated the same formulaic idea that nobody should take things personal, but his writing gave the impression of something along the lines of "but please do take those things personal which I am telling you about right now". Ruiz divides his book into four major steps, so-called 'agreements' which you have to adapt to in order to successfully change your life for the best, according to him. Those four agreements are called 1) be impeccable with your word, 2) don't take anything personal, 3) don't make assumptions and 4) always do your best. He also offers lengthy explanations and nonfictional examples to support those agreements.

Miguel Ruiz used to work as a surgeon until a near-death-experience convinced him of changing his life and delving into the deepest parts of himself, parts of which can be found in this book. Ruiz' enthusiasm about the concept he is living by basically flows through the entire text, allowing it to turn into a very uplifting book of highly readable and rather simplistic messages, yet Ruiz successfully managed to provide food for thoughts.

Even though I personally liked Ruiz' self-help novel a lot (it has actually been my first self-help novel, if you forget about disguised self-helpers like Jonathan Livingston Seagull), I can see why others would disagree with some of his messages, especially with his examples. Ruiz' concept of the 'dream of the planet' seemed far-fetched, and it always felt as if he was trying to make everything sound too simple, as if he didn't take different factors into account which would affect those four agreements in certain ways. I am going to give this book 4 stars since Ruiz' prose is incredibly readable, and his basic ideas and concepts resonate well with my own perceptions. Recommended for readers who are generally interested in this specific genre.

This is a powerful and transformative read that draws on ancient Toltec wisdom to provide practical steps for personal growth and freedom.

I thought this was a amazing book especially for my age group. It is so normalized to gossip and talk badly about people that we don’t even notice we are placing a curse to so many people we don’t truly know. To truly understand the meaning of our words we must learn to listen to ourselves. This book states four agreements, which are, being impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions and always do your best. While I read this everything fell into place. I related to personal experiences and how it felt to be talked badly about by any stranger, but especially how i’ve done the same time and time again without thinking. We can great insecurities with our word never thinking of it ourselves again. We manifest things when we say negative things about ourselves that we repeat so much we believe them. By thinking everything said about us is personally about us, we are mistaken. Positive or negative comments from someone have no connection to us. We are all stuck in our own minds that we don’t have time to think of the other. It’s not necessarily bad, but we have to learn to be calm in our own minds and not put our thoughts against ourselves. If we achieve this, the only problem is the rest of the world, not us.

I read this book at my therapist’s suggestion. I don’t normally go for self-help books; I know others find them helpful but I personally prefer other methods of self-improvement. But because my therapist recommended The Four Agreements specifically, because it’s so short, and because it was only something like $6 on Kindle, I figured I’d make an exception.

My therapist warned me going in that there would be a lot of spiritualism in this book. For the most part I tried to ignore that aspect because I am very much not a spiritual person, but it did kind of detract from my reading experience. Don Miguel Ruiz brings in concepts from Toltec religion, which I won’t pretend to know anything about. You could still easily get something from this book without buying into the mythology of it, and I did. But I also felt that the spiritual language and concepts really bogged down what I felt was otherwise practical advice. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I would have preferred to read a book that gives me the same advice this book gave me without couching it in the language of dreams and nightmares and black magic and spiritual poison and hell.

Although I thought the advice in this book was practical, I also didn’t find it life-changing or even particularly new. You can tell as much from the synopsis, which lays out the Four Agreements: Be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best. None of this advice is groundbreaking. This is another problem I typically have with self-help books: They rarely tell me anything I don’t already know. They might remind me about something I don’t frequently think about, or make me see something in a slightly different way, but I’ve never read a self-help book that changed the way I live my life, and The Four Agreements was no exception.

The best thing I can say about this book is that it did give me plenty to talk about with my therapist, and together we were able to apply some of its lessons to my life. That was useful at this stage in my mental health journey because I’m just restarting therapy after some lukewarm experiences with it in the past. It was good to have the framework this book provides in my early sessions with my current therapist to give some structure to our discussions, but on its own this book was basically more of the same when it comes to self-help.

Reading other reviews of this book, I can see I’m definitely in the minority and I’m glad others have been able to get something from this book that I didn’t. For me, it was good but not groundbreaking.

This book is juvenile. The universally acceptable platitudes that make up the four agreements are the only useful phrases in the book. Every explanation is conclusory, circular, and intentionally unclear. His conclusions aren't drawn from any deductive reasoning or analysis, and nothing rings true. I suppose you could find solace in the book if you wanted to blame your parents and society for your unhappiness, but I am not unhappy and I don't believe that anyone else is responsible for my happiness. Don't waste your time.

It’s another trendy, highly-loved book that proves most people are... Well, most people have questionable taste in books. It’s bland, unremarkable, and lifeless. It’s just common sense packed in a pretty package of “Toltec wisdom.”

