The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

by Miguel Ruiz

With that fear of being punished and that fear of not getting the reward, we start pretending to be what we are not, just to please others, just to be good enough for someone else. We

That is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people’s demands. We have learned to live by other people’s points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.

The first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. It sounds very simple, but it is very, very powerful.

Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy; it means to use your energy in the direction of truth and love for yourself.

You take it personally because you agree with whatever was said.

Personal importance, or taking things personally, is the maximum expression of selfishness because we make the assumption that everything is about “me.”