four agreements

The speaker shares a personal story about finding an internship and the challenges she faced. She then talks about the importance of listening to signs from the universe and seeking guidance in times of confusion. She introduces the topic of "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz, which are: being impeccable with your word, not taking anything personally, not making assumptions, and always doing your best. She provides a brief explanation of each agreement and emphasizes the positive impact they can have on one's life. Hello, and welcome back to From Love Podcast. I'm your host, Sophia Semi. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Before we get into today's topic, I kind of want to tell a little story. Today I don't know if many of you know this, but now you're going to know. I just started an internship. It's a marketing slash communication internship. I have been looking for an internship since January, and when it came to mark rolling around, I still didn't have an internship. I was totally convinced that I was not going to have an internship for the summer. I was kind of bugging out because you need to have an internship as a major requirement for the FGCU or whatever, so I was kind of freaking out a little bit. I didn't really think I was going to have an internship. I didn't really know what I was going to do. Everybody that I was applying to kind of was telling me, they either were just sending me some chat AI generated, like, yeah, we don't need you on our team message, or they were just like, oh, you don't have enough experience, which is really annoying because I think what you kind of start to realize is that you have to have experience to gain experience, and then you go into this whole, like, rabbit hole of, like, internships that don't pay you. Not that you can't learn anything from them, but as a college student, like, with things that you obviously have to pay for, like car payments, insurance, rent, like, it's not ideal to be working 20 hours a week at this internship that's not paying you, right? Whatever though. I ended up speaking to a professor. He told our class that a friend of his was looking for an intern, and I went up to him. I applied. I got an interview, and I got the job. Thank you, Professor Kennedy, if you ever listen to this. But super, I love the person that I work for right now. I love what I'm doing, but I will say I'm kind of in this transitioning phase. Like, I'm opening a lot of doors that I have never opened before, and I'm so grateful. Like, that is in no way, like, me being like, oh, yeah, no, it's too much. No. I love it, and I'm super excited for what's coming and all these new growth opportunities, but I feel like when you start something new, you're kind of in this place of, like, confusion, and, like, you're adapting to this new environment, this new routine, like, you don't know what to expect, and a lot of different emotions can come from that, good and bad, but I think the universe kind of was realizing that I needed a sign because I was at work today, and I, we do, like, the marketing for YMCA, so we do a lot of Southwest Florida's YMCA's marketing, and I had to do some marketing. I'll be doing that tomorrow, and I was like, okay, well, let me look at their Instagram and, like, their Facebook, all their socials, and see what their vibe is because, obviously, YMCA is a pretty well-known organization. Like, they have certain things that they, like, done, and they want to sound a certain way, and they have an image to uphold, understandably, whatever, so I'm going, I'm looking at their Instagram, and they follow 10 people, 10 people, which isn't a lot of people, whatever. I'm looking at their Instagram following, and it's, like, Englewood, YMCA, Sarasota, like, all the Southwest Florida YMCA's, basically, and then they follow, like, the marketing company and, like, two other Instagrams, so I'm looking, and it says Dayton YMCA, and if you don't know, I was born in Dayton, Ohio, a very small town in Ohio, and I'm looking, and I'm, like, Dayton, like, that can't be Dayton, Ohio, because this place is so, like, not to be mean, like, everybody comes from somewhere, but irrelevant, like, the place is irrelevant. The whole, you can literally drive the whole town in, like, probably 20, 30 minutes hops, and you're probably going to be touching, like, the town over, whatever, so, whatever. I go, and I click on this Instagram, and I'm, like, I'm in shock. I'm, like, this cannot be Dayton, Ohio, because this is not relevant, like, Dayton doesn't even have anything to do with Florida, so I'm looking at their Instagram, and there's this camp called Camp Kern, and I went to it when I was a Girl Scout. I think my brother went to it with friends or Boy Scouts. I don't know if he did Boy Scouts, but I know he went there and whatever, and I'm, like, no way. I still, like, am not believing it, so I go, and I Google Camp Kern. I'm literally looking at the map, looking at the approximation from, like, Dayton to, like, this camp, and I'm, like, no, like, this is the YMCA Dayton's Instagram, and I go and, again, check their Instagram, and, like, the location says Dayton, Ohio, and I literally was just, like, it was such a full circle moment, but for me, it really kind of was, like, the universe being, like, okay, like, you're where you need to be, and I truly, truly felt, like, the universe had sent that message to me, knowing that I needed it, even if I, myself, didn't realize that I needed it, and, yeah, it just made me feel really good, and I want to kind of share this, because I want everybody to know that, like, the universe, or God, or whatever you believe in, some higher power is working in your greatest good, and this is a tool that you can implement in any aspect of your life. If you're ever confused, you're happy, anything, like, it's