The second agreement takes us to the roots of miscommunication. When people feel hurt about something which has been said, it’s often because they didn’t understand the intention behind the words. They construed a personal attack where none was intended. A lot of drama can be avoided by asking simple questions as to why a comment has been made.
Sometimes people genuinely do mean to be hostile and that can be easier on social media. There is no need to take these opinions personally. They represent only what someone else thinks on the basis of information that is at best very partial. Only we know the truth about ourselves. In digital terms, detachment is key. The physical world is the centre of our lives. The digital world is no more than an adjunct to it, and we need to be able to switch off from what happens there.
Further agreements advise us to avoid making assumptions and always do our best. The two are connected. We have a tendency to imagine scenarios which turn out to be based on nothing. This leads us to waste mental energy which could be focused on our search for truth.
