Here’s what’s inside “The Four Agreements” 10-lesson course
Welcome and Overview
“You can use The Four Agreements to improve your life in every way, but first you have to start with awareness of where you are and where you want to be.” – don Miguel Ruiz
You’re about to embark on an exciting and endlessly rewarding journey of living a better life by practicing four simple agreements!
The objective of each lesson is simply to become aware of a core or central principle of Ruiz’s teachings. The more you become aware of these principles, the easier it is to live by The Four Agreements, and the faster your life will be transformed.
Lesson 1
Imagine Living a Better Life
Are you feeling powerless, stuck, or undeserving of the life you really want to live? Your true nature is unlimited, powerful, and free, and when you expand your awareness to perceive what you really are, you empower your life with endless possibilities.
This first lesson is an invitation to live a better life. . . a life where you experience more happiness and less suffering. . . a life without conflict, without guilt, without shame. . . a life where you are free to express the real you without fear of being judged by others. . . a life where you love and accept yourself just the way you are.
Lesson 2
Introduction to The Four Agreements
How much of your life is spent in fear, conflict, worry, anxiety, or other forms of emotional suffering? Are you aware that most emotional suffering is completely avoidable?
In this lesson, we make a distinction between unavoidable suffering and avoidable, or "needless,” suffering. Then we introduce four simple agreements that have the power to eliminate needless suffering from your life: Be impeccable with your word. . . Don’t take anything personally. . . Don’t make assumptions. . . and Always do your best. If you can begin to live by these agreements, the transformation in your life will be amazing.
Lesson 3
Domestication: The Beginning of Needless Suffering
Are you aware that much of what we learn as children – especially about ourselves – isn’t the truth? Before domestication, our tendency is to play, to explore, and to be happy. After domestication, our tendency is to wear social masks; we no longer feel free to express who we really are.
This lesson offers insight into human domestication and the beginning of needless suffering. When we are children, the humans who take care of us teach us what they know, and more than 90 percent of that knowledge isn’t the truth. The truth leads us to our authenticity, to happiness. Believing in lies (or a distortion of the truth) leads us to limitations in our lives, to needless suffering and drama.
Lesson 4
The First Agreement:
Be Impeccable With Your Word
Are you aware of the power and importance of the words you speak – not only to others, but to yourself? The word is a force you cannot see, but you can see the manifestation of the force, which is your life. Impeccability of your word leads to happiness, and misuse of your word leads to suffering.
In this lesson, we present the first and most important of The Four Agreements: Be impeccable with your word. The other three agreements are more support for the first agreement – they help you to unlearn the many habits and routines that cause you to suffer. But the ultimate goal is the first agreement because the word is your power of creation. . . it’s what you use to create your story. Everything you know, your entire virtual reality is created with the word.
Lesson 5
The Second Agreement:
Don’t Take Anything Personally
Taking nothing personally is the most challenging agreement for the majority of people. But once you truly understand that all people live in their own virtual world, this agreement becomes pure common sense.
This lesson presents the second of The Four Agreements: Don’t take anything personally. The key to this agreement is the awareness and understanding that each of us lives in our own world, our own movie, our own story. The way we see the world is according to the agreements we have made. Our opinions and points of view come from our own belief system, from all the knowledge we have stored in our memory, and it’s no one’s truth but ours.
Lesson 6
Words and Agreements:
The Art of Humans
When we are domesticated, the knowledge we accumulate is just like a wall of fog that doesn’t allow us to perceive what really is. We become blinded by all those false beliefs in our mind. We cannot see what we truly are; we cannot see that we’re not free.
In this lesson, we make a distinction between the reality that Life creates, and the virtual reality that humans create through the use of a language. Life creates what is real, and humans create stories about what is real. Using words and agreements, we build an edifice of knowledge. . . an entire belief system that tells us what we know about ourselves, about life, about everything. With all the knowledge we accumulate, we no longer perceive what really is; we only see our own knowledge. Our belief system is just like a mirror that only shows us what we believe.
Lesson 7
The Third Agreement:
Don’t Make Assumptions
Are you in the habit of making assumptions, taking them personally, and creating a conflict for nothing? Making assumptions is a set-up for suffering because most assumptions are not the truth – they’re fiction. Assumptions are nothing more than stories you tell yourself when you don’t know the truth.
In this lesson we present the third agreement: Don’t make assumptions. Almost all of the needless suffering in our lives is rooted in making assumptions, taking things personally, and using our word against others and against ourselves. We listen to the voices talking in our head. . . one assumption leads to another assumption. . . we jump to conclusions, take our story personally, and send emotional poison with our word.
Lesson 8
Stories, Superstitions, and the Power of Belief
When you were educated or “domesticated” to be a part of humanity, the power of your belief went into everything you know. Since then everything you know has ruled your life.
This lesson reveals how you lose power over your own life. During the process of domestication, everything you agree to believe becomes part of an invisible structure called a “belief system.” The belief system becomes the “book of law” that rules your life. . . it becomes the big judge in your mind, and you become its victim because first it judges you, then it punishes you. With every agreement you make, the belief system grows stronger and gains more power until it rules your life like a tyrant.
Lesson 9
The Fourth Agreement:
Always Do Your Best
Are you in the habit of doing your best, or do you try to get by with as little effort as possible? "Always do your best" is the agreement that allows the other three agreements to become deeply ingrained habits.
This lesson presents the fourth and final agreement: Always do your best. The first three agreements are in the realm of the virtual reality, but the fourth agreement is in the realm of the physical: Do. . . take action. The fourth agreement helps you to become a master artist because you take action and keep practicing until you master the action. By taking action, you transform yourself, you transform your story, and by doing your best over and over again, you eventually transform your life.
Lesson 10
The Freedom to Be the Real You
The freedom to be the “real” you is the greatest gift that you can give yourself, but are you even aware of the “real” you? Are you aware that you are a manifestation of the Infinite, and you are here to enjoy life, to be happy?
The Four Agreements are a process of unlearning the many ways you have learned to use the word against yourself. They have the power to help you unlearn all the opinions and stories from other humans that are nothing but superstition and lies. As you take your faith out of the lies and recover your faith in the truth, the result is that you become authentic. You recover the freedom to be the real you, and it’s the greatest gift that you can give yourself.
Conclusion and Evaluation
“When you have faith in yourself, you follow every instinct that you were born with. You have no doubt about what you are, and you return to common sense. You have all the power of your authenticity; you trust yourself, you trust that everything is going to be just fine, and life becomes extremely easy.” – don Miguel Ruiz
In this final module, all 10 lesson videos are available for you to review in a single 50-minute video, and the audio soundtrack is included to help reinforce your awareness and understanding of the key concepts within each lesson. We value your feedback and kindly ask that you complete the “Course Evaluation Form.”
