I also found it strange to judge a book about the behavior of a person who claims to have read it and about the elderly who are the ancestors of the book author. For this reason, I did not respond to Cccc`s comment. If the commentator explained why he thinks the four agreements encourage people to behave recklessly and selfishly, I might have had an answer. As it stands, I support the idea that, toltec or not, these principles are a healthy lifestyle and correspond to the best practices of modern psychology: we have to break a lot of old agreements and change a lot of domesticated beliefs to actually have a space for someone`s violation or anger on us without judging, withdrawing, defend you, accuse you, intellectualize, they share their dream. We can use the fourth chord, Do Your Best, to encourage us to aspire positively. But this agreement also recognizes that «our best» varies from moment to moment, depending on our circumstances and mental state. Recognition of this fact leads to the realization that everything we are doing right now is of our best, and this awareness can prevent us from flogging ourselves if we are not up to an unreasonable standard of perfection. One of the most important wisdom teachings of the Tolèque tradition is that we all dream – a unique vision and experience of the universe. It`s at the beginning of «The Four Chords» and my experience is that a lot of people slip through that part and go to the chords. As far as irreprolity is concerned, this word certainly has the connotation of perfectionism, and if you take it that way, you would indeed be going crazy. (By the way, the repress and other agreements you make with yourself are not demands that Ruiz makes of you.) On the other hand, if you set yourself the goal of being blameless with your word, you strive to be as honest and kind as possible with your words, without waiting for perfection from yourself or fighting if you are too short, this agreement with yourself could improve your well-being. I like what you say.
If you wrote a book about your spontaneous chords, I would read it. . . .