always good to give thanks, and it's always good to reach out, you know what I mean, whether that's through prayer or through a manifestation, however you prefer to do that, but it's a tool that's out there for you, and I think it's important to utilize it. I can't, why do I try to say words that I don't know how to say? I don't know, but anyways, I just think that if you're in a, like, position right now where you're kind of confused, or you need some guidance, and you just don't know where to get that from, or who to ask that from, ask the universe, because I promise you, the universe will answer in the most craziest ways. I have another story, and I'm going to save that for another time, but I promise you, your prayers, your questions, your concerns, they will be answered in time, but maybe just kind of bow your head and ask for the guidance that you're seeking right now. I read a quote a while ago, I think it's on Instagram or something, but it said, the universe is loud, and God whispers, and I love that, because it's true, there's always going to be some external noise, or noise in general, happening in your life, and sometimes you just kind of need to put your eyes on the universe, or God, or whoever it may be to guide you, and just ask them for guidance, safety, or just give gratitude, you know? I think it's also very important to give thanks for where you are in life, because the universe is always working for you, and I think it's nice to remember that. So now that I'm done with my little ramble, we're going to get into our topic. The topic for today is The Four Agreements. This is a book by Miguel Ruiz, so sorry if I'm butchering it, it's R-U-I-Z, you can, or Don Miguel Ruiz, there we go, you can get this book at Barnes Noble, Amazon, whatever, I think I ordered mine, or actually my mom ordered it, but I think she ordered it from Amazon, it's a really short read, I think it's less than 140 pages, I'll read the back to you guys, just so you can get a feel for whatever, it says, In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy, create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. So let's get into the Four Agreements. I have a little picture, we actually, at my house, we have a paper that has the Four Agreements on it, and it's like magnetically connected to our refrigerator, but the First Agreement is, Be impeccable with your word, speak with integrity, say only what you mean, avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others, use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. The second one is don't take anything personally, nothing others do is because of you, what others say and do is a projection of their own reality and their own dreams. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering. The third one, don't make assumptions, find the courage to ask questions, to express what you really want, communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstanding sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life. The fourth one is always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment, it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret. So those are the four agreements. I have a few notes on the four agreements, we're going to start with the Be impeccable with your word, that's the first one that's introduced in the book. I want to kind of touch on this, like, reference that they talk about in the book. It talks about human gossip, because I feel like a lot of people, like, we gossip, you know what I mean? Like, we've seen our mothers do it, we've seen our friends do it, like, when we're catching up with old friends, like, the first thing, or not the first thing we do, but I'm sure eventually you're kind of like, oh, did you hear this, did you hear that, that, whatever. But when you gossip, their example that they did in the book was, when you're first signing up for a class, and you've never had this professor before, and somebody comes in, they're like, oh, this professor is such a jerk, like, he's awful, like, you're like, oh, fuck, like, I don't want to take this class if this professor is going to be a dick, right? And whatever, say you get stuck with this professor, you go into that class, and without even having experienced this professor, you're already, like, looking for these red flags, you're already looking for his flaws, you're like, oh, well, my friend said he's a jackass, so he must be a jackass, and you go and you have these, like, pre-set ideas of who this person's going to be, and what they're going to be like, whatever. But say this person is, like, an awesome professor, and whatever, you're still, even once you have that positive experience, I don't know why, but our brain holds on to, like, negative emotions, negative experiences more than positive, which is probably why we see all this negative shit on the fucking news. But anyways, you're going to have this positive experience with this professor, and you're still going to be holding on to this idea that he's a jackass, even when your experience with him hasn't been that way. So being impeccable with your word, I think gossip is one of the hardest ones to implement into your life, and being impeccable with your word, like, that means, like, not gossiping, not talking badly about yourself, not talking badly about others, and, like, using your word to spread love. I have this devotional book, and I picked it up this morning, and I actually stopped reading it because there's only, like, a few pages, and I was like, oh my god, it's ending, no! So I stopped reading it, but I picked it up today, and one of the messages says, the word of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. And I think that was fire, because it's so true. Words can really hurt, and obviously, like, do a lot of negative, but can also do a lot of good. I also want to