The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 1

the Toltec were scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual knowledge and practices of the ancient ones. 35

Answer 1

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 2

he called the stars the tonal and the light between the stars the nagual, and he knew that what created the harmony and space between the two is Life or Intent. 58

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 3

Everything in existence is a manifestation of the one living being we call God. Everything is God. 61

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 4

human perception is merely light perceiving light. 62

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 5

“I am the Smokey Mirror, because I am looking at myself in all of you, but we don’t recognize each other because of the smoke in-between us. That smoke is the Dream, and the mirror is you, the dreamer.” 80

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 6

when the brain is awake, there is a material frame that makes us perceive things in a linear way. When we go to sleep we do not have the frame, and the dream has the tendency to change constantly. Humans are dreaming all the time. 86

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 7

Attention is the ability we have to discriminate and to focus only on that which we want to perceive. 95

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 8

You didn’t choose your religion or your moral values — they were already there before you were born. 110

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 9

The only way to store information is by agreement. 114

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 10

That is why we need a great deal of courage to challenge our own beliefs. 161

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 11

True justice is paying only once for each mistake. True injustice is paying more than once for each mistake. 166

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 12

The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake. The rest of the animals pay once for every mistake they make. 168

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 13

Ninety-five percent of the beliefs we have stored in our minds are nothing but lies, and we suffer because we believe all these lies. 175

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 14

If you consider hell as a state of mind, then hell is all around us. Others may warn us that if we don’t do what they say we should do, we will go to hell. Bad news! We are already in hell, including the people who tell us that. No human can condemn another to hell because we are already there. Others can put us into a deeper hell, true. But only if we allow this to happen. 185

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 15

We keep searching and searching, when everything is already within us. 194

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 16

Your mind is a dream where a thousand people talk at the same time, and nobody understands each other. 202

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 17

In India they call the mitote maya, which means illusion. It is the personality’s notion of “I am.” 203

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 18

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are. 207

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 19

nobody abuses us more than we abuse ourselves, and it is the Judge, the Victim, and the belief system that make us do this. 225

Answer 19

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 20

The more self-love we have, the less we will experience self-abuse. Self-abuse comes from self-rejection, and self-rejection comes from having an image of what it means to be perfect and never measuring up to that ideal. 236

Answer 20

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 21

If you want to live a life of joy and fulfillment, you have to find the courage to break those agreements that are fear-based and claim your personal power. 245

Answer 21

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 22

The agreements that come from fear require us to expend a lot of energy, but the agreements that come from love help us to conserve energy and even gain extra energy. 246

Answer 22

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 23

The first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. 263

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 24

The human mind is like a fertile ground where seeds are continually being planted. 279

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 25

By hooking our attention, the word can enter our mind and change a whole belief for better or for worse. 294

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 26

Impeccable comes from the Latin pecatus, which means “sin.” The im in impeccable means “without,” so impeccable means “without sin.” 303

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 27

A sin is anything that you do which goes against yourself. 305

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 28

Sin begins with rejection of yourself. Self-rejection is the biggest sin that you commit. 309

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 29

Mostly we use the word to spread our personal poison 323

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 30

People who love us do black magic on us, but they don’t know what they do. 345

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 31

On one side of the sword are the lies which create black magic, and on the other side of the sword is the truth which has the power to break the spell of black magic. Only the truth will set us free. 353

Answer 31

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 32

Over time this interaction has become the worst form of black magic, and we call it gossip. 356

Answer 32

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 33

Imagine that every single time others gossip to you, they insert a computer virus into your mind, causing you to think a little less clearly every time. 379

Answer 33

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 34

the first agreement, be impeccable with your word, you begin to see all the changes that can happen in your life. Changes first in the way you deal with yourself, and later in the way you deal with other people, especially those you love the most. 395

Answer 34

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 35

Impeccability of the word will also give you immunity from anyone putting a negative spell on you. 402

Answer 35

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 36

How much you love yourself and how you feel about yourself are directly proportionate to the quality and integrity of your word. 405

