Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life (Toltec Wisdom)

I found it to be very easy to read, enjoyed all the thoughts and found a lot made so much sense to me. I didn't do all the lesson. I just found there were too many. I did what I thought would be most helpful for me. Sometimes too many lesson and we get lost or we lose interest! That is just me! Someone else may enjoy it very much or feel it would help them.It was good to understand how the lessons we learned as children stay in our lives and how we judge ourselves! Sometimes just a little too much!

This DEElightful book clarifies everything in the "Four Agreements" book, simplifing and making it much easier to remember what was learned...
I can't say enough to entice the reader into having this companion book, it's a must have...Rob Ward

I would suggest getting this book to go along with the original Four Agreements book. It dives deeper into the meaning and use of the Four Agreements and puts them into even more perspective. The book was in great condition.

Everyone should read this book! Including me, I haven't finished it yet ;-)
1. Be Impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

This is a very good book, you don't have to "agree" with all he concepts to be able to gain a lot from this book, if we could all live by the four agreements our individual lives would change. I have loved this book.

The Four Agreements Companion Book is essential, as was advised. I am finding that this is absolutely true.
What
both books promis is astonishing. I am excited anticipating mastering "the dream of my Life".

This is the best book I have ever bought. I carry it with me everywhere and anytime I need a lift to my spirit I pick it up and just read where ever I happen to open up to. This book has changed my life.

This book holds the best of mental and physical improvement, explaining what prooblems we carry from childhood into adulkthood. They block our improvement and tie us to childhood instyructions which severely limit us.

Purchased at the store

I have a group of women that are studying the Four Agreements and I thought this might be a good tool. I have only started the book and it seems somewhat helpful but I'm not sure it is exactly what I was hoping. It has things to do, which is what I wanted, but there is not quite the exercises that I think we could use. But once we get started I'll have a better handle on this.

This is a good book for creating critical thinking in the reader of the Four Agreements. It is a resource to allow the reader the chance to look introspectively and motivate the reader to grow in the Toltec Wisdom.

Received quickly and book is in like new condition. I gave it to someone needing some inspiration to become a better person. He is very in tune with the author and his beliefs. I am already seeing positive changes in his outlook. I bought it used because wasn't sure it would be worth the money at a bookstore and we ended up thrilled to get it at a low price and in such excellent condition. Very satisfied with this seller.

I would recommend any book written by Don Miguel Ruiz. The perfect way to understand our lives and why they are, the way they are. Then the book goes on to help you understand what is truth and what is just a belief. This is a great first book to read and then read "The Fifth Agreement" Book by Don Miguel Ruiz and his son Jose. Enjoy

I am only about 20% through the book but felt I should write a review to let people know I've had an issue using the kindle version on my Mac Air. Everytime I advance a couple pages, the book "resets" to the cover page and I have to go to the table of contents, select the chapter and flip through pages to get back to the spot I was last on. It is disruptive. Otherwise the book is good and you'll get more benfit reading reviews of people whom have finished it. Cheers.

I like it!
I don't have 13 words to say & I don't see why its mandatory to have a lot to say about MY purchases ~ either I like it or don't like it ~ why do I have to write a book? why don't you simply put a brief description in the headliner or summary ~ you should be trying to make it easier for clients to want to leave feedback ~ this is to much work!

This companion book is a continuation of the Four Agreements book. The paperback version is ideal for taking notes. While I say that this is a continuation the content seems more like information that leads up to creating the Four Agreements.

Don Miguel Ruiz begins by defining how our thoughts and beliefs are formed. He terms it "domestication". Others would call it programming or conditioning. It is basically everything that happens in your early years that formed your perceptions of yourself and the world around you. This can lead to seeking approval, not feeling comfortable being yourself, and suffering.

Once again Don Ruiz explains that each of us is living an illusion. We have the power to break our habits, thoughts and ideas that no longer serve us. We have the power to create a new reality for ourselves. But first we have to understand how we evolved to be the person that we currently are. I highly recommend this book.

When my girlfriend told me about this book, I thought it sounded interesting. The four agreements, as she remembered them, were things that I had kind of already decided for myself. She thought it was a really good book, so I thought I'd give it a read too. The basic premise of the book is that in the process of becoming a person, we are domesticated. During that domestication, we make agreements with ourselves. Some of them are true and some of them are not but they become part of our inner 'book of law.' Challenging those beliefs is difficult because that 'book of law' makes us feel safe, even if it's wrong. In order to break away from the pain, fear, and self judgement that goes along with those agreements, we have to make new ones.