say, like, when we're being impeccable with our word, like, once upon a time, like, when we were children, we didn't have a care in the world, right? Like, that's why we're always like, oh, I wish I could go back, I wish we could go back, like, we were so in the present, we didn't care what we smelled like, we didn't care what we looked like, we didn't care what we said, like, there was no wrong and right in our world, we just simply existed. And as we got older, I think a lot of our foundation comes from our parents and our siblings, people that we grew up with, maybe cousins, too, but mostly, like, your parents and siblings, the people that are in your day-to-day life, and they kind of were the ones that were like, okay, like, this is right, this is wrong, this is what, like, the perfect human would be like, right? And that's not necessarily correct or incorrect, that's just kind of like what your parents' experiences have allowed them to think and allowed them to believe, but it's something they kind of push into you, so when you're growing up, you start to kind of latch on to those ideas, I guess we can call them, and you're like, oh, I can't do this because this is wrong, I can't behave this way because this is wrong, I have to get this a degree because if not, I'm not worthy, and then you start to kind of fall into this, like, you become your own bully, and this isn't like a bully that's at school where you can just leave them behind and you come home and they're gone, like, you're with yourself 24-7. And I've said it before, we are our worst critics, but we really are, we are so unfair with ourselves, we don't allow ourselves to be human, and the same judgment that we pass on to ourselves is the same judgment we pass on to others. And I've seen it a lot, I've seen it in myself, I was literally telling my mom today of, like, an interaction I had with a friend, and she had said something, she's probably going to listen to this, I love you if you are, but she said something about, like, my perfume, and she was like, oh, like, you need to stop wearing that perfume, like, I'm tired of, like, smelling that perfume, like, every time we hang out, like, it's just, like, I smell that, and in my brain, I don't know why, it was, like, fight or flight, and I think part of this is because I grew up with brothers, and if you're a girl and you grew up with brothers, you know that you're kind of in that defense mode 24-7, but I instantly was like, well, at least I smell like something, and I was like, that was so rude, and I think that happened, like, three weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about it, but, um, you know what I mean, like, that, like, me saying that was rude, but it didn't come from a place of love, like, that was me just being, like, defensive, and not what, whatever, but, um, there's multiple, multiple, like, examples that you could go off of, but I don't know, I feel like I've noticed it a lot ever since I read this book, like, you'll notice the really skinny girl who's making fun of the fat girl, well, why is she doing that, like, probably because she has her own, like, deep-rooted insecurities that she's projecting onto somebody else, or, and people, like, I think people really skip out on that because they kind of dwell on the situation at hand, and they're like, oh, boom, like, what they said, like, that was so, like, rude, like, they're trying to hurt me, and it's like, okay, yeah, they're trying to hurt you, but maybe look at the why. I mean, knowing why in situations doesn't always make everything better, but it kind of, it allows you to have sympathy, in a way, I think, and I think it allows you to navigate from a place of love, instead of kind of, like, projecting it back at them, you're kind of like, okay, like, this person's saying this because of, like, their own insecurity, and you're like, oh, they think this about me? What do they think about themselves? And then you can kind of sympathize for them a little bit, but, yeah, um, I also wrote down, like, when we aren't impeccable with our word, we're working from a place of fear, instead of a place of love, and when you work from a place of fears, like, there's a lot of confusion, jealousy, you become boastful, ecocentric, hateful, like, all these negative emotions, and when you work from a place of love, when you use your word to only promote love, you realize that's what starts to surround you, and what you start to see more prominently in your life, but being impeccable with your word is so hard, because we're so prone to gossiping, we're so prone to talking bad of ourselves, like, there's literally TikTok accounts that are meant to just judge people, like, when the Met Gala happens, all I see on my TikTok for you page is, oh, this girl outfit was, like, cute, but, or this outfit sucked, like, we're, as a society, I think, like, we've normalized judgment a lot, and it's sad, but when you start working from a place of love, you realize how much love is truly around you, so that was be impeccable with your word. The second agreement is don't take anything personally, and I'm actually going to flip to the page in this book, so I'm just going to read, like, the first paragraph, but it says whatever happens around you, don't take it personally. Using an earlier example, if I see you on the street, and I say, hey, are you so stupid? Without knowing you, it's not about you, it's about me. If you take it personally, then perhaps you will believe you're stupid. Maybe you think to yourself, how does he know? Is he clairvoyant, or can everybody see how stupid I am? You take it personally because you agree with whatever was said. As soon as you agree, the poison goes through you, and you're trapped in a dream of hell. What causes you to be trapped is what we call personal importance. Personal importance is, or taking things personally, is