The Fifth Agreement: Be Skeptical, But Learn To Listen – Sharyn Nichols

In this episode of Feel to Heal, Sharyn introduces The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz: Be skeptical, but learn to listen.
After exploring The Four Agreements, this episode invites listeners to go one step deeper by questioning the beliefs, stories, and inner voices they have inherited. So many of the thoughts we carry about ourselves were never consciously chosen. They were learned, absorbed, repeated, and eventually mistaken for truth.
Sharyn explores how healthy skepticism can help us loosen our grip on old conditioning without becoming cynical or closed off. She also explains why deep listening is essential: listening to ourselves, to others, and to life with curiosity instead of judgment.
This episode is a gentle invitation to stop believing every thought, question the stories that limit you, and listen for the truth beneath the noise.
5 Key Takeaways
Many beliefs about your worth, needs and identity were absorbed from family, culture and past experiences rather than consciously chosen.
Healthy skepticism is not cynical or dismissive; it is a gentle curiosity that asks whether an old story is actually the whole truth.
Words, gestures and other symbols are interpreted through personal history, which is why two people can experience the same conversation very differently.
Your inner critic may be an outdated recording shaped by people who carried their own fears, wounds and judgments.
Healing begins when you create space between yourself and the story by remembering that you do not have to believe everything you think.