Again, I encourage all our listeners who have prayers in their hearts and have poems to just pour it out because in the pouring out, you'll find the pearls.

Just be who you are and put words together and express what's inside of you because the unexpressed wants to come out and liberate us.

Hey, so when you think about the word prayer, does it repel you, does it trigger you, does it draw you in?

Well, my guest today, Agapi Stusnothlus, she offers a way into this sometimes loaded word and practice that's both expansive and inclusive and really powerful, no matter your beliefs, your background, your relationship with any kind of organized tradition or religion.

The type of prayer that she invites us to invoke, it operates on a very different level. One that anyone can get behind and find connection and solace from.

And this idea, along with many specific examples, it's also the focus of her newest book, Speaking with Spirit.

So Agapi is what I like to call a walking hug.

The first time I met her a number of years back in New York, I opened my front door and she was standing there with arms full of boxes of Greek pastries.

It was like we had always known each other for our lives. And as soon as it were put down, the next thing that happened was a giant hug.

She embodies love, which in fact is the translation of her name, a bestselling author and speaker who inspires audiences around the world.

After being raised in Athens, Agapi was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Traumatic Art.

But then made this really interesting shift in direction, focusing her wisdom words and presence away from the theatrical stage, getting her masters in psychology,

and deciding to speak more directly to the hearts and minds of people with the intention of inspiring us all to live better lives.

She's authored numerous books spoken at organizations around the world, hanging from L'Orealic Center and linked into Google, Nike Starbucks, the Museum of Modern Art and hundreds of others.

In today's conversation, we dive deep into what happens when we muster the courage to speak aloud a hard truth, a deep need, open ourselves to vulnerability,

and reconnect with something bigger than ourselves. If there was ever a time to embrace this idea, it's now.

So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project.

Yeah, I was thinking about last time we saw each other, which was, I guess it was early summer, I was out in LA, so we had the good fortune of being able to sneak in a little bit of time together and go for a beautiful walk.

I felt like I left our walk, and within hours, the world started to change again. People have been experiencing this season very differently for a lot of different reasons.

And you and I were talking about something that I found really interesting, that I haven't heard a whole lot, which is that we're all wired in a certain way to be social in different ways. I happen to be fairly introverted. I'm pretty good, you know, with a lot of solitude.

You're much more extroverted. You're much somebody who really loves to be around people and come alive. And you were sharing that this season has been really difficult for you for a lot of reasons, but also socially it's been challenging because it really it inhibits the way that you really wanted the ways that you really come fully alive.

Exactly. And you talked about this in your books so beautifully, about the personality of the performer. And, you know, I am a performer. And, you know, a stranger's an actress, since I was a young girl, my joy was always to be with people and make them happy and engage and bring my joy.

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