Pearls of Wisdom
One of my hobbies is going to rummage sales. I have found many treasurers over the years. I recently came across a real gem entitled The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book - A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz has many good points.
“Thousands of years ago, the Toltec were known throughout southern Mexico as “women and men of knowledge.” Anthropologists have spoken of the Toltec as a nation or race, but, in fact the Toltec were scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient one.” (Ruiz, 1997) For more information about the Toltec you can read at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toltec.
In this book Ruiz offers advice about how to gain personal freedom and a happier life. He talks about how we subject ourselves to injustice and how we are our own worst enemy at times. We abuse ourselves by serving as our own judge and paying for our mistakes many times over.
“The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse come from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what is means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. Our image of perfection is the reason we reject ourselves and it is why we don’t accept ourselves the way we are, and why we don’t accept others the way they are.” (Ruiz, 1997)
We have many roles that we fulfill. We are students, children, partners, family members, etc. Because of these roles, we have agreements with ourselves and others. “The most important agreements are the ones you made with yourself. In these agreements you tell yourself who you are, what you feel, what you believe, and how to behave. The result is what you call your personality.” (Ruiz, 1997)
Ruiz suggests that by focusing on four agreements we can have a happy life.
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word – “Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally – “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”
3. Don’t Make Assumptions – “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.”
4. Always Do Your Best – “Your best is going to change from moment to moment. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”
As we have learned during our time here at CICS, human communication is not always the easiest thing. Ruiz compares miscommunication to a computer virus. He talks about that when we give the wrong information we break down communication and this affects everyone it touches.
This is one perspective on how to reach personal freedom. I hope maybe we all can learn something from everyone we come in contact with. I am continually learning from the faculty, staff and students here at CICS.