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Nan Russell

The Four Agreements: My Favorite Non-Fiction Book for June

I like to read multiple books at the same time, typically switching daily between fiction and non-fiction. The latter is anything that interests me or what I’m researching. Right now, I’m working on a mystery with ties to the suffrage movement and reading books about, and from, that era.

 

While I love novels, it’s non-fiction books I revisit, sometimes reading them for a second or third time. That’s the case with my favorite this month, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), by Don Miguel Ruiz.

 

The book was a birthday present from my oldest granddaughter a few years ago. Quick and easy to read, I devoured it then, but this month I felt nudged to read it again. While a reminder of the four agreements: “Be impeccable with your word; don’t take anything personally; don’t make assumptions; and always do your best,” this time, it offered me additional reflection.

 

Like most books I reread, I found new wisdom in The Four Agreements that I skipped over, or perhaps wasn’t ready to absorb its message. This time, it was a passage about forgiveness: “We must forgive those we feel have wronged us, not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because we love ourselves so much we don’t want to keep paying for injustice.” It was the phrase – “we love ourselves so much” - that gave me pause because forgiveness is something I’m still working on.

 

If you’re a fan of thoughtful books that inspire self-reflection, enhance personal growth, or offer wisdom-thinking, I’d recommend this book. And if you’ve already read it, you might, like me, be surprised at what you find speaking to you a second time around.

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