a maximum expression of selfishness, because we make the assumption that everything is about, quote, unquote, me, so I love that, because going back to what I was saying before, when people are projecting these things onto you, it's from them, and I read a book, I don't know what book it is, I think it was The Power of Now, super good book, I would also check that one out, but it said when people wish bad on you, don't take it personally, right? I feel like we're all like, duh, bitch, like, what the fuck, like, obviously we know that, but it also said when people start wishing you good, don't take it personally. And I loved that, because it's true, when people wish good on you, it's because their experiences, and whatever, in the past, kind of like, are setting up, oh, yeah, this is what the perfect person looks like, this is what somebody that's cool looks like, and the same person that, the same mind that wishes you well, will also wish you bad, and I think it's important not to take either of them personally, because one day, we're not going to have that person wishing us well all the time, and it's like, yeah, thank you, and I appreciate it, and I'm grateful for the support, but it's not going to be there forever, and I know that at the same speed that somebody can love me, they can as well hate me, and it's like, okay, you take, you're grateful for it, you say thanks, and you kind of let it back into the air. I think it's very important to be strong with yourself, especially when you're not taking things personally, because it's hard, like the example said, when you see somebody walking across the street, they said, oh, like, you're stupid, whatever, like, we're obviously not going to take something personal from somebody that we don't know, but when it's somebody that we're closer with, then it's like, oh, yeah, that kind of hurt, and like the book kind of touched on, it's like, does part of you agree with that, and I think that's why we really, it's important to ground yourself and be strong with who you are as a person, and it also touches back to the fourth agreement, which is do your best, but we'll touch on that later, but really, like, when you're strong with yourself, like, you don't need that reassurance, and you don't need to take what people say personally, whether that's negative or positive, because it's like, you can say I'm amazing, and I won't take it personally. You can say I'm a piece of shit, and I won't take it personally, because I know what I am and what I'm not, you know what I mean, and maybe you do think you're amazing, and that's great, because you are. Everybody's amazing in their different way, but when it comes to the more negative things, it's like, oh, this person told me that I'm a liar, and I'm a bad person. Well, why is it impacting you so much? Is part of it true? Are you upset that they are, like, seeing the real you? And I know a lot of the time, like, we want to defend ourselves, and we want to prove to people, we want to prove to the world, like, I am this person, whatever, but energy never lies, and the energy and time, time always tells what's really in a person's heart. Like, I've had friends where at the beginning of our friendship, I was like, we're best friends, they understand me, this is such a genuine person, they want to take care of me, and then later on with time, it wasn't such, you know what I mean, and that's okay, and they have their own things they're working on, but I think not taking anything personally really shifts your mindset and gives you a lot of power. You kind of gain that power back, because you're not searching for this validation in other people either, and that's when I, why I, like, really like that quote about when people wish well on you not to take it personally either, because it's like, you're not searching for that validation, because it's not personal. They think I did a good job, because their experiences in their life suggest so, and in two months, they could think differently, and in two seconds, they could think be totally upset, but yeah, not taking personally, not taking anything personally is super important, and I love, love, love, love that one. So, next time you're arguing with a roommate, or you have maybe a professor that's being rude to you, before you get upset, and you kind of enter into this emotional turmoil, kind of remind yourself, hey, this is personal. This isn't personal. What they're saying has more to say about themselves than it does about me, and if there's good that you can take from that, or any lessons, you take it with you, and if it doesn't serve you positively, I think kind of wipe that off your hands, and you can let it go. Not to say that sometimes it is good to get lessons from the nectar, but that's not what we're talking about. Next is don't make assumptions. I love, love, love, love, love this one. I think this is the one that the notes that I had said that this one alone can transform your life, and it's so true. Our brains have a really hard time deciphering like what's real, and what's not, and I think we're all a little bit delusional, like not gonna lie, me too, not gonna lie, me too, but we're a little bit delusional. We kind of like to make these scenarios in our heads about people, and again, this is going back to like our foundations, like when we don't understand something, we want to find reason for it, so we start like, oh, they said this because of this. They did that because of this. They, right, and it just goes into this whole little snowball effect, but sorry, I just lost my train of thought, but whatever. Not making assumptions, I feel like it's very hard, because again, like we don't understand things, and we have this desire to understand, but then we're using who we are, like who we are as people to kind of make assumptions on why other people are doing things