An Analysis Of Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements

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Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements exposes a series of self-limiting beliefs that create distress in people’s lives. Ruiz’s agreements are based on ancient Toltec wisdom and they serve as a code of conduct to guide people in living a happier, more productive life. While Ruiz encourages everyone to adopt the agreements, they are particularly apt when incorporated into a social care or youth work setting. This assignment will briefly outline and critically analyse each of the four agreements. The agreements include: be impeccable with your word, don’t take any thing personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best. (Ruiz 2012) Current research and youth work theory will be explored to determine whether it is congruent with the wisdom espoused …show more content…

2011). Some research suggests that the recent prevalence of targeted youth work is further stigmatizing the young people involved (Scanlon et al 2011; Jenkinson 2013). It is the role of the youth worker to challenge these negative agreements, to help young people find their truth. Rogers (1980) and Ruiz (2012) describe a process where a person, e.g. youth worker, values the significance and worth of another person. Through this acceptance the young person will begin to adopt a similar attitude and they will experience a rise in self-worth. Thus, they create a new agreement, that they are worthy of being valued and cared for. The youth work relationship is generally more informal than those that young people have with other adults. Unlike in many other relationships young people encounter, youth workers provide opportunities for them to exercise a high level of power and control. This accountability and openness enables young people to trust the workers to be honest and reliable. Just as Ruiz (2012) extolls authenticity, the success of youth work depends on the genuine openness and transparency of the youth worker (Henry et al.

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