The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Product Information

Shortform note: There are many paths to discarding self-limiting beliefs and reclaiming a feeling of self-worth, and the Toltec road is just one of these. For example, cognitive behavioral therapists specialize in mindset-change—helping clients adjust the way they think about themselves and their day-to-day lives to gradually eliminate self-criticism and shame.) So it's always a good idea to harness the power of doubt. We need to be critical and skeptical when new symbols come along. We need to remember that just because something is glittering, it may not be gold.

In the tradition of the Toltec, a Nagual guides an individual to personal freedom. Combining new insights with old wisdom, don Miguel has dedicated his life to sharing the ancient Toltec wisdom by translating it into practical concepts that promote transformation through truth and common sense. Recover your energy, and keep the blood flowing with several open-minded techniques that disregard those pointless habits we’ve acquired over the years. Social domestication programs us for a reward-or-punishment's system. To avoid the punishment, we become ourselves punishers. But the weird part is that we learn to recompense once and only one for a well-done job, and in the other hand we judge a tiny mistake millions of times. And, in fact, no one knows our goals as we do, so one must remember that he takes things personally, he would be allowing an exterior concept to define him. People say their opinions about us. And when we say "their" we mean what belongs to them and has nothing to do with us. But, since each if us sees himself as the hero of his story, he wishes that the characters respect his expectations. Ego again. Since 1997, The Four Agreements has transformed the lives of millions of people around the world with a simple but profound message. Now bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz and his son, don Jose Ruiz, collaborate with this powerful sequel The Fifth Agreement. The Four Agreements provides the foundation for breaking thousands of agreements that create needless suffering and with The Fifth Agreement you recover all the power of your authenticity, which is who you really are when you are born. The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery by Miguel Ruiz – eBook Details If you define your “best” as the highest bar you’ve ever achieved and expect that of yourself no matter the circumstances, you set yourself up for failure and disappointment. In contrast, the naguals suggest, when you accept that you’ve done what you can for the day, you have no reason to beat yourself up; self-criticism becomes unnecessary and unreasonable.Take your time with this book as well. Soon you’ll be introduced to a new perspective – which indicates why patience is key in life. This is a wonderful book. Although there is some repeat of information from Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements," there is also a lot of new and very insightful content. As such, I highly recommend The Fifth Agreement as a spiritual growth resource. Here's one of my favorite passages: This brief summary will guide us through The Fifth Agreement. We'll learn about truth, reality and fantasy, and why learning to listen is such a crucial skill. We'll also explore skepticism and critical thinking, and how we've come to accept the world as it's been constructed. The World We Live In

In every relationship there are two halves of that relationship. One half is you, and the other half is your son, your daughter, your father, your mother, your friend, your partner. Of those halves, you are only responsible for your half; you are not responsible for the other half. We live on planet Earth; it's round, there are oceans and continents. Planet Earth is part of the solar system. One would find it difficult to argue with these facts, because skeptics in the past have already been proven wrong. When we embark on scientific discovery, we make claims, skeptics weigh in, and eventually, we accept the hypothesis as truth or fiction. Some things are quite simply, just facts. When it comes to religion and matters of faith, science can't help us come up with a definitive answer. So we have to learn to think critically and question what we're being sold through religious narratives. How do we perceive religion? And, although there are no real answers to these questions, the whole point of The Fifth Agreement is to cultivate a sense of curiosity and skepticism about the world we live in. Furthermore, it's our duty to educate ourselves about other people's beliefs, and listen to what they say, regardless of whether we agree with them or not. I like that they remind us that even though the past is over, as a species we tend to punish ourselves for years with guilt, etc. from actions long gone. I also like this line: Becoming aware is about being responsible for your own life. You are not responsible for what is happening in the world. You are responsible for yourself.One of the most important agreements we can make with ourselves is to seek the truth. This means that we need to listen. While we may not always agree with the views and beliefs of others, we have to commit to listening. Once we have listened, we can interpret what symbols we're being sold, what views of the world we're being led to believe. This will help us get a step closer to reality and the absolute truth. The tools shared by don Miguel are based on common sense and shared with such simplicity, that the universal message underlying his teaching is recognized by many. don Miguel's message is simple, practical and when implemented, even incrementally, changes lives. If you'd like to surrender the lies that keep you in bondage... study this book and try to live by its principles if it resonates with you. The goal is to live YOUR LIFE instead of the life of THE BELIEF SYSTEM. This is a practical guide to self-mastery. This book is not just a review of the four agreements plus the fifth. It IS a re-statement of the first four agreements, but in much more detail and in more common language. I first became aware of the Toltec wisdom through Carlos Castaneda's series "the teachings of Don juan..." and they were impressive yet they seemed a distant unreachable wisdom in some far off world/ time shrouded in mystery etc. Then Merylin Tenneshende's book "Don Juan and the art of sexual energy" took the next step toward making the wisdom more tangible for the masses.

