The Four Agreements, By Don Miguel Ruiz ...

While browsing today I came across these interesting set of rules for a good and peaceful living. They sounded very simplistic and easy to follow, but are they?

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally- Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions- Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best- Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Can you follow any of these say, for a week.

Lessons learnt in life

I have come up with a few "lessons well learned" in my life so far. Its not a complete list but a good list nevertheless. Hope you find them interesting and useful too.

1. If everything is going very smooth, check everything again.

When everything around you seems impeccable and when you can see nothing in your path towards that small speck of light which is your door to success, check everything and make sure that the small speck of light you see is not actually a mirror reflecting the actual door to success, which is on a completely different path, strewn around with every hurdle you can ever think of. Life is never fair to anyone and as Calvin says, its never ever unfair in your favor (hope you got that).

2. You never get everything you ask for.

Oh yeah, this is so very true and I've had so much experience in it. If you wish for a few things to happen, the most insignificant of those would happen for sure not matter what, but your dearest wish that you wanted to be true will never happen no matter how much you yearn or however long you wait for it to happen. There may have been exceptions for others, but not for me. Yet.

3. Girls are hard to understand and are unpredictable.

Well I've had limited experience in this category, but whatever experience I've had will surely last me a lifetime.
[Didn't find a suitable picture for this...Any suggestions are welcome.]

4. Never lose you confidence.

Never ever in you entire life, not even for a minute, should you think that you are a loser. There are times in your life when you get lucky and accomplish something great, that even you thought you would never be able to do. Use such accomplishments in you favor by thinking that you got it right because you are good at what you do, not because you got lucky (sometimes that's what is actually true and you are being modest 'bout it). Build up your confidence. But its also very important to not be overconfident and put too much on your plate than you can eat.

5. Be optimistic.

Being optimistic almost aways goes hand in hand with being confident. But there is a slight difference. Being optimistic in the face of trouble doesn't actually mean that you should always think positive. In my opinion, it means that you should always be on the look out for those negative (pessimistic) effects too but be positive (optimistic) about them and think of solutions to solve problems. Being confident is believing in yourself that you can achieve those solutions.

6. Treasure your friends

There are a few situations in life when you feel lonely and helpless, when you are beyond the reach of any family or when although you are in reach of family, you can't ask them for any help. Only person that can come to your aid at such times is a friend. Never lose them, for they are not something which can be found if lost. Friends never ask for much, only a 'hi' or a 'hello' once in a while will ensure an everlasting friendship.

There are more but these are the ones that came to my mind right away. As a reader if you disagree with any, or if you want to add to the list, you are welcome to start a discussion.