The five agreements

THE FIVE AGREEMENTS

According to don Miguel Ruiz, everything we do is based on agreements we have made - agreements with ourselves, with people, with God and with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. With these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how we behave, what is possible, what is impossible.

1. 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, for it is poison. Use the power of your word in the direction of TRUTH AND LOVE. This agreement does take courage and determination.

2. Don't take anything personally

Nothing others do is because of you. We all create our own world by our thoughts and dreams. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering. Breathe.

3. Don't make assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. Be and see, instead thinking of it. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always do your best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment: it wil be different when you are tired as opposed to well rested. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret. Shine!

5. Be skeptical, but learn to listen

Don't believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: is it really the truth? Listen. Listen to the intent behind the words, and you will understand the real message.

Accept yourself. Accept others. Accept the universe.

Love yourself.

S.R.P.

The words that flutter from your mind

I do not care what care you drive. Where you live. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. If your clothes are this year's cutting edge. If your trust fund is unlimited. If you are A-list B-list or never heard of you list. I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you truly own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones and skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from you extraordinary mind.

- Unknown



Vrienden zijn als bomen

Vrienden zijn als bomen,
ze wachten tot je nog eens langs komt en ze zijn onverstoorbaar als je wegblijft.
Ook na maanden afwezigheid kan je de draad weer opnemen,
omdat ondertussen niets werd afgebroken.

Vrienden zijn als bomen,
op een goede afstand van elkaar geplant.
Zo moeten ze elkaar niets betwisten,
ze kennen ook geen afgunst,
maar nodigen elkaar uit om hoger te groeien.

Vrienden zijn als bomen
en bomen buigen niet, maar wuiven.

- Eugeen Laridon



You are beautiful for the volume of the soul it carries.

You are not your bra-size, nor are you the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe-size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress.

You are no amalgam of these things.

You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your life a full and meaningful one.

You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.

- Unknown

The quiet before the storm

While running in the countryside, I attended a beautiful concert. The crickets started chirping loudly - to some annoyance, but to me, music. The birds sang and the wind was blowing through the fields.

Suddenly the crickets stopped chirping, the birds stopped singing and the wind stopped blowing. The sky turned grey. Dark grey.

All I heared was my respiration, my running pace and some rumbling noises.

The quiet before the storm.

Tranquillity. Everything seemed at ease, the fields, the flowers, the sky and me - the runner. I smiled.

Life is full of beauty, notice it.

S.R.P.

Beautiful people do not just happen

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of depths.
These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.


Beautiful people do not just happen.

- Elizabeth Kubler Ros

We are the captains of our soul

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful and beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson, 1992