I feel that the four agreements he lists are good ones. Like I said, I'd already started trying to follow them without actually reading the book.
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

Of course he expounds on these, explaining why he feels each is important both for us and the people around us. I think much of what he writes makes a lot of sense, but I wasn't thrilled about it being explained through the filter of Toltec wisdom. I don't understand why a practical matter had to be turned into a spiritual one. I guess the pursuit of Toltec knowledge is this author's thing, but I don't feel that making these agreements sort of spiritual helped me in any way, shape or form. It's easy enough to skip over those statements and get to the meat of the agreements, but I just didn't need to be reading things like "Don't resist life passing through you, because that is God passing through you." Or "It is an expression of God to say, "Hey, I love you." Then you get to the very end of the book and there's a prayer to the creator. It seems out of place to me, you've got this whole book teaching you how to be comfortable with yourself and how to live without guilt and fear, but then you keep mentioning this concept whose very purpose is to fill people with guilt and fear.

It is a good book. I feel that living by these agreements had made me a better and happier person, but I didn't need a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo to come up with them.

I did all of the exercises suggested in this book, after thoroughly reading the book that precedes it: "The Mastery of Love". I was AMAZED at what I found inside me, that were blatant roadblocks to emotional freedom. I earnestly did the exercises, and continue to practice the spiritual and cognitive principles laid out here. The work of Don Miguel Ruiz has profoundly influenced my life, career, and relationships. In my book: "Trauma and Transformation: A 12-Step Guide", I fully explore the spiritual side-effects of trauma, and how the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is a powerful systematic approach for the trauma survivor seeking a spiritual solution.

-Rivka Edery, L.M.S.W
Website: [...]
Author of: "Trauma and Transformation: A 12-Step Guide".
Available from: TRAUMA AND TRANSFORMATION 12 Step Guide

This book is amazing. It changed my view on love and relationships. It allowed me to see what I needed to change to make things work for myself. It enlightened me on how to stop sabotaging myself. And pointed out that in order for things to work with other people, you have to work with yourself.

It's actually more of a work book, then just a sit there and read kind of a book. It has exercises and bring to light some painful stuff. But if you make it through, you'll realize it was worth every penny and second you spent on it.

Definitely recommended, from one lost soul to another. It was actually the first book of his that I read and I fully plan on getting the rest!

I read all the reviews here on the store and the 1 star comments made me doubt this book.
But,from my experience i believe those reviews were unfounded.
The book was REALLY helpul in building new agreements.
as for the journal format:
some people don't like that it is time consuming, but that is the whole point of the book to get you to dedicate time to thinking about what really is behind your way of being.It asks you questions and you to aswer them.this is done to get YOU to realize certain truths about yourself instead of having them be handed to you.by asking questions that dispell the lies you tell yourself the truth is able to come out.
As for the repetitions:
they really aren't many and the ones that are there are placed there on purpose because the more you hear something the more likely it is that you will remember somethig...and he's really trying to get you to remember those things.
As for the comment saying "t4a" is simplistic and save yourself the money:
well maybe it didn't work for that person.But for me the truth is that there is more to it,the book explains the damage that not doing these has caused your life and it goes more into depth about what is behind these agreements and why they help.
Ruiz's work has really helped me and many people, if there is a CHANCE that it might help you then you should try it, you have nothig to loose because if you don't like it you can resell on ebay or donate it. you only have great things to gain :0)

One of the shortcomings of the original /Four Agreements/ book is that it is rather lacking in practical advice or exercises for putting the Agreements to work in your real life. I imagine a lot of people would have liked some basic guidance on where to go with this great code of conduct.

So, in comes the /Companion Book/. Sure enough, it does include a lot of exercises and advice. Kudos to don Miguel and Janet Mills for covering the practical side. But the book is remarkably redundant and even manages to sometimes contradict or cast a little doubt on itself and /The Four Agreements/. If you've read the original book, 70% of the material here is a severely disorganized rehashing of the ideas you already learned. Honestly, it feels like the Companion Book was the first draft of /The Four Agreements/.

However! The book *does* include a lot of exercises for self-inquiry that can illuminate things in ways you may not expect. Those exercises are valuable, and I think they can help you find a place for the Four Agreements in your life.

My basic opinion on the book can be split into two parts:

** If you've read /The Four Agreements/: skip the blathering parts and go straight to the exercises in each chapter. They're worth serious contemplation and exploration -- and you'll have plenty of time for said exploration, if you don't waste your time re-reading all the stuff you already learned in the first book.

