Let's start at the beginning ...

To inspire some conversation, let's do this like one of those surveys:

• Which of the Four Agreements, or other tenet of Toltec wisdom, was the one that called to you most when you were introduced to it?
• How has your understanding of that Agreement or Tenet evolved?
  
• How did it affect your life, could you see specific ways in which it changed you and the way you interact with the world?
• Is it something you consciously work with? Regularly or sporatically?
• As you learned to assimilate it into your life, which of the other Agreements or Tenets then “hooked” your attention?

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

• Which of the Four Agreements was the one that called to you most when you were introduced to it?
• “Be Impeccable with your word”
  
• How has your understanding of that Agreement evolved?
• It goes beyond being honest … it is about thought and deed, as well. For me, living by this one agreement, alone, has shaped my life in ways I wouldn't have imagined. There's a common joke about, “be careful what you ask for” … by learning impeccability with my word, I find that my words hold power … and not just those spoken aloud. What I say in my head has just as much power … perhaps more so.
  
• Is it something you consciously work with? Regularly or sporatically?
• It's a way of life for me
  
• As you learned to assimilate the Agreement into your life, which of the other Agreements then called your attention?
• “Make no assumptions” … which looks a lot like “have no expectations”
  

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

Which of the Four Agreements was the one that called to you most when you were introduced to it?
“Don't take anything personally.”

How has your understanding of that Agreement evolved?
it started out as a wise concept, but an abstract one – it's turned into an everyday practice and has also turned into an awareness on an emotional and present-time level – in other words, it doesn't just live in my mind anymore

How did it affect your life, could you see specific ways in which that Agreement changed you and the way you interact with the world?
it served me very well during a recent breakup – it functioned as an anchor to keep me connected to what I know is true about me and my life, instead of allowing me to be knocked off balance by someone else's perceptions of me

also, in general, that agreement helps me be more compassionate with people – if someone acts in an unfriendly manner toward me, I figure he or she is having a challenging day (or life), and I send out some kind thoughts – I feel softer and more in balance as a result of integrating that agreement into my life

back in the 1980s, I was involved with Landmark Education – the seminar leaders used to quote Werner Erhard as saying, “If you want to know how important your opinions are, go outside at night, tell them to the stars, and watch to see how much impact they have.” – for me, that ties into not taking things personally – other people's opinions are just their opinions, not The Truth and often not even relevant to my life – which is not to rule out me using them as food for thought sometimes – but ultimately other people's opinions  belong to them and aren't my business – and the reverse is true, as well – I've become more respectful of others in how/when/if I communicate my opinions to them

Is it something you consciously work with? Regularly or sporadically?
every day, but not like work – more that it's part of my grounding, and I bring consciousness to it to keep it healthy

As you learned to assimilate the Agreement into your life, which of the other Agreements then called your attention?
“Always do your best.” I remember that when I read that agreement, my “inner perfectionist” relaxed a bit – I tend to think I need to do things flawlessly and I can get really driven – I have a current work project with a new company that has a huge learning curve, and I'm having to just do my best and let it be enough – it's a great lesson for me

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

Re: Let’s start at the beginning …
Kira said Yesterday, 5:09 AM:

Which of the Four Agreements was the one that called to you most when you were introduced to it?
“Be impeccable with your word.”

How has your understanding of that Agreement evolved?

It first I thought it meant to tell the Truth, The more I studied it found The Truth could be rather elusive. It appeared to be more important to speak love to yourself and others. To understand that your word has the power to create or destroy, and to be aware, use it lovingly. It also became a way I looked at my self-talk/ inner dialog, wow was my mind going on without direction, and so cleaning up my mind has been a big part of my training.

How did it affect your life, could you see specific ways in which that Agreement changed you and the way you interact with the world?

My whole life has been and is still affected by this agreement. I like myself, even love myself because of this agreement. Loving others is easier when you love yourself. When you harbor no gossip no resentment your mind becomes more peaceful, your word gains power and you can see it creating in your world. Intent becomes clearer, silence a joy. I have learned to manifest, because my word has truth that creates. This one agreement can keep me busy. When relating with others it reminds me to choose my words carefully, I get better at this agreement all the time. When talking about my health or my life I’m careful to place things in the positive, that is: I am better and better everyday, I use a gratitude list to keep positive loving or silent. This agreement placed me as the hunter in my mind. I see others or my stories, and they are just that, stories. With practice this agreement places me closer to direct experience with life. Life is, love is, I am, and that’s my story, I am sticking to it for now!
Also as a result of this agreement life has taken on more meaning. We create our world collectively and individually with the power of our word, that’s powerful.

