In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz explores several different “agreements” that, when practiced, will bring us great personal freedom and peace. The first agreement is “Be Impeccable with Your Word”. This includes avoiding gossip, speaking the truth, being straightforward, and abstaining from negative self-talk. Ruiz spends much of the chapter about this agreement saying that this is the most powerful of the four in the book and how much better our lives will be if we master only this one. I’ll use this post to discuss my experiences when practicing, as well as failing to practice, this agreement.
I realized that a lot of the negativity I’ve experienced recently was caused by my failure to be impeccable with my word. Once the negativity built up to the point that it was dragging me down, I knew something needed to change. Shortly thereafter, I began noticing just how often I would think or say something against someone else, complain about my situation, or speak against myself. I’ve learned that trying to maintain a positive mindset is important for living my best possible life, but it doesn’t work if my words and actions are negative. I have to avoid embracing the negativity that others create as well as avoid creating negativity within myself.
Although I only recently started focusing once more on being impeccable with my word, I’ve felt a great sense of peace ever since I made that conscious decision. Now I can sense whenever my thoughts or words are starting to turn negative and stop them in their tracks. I find that changing subjects helps keep me in line. I also do this when talking to someone who is in a negative state of mind; I don’t to tell them to stop speaking negatively, but I can usually manage to either reframe the subject in a more positive light or subtly switch the focus to something else. This way I avoid engaging in and strengthening their negativity, which helps me stay positive and appears to help them become a bit more positive as well. I’m going to keep trying to be impeccable with my word, take things one moment at a time, and see how that affects my life. With what I’ve experienced thus far from practicing this agreement, I’m excited to see what else it has in store for me.