** If you haven't read /The Four Agreements/: you could just buy this book by itself and you'd basically get a refresher course on what the other one covers... However, I would actually recommend against that. /The Four Agreements/ is the superior book, and it covers everything much more coherently and concisely than the rehashing treatment you get in the /Companion/.

This book could have been about 50 pages instead of 200+ if it didn't include so much doubling back on what the original /Four Agreements/ already talked about. The practical exercises are worthwhile, the interview with don Miguel is fun to read, and the "true stories" of people's experiences with the Agreements can be encouraging (though they are a bit two-dimensional). I just wish the bulk of the book was not an inferior imitation of /The Four Agreements/ itself.

The Four Agreements is a wonderful way to re examine your life values. The author opens up a dialog with your life expectations and life experiences. I find that this book provides real food for thought and encourages us to do"our best" and be "our best". I have introduced this book to many others who have found it instructive and affirming to them as individuals; they have attributed to the author the calming of anxiety and the lifting of depression. The author is convincing and inviting about a fresh way to view the world and your part in it.

After reading The Four Agreements, I felt that it is great to learn the four agreements ¡V be impeccable with your word, don¡¦t take anything personally, don¡¦t make assumptions and always try your best. However, that book did not have enough practical ideas or skills to guide me decode our old agreements/emotional garbage, how to be aware and how to transform. This book has a practical guide to teach us how to live in the four agreements. It teaches us how to become aware and how to transform.

1. Bring the Awareness to Surface so We Can Let Go of the Parasites, the Old Agreement, the Judge, the Victim, the fear

2. How to transform by the second attention (become aware and not act on or judge too fast), action-reaction, attach-detach

Don Miguel Ruiz has a very playful style of writing when he was telling us the above skills. I think in essence, the above skills suggests us to slow down our thinking process to give us enough time to steer our feelings and actions to apply the four agreements and to enjoy life intensely within the moment. His dialogue about the four agreements and other people¡¦s stories about applying the four agreements give me hope that I can live my life with what he has suggested. The dialogue helps us to decode certain emotional garbage and the dialogue helps me to break the old agreements. It is definitely a must-read if you have read the four agreements. Again, reading is not enough. However, putting the new adopted philosophies into everyday¡¦s life is the way to turn the dream of hell to become the dream of heaven.

The information given in the ad was very helpful. It clarified the parts of the book and the companion book as well. I found this really helpful to know that I wanted both parts to use together. This is a book I heard about on the Oprah show a while ago and was quite expensive at first publishing --buying on here at an affordable price makes so many books and forms of entertainment obtainable to those of us that can't just throw money away these days.

Thanks,

While I absolutely love the four agreements and return to the original book often, I found the companion book to be completely unnecessary. The writing style was poor and rambled in circles, constantly repeating itself. There was no new information at all. I seemed to me to be a way to get a little more money out of the concept - shocking considering the author.

I did enjoy the last few pages of personal examples from people who had incorporated the four agreements into their lives.

If you have the four agreements original book, you don't need this one and if you don't then skip this one and get the original.

Well, I read the 4 agreements plus Mastery of Love a few months ago and I have to agree that if everybody realized the condition of the human mind, we would have a better world. But I'm not waiting around for everybody :-)
This book carries through on the original book's promise to liberate the human being by realizing how we can MAKE our own reality instead of just accepting (and suffering through) the one that is given to us by the dream of the world. I'm just beginning to use the workbook and I can tell that it is just what I need to put Don Muguel Ruiz's ideas into practice. The original book plus The Mastery of Love ought to be read first.
I will let you know how I fare in this quest for mastering the dream of MY life. The exercises are serious but fun and joyous if approached with the spirit of wanting to further oneself on the path to personal freedom.

I like Miguel Ruiz as an author very much. You can see that from my grades of other his books. But this book is dissapointment for me.
I read some other experiental and companion books that were much better, for example Teachings of don Carlos or Celestine Prophecy - an experiental guide.
In all these books the diary writing as a method is included too, but in the Four Agreements Companion Book the writing in the diary or notebook is the only method. In very short time it becomes boring.
Maybe if it was not a book of Miguel Ruiz I would grade it with greater mark, but because Ruiz is so briliant writer, I'll give 3 to this book.
My opinion is that last part of Four Agreements, last part of Mastery of Love and the book Beyond the Fear are much better experiental guides for Miguels teachings.

This book really challenges me. I will use it for years. It is direct and specific. It disects the problem I am dealing with and asks no-nonsense questions. It goes far beyond attitude adjustment and helps me to direct my behavior toward my life-goals.

