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.

In this week's episode, I explore the idea of the veil that separates the spirit world from us, where the idea comes from, why some people think it thins around Halloween and where I think the veil actually resides.

For as long as I have explored the New Age, I have heard people say that the veil thins around Halloween. At first, I was flattered. For once, the time of my birthday felt special rather than a time of the year where the weather was horrible and the clocks went backwards. This year, I finally decided to stand by what I believe, which is that this whole veil is thinning around Halloween is superstition and I am tired of people rehashing it without questioning where it comes from and whether it is true.

So I did a bit of research and found that the idea of a veil between the spirit world and our world comes from Celtic folk lure. It seems that druids and pagans use incantations to pierce that veil in order to communicate with the spirit world. This still does not explain why it would happen particularly around Halloween. A bit more digging revealed that symbolically, the Autumn is a time where death enters everyone's mind (provided they live in the Northern Hemisphere though - so let's be aware of culture centricity here) due to the fact that the leaves are falling off trees and nature seems to be dying.

Unsurprisingly, that would lead to people thinking of the dead more often at that time of year. That's all.

This does not prove that the veil is thinning.

In the second part of the episode, I talk about where I believe the veil truly resides, how to lift the veil and discuss whether lifting the veil should be pursued and how.

If you would like to book an aura and energy field balancing and repair session, click here to buy. The investment at the time of this episode is £98 for a session.

If you would like to discuss how I can help you open your third eye in a safe manner with the right guidance and support, why not book a discovery call with this link.

Dean James is the host of the Used To Be Do Count (U2BDC) podcast, which explores what his guests used to be because who we used to be an important contribution to who we are today and we should not abandon a part of ourselves.

Dean grew up in a religious environment, not because of his parents but because of school as most primary school in England are denomination schools under the umbrella of the Church of England. However, Dean has an interesting background as his father is a Turkish Cypriot, so he grew up influenced by Muslim values. His mother is Irish Catholic. And Dean feels that, having been exposed to both religions, they share common values.

At one point in his youth, Dean went to Church and identified as Christian but one day, he heard the Priest that he admired and who was a mentor to him, do a homophobic sermon. And at that moment, even though Dean didn't know he was gay, his body froze. And that put him off church. It felt like milk turned sour.

Since then Dean has dabbed into meditation and Buddhism.

Dean used to be a professional dancer and he definitely feels that dancing is part of his spirituality. Sadly however, he stopped his career as a dancer when his brother died. And has recently taken up dancing again, though not professionally. He believes that dance can unlock our sixth sense because it unlocks energy in our bodies.

He stopped dancing at the time of the death of his brother because something got blocked by grief in his body and he felt "Who am I to feel joy through dance when my brother is dead?"

So Dean founded a charity for the following seven years.

To hear the full interview, click here.

To listen to Dean's podcast click here. To follow the podcast on IG, click here. To follow the podcast on Facebook, click here.

There are five steps to finding your life's purpose.

Step 1: Strengthen your intuition

Everyone is intuitive but we haven't been taught how to use that intuition and what it looks like so we don't trust it. We also don't know how to access is on demand. If you want to learn how, please head over to my online course How To Learn to Trust Your Intuition.

As children, we have been actively encouraged to ignore our intuition so that we could fit in and become compliant citizens. We are socially trained to believe what people say rather than observe their behaviour or how we feel about it. In the episode, I teach you one example that will enable you to know the difference between anxiety and fear on the one hand and intuition on the other hand. The clue is on how it makes you feel.

You can also listen to previous episodes about intuition: EP 5 - How does intuition work. And EP 91 - Ignore your intuition at your peril.

Step 2: Follow signs

What are signs? In order to dive into the range of signs that are available to you I encourage you to listen to EP 23 Signs from the Universe. If you are in a hurry, they can be anything significant to you especially after you ask the Universe to show you the way. How do you ask? Listen to EP 47 How to Work with Angels to have more information about it. In a nutshell, you write down the help you want and then wait and pay attention. You start with paying attention to how you word your request. Every word matters. I help clients with this step because it's quite subtle and more complex than it appears at first. However for the purpose of this podcast episode you can keep it simple: What is my life's purpose? Date and sign it. In the episode, I list several ways in which you can receive the answer to your request.

