the voice of knowledge

Finally finished "The Voice of Knowledge" by Don Miguel Ruiz. On the cover, this book claims to be a practical guide to inner peace...so you know I snatched it up quick!

His books are pretty deep, and hard to explain. They really make you think. But near the end of the book, he gives 4 ways to get to inner peace...and they are fairly simple to comprehend. I thought I would share those 4 points here, with you. For the real deep stuff, you'll have to read it yourself!

THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

1 :: Be impeccable with your word. This means that you should never use the power of the word against yourself in the creation of your story. Earlier in the book, he goes into how we are each the author of our own story, and that we are the main character. Everyone else is a secondary character, and their opinions are really only true in their own stories. He says that in our own stories, we should treat ourselves well, and never use negative words about ourselves. Never speak against yourself and never help anybody else to go against you.

2:: Don't take anything personally. Pretty self-explanatory, and his reasoning is this. Someone else's opinion of you is only relevant in THEIR story. You can not control anyone else's story. You can only control your own. It's your choice whether to let their story affect your story...and when you don't allow it, you keep emotional poison out of your relationships.

3 :: Don't make assumptions. To be aware is to see the truth, to see everything the way that it is, not the way we want it to be to justify what we already believe. Ask questions, fully understand things. Don't assume to know based on what you believe. See the truth.

4 :: Always do your best. Otherwise, you are more likely to go against #1 and feel negatively toward yourself. Doing your best is about trusting in yourself. Take responsibility for every decision that you make in life. Work hard to make yourself proud. To make your story worthwhile.

They seem pretty simple...but really, they aren't so easy to put into practice. Although I try hard to be positive toward myself, I fail at that a lot. I'm guilty of making a lot of assumptions. I do always try to do my best in all that I do, though I don't really have any drive to do certain things. But #2. That one gets me. That one is my downfall. Because I take so many things personally. I take them personally and I react and get defensive immediately and I allow emotional poison into my life. Into my relationships.

Life would be so much easier if we all just realize that each person is just living their story. Their opinion is just a part of their story, and doesn't need to affect your own. You can choose to not take it personally, and just live for love. Love the person for who they are, and fill your time together with peace and love and get rid of all the emotional poison. Why is it that it's always the hardest with the people you love the most? Why do we allow that negativity to tarnish those special relationships?? I assume it's because we expect the most out of them. We want them to be perfect and live up to certain images we have about relationships. We set ourselves up for failure.

I'm about to begin another book by Ruiz...this one is actually called "The Four Agreements", and it goes into more detailed explanation of the four things listed above. Hopefully I will be enlightened, and will learn better how to keep poison out of my life...