Once you arrive at the fifth step, you’re ready to move to the third stage of Toltec enlightenment—the freedom of control. In other words, since you’re no longer being controlled by beliefs you didn’t choose, it’s up to you to decide how to live. You have the freedom to choose the shape and tone of your subjective reality. People will come to you and tell you their personal story, their point of view, what they believe is truth. But you won’t judge if it’s truth or if it’s not truth. You don’t have any judgment, but you do have respect. You listen to the way other people express themselves, knowing that whatever they say is nothing but a story distorted by their beliefs. You know that because you can feel it. You just know. But you also know when their words come from truth, and you know without words, and that’s the main point. Find the courage to ask questions and 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. The Fourth Agreement – ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST I expected to resonate more with this book than I did. I found the concept of truth problematic. It appears that aside from objects in the world and universe around us, truth is relative. We each have our dream; you have your truth and I have my truth. However, the world is either round or flat, and the unseen either exists or does not just like objects, so the idea of relative truth is a strange one to me.Doing your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are tired as opposed to well rested. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret. The Fifth Agreement – BE SKEPTICAL, BUT LEARN TO LISTEN With awareness, we recover the control of our story. That is the good news. If we don't like our story, we are the authors; we can change it. By the time we grow up, our faith is already invested in so many lies that we hardly have any power left to create the dream we want to create." We perform a kind of mental iconoclasm. This is because we create our worlds using a series of symbols. The words we use, the objects around us – these are symbols, and they help to construct the world. Baudrillard famously discussed symbols in his seminal work, Simulacra and Simulation. The central thesis is that we build a "shared existence" through our perception of reality and symbols. And, each culture is taught to understand this reality and what the symbols represent or signify. Sometimes the symbols become bigger than the thing that they represent. And sometimes, the symbols are copied. Is a fake symbol less real than the original? And what makes something genuine or authentic? These are questions that we need to ask ourselves when we question the truth and the world around us.

Don’t believe yourself or anybody else unconditionally. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind the words and you will understand the real message. When we don’t succeed, we often punish ourselves—sometimes we spend years beating ourselves up for one mistake. But mistakes happen even when we try our best, the naguals say; they’re a sign that we’re growing. Don’t dwell on them—focus on getting better each day. One thing is for sure, The Fifth Agreement same as the Four Agreements doesn’t provide any misleading information. It’s all in there!! Relationship is an art. To keep the two of you happy, you have to keep your half perfect. You are responsible for your half, and your half has a certain amount of garbage. Your garbage is your garbage. The one who has to deal with that garbage is you, not your partner.The authors’ first point is that the world we perceive through our senses is only a subjective interpretation of a thin slice of what actually exists in the world. They argue that the information our senses give us is heavily filtered and fabricated: For instance, our brains interpret a narrow band of radiation as “color.” Without eyes—and brains to interpret their signals—colors would not exist; in a literal sense, they don’t exist outside of us.