Well, let me tell you the “wisdom” that was shared here:
1. You shouldn’t be mean to yourself or others (what if I or others are awful?).
2. You shouldn’t be overruled by the sense of self-importance (should I be overruled by anything really?).
3. You should communicate clearly and avoid making assumptions (what about the right assumptions in critical situations?).
4. You should be a good person who does good things not for the rewards but because you want to (what’s good? also, responsibility?). You should also always do your best (what’s best?).

Ah, so much to criticize. I won’t dwell on this. It is too simplified to be enriching for anybody.

I will end it with a “wise” quote from the book:

“We don’t need to know or prove anything. Just to be, to take a risk and enjoy your life, is all that matters. Say no when you want to say no, and yes when you want to say yes. You have the right to be you.”

If we all did that, our society would collapse the next day.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought there were some good messages spread throughout it but I had such a hard time getting past the author's writing style.

To me, it seemed like a lot of short sentences using similar words. For example, it starts, "What you are seeing and hearing right now is nothing but a dream. You are dreaming right now in this moment. You are dreaming with the brain awake. Dreaming is the main function of the mind, and the mind dreams 24-hours a day. It dreams when the brain is awake, and it also dreams when the brain is asleep." I would have liked it better if it said something more like, "Your mind dreams 24-hours a day whether you are awake or asleep."

Some of the thoughts I did like were:

"We create an image of how we should be in order to be accepted by everybody . . . but this image is not real."

"The way we judge ourselves is the worst judge that ever existed."

" . . . nobody has ever abused you more than you have abused yourself."

"Taking things personally is the maximum expression of selfishness because we make the assumption that everything is about 'me'".

"You will know you have forgiven someone when you see them and no longer have an emotional reaction."

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
- John Lennon

“You can say yes, or you can say no – whatever you choose – without guilt or self-judgement. You can choose to follow your heart always.”

3.5 ★ for me. Leaning towards 4 ★

Often we’re our own worst enemies with our mindset. Opportunities missed through inertia (or fear). Making the same mistakes repeatedly. Wasn’t it Albert Einstein who said something along the lines of doing the same thing over and over, and yet expecting a different result? Well, this book could well alter your thinking.

Written in a straightforward style, what Don Miguel Ruiz talks about actually makes a lot of sense. How often do we dismiss our inner voice, only to later realise we should have listened to it. How many of us are keen to please others, and then get frustrated when our own needs aren’t being met. The permutations are endless.

This was recommended to me by someone I met at the MBS Festival** last week. I’d seen this book repeatedly over the years, but for whatever reason had never gotten around to reading it. Timing is everything! It’s funny how the right book finds you at the right time.

I’m going to re-read this one, as there’s a lot take in. So many concepts. The thoughts are bubbling away, percolating…

★ “I am made of light, I am made of stars." ★
Isn’t that a beautiful idea.

MBS Festival** (Mind Body Spirit)

THIS BOOK is simple , honest with some true beautiful messages / lessons
There's a lot of truth in this small volume, the language is simple enough for anyone to understand.

تکرار مکرررررات

غیبت نکنید تا دنیایتان زیبا شود...بیشترین تلاشتان را بکنید تا موفق بشوید...حالا پشت سرهم همه‌شو تکرار کن...مغزم رفت!!!!...بذار من یه نصیحت بهت بکنم آقای دون ميگوئل روئيز...نصیحتاتو رو بچپان آنجایت...مغز من کاروانسرا نیست!!!...ای دزد بی همه چیز...22 هزار تومن منو پس بده

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En los cuatro acuerdos, haciendo uso de una sencillez tan prodigiosa como apabullante, Miguel Ruiz nos propone un acercamiento a la sabiduría de los toltecas acerca de la naturaleza de la libertad, la vida y las nociones que nos imponen en la etapa de formación y que adoptamos como verdades irrefutables.

Con palabras simples, el autor desmantela un sistema de creencias inconscientes que venimos arrastrando como consecuencia de la domesticación a la que se nos somete desde pequeños. Es decir, de ese cúmulo de opiniones o juicios inculcados que acabaron definiendo nuestra personalidad y percepción del mundo. Nos habla de las limitaciones autoimpuestas, el peso de las expectativas externas, la insatisfacción tras no poder ser lo que se espera de nosotros y otras duras falacias en las que caemos al dejarnos arrastrar por el pensamiento colectivo silenciando nuestra voz o deseo individual.

Miguel Ruiz, o los toltecas, nos proponen romper con el miedo y los acuerdos preestablecidos que socavan nuestra libertad y amargan nuestra vida. Nos invitan a ser impecables con nuestras palabras, a no tomarnos nada personalmente, a no suponer y a dar lo máximo en cada posible situación para alcanzar la más auténtica versión de nosotros mismos y, con ello, nuestra realidad más plena. Es un libro enriquecedor y revelador.