Psychology

The Four Agreements as found in the book by Don Miguel Ruiz is a directive guide which the author has used to help people to free themselves from minor events of everyday life. These are commonly the events that may seem petty but leads to stressful conditions as well as suffering. The author has used these four agreements to help deal with these events which can be consequential in the lives of people. Ruiz has held promise to development and self growth through such agreements like be impeccable and faultless with your world, do not take anything to be personal, do not assume anything and do your best all the time. The voice of the author in this book is conversational it creates an atmosphere of chatting and so as the reader reads through, he or she feels part of it and therefore is eager to know the content of the book. The book has a long term effect on the reader despite that fact that it can be read in a few days. The message will always resound in the heart of each and every reader of this masterpiece. This supports the argument that good tidings always come in small packages.

The author starts with an introduction to the people of Toltec, tribal women and men of enormous knowledge. He talks of the ancestors of Mexico who pass on their convictions and beliefs to the masters and from a generation to another. The author acts as a master, Nagual who leads the reader on a spiritual journey through the planet dream we all have. This is the theory of Toltec where everyone is having a dream of their own concerning the universe in which we exist. The author talks of the domestication of people from birth to get an understanding as well as everything that surrounds us.  This domestication process is what Ruiz refers to as agreements. According to Ruiz, many of these agreements are harmful to us and the journey heading to spiritual transcendence. Ruiz is of the opinion that a transition be made from these harmful agreements to the four helpful ones being impeccable with our own world never taking things personally never to make assumptions and do our best all the time.

My Reflection
On reading the book from the beginning, I thought that Ruiz is just an extremist who is pessimistic about life. The notion he has about human domestication and that people give in to their beliefs and convictions to agreement with the conventional ideas of the society in which we live is a claim that is narrow-minded.  Schools as well as parents normally teach the children to think seriously in a more critical manner on their own. Moreover, Ruiz discusses claims and laws that life is a dream within 24 hours that makes use of repetition to put into effect particular ideas and rules in the brains of humans.

It is not until the reading of the first agreement that I began to realize the ideas articulated by Ruiz. This makes a person to stop reading the book defensively. Reading the book inspires a person to reflect more on the kind of life they have been leading. The voice all through the book is conversational kind of which wins the attention of the reader. It helps the reader to reflect on how he or she treats others as well as herself or himself. For instance, I am in agreement with the claim put forward that the human is the only animal ever that makes payment for a similar mistake a thousand times.

I have indeed an excellent memory and hence I get too harsh on myself when I do something the wrong way and more so with people who betray me. It becomes very difficult for me to leave an argument and press on since it is ever fixed in my mind. I am therefore of the opinion that the book can help us improve our interpersonal communication, build relationships and our entire life by putting into practice the four agreements that Ruiz postulates. The author brings out some sense in stating out that Toltec knowledge could help in the realization of dreams which have actually become our reality.  Seemingly, there is a possibility of achieving more on the application of these four agreements. These agreements help us to fully understand ourselves as well as accepting ourselves.

This will in most cases help all of us in the society evade some minor things which causes us discomfort in our daily lives. Achievements are bound to be made both in heaven and earth.  It is indeed us humans who mess up with the world in which we live. Being impeccable with our world is very crucial as explained by Ruiz and will therefore promote the well being of each person in the society. I think that the author has helped in saving a lot of problems by directing people to simply mean what they say and not finding fault with anything or anybody.

The book is very instrumental in helping people avoid gossip and minding their own business which have been really a major setback in the progress of many people in our contemporary society. The book also builds a sense of acceptance of ones self. If anything happens in our surrounding, then we are able to take it in a sober manner through the understanding explained by Ruiz of not taking things personally. If anything worse comes in our way, we ought to deal with it without having any bias. This will save us a lot of troubles. The idea of making assumptions is really a major source of conflict in our society. Therefore I agree with Ruiz that one must be committed in establish the truth concerning something. Assumptions may cost us and the people around us our destiny.

The authors idea about doing our best is indeed an important action worth of implementation. It is very imperative that we all show commitment in all that we do to save ourselves the agony of repeating of the same things and correcting them over and over again. This is a healthy practice which connects us with what we want to achieve. Generally, Ruizs agreements are logical in application.