Is it something you consciously work with? Regularly or sporadically?
Yes I work with this all the time. I check in to what my thoughts are doing several times a day. When driving I like to run though things I am grateful for. I also play focus games like, listening to hear the silence under all sound. I ‘m careful about what I say about others, very little. I find that I have very little to say most of the time, unless I am teaching.

As you learned to assimilate the Agreement into your life, which of the other Agreements then called your attention?

” Don’t make assumptions ” As I watched my mind I realized that so much of what went on in there was a story or lie I was telling to make myself feel safe or in control. Lies, lies, and more lies. I really thought I knew it all had a 6th since into who you were too! Wow! Then I also had a story about how you knew what I wanted or needed and were just not giving me what I wanted. I was a mess. Then after cleaning up some of that junk there was room to look at other assumptions, like when are you sleeping and when are you dreaming. Is the world solid or liquid? I have seen things appear in front of my eyes out of what appeared to be nothing. What is love?

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

Bear …

I feel lot of synchronicity in what you're saying! Where you talk about how this agreement helps you with the Inner Diaglogue, really resonates with me, as I've seen my life change by appying 'loving self-talk' to the Judge and its influence in my life. When my head starts running in circles (the inner dialogue, or ID), I will employ a trick lent to me by a friend … play the observer of the ID … just watch. And when the ID ceases (and it always does), I replace it with something loving and self-nurturing.

Gossip … what a great example of how to apply this Agreement! How often do we think we're just being “concerned” when we talk to other people about someone. When we're impeccable with our word and we stop to listen to what we're saying about someone, generally … usually, we stop talking. I know it sounds really trite, but it always brings to mind the line by Thumper in Bambi … “If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nuthin' at all.” Better that we keep our big traps shut, and more importantly, uncover the reason we feel the need to gossip in the first place.

It's been my experience that what most disturbs us about someone else is an opportunity to use the reflection to see what disturbs us about ourselves. It's almost the reverse of the agreement, “Take nothing personally.” For me, every encounter, every experience contributes to my developing awareness of me, so that everything in my world is about me.

Gratitude … indeed. It's far too easy to look at the things that frustrate or disturb us, and put the em-pha-sis on the wrong syl-la-ble. The rude clerk at the store, the not-so customer service rep … all those outside influences that challenge us in day-to-day life. I find that if I come from a place of gratitude, I can more easily move through these moments with grace and contentedness. Now, when I encounter the rude clerk, I work at finding a way to cheering her up or just offering a moment of less stress for her. It works for her and for me, and comes from a place of gratitude.

What is love? This is as good as the question “Who are you?” Stripped of all descriptive nouns (sister, mother, lover, boss, home-owner) and “do-ings” …….. Who are you? LOL .. do not assume you know. It is only when we reach that place of, “hellifiknow,” that we can begin to start to embark on the journey of self-awareness.

Warmly,
Ladee

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

Thanks ladee,

Love your comments, when we clean up our minds when we ask the question that have no answers, like; who are you? What is life? What is love?
We go beyond what is known to experience we face life as a warrior.

I want to share a story about one of my students because I think it’s a great story and it shows how our inner world affects our mirror.

In class she said that she felt she was spilt by her beliefs half of her still believed the old stories while half was becoming aware of another way to be in the world. She wasn’t sure what was true for her.
So I reflected back to her; I asked her what her experience had been and if she had seen changes in her mirror. She Stated that yes she had, but was still unsure I told her that this was a battle of the ego fighting to stay in power, and that if she would focus on the truth of her experiences she could fly over the gap.
She called the next day in a panic, she had run into someone who had talked her into a corner she felt that the old belief must be right, but even the thought that it might be true zapped all her energy.

I calmed her down then pointed out that her mirror was in fact simply reflecting her own dilemma off being unsure and having a 50/50 pull going on. She was able to see it, then I directed her to her body and asked her to use her bodies energy as a guide. She noted that as she spoke about the old belief she lost energy, but when speaking of the new belief she gained energy with that as her guide she was free to make her choices.

I wanted to share, any comments, please.