when they work from a whole different moral foundation. They have a whole different set of values. They're a whole different person. What I would do, and what the person listening to this right now would do in circumstances is completely, can be completely, completely different, and not to say that that's bad or good, right or wrong, whatever, but making assumptions, I feel like kind of digs us into this hole. I feel like making assumptions also kind of makes us stick around people that aren't really good for us, you know what I mean? I'm reading my notes, but yeah, I think we make a mistake thinking that everyone thinks the same way that we do, and that everybody processes things that the same way that we do, and people spend most of their time like overthinking and assuming how other people are feeling and thinking, and we kind of become slaves to our minds, because we kind of get trapped in this cycle of like, oh, we're going to make this assumption, and this is right, and this is wrong, and it's like, why don't you just ask them? Stop being a scaredy cat. Go ask them. No, I'm just kidding, because me too, girl. I'd be terrified, and it is really scary sometimes asking somebody for the truth, but I mean, what's the worst that can happen? For example, because I feel like this is just prominent for our age group, like, oh, I didn't want to ask him if he liked me because I didn't want him to like reject me, but if he rejects you in that redirection, why would you want to be with somebody or be in a situation that's not meant for you? The quicker you start asking questions and stop making assumptions, the quicker you start to realize oh, I can get rid of things that aren't for me and kind of find my path quicker that way, but yeah, I think, I don't know why we're like that. I think it's like the the rejection that a lot of us fear, but once we start asking those questions, I swear you're going to start really working on your path, and you're going to start filtering out what's for you and what's not for you. I also think that making assumption, again, kind of goes back to like we're working from a state of fear, like what if she doesn't love me? What if they think I'm annoying? We kind of go into this overthinking complex, and then we kind of become the murderers of our own happiness because then we're letting a reality that isn't even our actual reality control our lives. We're letting these made-up versions of the truth control our emotions, and then you have all these like you're getting confused and it's just it's not worth it, you know what I mean? That's why you just have to ask the question, pull the trigger. If you have to send that text and throw your phone across the room, then send the text and throw your phone across the room, but when you pick it up and you know the truth, I think you're going to be a lot happier and a lot more free, you know what I mean, from your own mind and your own suffering that you're causing yourself. I wanted to say one of the examples I've written down here. I said I liked a guy, and I kept making assumptions. I kept on kind of being in the state where I was like I don't even want a relationship, and I kept on saying that and kept on saying that because I thought that would make me more desirable, and I didn't think it's like if I told him I wanted a relationship, I knew it's not what he wanted to hear, and I knew it would have scared him off. So I was like I don't want to make I don't want a relationship, like it's going to make me more desirable if I say this, and I really didn't understand this until after I had reflected on it, but the only thing that it did was make me more okay with wasting my time, and it made it easier for him to waste my time. So yeah, I think that's something to take with that because also these assumptions like whose peace are you protecting? Are you protecting your own? Are you protecting somebody who probably isn't meant for you's peace? You know what I mean? Another assumption, my love will change this person. I know when we get into romantic relationships, we often are like, oh, like they'll change for me because they love me. But if someone decides to change, it's not because of you. That's something that has to come from them, like that action and that thought has to come from them. Nobody changes for anybody. They change for themselves, and yeah, maybe that person sticks around because of this version they're becoming, but ultimately this person has to want to change for themselves. Also, I think it's important that if you are trying to change someone, it's because you don't really like them. Listen, if you try to change someone, it's because you don't really like them. When you love somebody, you're accepting of this person and who they are. You have to love this person for the version they are now. Do not fall in love with the potential because potential is just that, and it's up to that person to change and put their potential into actual use and make it like transformation. I don't know. I feel like potential is a very neutral state, and transformation, you've got to put your car in drive, and only the driver can do that. Only they can do that. I think that if you feel like you need to change somebody to be with them, then I don't think you like them. If you're not willing to work with who they are as a person, obviously there's going to be little things that we don't like about people, but if you're not willing to overlook that, be like, okay, if this person didn't change these things today, would I walk down the altar with them? Would I start a family with them? I don't know. You have to kind of think about that stuff, and you need to stand firm on who you are because people, the same way that we kind of want to change other people, people are going to want to change us, and you kind of have to be like, okay, if you want to walk