Category: Personal Development

Don’t do this after an emotionally unpleasant experience:

⛔️ Open up Spotify, put Airpods in, go out for a walk.

Do this instead:

✅ Go out for a walk, 𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝟓 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨, open up Spotify, put Airpods in—and enjoy.

By doing this you send a signal to your unconscious brain that you can feel anything.

You’re not running away from negative emotions by switching music on.

You are not repressing your emotions—you are accepting your emotions.

The more you practise this, the more unshakable you will feel.

Loving you, Angelos

Photo: The bee’s canyon, Lefkada, Greece.

I was an investment banker.

I wanted money, status, and success.

I wanted others to think I was successful.

My mom, my dad, and my brother.

My parents’ friends, ermm…hold on… that’s my parents again I guess?

My uncle who was a successful lawyer in Greece.

My girlfriend and my future girlfriend.

The beautiful dog owner in Hyde Park.

My friends, my Facebook friends, and my haters.

Other Greeks in London.

The random person I met in Mayfair one Saturday evening.

Everyone, really!

I was another investment banker who craved…

Money. Power. Status. Recognition. Acceptance. Belonging. Happiness. LOVE.

I was just another human being who craved LOVE.

As most human beings.

Later I learned to love myself more (and I’m still learning).

Do I have to be someone who does something in order to be loved?

I learned to love being myself.

But step 1 was to love my investment-banking self.

First comes awareness, compassion and forgiveness.

No need to rush. Take your time to appreciate the wonderful person you are.

And who knows? If you need a better way, there may be a better way.

Loving you, Angelos

What to say to a colleague who’s trying to gaslight you:

“You look tired today. Are you OK?”

DON’T say,

“I’m fine. I’m OK”.

Cut off their abusive “hypnotic” suggestions right there and then:

𝗬𝗼𝘂: You interrupted me three times in the meeting, John.

𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻: I wouldn’t do that. I thought you were taking too long to formulate that thought and I just wanted to help.

𝗬𝗼𝘂: My timing isn’t the issue here, John. The issue is your interruptions.

𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻: I think you’re overreacting. And you look tired. Is everything OK?

𝗬𝗼𝘂: You’re way off the subject again, John. We are not discussing my emotional state here. Next time we’re in a meeting, don’t cut me off.

Loving you, Angelos

You’re in a red cell.

You may think, “I should get out of this cell ASAP”.

You may assume that everywhere else is red, too.

But you never know, there could be a green cell in there.

You may think, “This red cell will never turn green”.

But there could be a way for you to make it green and turn the whole thing green.

You may think, “I should get out of this square altogether”.

After all, there could be a fresh verdant square somewhere out there.

A mentor who has been in red cells can help you to move to a green cell.

And a coach can help you to see more clearly the colours, the cells and the squares—and most importantly, see more clearly within yourself.

Have honest conversations with people, open up, share what you think and how you feel with them. This is therapeutic on its own—it can change the colour of the cell!

Loving you, Angelos

PS: Picture done in Excel as you may have noticed. Rand() function. P(Green)=0.7, P(Red)=0.3 chosen for demonstration purposes only. 🙂

Nothing fascinates me more in this life than the study of emotions.

To me, working with emotions is the highest form of art.

I studied pure and applied maths, computer science, music, languages.

I looked for answers in meditation, yoga, mindfulness, spirituality.

Nothing unlocked my potential as much as developing emotional intelligence.

I said developing because I have discovered that anyone can develop emotional intelligence.

It’s fascinating to see yourself move up the ladder of consciousness by hopping from one emotion to another.

It’s fascinating when you can kill thousands of negative thoughts by focusing on what you feel.

It’s fascinating to recognise the sensations of fear or guilt or joy in your body.

This is addictive stuff.

The most powerful tool that you can use to help yourself and others.

In my opinion, emotional intelligence should be taught at primary school.

I’m a mathematician who loves maths but I think that it’s more important than algebra or calculus.

The world would be a much better place if they taught it at school.

Do you want to start exploring it? You don’t have to read a book.

Just ask yourself this question once a day: “What am I feeling right now? Where in my body am I feeling it?”

Loving you, Angelos

Photo: Pefkoulia, Lefkada, Greece.

You know the usual, “If you don’t love yourself, you can’t love others”.

This is only one half of the story.

The other half of the story is the most important and the least understood.

And I see it everyday in my practice.

Here it is:

👉🏻 If you don’t feel lovable, it’s difficult to believe that anyone else loves you.

If I don’t accept myself, how can I accept your love for me?

It’s confusing. It gives you anxiety. It goes against your self-image since you “know” you’re not lovable.

And you’re pushing away the person who’s trying to love you!

Just to hedge your bets against disappointment.

Counterintuitive, isn’t it?

Why don’t you try this?

See if you can get through today without undermining the love you receive from others.

It could be a gift, a compliment, an offer to help, a lift or just a smile.

Take it and show your appreciation. You deserve it.

You don’t have to do anything in return. They don’t expect anything from you. They wanted to give it to you because they appreciate you.

Loving you, Angelos

PS: It’s been raining every day in Lefkada, Greece. Not an excuse to miss a run on the beach though. 😉