The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's fine. It gives some standard self-improvement advice. But I get really bored by the generalized examples. In general, fluffy examples is why I'm not a fan of self-help writing.

Chapters 2-5:
1. Be impeccable with your word- To Ruiz, it doesn't mean "be perfectly honest" like I thought it would, but rather, don't have sin in your speech. Don't say mean things to people or about them.

2. Don't take anything personally- Okay, the example where someone who doesn't know you calls you stupid is silly. Of course, that's not personal. But if you have a meaningful relationship with someone, say a parent or a partner, it would be extremely difficult not to take it personally. And perhaps you shouldn't just dismiss it without consideration. "You're making a lot of noise," says your roommate. Oh that's just about them, not about me you think, and keep making a racket. I'm being a little silly in my example, but I think Ruiz is exaggerating the relevance of Agreement #2. It's not terrible advice in certain situations, but definitely not in all.

3. Don't make assumptions - Okay wasn't Agreement #2 one huge assumption? This one is generally good advice.

4. Do your best. Okay, now I'm bored. We all know this one, right? Plus in this section is a quote I actively disagree with: "You don't need knowledge or great philosophical concepts." Really, why are we even reading this book then? Also, maybe this book would have been better if the author had valued philosophical study.

Chapter 6 was all over the place, but I did like the small section on controlling your emotions (p. 119). The only problem is that it runs counter to the previous section in the same chapter that talks about how completely free children are with their emotions. But whatever, it's still a decent little section. I also liked the section on preparing for death although there were contradictions in that part as well.

Chapter 7 and the Prayers section are inspirational and the part I'd be most likely to reread for a refocus.


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