This book is great and the 4 agreements are inspirational and thought provoking. We spend so much time not respecting ourselves and others and this book takes us to a place to see what is really important. I loved the book so much I bought the CD to listen to in my car and Ipod.

I have not finished reading this book yet, but it has been such a journey for what I have read! I came to such realizations in myself. It is very thought provoking, I never realized how fearful I really am. I never saw myself as fearful, putting a lable on the feelings I have is so freeing! I am looking forward to what lies ahead in this great book!

This book is not a fast read in the page turner sense but a very good ponder. If you like to ponder the big questions in life, this book should be on your shelf. The author has an amazing ability to see life so clearly and put it on the page. You'll find yourself saying, "yeah, that's what it is!"

This is an excellent book for anyone. Don Miguel shares a heartfelt vision of very fundemental and useful truths in a very practical way that is easy to understand and follow. His work also goes beyond the new-age people, and far beyond the pop-psych books, because he is the real deal. His connection with the indigenous traditions of his people gives his expressions an uncommon sincerity and authenticity. I guarantee it will help you, should you allow it. ...

Anecdotal stories without much true insight, and CERTAINLY not the level that some of these reviewers claim. I continue to get the impression that some people suffer from being overly enamoured with the author or the concept of T4A, and thus lose sight of the fact that this book is really a lot of fluffy stuff wrapped around four lines of text. Honestly, the Four Agreements are wonderful points to live by, and I do every day. However, it seems quite bizarre to me that one would need this book (or any other) to explain what these four simple sentences mean:
1) Speak your thoughts clearly
2) Don't ASSume
3) Don't take things personally
4) Do your best
Folks, these are NOT hard things to understand, and you definitely don't need books to figure this stuff out (well, ok, maybe some of you do :-). Do yourself a favor. Print out the four points I've listed above and you'll save yourself lots of money. Peace.

The Four Agreements was the first book I had ever read by Miguel Ruiz & it has changed me. If I had more money than I knew what to do with, I'd buy truck loads of this book & pass them out on street corners. I feel that every one should have one.

This book was suggested reading as if " THE GREAT SECRET to PERSONAL FREEDOM" was going to be revealed. It spoke of a self-centered mindset that seemed to suggest that I was to live my life how I wanted and not consider how my actions would affect others around me. A very simplistic and selfish point of view.

I've never seen new age spirituality as exploitative as Ruiz's. The "First Agreement is "be impeccable with your word". Do you think the Toltecs even had a word for impeccable? They had glyphs, not syllabaries or alphabets. The Toltec empire died out roughly 800 years ago, and the Aztecs and Mayans kept the memory of them alive until the Spanish came. Ruiz would have been much more believable if he claimed to know the secrets of Aztec philosophy. People long for exotic, esoteric spirituality when it seems like traditional religions aren't enough. So, Ruiz comes along to exploit the spiritual and moral insecurities of modern society. He believes he has this "nagual" "eagle knight" heritage to enlighten peoples' minds. Did he have this title confirmed on him through through a Toltec or Meso-American chieftan? No, he just decided he was more enlightened than everyone else because of a car crash with a near death experience. You have to get a kick out of neo-shamans who give themselves self serving spiritual titles to manipulate people and make money. Stay away from this huckster. Better yet, skip over to Carlos Castaneda. At least his work isn't filled with platitudes and self-help garbage. Ruiz is just a big conman. If he were such a great guy, maybe he'd stick up for the rights of Central American people and try to bring them out of poverty. In other words, he should pay back some of the ancestors of the Toltecs for his blatant exploitation. Instead, he travels the world first class, has a yacht, probably owns a few mansions and homes, maybe a cocaine habit, some prostitutes, who knows. Maybe he puts Jimmy Baker to shame. He even looks far more Spanish than he does Native American like he claims to be. To top it off, he has a, "belief in the legend of Atlantis; his belief that the sun entered its sixth age on January 11, 1992, which should lead to a new age for humanity". Gee, I remember 1992. Everyone started acting more peaceful. Yeah right. Don't fall for this guys snake oil. You're better off going to church. "Self-Help Book" is an oxymoron term itself. How are you helping yourself if you're reading someone else's writing? Anyway, stay away from this quack. Learn to think critically. Study various forms of philosophy/social science/humanities/religion or some other subject where the truth is in your interpretation. Not in some hucksters. In other words, stay away from this guys' works and other New Age bullcrap. Learn to think critically. Take a look at the book "S" by John Updike if you're spending too much money on New Age drivel.