WEEKLY MALA MEDITATION: The Four Agreements (IV)

This is week IV and the last week of our theme using the book, “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. This week, we’re focusing on the fourth agreement, “Always Do Your Best.” Here is his summary of this agreement: “Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstances, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

This fourth agreement ties in all the other agreements. The author explains, “The first three agreements will only work if you do your best. Don’t expect that you will always be able to be impeccable with your word. Your routine habits are too strong and firmly rooted in your mind. But you can do your best. Don’t expect that you will never take anything personally; just do your best. Don’t expect that you will never make another assumption, but you can certainly do your best. By doing your best, the habits of misusing your word, taking things personally, and making assumptions will become weaker and less frequent with time. You don’t need to judge yourself, feel guilty, or punish yourself if you cannot keep these agreements. If you are doing your best, you will feel good about yourself even if you still make assumptions, still take things personally, and still are not impeccable with your word. If you do your best always, over and over again, you will become a master of transformation.”

Awareness is key. When you begin to out these things into practice, you begin to be more consciously aware of the moments in your life when they are relevant. For example, you’ll begin to catch yourself making an assumption or taking things personally. It’s only in the awareness of these things that we can begin to make a conscious decision to adjust our thoughts. Give yourself grace when putting these things into practice, and just simply do your best- whatever that looks like in the moment.

HOW TO USE YOUR MALA: 

Starting next to the guru bead, move your fingers from one counting bead to the next as you say the affirmations in the photo. Once you've returned to the guru bead, you have completed a full meditation!