How “The Four Agreements” changed my life by Lauren

How “The Four Agreements” changed my life by Lauren - October 2023 Scholarship Essay

There was a certain time in my life where I felt like everything was falling apart. I felt as though I didn’t know who I truly was anymore, like there was a mask separating me from my true self. During this time, I was in my last semester of high school, I was in a relationship at the time. Everything seemed so great, but I found myself unhappy still. Often, I would be sad or frustrated at my life. My soul was screaming and begging for a change, for something more fulfilling in my relationship, my future in college and overall, just myself. After a while of feeling like this, things started to fall apart. Unexpectedly I became sick with the flu, my boyfriend and I at the time were fighting, I was missing a basketball game as a cheerleader and was just overall miserable. A few days after being home me and my boyfriend decided to break up. As much as it pained my heart to let him go, I knew it was the right thing to do. I was grieving a person that I knew was still here, but just not in my life. I felt as though I lost my best friend and that really hurt me. When I returned to school feeling better, I would see him and my whole body would send a wave of fear through my body. As my heart and body would panic, my soul and brain knew what the better path for me was.
Eventually I started to get back into self-care and started researching ways I could fulfill this urge to improve my life. During the breakup, I saw this spiritual book that some of my friends were reading, and I felt as though the book was making eye contact with me every time, I saw it. This led me to try to find the book after hearing honest reviews about it as well. One day me and my mom wanted to go out to eat and do a shopping spree to make me feel better. We went out to this new spiritual store named golden temple and as soon as we walked in the book, I was looking for was sitting on display right in front of me. It seemed like the book was waiting for me to grab and read it. I was trying so hard not to pick it up to get the things I needed, not wanted, but the book just kept calling to me. Eventually I picked it up and purchased it. I started to get overwhelmed with excitement as I knew that this would be the breakthrough that I needed.
As soon as I got home, I started to look at all the crystals and sage that I bought that I couldn’t wait to use to help me. Eventually, I looked at the book and started to read the first couple of pages but stopped because I wanted to sit and genuinely enjoy it. One day as I came home from school being exhausted from the day, I would think of what I could do with all this free time I now have. Then I thought of how I was able to finally read my book. I brought my bookbag to the living room and pulled it out. As I started to read, I would get so lost in the book and it felt as though time had stopped. I found myself reading it at home and in my free time at school. The more I read the more enlightened I would be by it. By the time I was finished I felt as though I could read it over and over again. Overall, I learned these 4 important things from reading the four agreements: Be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personal, don’t make assumptions and always try your best. The author first talks about how our words can determine our mindset and the way we see life. He then talks about the negative ways speech can affect us daily that we do not recognize. The book also talks about not taking things that people do personally and don’t assume other thoughts or actions based on your own perception. Lastly, he goes on to talk about always trying your best. As long as you are doing your best every day that is all you can do to have a successful life.
I thought it was fate that I had this book. The more I read, the more things clicked in my brain, all the negative thoughts would fall to the back of my brain as the positive moved to the forefront. I felt as though every agreement could be used to make a positive change in my everyday life. Every word resonated in my soul and anytime I read the book it had my full attention. It truly felt like an angelic experience. In the end I felt as though I was complete. I no longer felt lost or broken like I used to. Then I realized that we must lose ourselves to truly find who we are.