I want, I am, I do, I work, I love, I drive, I run, I choose, I go, I move, I say, I wish, I beg, I try, I clean, I sleep, I read, I plant, I listen, I learn, I hear, I chat, I call, I sit, I wake up, I think, I pray, I offer, I meditate, I ask, I wait, I put, I… How many times do you use “I” through a day, a week, a month, a year?
How many times do you feel proud of you for all these actions? How many times do you blame yourself?
Here, I’m going to talk about the Four Agreements of the Toltec Spirit*, but before, I’d like to remind you how it is important to feel positively what you live.
Life is a long journey, alternately made of drama and joy. What we learn about, is more the way we manage them than to end with. Strangely, we gain in self-confidence and in humility: each fight is different from the last one and from the next. So we build the foundations of a self-belief, which is that we’re able to manage any circumstances; on another side, it’s impossible to predict how we shall react. A negative reaction is the consequence of a personal or external action which is not good for you. It shows itself by a negative emotional attitude or act. Then the question would be: how to act positively in front of an action perceived as negative?
The Four Agreements of the Toltec Spirit help to get the answer. But first, just a few words about their origin:
Thousands years ago, through the South of Mexico, the Toltecs were known as “women and men of knowledge”. Now, they are less considered a nation or a race than scientists and artists of a society devoted to exploring and preserving the spiritual knowledge and the practices of the elders. Masters (naguals) and students used to meet at Teotihuacan, the old city of the pyramids located beyond Mexico City, and known as the place where “Man becomes God”.
As centuries went by, the naguals have transmitted the Toltec’s knowledge through the generations. Even it remained as a secret to prevent the Toltecs from any predation of the other nations, this knowledge has been shared with the whole world in 1997 by a nagual, I mean Don Miguel Ruiz, in a book which became a best-seller*.
The Toltec’s knowledge honors all the spiritual masters who taught on Earth, so it’s more seen as a way of living in Happiness and Love than as a religion.
The Four Agreements:
1st: Be impeccable with your word. It means without any sin (sin is to feel, believe or say something against yourself). You take the responsibility for your actions, but you don’t judge nor blame yourself.
2nd: Don’t take anything personally. It means you must be totally independent of the good or the bad opinions of others, because nothing they do is because of you, but of themselves.
3rd: Don’t make assumptions. It means that making assumptions drives to believe they’re the truth (we take it personally). Then we blame others for their actions and send them an emotional poison with our word. It’s better to have the courage to ask them questions on the way to get a clear communication.
4th: Always do your best. This is the consequence of the first three: it means that as things are always changing, your best can move from a moment to another. Accept it as a constant improvement to be in Happiness and Love, because each time you’re aware to do your best, you don’t let any inner negativity destroy your light. It’s a courageous, positive act, that makes you become a new person.
If ever you want to apply the 4 Agreements, go step by step, because you can’t change many years of bad habits quickly. Slow down, think about the freeness that you’re making happen in your mind, in your life. Be proud of the way you manage adversity, or others’ issues, so how you see yourself day after day. It’s a long process that constantly requires your awareness. Each step will be a victory, and will have to be celebrated: you’re on your path to live in Happiness and Love.
Love,
Jane
*More about:
https://experiencelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/28-the-four-agreements.pdf