Mar 25 • Mentality 🧠
Be Impeccable With Your Word (A Toltec Wisdom)
It is through your word that you manifest everything. Your word is your power to create.
Be impeccable with your word (The First Agreement).
Your word is not just a sound or a written symbol. Your word is a force, it is your power to express and to communicate, to think, and to create events in life. But like a sword with two edges, your word can either create the most beautiful dream or it can destroy the world around you. One edge is the misuse of your word, which will create hell around you, the other edge is the impeccability of your word, which will produce beauty, love and heaven all around you.
It is easier to think about how other people’s words influence us; so that we can understand the power of our own word. There are people who we trust because their words have lead us to good outcomes in the past and there are people we trust because we resonate with the emotions in their story. Equally there are people we cannot stand, and even if their advice is well-intentioned and intelligent we will not trust them because their word has betrayed us in the past. A lot of the decisions we make in life hinge off of words. We are told we are intelligent, so we go to university, or believe we can achieve things that are currently out of our reach. We are told we are stupid or selfish and this makes us self-conscious, and fills us with doubt. We have all been inspired by someone’s word. Equally, we have all been discouraged. Once we acknowledge that the words people say shape the reality we exist in, we can be more careful with the things we say ourselves.
Our minds are like fertile soil where seeds are planted. The seeds are opinions, ideas and concepts, you plant these seeds and they grow. Seeds are planted in our minds: Seeds such as we have to be rich, fit and relentless to be of any value to people. These seeds are planted in our heads by influencers who aim to make money from us. Just one fear planted in our heads will create a butterfly effect, and change the course of our lives. Influencers will tell you that you need to be rich, unavailable and toxic, that if you are not working you are wasting your time: This will cause you to avoid ‘brain-rot’ pass-times like watching your favourite show or playing your favourite game, will stop you from hanging out with ‘unproductive’ friends you used to cherish, and have a warped perception of relationships. All based off of the influence, and the word of a man in a bathrobe, or a man driving a Bugatti. Be aware of when someone is using their word to cause fear in your life. Whoever controls your fear, controls your actions and they can use nothing more than their words to create this anxiety.
We all have this impact of course. All of us have power in the words we say. With great power comes great responsibility. By hooking our attention, the word can change our whole belief system for better, or for worse (p30).
To speak impeccably, means to speak without sin. Don Miguel Ruiz says that sinning is doing something that is against yourself. I would extend this: sinning is to go against the Highest Good, which if you have any sense, you were already aiming for (whether intentionally or not). Being impeccable with your word means not using your word against yourself, yes, but there will be times in your life where telling the truth will worsen your immediate situation. However, telling the truth is the impeccable thing to do. Being impeccable with your word is the correct use of your energy in the direction of truth and love, and by doing this you are exercising truth and love to yourself, even if the truth lands you in some trouble in the short term.
When we use our word to blame, to curse, to find guilt, to destroy, to avenge, to create chaos, to express anger, jealousy, envy, hate. We are putting poison into the world, and we should expect to receive this energy back. Does it make sense to contribute hell but to receive paradise? Misusing our word is how we perpetuate fear and doubt, to pull each other down, and be sure of this: It is so easy to do, but it will do you no good. I recall a time when I was in a relationship, I was stressed, tired, I had a headache and I had just finished 8 hours of work and needed food and rest. My girlfriend had asked me if I liked the TikTok she had sent me: A dog. I told her I didn’t care about TikTok and I just wanted to order some food and told her to hurry up and pick her meal. Rest assured, the words I had provided discouraged her from sharing those small trivial things with me again. Of course, I didn’t mean to shut her down, I was just tired, hungry, impatient and unwell; but when we are weak is when we must take the most care with our word, since we are most susceptible to spreading poison.
Finally, avoid gossip, it is emotion-fuelled misinformation. Friendships end because of gossip. One of my old housemates was once characterised as a man who “never said a bad word about anyone behind their back.” I think this is one of the highest compliments I have ever heard someone be paid. I aspire to be someone to whom this praise can be attributed.
The truth will set us free. Truth is the largest part of being impeccable with our word. If you understand the first agreement, be impeccable with your word, you will begin to see the changes that happen in your life. Changes first in the way you treat yourself, and later in the way you treat others, especially those you love the most. Eventually, any emotional poison we are harbouring will leave our minds, leave our communication, and grant us immunity from any poison other people may be trying to give us: Your mind is no longer fertile ground for the negative ideas.
Even now, I have planted a seed in your mind, it is a seed of love and of truth. Whether or not the seed grows depends on how fertile your mind is to receive ideas of love and truth. But I will remind you of this Ancient Toltec wisdom: Be impeccable with your word.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Ruiz. D. M. (1997). The Four Agreements. §2 The First Agreement: Be Impeccable With Your Word.
1
0 comments
Be Impeccable With Your Word (A Toltec Wisdom)
Suggested communities
Powered by