I would have never thought that I will enjoy reading philosophy article, let alone pondering on some of the wisdoms. The word “philosophy” itself already sounds abstract, sophisticated and unrealistic to me. It is books written by people who live in a different world, speaking a total different language. Yet today I have read an article which talked about the four agreements from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book. I totally agree with these four agreements and decided to practice as much as I can –

The first agreement - Be impeccable with your word. This means avoiding gossip, lies, empty promises and other ways we cause problems with our words. Say only what you mean and realize you can cause damage if you are not careful with what you say. This agreement really put me in shame. I forgot how many times I have regretted about what I said when chatting with other co-workers, such as complaining about other people’s code, passing the rumors I have heard. It is just hard to control my tongue; I realize that, I will try to say a prayer next time before I know I am about to let my tongue loose.

The second agreement - Never taking anything personal. Understanding other people’s behaviors are a reflection of them only, it’s important to remember that no opinions are truly objective. A lot of times, our thoughts are very focused on ourselves; this causes some unnecessary pain in our life. 

The third agreement - Do not make assumptions. Much stress is created when people assume they know what other people are thinking without checking with them. Understanding that other people might have different motivations for their actions, even drastically varying world views, and remembering to really try to understand others and discuss these motivations before jumping into conclusions about their behavior, can go a long way toward preventing interpersonal conflict.

The fourth agreement - Always doing your best. By this, the author means to do the best you can at any moment, and you will have no regrets. Some days, your best isn’t as good as other days, and that’s OK. As long as you put an honest effort into life, you will have nothing to be ashamed of, and will not “beat yourself up” over a less-than-stellar performance in retrospect.