out, then leave, or if you want to stick around and fix things, then we can do that, but you have to be, again, you have to stand firm with yourself, but don't suffer from conflicts created by mistaken assumptions. Don't assume that somebody is one way, and also I think a very good point that I'm missing out on here is just because you ask the question, don't assume that you know the whole truth because even though you may be good at communicating, our words get perceived and twisted in other people's minds, right, and people might also not know how they feel in the moment, so they might tell you one thing, and then they might reflect back on something, and they'll be like, oh, no, like I actually felt this way, so I think it's also important when you do ask these questions, don't assume you know everything. You're not that other person. The last and final agreement is always do your best, and I really, really love this one too because I feel like when we don't do our best, we can get stuck in like the past, and where we really want to be is in the present, and we always want to be in this present moment. You know, when you're in the past, it can cause depression. When you're in the future, it can cause anxiety, so we really like want to aim to be in the present moment, and I think doing your best really helps prevent feelings of like regret, resentment, guilt, fear, etc., because like say, for example, like a relationship. You look back, and you're like, oh, wow, like maybe this could have worked if I would have done this. Maybe I could have done this better. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, and then it kind of goes into that snowball effect where you're kind of like becoming like the murderer of your own happiness, like you're getting stuck in the past, and you can't move forward because of something that's already happened, so when you always do your best, it's like it kind of prevents it. It's like, I did do my best. It's not what if. It's I did it, and it didn't work out. I gave it my all. I put my all into it, and it didn't work out because it wasn't meant to be, and you can honestly and proudly say that you tried your best in that situation, and you can move forward knowing that it just wasn't meant to be, and that's another feeling. Just because you do your best doesn't mean that fireworks are going to come out, and you're going to make a million dollars, and you're going to get that girl, and sometimes things aren't meant to be just because there's something better waiting for you. God and the universe, they would never, ever, ever take something out of your life without knowing that they could replace it with something better, and I feel like with relationships and stuff like sometimes we're like, oh, like I tried my best, but I didn't get what I wanted. You didn't get what you wanted because that wasn't for you because there's something better just because the beautiful like 10 out of 10 girl didn't fall in love with you back maybe because there's somebody out there who is equally as beautiful and somebody who you don't have to explain yourself with because they just understand you, and that keeps me motivated all the time because we're always going to have situations that we do do our best, and they don't work out, and it's because they weren't meant for you, and better comes, better will come, and it's coming. You have to heal so that you can allow that to come, but I think it's very, very important. Always do your best and also know that your best isn't going to always look the same. When you're sick, you can't expect yourself to operate as a healthy version of yourself. Obviously, you have to know your limits and do your best regardless. Even if you are sick, do the best that you can, but just know that obviously when you wake up and you're on the right side of the bed, and you have a great attitude, and you're ready to conquer the day, obviously that version of you is going to perform a lot more better than the version of you that went out last night, you were drinking all night, you woke up early because you had a shift or something. You're obviously not going to be performing at the best of your ability. Also, when people don't like themselves, they turn to a lot of worldly things. I think one of the most common things I would say is drinking, smoking, other cocaine, don't do cocaine guys, but all these harmful things. When you do things from love and you don't really expect a reward, I think that you find a lot more fulfillment. It prevents you from going in the state of like, oh, I don't like myself, or I did this, and whatever. I was talking to a friend probably a few months ago, and she was telling me she's had a lot of issues with friends, and she had friends that she would do a lot for, and they just wouldn't do the same for them. That's why this podcast is literally called From Love. Do things from love, not for love, because when you do things for love, you're expecting this person to love you back. You're expecting this person to bring the same gifts and whatever back into your life, and it's not realistic. You have to do things because you genuinely want to. If you gave somebody a million dollars tomorrow, you have to do so. That was so dramatic, but you have to do so not expecting a penny back. You know what I mean? I don't know. I really like this one guy. His name is Jay Shetty, and he always says do acts of service, and you'll find the most fulfillment, and you'll find yourself in acts of service because you find out who you truly are, what giving really feels like. They say during Christmas and everything, it's like, oh, the true gift of Christmas is giving, and you're a little kid, and you're like, shut the fuck up, bitch. Give me my fucking presents, but no, it's true. You feel you find the most fulfillment when you're not expecting anything back, and