Practice idea for mastering awareness

29 Jan Practice idea for mastering awareness

by don Miguel Ruiz with Janet Mills

This practice idea will help you to become aware of the agreements you’ve made with yourself, and to recover the awareness of your authentic self. The objective is to become aware of any agreements that limit the expression of your creativity, your happiness, or your love.

Are you aware of all the distorted images you have about yourself? What are the images that others projected onto you as a child? What did you agree to believe about yourself? Consider any agreements that tell you what you can and cannot do, what you can and cannot be, and what you can and cannot have.

The most important agreements are the ones you made with yourself. In these agreements, you tell yourself who you are, what you feel, what you believe, and how to behave. 

Try to recall your earliest memories of what your mother, father, and closest family members told you about yourself. Then consider what other people outside your family projected onto you — friends, teachers, and other people who may have influenced you.

Pay attention to your emotional response as you answer the questions below.

What were the images that others projected onto you?

When I was a child, I was told that I was . . .

What limitations were you told you have?

I was told that my limitations were . . .

When you were a child, what did others tell you about what it means to be a girl or a boy?

I was told that girls should always . . .

I was told that boys should always . . .

Did you fit the ideal image of what it meant to be a girl or a boy?

What do you believe today about being a woman or being a man?

I believe that a woman should always . . .

I believe that a man should always . . .

Make a list of all the qualities you were told you should have, both personal and physical.

I was told that I should be . . .

Make a list of all the qualities you believe you have.

I believe I am . . .

Make a list of all the qualities you believe other people think you have.

I believe that others think I am . . .

Make a list of all the qualities you believe you lack, but wish you had.

I wish I could be like this . . .

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Excerpt from The Four Agreements Companion Book: Using The Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life. Copyright © 2000 by Miguel Angel Ruiz, M.D. and Janet Mills. Reprinted by Permission of Amber-Allen Publishing, Inc., San Rafael, California.