In today's episode, my guest and I explore the connection between high performance sports and spirituality. I have to admit that I didn't quite see the link when we discussed having her on the podcast but now that the episode is done, there was so much gold in it.

Stephanie Kakris is a High Performance Coach with a background in sports psychology, coaching but she brings a unique angle to her practice by integrating spiritual practices to help athletes be in the present moment and detach their self worth from the win. Her work with clients has highlighted that the most successful athletes are able to detach from the outcome and focus purely on the joy and the pursuit of perfection in their game or event.

She also points out that the spiritual world does not focus enough on the body and the physical aspect of our experience, which is a mistake. Over coming our physical limitations by thriving to be the best athlete we can is a path of self mastery just as much as other spiritual pursuits.

It is not healthy to have so much emphasis on the mind only and to live in our heads and everyone can benefit from moving more.

But we also had a conversation about achievement, goals and the meaning of life. Some athletes make the mistake of thinking that they life will end if they don't win a race or an event. And this can actually trip them up on their pursuit of success. Stephanie teaches these individuals how to get in the flow state. The only sustainable state that can help us break through the limits of our minds and often bodies too.

Join us in a conversation that turned out to be fascinating where even spirit guides were discussed.

To find out more about Stephanie, check her website. You can also reach her through Facebook.

Announcement: Sign up for my brand new challenge that starts on the 26th of January 2026 called Get Your Energy Back and received weekly tips on how to increase your energy levels in small and doable ways.

I have just been interviewed by a journalist of Metro, who told me that it felt very refreshing writing an article about me because it was so positive and a great change from the doom and gloom. She interviewed me about my journey of going from being a lawyer to a modern mystic who talks to the angels every day - a journey that I have retraced in my second memoir called Spiritual Lawyer, which is available on Amazon.

This got me thinking about how the media, the news and politics have a very heavy and often dark energy and what we should be doing about it.

A study by a Scottish University (sorry I don't know which one) has revealed that in the 70s, the British media had a radio of 3 positive stories to 1. By the year 2000, the ratio as of 1 to 18. I am sure this has got worse since plus we have the echo chambers of social media. On top of that, these bad news generate thousands of negative comments on social media posts with a level of nastiness that has frankly reached levels that I find unimaginable. Where is all the nastiness coming from?

Because of this, I wanted to do an episode today about the energy of the news and politics and show you the effect it is bound to have on your mental health but also your energy field, that bubble of energy that surrounds our bodies to protect us. The most effective cleanser for all that negativity is nature, in particular the sun. But even the sun has been portrayed now as toxic, and I want you to know, friends, that it is not. Yes, precautions have to be taken during heat waves during the middle of the day, but for the most part, the sun is a wonderful to clear your energy. So are the wind, the rain, forests, ocean air and more.

My invitation is to go on a news detox but also to vote with your clicks and stop feeding the negative news monster so that you can balance out the input of negativity in your life. Your nervous system was never designed to cope with so much negativity in the first place.

Last week I received a birthday card from my mother after six years of silence. My first reaction was fear and anxiety.

In this episode I discuss the concept of forgiveness and spirituality as applied to my personal situation with my mother. I use my example to explore several topics that link in to forgiveness after giving some context of why I didn't realise I had been abused as a child. Mostly it was because I believed that abuse was hitting a child, malnourishing them or sexually abusing them. I did not know about the concept of gaslighting. This came way later in life.

Should I forgive my mother? She is going to be 90 years old next year and has been going to all my relatives telling them how heart broken she is about the wall I built between us. Am I being the cruel person by not allowing her back in my life? This is actually a different topic altogether than the topic of forgiveness.

In order to record today's episode without fear of repercussion, I have had to change my name, record it in a different language (although my mother speaks well enough English that she could listen to it - If she decides to though she will have been forewarned) and moved to another country. BeforeI did these three things I had constant ear throat and mouth infections from not being able to speak my truth that led to a sort of piece de resistance, so to speak, which was a cyst that grew on my thyroid and that led to emergency surgery as it was suffocating me. The truth I wasn't speaking was literally killing me.

Should I forgive my mother? Let's look at the word "should" and say that no one should be pressured into forgiving, whether it's the right to do or not. Forgiveness is an internal process that has to happen organically. Sometimes, time is a great healer but more often than not, it is not and we need an intervention such as therapy to help with the process.

In the words of Nelson Mandela "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

There is a benefit in forgiving someone or at the very least letting go of resentment (they can be two different things) but only if this does not involve gaslighting yourself.

I also wanted to add that there are things that I believe cannot be forgiven which involve intentionally causing harm to another.

One thing is for sure no one should tell you what to do when it comes to forgiveness because no one walks in your shoes.

At the end of the episode I offer a process that can help you let go of the negative feelings you may feel around what someone has done to you. If you need further help, though, particularly if this is contributing to your burnout, do book a discovery call with me by clicking this link. As a sustainable success coach, I would love to support you in letting go of relationships that cause you to be exhausted or at least to create some healthy boundaries around them.