Blessings Bear

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

when we clean up our minds when we ask the question that have no answers, …We go beyond what is known to experience we face life as a warrior.

Indeed. Getting past the “I (think I) know everything” stage is rarely comfortable, too. Most of us resist that level of unknown. And learning to surrender to the Unknown takes a warriror's strength, with an arsenal at her side. It does, however, lead us to gnosis (silent knowing) and the Nagual (the Unknowable).  To get to the other side we must be willing to challenge all that we think we know.

I've approached more about mirroring in another thread to expand on this, and am about to open another with what is becoming known as Don Miguel Ruiz's ”Fifth Agreement” to discuss moving past what we Believe.

I hope you'll join me there, too.

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

wherever that may be (the beginning, I mean).
     Personally, by the time I ran into “The 4 Agreements” I had read all the Castaneda books, some Victor Sanchez and a few others.
     So, properly speaking, I have to say that I was introduced to the agreements by Carlos (or Don Juan, if you will).Definitely “Death is an Advisor” is what reeled me in.  Oops! That's not one of the four agreements, is it?  Or is it?  I think its an agreement….
     How did it affect my life?  Hmm, that's funny.  Kind of dramatically, actually.  Imagine asking yourself before most of your acts & decisions: “Am I willing to die for this?”  I'm serious, I really did that for along time, and the REAL bummer was that there really wasn't anything I was Willing to die for.  Which kind of led to some procrastination on my part.  If I'm not willing to die for whatever the decision in front of me is, I'd better do NOTHING.
     How has my understanding of that agreement evolved?  What started happening more & more is that I'd come to the conclusion that I had nothing I was willing to die for, but that if I had to die as a result of this or that decision, so be it.  SILLY ME, I'd been asking myself the wrong question all this time.  Let's try “Am I READY to die for this decision?”  Ahh, that's much better.  There's a huge difference there, willingness as opposed to readiness. Toltec wisdom is way too life-affirming to make willingness to die an “agreement”.  Readiness to die is a whole different ballgame.  I don't think I can make my life all it can be if I'm not ready to die. For me the bottom line (right now, anyway) is “You're either good at what you do & enjoy it or you're not good at what you do & don't enjoy it.  AND LIFE IS SHORT.”  So when I put a lot of effort into what I do & TRY to make each of my acts my last battle on earth, I 'll expand my life.  Simple, huh? In a fight for my life, even an instant counts.  Where's the room for boredom? Besides, like I said , life is short, and imagine measuring your life in  seconds or instants instead of days or months or years.
     Do I use that agreement regularly?  I live with my awareness of death.
Rivers & Rainbows, Ruthless
     P.S.:  So when I did run into the four agreement - I enjoyed that book; a different approach  to Toltec Wisdom than I'd seen before.  I especially enjoyed Don Miguels “Initiation of the Dead Embracing the angel of death“  

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

*chuckling* I'm so glad you posted … As a result of your post I've changed the way the questions in this thread reads … because this Pod is not about The Four Agreements, it about the Toltec Warrior's Path. And that takes on many flavors and has many teachers.

I'm not sure I'd call “Death as an Advisor” an agreement, though I can see how one might. I'm more inclined to call it one of the tools in my warrior's arsenal, along with recapping and stopping the world, etc. Probably a matter of semantics. I loved reading how observing how it worked in your life evolved. I've never thought to examine, “would I die for this?” I'm not sure it's a required step to learn death's advisories. I tend more to think, “were I to die, at any moment, would I be doing what I'm doing?” To that I can say a resounding, “yes!!”  

Ladee

Re: Let's start at the beginning ...

Definitely a matter of semantics.  Agreements, tools in the warriors arsenal - all the same to me.  In Tales of Power or Journey to Ixtlan Don Juan says something like “In my life I've met many people and of those people there were few who would listen to what I might have to say.  And of those few there were even less who might act upon what I said; and of those few there were even less who would benefit by those actions.”  Agreements & tools are all fine, but unless I can & do use them, they're useless.

     So right behind using death as an advisor, being personally impeccable in my words & actions was, has been, and is the order of the day. But I use I use all the agreements, all the tools, but probably not enough of the time.  Some of those tools are not that easy to use. (Hmm, but then, nobody ever promised me this journey would be easy - in fact, screw easy, a Toltec lives by challenges - and I'm really humble at my great fortune at having found a challenge in life, rather than a burden.
Tall pines & Road signs, Ruthless