"I want you to write down these four words," my professor says.

He is about to share with us his mnemonic for how he remembers what he calls The Four Agreements: "Impeccable Assumptions, Personal Best." I write them down. At this point, I had never heard of The Four Agreements or what they were, but I was about to, and so are you.

'The first agreement is: be impeccable with your word,' he says. Our word, not our words although we should also be impeccable with those. He asks us what this means. Earlier in my life I've heard the phrase "You're only as good as your word," so I'm pretty sure I know the answer: "Don't lie." And I'm not wrong, apparently, but I'm not completely right either. There are promises we made when we registered for this class: to show up on time, to complete the assignments, to check our cell phones in at the door, etc. Keeping to those is part of our word. There will be times when we will be explaining our work to each other, and telling the whole truth about that is part of our word. We will be giving each other critiques. Those things we say will be part of our word, and if we are not fully honest, then we will not learn to our potential. Our word is everything.

'The second agreement is: don't make assumptions.' Well, everyone knows what that means, right? Well, be careful because that assertion right there is an assumption itself, and when you make assumptions, you make an ass out of u and mptions. For class, he says he means "Communicate! Don't assume I know anything!" and that if we let him know about things that get in the way he will do his best to accommodate us. He tells us this is important for him too, not to assume that any of us know anything relevant before the class starts (to account for someone like me, I suppose, with basically no prior art experience).

'The third agreement is: don't take anything personally.' This might be the most difficult one, he says. For many people it is second nature. But in art class, we must understand that all constructive criticism is meant positively and that none of us can draw perfectly. Our professor says ego is great for young people finding themselves, but if you're not careful it can get in the way, and that betters no one.

'The fourth agreement is: do your best.' And yes, it is that difficult but that simple. Our professor says if you do the best you can, you will have no regrets. I see his point. How can one regret not doing any less than the best they could have done? I'll certainly try my best at this art stuff, and however good my best is, I'll have fulfilled my potential in that department.

After we agree to all of these he mentions that these agreements don't just serve better art, but also a better life. And I think to myself "that would make a good article. But I think i'll ask him first if he'd be okay with me writing about it for the internet to see." And after I asked, he said "Totally, but look it up on google so you get the real deal, not just my take on it." So I did:

Mexican author Don Miguel Ruiz in 1997 published a book called " The Four Agreements." Over 5 million copies have been sold. In the book, he outlined the agreements mentioned above (although numbers two and three were switched). But these agreements weren't just for fine art students (or theatre students pretending to be fine art students, for that matter). According to the subtitle of the book, they were "A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom" as well. And each agreement, though quite short, is quite big.

To be impeccable with our word. Ruiz says this one in fact is the most difficult in which to succeed. According to him, "impeccable" means "without sin," by way of Latin, and it's important to know that sin is not necessarily evil, but falls under the umbrella of anything one does against one's self. Self-judgement, self-deprication, self-doubt. We should focus more on learning from our mistakes than punishing ourselves for making them.

To not take anything personally. This can be difficult, given how so much of what many of us do is driven by ego and pride. Ruiz likes to counter our instinct to take things personally with this idea: "Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves." The way you act is based on how you are doing, not on how other people are doing.

To not make assumptions. My professor and Ruiz both say the solution to assumptions is clear communication. Ruiz says the whole problem with assumptions is "we believe they are the truth" and we will until we are shown otherwise. Better to ask questions and get answers before there's a misunderstanding and things get worse.

To do our best. This one, Ruiz says, bring the other three to life. We will try our best to hold ourselves to the other three agreements. And on different days, our best will be different. And that is alright.

Although I haven't learned a whole lot about art yet, I think I've been taught some very big things here, by my professor and Miguel Ruiz alike. Not only that, but I learned that a teacher's lesson is a new and different thing for every student who hears it, and in turn, every student could probably teach their peers something new too. And I hope that's what I've done today.

I encourage those of you who want to learn more about Miguel Ruiz and his writing to visit his website http://www.miguelruiz.com/

Have a good week and stay mindful.