For as much as I complain I have sooo much to be thankful for. One of my biggest blessings is the fact that I have such wonderful people in my life that keep me on track. (On track most certainly does not mean perfect, just so you know.) I mean they keep me honest, and focused on the important things in life and on moving forward as a person.
One particular friend always has so much insight and wisdom to offer. Whenever I feel despair or that my world is falling around me she lends a shoulder and provides just the thing I need to hear.
During my last little breakdown, she gave sweet encouragement, and tough love. While she lets me vent my frustrations and angers she doesn’t let me off the hook. There is always a lesson to everything that happens in life, something she reminded me of. She then sent me an e-mail with The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.....a great read if you ever get the chance. Here they are:
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
3. Don’t Make Assumption
4. Always Do Your Best
Yeah yeah, much easier said than done. I have had this list taped on my bedroom wall for over a week and it’s way too hard to remember all these things. Seriously who has time to think about 4 different things to work on throughout the day?
So I’m going to tackle them one by one. Starting with the first.
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.
Damn.
Language is such a powerful tool. Having the spoken word is a gift to man. I so abuse it.
I was looking at this tonight and realized even if I practiced this one agreement I would become a bigger and better person. ...I swear way too much. More often than not I do not say what I mean. My inner dialogue, while getting better, definitely needs work. Don’t get me started on gossiping about others. And only in the direction of truth and love? Yikes. I might not be able to speak for a week.
Think about your speech for a moment and imagine that you were only able to speak if the vocabulary you let out followed this rule. How many things would you not be able to say?
Impeccable. What a profound and lovely word. Impeccable; In accordance with the highest standards of propriety. Heavy. Like Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker, “With great power, comes great responsibility”. The same could be said of the privilege of speech.
I am by far the most at fault with breaking this agreement. I am course, cruel, intolerant, and sometimes downright merciless when it comes to my word. The good news- Spiderman did not become awesome over night, nor will I.
“Everyone thinks you make mistakes when your young. But I don’t think we make any fewer when we’re grown up.” -Jodi Picoult
