Don Miguel Ruiz

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid

using the word against yourself or to gossip about

others. Use the power of your word in the direction

of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you. What others

say and do is a project of their own reality, their own

dream.

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. With just this one agreement, you can completely change your life.

4.  Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment…under any circumstance,

simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

I read Don Miguel’s  books years ago and  re-read the one or the other from time to time. I am still learning to apply these principles. It  changed my life.

There is no right or wrong way to tell your improved story. It can be about your past, present, or future experiences. The only criterion that is important is that you be conscious of your intent to tell a better-feeling, improved version of your story. Telling many good-feeling short stories throughout your day will change your point of attraction. Just remember that the story you tell is the basis of your life. So tell it the way you want it to be.

Excerpted from the book “Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness”

Our Love,
Jerry and Esther Hicks

What an interesting thought. The way I understand this is that I need to carefully think about what I am telling other people throughout the day. And, secondly, just as important, what I tell MYSELF throughout the day; no difference here.

My sister sent this photo to me, unfortunately I do not know where

it originally comes from but  I just love to look at it and imagine the

story hidden within the tree.

A young Lakota asked his grandfather why life had to be so difficult sometimes.

This was the old man’s reply.

Grandfather says this: “In life there is sadness as well as joy, losing as well as winning, falling as well as standing, hunger as well as plenty, bad as well as good. Grandfather does not say this to make you despair, but to teach you reality. To teach you that life is a journey sometimes walked in light, sometimes in shadow.”

Grandfather says this: “You did not ask to be born, but you are here. You have weaknesses as well as strength. You have both because in life there are two of everything. Within you is the will to win as well as the willingness to lose; the heart to feel compassion as well as the smallness to be arrogant. Within you is the way to face life as well as the fear to run away from  it.”

Grandfather says this:” Life can give you strength. It can come from facing storms of life, from knowing loss, feeling sadness and heartache, from facing the depths of grief. You must stand up in the storm. You must face the wind and the cold and the darkness. When the storm blows hard you must stand firm, for it is not trying to knock you down, it is really trying to teach you to be strong.”

Grandfather says this:” Being strong means taking one more step toward the top of the hill, no matter how weary you may be. It means letting the tears flow through the grief; it means to keep looking for the answer though the darkness of despair is all around you. It means to cling to hope for one more heartbeat, for one more sunrise. Each step, no matter how difficult is one step closer to the top of the hill. To keep hope alive one more heartbeat at a time leads to the light of the next sunrise, and the promise of a new day.”

Grandfather says this:” The weakest step towards the top of the hill, toward the sunrise, toward hope, is stronger than the fiercest storm.”

Grandfather says this:” Keep going.”

<the lakota way, Joseph M. Marshall III>

Know your Friends and to know and have a sense of Community

Second rule of leadership according to Crazy Horse, as told by Joseph Marshall III in Quiet Thunder- The Wisdom of Crazy Horse

A Creation Story

One day many, many years ago, many, many generations past, the people were happy. They were living in a land that had plenty. The forest and the prairies are full of game, the rivers and the lakes are full of fish, life was good, everyone was happy. The people flourished.

One summer there came a lot of rain, day after day after day ,and the people did not know what to do, clouds were rolling in every day, rain would fall, rivers would rise, kept rising, and the water covered the land. The people had to move their villages in order to get away from the water and they kept moving and moving until all they could find were the high spots, hills and the ridges. But even those were not safe anymore. Water rose so high that it destroyed everything: villages, belongings and people. People drowned but they kept climbing, trying to find a high place but only one person was left, a girl probably about sixteen or seventeen years old and she was the last of her people. There was no one else.
All the other creatures around watched what was going on and the ones who were the most unaffected were the birds, of course. And one who watched with compassion and interest was an Eagle. He watched what had been happening. He watched the flood waters rise and he watched the girl as she huddled on high hill top alone without any shelter or food.
So one day he flew down to her, first to keep her company and they became friends. He would hunt for her. He would go and find fish or rabbits and than he would help her to find dry wood. And she finally began to enjoy his company and accept the gifts that he brought. She would build a fire and cook fish or rabbit and they would spend time together. And she hated it when he left but he would always come back.
Over the course of a few weeks the waters began to recede and to began to go back were it was before the flood. The Eagle has seen places were the girl could build a lodge and be safe and comfortable. But she was reluctant to leave the safety of the hill top. But he kept encouraging her, saying:” that she had to start her life over.” ” But I am alone” she would say” there is no one like me around anywhere.” And the Eagle took that to heart and he flew one day higher than he had ever flown before and he prayed, he prayed to Wakan Tanka to help the girl. And Wakan Tanka’s response was:” I am helping her. I have send you.” The Eagle thought that over and he asked Wakan Tanka again:” What can I do to help her? I have already helped her bring her fire wood and food, I am helping her to build a shelter, I am helping her to keep her safe.” And Wakan Tanka said:” Search your heart. There is only one of her and if she dies she will be the last of her kind.”
So the Eagle thought about it and thought and thought. And he prayed again and he said:” If there is any other way I can help her please tell me.” And Wakan Tanka said:” You can become a man, you can become like her. So that the two of you can repopulate her kind but it will be a sacrifice on your part..” The Eagle flew and once again he went as high as he has never gone in his life to see as much of the world as he could so he can remember because he had made his decision. He decided he would become a man, he would become the girls husband so that they could repopulate the Earth with her kind.
One day he landed back on the Earth and when he landed at her camp he turned into a man and he came to her and talked and there was something in his voice that she recognized and she realized suddenly that it was the Eagle who had become a man. And they grew close and in time they wre married and they raised children.

To know the Enemy

Third rule of leadership according to Crazy Horse, as told by Joseph Marshall III in Quiet Thunder- The wisdom of Crazy Horse
One morning Iktomie came out of his house which was really only a hole in the side of a hill and as usual he was hungry and he did not know what to do to immediately feed himself. So he started walking and he came into a grove of trees and on one of the branches sat the Raven and the Raven had a piece of meat in his mouth, a very large piece of meat And it made Iktomie all the more hungrier. He did not know where Raven did get the meat and it did not matter. What really mattered was he- Iktomie- wanted the meat. He had to have it. But he knew as soon as he made any kind of move toward the Raven, Raven would just fly away into the sky and there would go the meat.
So Iktomie paused-thought a bit- than he cleared his thought and he greeted raven and said:” Oh friend Raven- how are you today?” And Raven, because of the meat in his mouth could only croak and Iktomie said:” You know, friend Raven, it’s been a long time since I have heard you sing. The last time I heard you sing was weeks ago or month ago and I liked how you sang your song.” And the Raven was a little taken aback because he knew he was not a singer at all but he liked what he was hearing. So Iktomie went on, he said:” I wonder, friend Raven, if I could trouble you to sing for me, I had a lot of problems lately and I am not feeling very well- so maybe if I heard your song I could feel better about myself.” And the Raven pondered at and he was flattered by Iktomie’s description of his singing.
Iktomie walked over to a tree and sat down at its base and leaned back and closed his eyes and said:” I am ready to hear you sing any time you wanna sing.” So Raven thought about it, puffed himself up and opened his mouth to sing and out fell the meat from his mouth. And, of course, as soon as it hit the ground Iktomie was on it, grabbed it and ran like the wind and was gone. And he ate and he was not hungry for that day at least.