Hitesh Gorantla's Key Ideas from The Four Agreements
by Don Miguel Ruiz

“The human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake.”

Our beliefs are conditioned by punishment. Whenever we do something wrong, we punish ourselves so as to reinforce the mistake. This is true for all animals of this world. However, we humans take it one step further and punish ourselves over and over again every time we are reminded of the mistake. This is extremely unfair to us, as it causes suffering and decreases our happiness.

“Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”

When you take the negative things others say about you personally, you get trapped in your own personal importance because you are operating under the selfish assumption that everything is about you. You start to get depressed and unhappy because you start to believe those negative things about yourself.

Once you stop taking things personally, you will be much happier.