Step 3: Learn to say no

This is a very important step. If you are a people pleaser and cannot say no, you are not likely to find your purpose because you will believe that your purpose is to make other people happy. No one's purpose is to make other people happy. Not even your own children if you are a parent. That's just a people pleasing point of view.

Step 4: Trust the detours

Even though we would like our lives to be this linear path to success, it rarely happens like this. Life is messy. I had to lose my entire career in 2005 in order to find my true purpose. And most of it was due to the fact that I was living someone else's version of success because I was a people pleaser, as I explained in EP 110 Success and Spirituality.

Step 5: Open your own akashic records

Your life's purpose is stored in your akashic records. They are what you could call your soul's diary. They contain everything about you as a soul. It is possible for you to access your own records and get information from them. I recommend Linda Howe's book to get started: How to read the akashic records. I also invite you to book a session with me as this is my speciality. I have two separate tariffs depending on whether you consult me for your private life or your business.

The Universe has a radically different way to look at success than we do in the Western world. In this episode, I explore those differences, how I have lived experience of it and the five regrets of the dying.

From 1988 to 2005, I had a stellar career as a lawyer (I count my studies in this period as I did really well at University). Then in 2005, two things happened, I lost my job and I became pregnant with my third child. This was a massive crisis for me as I wasn't just losing my job, I was losing my career. I talk about this second burnout period in my life in my brand new book, Healing Burnout with the Angels, so If you want to know when the book is coming out, sign up for my newsletter with this link.

According to the Oxford dictionary, he definition of success is the accomplishment or an aim. In the West, that usually means wealth, fame or respect. For me, in 2005, two versions of success collided. The success I wanted to feel in my career and the success I wanted to feel as a mum. I wanted to be both the best lawyer in the world and the best mum in the world and sadly, the way the Western world is structured, both cannot be attained simultaneously.

The second part of the episode is about whether this Western world definition of success is really going to matter when you are on your death bed and the short answer is no.

In 2011, Bronnie Ware wrote a book called the five regrets of the dying. This was inspired by her work in palliative care. In the episode we explore these five regrets and then move to the most important question I believe we should ask ourselves: How do we make sure we live a life well lived? And what does that mean on a spiritual level? I share my answer at the end of the episode. I would love to know yours.

And if you need to redefine your version of success and you need some help, book a discovery call with me.

The last letter of my EPIC framework to manifest success without burnout is what I call the Triple C: Clarity, Courage and Confidence. They all come under the banner of mindset, which is at least 50% of success. Without the right mindset we often believe that what we want is not for us. We are too young, too old, to rich, too poor. Whatever it is that our limiting beliefs tell us.

Suppose you had the energy pillar nailed as well as the prosperity mentality and the intuition, why do you need clarity? Clarity is probably one of the biggest obstacle to manifesting our dreams. I don't know about you but I used to change my mind about what I want so often that I confused myself. That was particularly true when I finished school and had to choose what to study. I had so many ideas. Perhaps for you, it's too many book ideas. And the truth is, you need to choose one and focus on that one long enough to get traction. Even that you need to be clear on. The fact you need to focus on one thing. I use to scatter myself. It is really bad in terms of results.

But even getting clarity is not enough. When I do akashic records session, I give clarity to my clients. Unless they have the courage to take action, nothing is going to happen. And then the confidence comes last. Yes, it comes after action. If you wait to have the confidence to do something you are missing what it takes to go after your dreams.

What if the action you took is not right? I think of intuition as a satellite navigation system, so it will show you how to redirect. But it won't be able to show you the right way unless you start your car and your journey. Does that make sense?

I explore all three aspects of this pillar in this episode. If you believe you need support specifically with your mindset, why not check out my Stop Sabotaging your Success online course. Click here to find out more.