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 37

The second agreement is don’t take anything personally. Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally. 423

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 38

You take it personally because you agree with whatever was said. As soon as you agree, the poison goes through you, and you are trapped in the dream of hell. 428

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 39

Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. 432

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 40

Taking things personally makes you easy prey for these predators, the black magicians. 439

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 41

Others are going to have their own opinion according to their belief system, so nothing they think about me is really about me, but it is about them. 454

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 42

But it is not what I am saying that is hurting you; it is that you have wounds that I touch by what I have said. You are hurting yourself. 456

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 43

Your point of view is something personal to you. It is no one’s truth but yours. 461

Answer 43

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 44

Even the opinions you have about yourself are not necessarily true; therefore, you don’t need to take whatever you hear in your own mind personally. 474

Answer 44

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 45

The mitote is the reason humans hardly know what they want, how they want it, or when they want it. They don’t agree with themselves because there are parts of the mind that want one thing, and other parts that want exactly the opposite. 491

Answer 45

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 46

Don’t take anything personally because by taking things personally you set yourself up to suffer for nothing. 497

Answer 46

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 47

If you keep this agreement, you can travel around the world with your heart completely open and no one can hurt you. You can say, “I love you,” without fear of being ridiculed or rejected. You can ask for what you need. You can say yes, or you can say no — whatever you choose — without guilt or self-judgment. You can choose to follow your heart always. Then you can be in the middle of hell and still experience inner peace and happiness. You can stay in your state of bliss, and hell will not affect you at all. 527

Answer 47

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 48

We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth. 533

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 49

whenever we make assumptions, we’re asking for problems. 536

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 50

gossiping is the way we communicate to each other in the dream of hell and transfer poison to one another. 541

Answer 50

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 51

Making assumptions in relationships leads to a lot of fights, a lot of difficulties, a lot of misunderstandings with people we supposedly love. 560

Answer 51

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 52

In any kind of relationship we can make the assumption that others know what we think, and we don’t have to say what we want. 561

Answer 52

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 53

We make the assumption that everyone sees life the way we do. We assume that others think the way we think, feel the way we feel, judge the way we judge, and abuse the way we abuse. This is the biggest assumption that humans make. 574

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 54

Your love will not change anybody. If others change, it’s because they want to change, not because you can change them. 585

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 55

Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them. 588

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 56

The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions. 599

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 57

find your voice to ask for what you want. Everybody has the right to tell you no or yes, but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everybody has the right to ask you, and you have the right to say yes or no. 602

Answer 57

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 58

This is what I want; this is what you want. If we communicate in this way, our word becomes impeccable. If all humans could communicate in this way, with impeccability of the word, there would be no wars, no violence, no misunderstandings. All human problems would be resolved if we could just have good, clear communication. 607

Answer 58

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 59

Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. 623

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 60

“You are not here to sacrifice your joy or your life. You are here to live, to be happy, and to love. 643

Answer 60

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 61

Doing your best is taking the action because you love it, not because you’re expecting a reward. 649

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The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 62

If you take action because you have to, then there is no way you are going to do your best. Then it is better not to do it. 670

Answer 62

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 63

Action is about living fully. Inaction is the way that we deny life. 673

Answer 63

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 64

God is life. God is life in action. The best way to say, “I love you, God,” is to live your life doing your best. The best way to say, “Thank you, God,” is by letting go of the past and living in the present moment, right here and now. 687

Answer 64

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 65

Letting go of the past means you can enjoy the dream that is happening right now. 689

Answer 65

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 66

Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and being only half alive. This leads to self-pity, suffering, and tears. 691

Answer 66

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 67

Practice makes the master. 707

Answer 67

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 68

Your own body is a manifestation of God, and if you honor your body everything will change for you. When you practice giving love to every part of your body, you plant seeds of love in your mind, and when they grow, you will love, honor, and respect your body immensely. 715

Answer 68

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 69

If you are impeccable with your word, if you don’t take anything personally, if you don’t make assumptions, if you always do your best, then you are going to have a beautiful life. You are going to control your life one hundred percent. 722

