Agapi Stassinopoulos's Blog, page 2

How to Upgrade Your Life Today

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I was facilitating a Thrive seminar a few days ago. One of the things we always address at these seminars is “negative beliefs” — how they hold us back and undermine our thriving, productive, creative, and happy selves. Participants never fail to share beliefs such as “I’m not good enough,” “No matter how hard I work, I can do better,” “I don’t deserve success,” “I can’t be happy unless other people around me are happy,” or “I need others’ approval to speak my truth,” etc. When we ask the...

5 Things Not to Do When Writing a Book

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I often meet people who say to me, “I want to write a book,” or “There’s a book in me,” or “I’ve been trying so hard to write a book.” Well, let me just say it bluntly: The world doesn’t need another book. However, the world can benefit from your personal experience, your knowledge, and insights about a particular issue. It’s your version that is key. So when you start thinking of writing a book, or if you’re in the middle of writing a book, focus first on the knowledge you are imparting...

Which Wolf Are You Feeding?

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One of my favorite stories is the “Two Wolves” parable. An old Cherokee chief told his grandson that there was a fight going on inside of him between two wolves — an evil wolf, and a good wolf. He explained to his grandson that everyone has this same fight going on inside of them, between our negative traits and our positive traits. When the little boy asked which wolf will win the fight, the chief replied, “The one you feed.”

We all have this fight going on — but nowadays, it tends to be...

Are You Suffering From “Not Good Enough Syndrome”?

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Have you ever been in a room with people who know more than you? Or with people who are more accomplished than you are? And you felt that you were lacking in some way? You might have been feeling symptoms of what I like to call “NGES”  — Not Good Enough Syndrome. When we’re surrounded by others who have more than we do, we tend to compare ourselves, and start to feel less than. In these moments, it’s important that we learn to reframe how we see ourselves in comparison to our surroundings...

Why Bringing Your Heart to the Table Is the Key to Your Well-being

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John Mackey, the founder and CEO of Whole Foods has a quote I love: “It’s time we brought our hearts out of the closet.” Being raised Greek, our hearts were never in the closet to begin with. It’s wasn’t until I went to study in London that I had to relearn how to trust my heart as a young adult. (The Brits are known for many wonderful things, but they’re also known for censoring their emotions — unless it’s at the theater!) The Greeks live by giving themselves permission to feel the range...

Why Making Yourself a Priority is Key for Your Success

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Last week, I was getting ready for an international trip that demanded a lot of preparation. When I got up in the morning, I grabbed my regular dose of coffee, and jump right into my to-do list — answering emails, packing my suitcase, making calls, and running around from one thing to the other on autopilot.

A few hours later, I began to feel my energy dip, and I started to feel overwhelmed. I hadn’t showered, hadn’t had breakfast, and hadn’t exercised or meditated. I found myself getting ir...

Do This One Thing to Have a Stress-Free Holiday

“A lot of the stress that people feel, they feel because they have put themselves at the center of their universe. When you remove yourself from the center of that place, a lot of the stress subsides. Putting God at the center of things and not yourself is clarifying, liberating and uplifting.” – Malcolm Gladwell

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I was recently listening to the Thrive Global Podcast with Malcolm Gladwell in conversation with Arianna Huffington. When I heard the above statement from him, it felt like a light...

7 Tips to Becoming a Thriving Entrepreneur

Don’t leave yourself behind while you are building your business.

I often speak to entrepreneurs who are starting to bring their businesses, products, and ideas to fruition. They always start with lots of passion and creativity combined with fear and trepidation, what if this fails? And that fear can become an extra motivator that can lead to a tremendous amount of stress and exhaustion, living under the delusion that you don’t have time to take a break.

So you end up feeling overwhelmed and...

Awakening Your Joy

“You carry all the ingredients to turn your existence into joy. Use them! Use them!” -Hafiz

I meet so many people, all the time, who say to me, “I’ve lost my joy and I got lost in my achievements.” As a child, I was always the life of the party. I wanted to make people happy and used every tool in my little pocket to bring joy. I would dance, clown around, and find ways to make people around me smile. Then, school came, and joy flew out of the window. Then, life happened, and I drew the curta...

How To Find Your Confidence and Be Bold

Start your week off right with this meditation.

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” -William G.T. Shedd

A mistake we all make is that we want to feel confident before we embark on something. However, confidence is a by-product of taking action and finding the courage to go beyond our fears and self-doubts. There is a scene in the movie Chariots of Fire (which I highly recommend you see), where the English runner Eric Lidell is running in an Olympic race. As he runs,...