HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to…
Loading...

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book (original 1997; edition 2001)

by Don Miguel Ruiz

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
7,7011281,157 (3.76)56
Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:

In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

  • A New York Times bestseller for over a decade
    • Over 10 million copies sold in the U.S.
    • Translated into 46 languages worldwide

      "This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter." â?? Oprah Winfrey

    … (more)
  • Member:mrisbon01
    Title:The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
    Authors:Don Miguel Ruiz
    Info:Amber-Allen Publishing (2001), Hardcover, 168 pages
    Collections:Your library
    Rating:
    Tags:None

    Work Information

    The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz (1997)

    Loading...

    Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

    No current Talk conversations about this book.

    » See also 56 mentions

    English (125)  Spanish (1)  French (1)  All languages (127)
    Showing 1-5 of 125 (next | show all)
    NF
      vorefamily | Feb 22, 2024 |
    There were so many things wrong with this book.
    I didn't like the tone of it from the beginning. I was dreading the Be Impeccable with your word chapter because It felts as if it was going to use it to tell you "You need to say the truth it doesn't matter if it's mean " (i hate that train of thought) But it didn't do happen! I was happily surprised

    However I got to the Don't let anything affect you personally and Oh boy... apparently you can be mean to someone and if they feel offended it's their fault for letting their wounds affect them. Not the offender's responsibility whether their words hurt you, it's your fault for letting them hurt you. Excuse mee??? He even goes on saying

    "if someone says to me" why are you saying those things, Miguel, they hurt me" i don't take it personally because I know they have unhealed wounds and that's why they are feeling that way"

    aka he takes no responsibility of how his words make other people feel and tries to make us believe that this is a good thing??

    Another bit that I didn't like is the "You should never look for acceptance" and I get where it is coming from, but I don't think the NEVER should be there. We humans are social being and we feel the need to be part of a group. It is totally natural and healthy to want to be part of a group and feel hurt when your expectations aren't met. That group could be friends, family or even your partner! It's one thing to not let the need of acceptance cloud your actions, and a very different thing to say having the need to feel accepted is to be avoided.

    Oh yeah and I though it was bullshit when it talks about how you should never do something if you're only looking for the reward. That you should "Learn to love" what you do so you aren't waiting for the reward. The book gives WORK as an example. I'm sorry but there are so many people out there that do not have the choice of working in a field that fulfills them. It's ok to do something just for the reward of it. If I was starving and had to resort to kill an animal to feed myself I would do it, even though I'd hate it, because I would want to survive. And i wouldnt want to "learn to love" killing it.

    The next point I want to talk about is how awful the book treats negative emotions. It says over and over again that you should avoid them, repress them, he even compares them a sickness. Anyone that has any degree of emotional intelligence can tell you that there is not such thing as good or bad emotions, and that you definitely should NEVER repress them. Instead, you should try to understand why you feel them and try to not let them take control over you. The book doesn't mention any coping mechanisms, its only strategy is to "stop feeling them". Imagine a clinically depressed person reads this book, this is just horrible advice!

    The last of the agreements is "do your best" and the justification for it is that if you do your best, then you don't have to blame yourself if things go wrong because you did your best. You shouldn't feel bad. Instead, you should accept yourself and your imperfections and only through this you will find peace.
    What about learning or improving? How about personal growth?You will make mistakes even when you're doing your best and i think that's ok, but the book never mentions even once that you should try to improve, it just uses it as an excuse to not take responsibility and be able to be at peace with yourself. Noone is perfect but just cause noone is perfect it doesn't mean that we cannot strive to be better.

    Finally, there was another bit I didn't like, although at that stage I was not reading full paragraphs because I was so fed up with the book. There is a part towards the end where he says the following "The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer". Again, just imagine a clinically depressed person reading this book, what the hell!!

    TLDR: Bad life advice, also badly written, would not recommend.

    ( )
      enlasnubess | Oct 2, 2023 |
    This book had some good points, but it stated every opinion on facts that aren't proven. It comes across as arrogant and rude. ( )
      CaitlinDaugherty | Aug 28, 2023 |
    While I can personally relate to many of the messages this book, they were too familiar to have significant impact on me as a reader. It was less a sensation of encountering something that "resonates" with me, and more an experience of reading what's been read before. I do think this could be a great book for someone beginning to look outside the realm of traditional philosophy and spiritual thinking, it just wasn't particularly rewarding for me at this time. ( )
      Kim.Sasso | Aug 27, 2023 |
    Fue una buena lectura. Igualmente, pensé que me aportaría mucho mas, pero aun así fueron buenos los conceptos que brindaba ( )
      mahebelen | Aug 25, 2023 |
    Showing 1-5 of 125 (next | show all)
    no reviews | add a review

    » Add other authors (10 possible)

    Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
    Miguel Ruizprimary authorall editionscalculated
    Coyote, PeterNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
    You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
    For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
    Canonical title
    Original title
    Alternative titles
    Original publication date
    People/Characters
    Important places
    Important events
    Related movies
    Epigraph
    Dedication
    To the Circle of Fire;
    those who have gone before,
    those who are present,
    and those who have yet to come.
    First words
    What you are seeing and hearing right now is nothing but a dream.
    Quotations
    Information from the Spanish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
    Quiero que olvides todo lo que has aprendido en la vida. Este es el principio de un nuevo entendimiento, de un nuevo sueño.

    Tienes el poder de crear el infierno y de crear el cielo. .

    Imagínate que te amas a ti mismo tal y como eres.
    Last words
    Disambiguation notice
    Publisher's editors
    Information from the Spanish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
    Blurbers
    Original language
    Information from the Spanish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
    Canonical DDC/MDS
    Canonical LCC

    References to this work on external resources.

    Wikipedia in English

    None

    Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:

    In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

    A New York Times bestseller for over a decade Over 10 million copies sold in the U.S. Translated into 46 languages worldwide

    "This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter." â?? Oprah Winfrey

    No library descriptions found.

    Book description
    Haiku summary

    Current Discussions

    None

    Popular covers

    Quick Links

    Rating

    Average: (3.76)
    0.5 3
    1 50
    1.5 8
    2 104
    2.5 12
    3 227
    3.5 24
    4 351
    4.5 31
    5 347

    Is this you?

    Become a LibraryThing Author.

    Beyond Words Publishing

    3 editions of this book were published by Beyond Words Publishing.

    Editions: 1878424319, 187842436X, 1878424777

     

    About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,243,175 books! | Top bar: Always visible