Answer 69

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 70

if you fall, do not judge. Do not give your Judge the satisfaction of turning you into a victim. 738

Answer 70

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 71

True freedom has to do with the human spirit — it is the freedom to be who we really are. 751

Answer 71

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 72

They are not afraid to love at all. That is the description of a normal human being. As children we are not afraid of the future or ashamed of the past. Our normal human tendency is to enjoy life, to play, to explore, to be happy, and to love. 762

Answer 72

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 73

There is no need to blame your parents or anyone who abused you in your life, including yourself. But it is time to stop the abuse. It is time to free yourself of the tyranny of the Judge by changing the foundation of your own agreements. It is time to be free from the role of the Victim. 772

Answer 73

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 74

The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves, to express ourselves. 783

Answer 74

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 75

if we look at our lives we will see that most of the time we do things just to please others, just to be accepted by others, rather than living our lives to please ourselves. 784

Answer 75

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 76

The problem with most people is that they live their lives and never discover that the Judge and the Victim rule their mind, and therefore they don’t have a chance to be free. The first step toward personal freedom is awareness. 788

Answer 76

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 77

That is why in all the shamanic traditions in America, from Canada to Argentina, people call themselves warriors, because they are in a war against the parasite in the mind. That is the real meaning of a warrior. The warrior is one who rebels against the invasion of the parasite. 823

Answer 77

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 78

We can reach heaven while we are alive; we don’t have to wait until we die. God is always present and the kingdom of heaven is everywhere, 831

Answer 78

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 79

If we want to be free, we have to destroy the parasite. One solution is to attack the parasite head by head, which means we face each of our fears, one by one. 834

Answer 79

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 80

A second approach is to stop feeding the parasite. 836

Answer 80

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 81

A third solution is called the initiation of the dead. 839

Answer 81

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 82

develop awareness of all the self-limiting, fear-based beliefs that make you unhappy. 856

Answer 82

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 83

Going to the core of those agreements is what I call going into the desert. When you go into the desert you meet your demons face-to-face. After coming out of the desert, all those demons become angels. 865

Answer 83

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 84

for every agreement you break that makes you suffer, you will need to replace it with a new agreement that makes you happy. This will keep the old agreement from coming back. 874

Answer 84

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 85

The way you see the world will depend upon the emotions you are feeling. 894

Answer 85

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 86

Every human has an emotional body completely covered with infected wounds. 906

Answer 86

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 87

We must forgive those we feel have wronged us, not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because we love ourselves so much we don’t want to keep paying for the injustice. 916

Answer 87

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 88

Forgiveness is the only way to heal. 917

Answer 88

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 89

It’s a good thing we have the denial system, because it allows us to cover our wounds and still function. 926

Answer 89

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 90

It is the emotions that control the behavior of the human, not the human who controls the emotions. 930

Answer 90

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 91

The big difference between a warrior and a victim is that the victim represses, and the warrior refrains. 939

Answer 91

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 92

We become aware that we can die at any moment; we have just the present to be alive. 945

Answer 92

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 93

We can begin each day by saying, “I am awake, I see the sun. I am going to give my gratitude to the sun and to everything and everyone, because I am still alive. One more day to be myself.” 953

Answer 93

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 94

Whoever survives the initiation of the dead receives the most wonderful gift: the resurrection. 967

Answer 94

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 95

To receive the resurrection is to arise from the dead, to be alive, to be ourselves again. The resurrection is to be like a child — to be wild and free, but with a difference. The difference is that we have freedom with wisdom instead of innocence. 968

Answer 95

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 96

It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time. You have the power to create hell, and you have the power to create heaven. 982

Answer 96

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 97

But there is really no reason to suffer. The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer. If you look at your life you will find many excuses to suffer, but a good reason to suffer you will not find. 1026

Answer 97

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 98

Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering. 1028

Answer 98

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

Question 99

I put a little piece of my love in every human, and I became one with the whole of humanity. Wherever I go, whomever I meet, I see myself in their eyes, because I am a part of everything, because I love.” 1078

Answer 99

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills