First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word

One of my favorite books is by Don Miguel Ruiz, ” The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, a Toltec Wisdom Book”.  Although the title is lengthy, the book itself is a short, but a deep read, promoting four elemental keys to personal freedom from unhealthy actions that stifle our development.

The first of the agreements is to be impeccable with your word. Seems pretty straight forward correct? Basically, it implies that one must speak truth at all times, at all costs, maintaining self dignity. Others come to understand you as someone who can be trusted to ‘say it like it is’, to use a coined popular phrase. Being impeccable with your word does require the art of thinking before one speaks, knowing that your word will affect those who are listening. Knee – jerk responses have to be deleted….permanently. Taking even more practice is using silence as a method of being in truth. Sometimes not saying anything at all can have a greater impact than if we had chosen to say something, especially if it had negative overtones.

Finally, I would add that speaking truth also means that we speak to ourselves with integrity and POSITIVES. Negative self-talk is never helpful in the hourly, daily, weekly or long-term scope of life. Speak kindly, gently and truthfully to yourself, about yourself, as well as to others.

“No legacy is so rich as Honesty.” (William Shakespeare)

How does the truth change actions?

Stay tuned for the other three agreements.