when it's just coming from a true, authentic place of like, I want to do this for you, and that kind of leads me back to my last point, which doesn't really, it does have to do with the four agreements, but it's not a agreement, and it's just like when you're doing your best, is that coming from a place of ego, or is it coming from a place of love? I think I want to say, this might be another book, but I want to say this is in the four agreements. His example was, there can be a guy, and he can go and sail on his sailboat across the world, right, and he can be doing so because he wants to win a prize. He wants to win a one million prize, and he gets the one million prize, and when he realizes, he still feels alone, and he doesn't have fulfillment because that's coming from a place of ego, and I think ego and fear kind of work hand in hand, or you can ask the guy, why do you want to sail across the world? And he says, oh, like just because I want to. Well, why do you want to? You ask him again, because he's probably like unsure. He's never been asked this before, and he says, well, my dad passed away, and it's something he always wanted to do. You're honoring that person. You're honoring the person who's passed away. You're doing something from love, and that's when you kind of get that fulfillment out of places, and I can make a whole podcast episode just about intention behind things, but just to wrap it up back to the four agreements, always do your best, and always do things from love without expecting rewards. I think also I haven't read the book, but they have another book, and it's called the five agreements. They added one, and I think the last one was also saying something about like know that there's always more to learn, and I love that because it's true, especially here. Like there's so much. Like we have the ocean. We have space, just materialistic things, but like there's always things that you can learn about somebody else. There's always things you can learn about yourself. There's always more that you can learn, and I think when you kind of cut yourself off like, oh, like I know everything, you sell yourself short from a lot of lessons, and I know even I have been like I thought to myself like, oh, I have nothing to learn from this person because I'm more emotionally immature, which is very me being egocentric because that's just what happens sometimes, and then I kind of look back, and I'm like no, but even if the lesson wasn't directly coming from them, I think sometimes you lose yourself to find yourself, and unfortunately a lot of the times that's like in negative situations, but the important thing is that you learn from them, and you kind of break the cycle from repeating itself. I swear I took a picture of this quote today. Let me find it so I can read it to you guys. Any lesson you refuse to learn will repeat until you do, and I love that because I think that is so, so, so, so true. Lessons repeat themselves until you learn the lesson, so yeah, you can always learn something even from a child or somebody who has lived in a different generation. There's always something to learn, so don't sell yourself short from that, and also yes, you can learn something from that shitty friend, that shitty boyfriend. Just make sure you learn the lesson. I think it's important when you do have those negative situations, look back on them and just kind of like self-reflect, like what was I supposed to learn from this, but yeah, that's all for this episode. I'm apologizing right now if sometimes it was kind of like in and out. I'm still like getting new of like the organization of my thoughts and like the talking by myself, but please leave comments, questions. I think that I'm going to be implementing a new segment. You guys, I'll do a poll later on my socials, but I'm going to be implementing a new segment, and it's basically going to be like a book club type segment. I just ordered this book. I'm going to read it to you guys, and I'm going to tell you how much it is and everything off of Amazon, but me and my friend Madison are going to be reading about it, or we're going to be reading the book, and then we're going to come on an episode, probably like not every week, but like every other week. We're going to read like whatever chapters or for like the two weeks, and then we're going to come, and we're going to take notes on everything, and then we're going to kind of like back and forth speak about the messages and what we think about it, like if we think it's bullshit, if we think like the chapter was trash, whatever, but it's called Wishes Fulfilled by Dr. Duane Dyer, oops, but yeah, it's on Amazon. It's $14.99 paperback. You, oh girl, hardcover $54, get that paperback, save your money, but if you guys want to join in on like this kind of book club type experience, and you guys can even like swipe up with questions like, oh, I didn't understand this chapter. What's your opinion on it? What's your viewpoint? Then we can kind of help each other out. Let me know, because I'm going to do a poll later, and I would love if some of you guys could follow along, and if not, well, you don't have to follow along, because we'll be talking about it anyways. So yeah, thank you guys so, so much for listening. I hope you guys have a very blessed day, a day filled with love and excitement, and yeah, I'm so grateful to have everybody who's listening listen. So thank you so much, guys. Follow the socials. It's the Instagram is from love podcast. I just uploaded a TikTok, or I just created a TikTok, and I'm working on uploading videos and everything, so that should be in the midst, and hopefully reels and stuff, and not what, but everything, all our socials, the Instagram, and the TikTok, and hopefully YouTube soon can be found under the name from love podcast. So yeah, thank you so much, guys. Have a great day.