Welcome to my blog Lover of Wisdom, 

I'm passionate about helping people transform their fear into freedom,
through the time-tested principles and practices of Greek philosophy.

Here you will see mainly videos from ALKISTIS-TV®.  
After more than 15 years, it's still going strong, with more valuable content 
than ever before.

Each relaxing guided meditation video that I create is focused around empowering YOU,
to transform your fear (anxiety, anger, resentment, depression or anything else that's
blocking you) into freedom, through Greek philosophy.

ALKISTIS-TV® weekly episodes are viewed by people with all types of backgrounds,
especially people like you, who are passionate about their personal development and 
leaving this world better than you found it.

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Your life will begin to transform from the very first episode !
Sincerely yours,

​Alkistis
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In today’s meditation, we will reflect on the Greek Philosophy notion that the only secure source of happiness and freedom is your inner world. This is because everything outside of you can be taken away. Therefore, it is foolish to trust your happiness and wellbeing to that which is outside your control. Everything can be taken from you, at any moment, except one thing: the last of your freedoms—to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose your own way. 

As Seneca, the Stoic philosopher wrote, “We have no grounds for self-admiration through our possessions as they have been loaned to us. We may use and enjoy them, but the one who has allotted His gift decides how long we are to be the tenants; Our duty is to keep ready the gifts we have been given for an indefinite time and to return theem when called upon, making no complaint…”

Let’s reflect on that :Do you truly own anything? Is it really within your control? For example your body, your money, your relationships…? Not really, because at any moment these can be taken away from you due to a change in your luck…

Another Stoic philosopher, Publilius Syrus taught that  “If you are to have a great kingdom, rule over yourself!” That’s what we will reflect on today. 

Real power can’t be taken away—not by the economy or by an election or by anything else. A weak person is dependent on the moods of the crowd, on the stock market or on the weather,  but a philosopher—a lover of wisdom focuses their happiness on their principles. 

Other people may hate you, they can be toxic towards you, they can send you away, they can make fun of you or even try to destroy your reputation, but no one can take away your principles. 

No one can stop you from ruling over yourself. It’s the best and the biggest and the strongest kingdom there is. Your true kingdom is within.

Think of everything outside of yourself, as borrowed... They are on loan from Nature, Fortune, God, or whatever you want – and you can only use these things temporarily, you are a caretaker.... Everything can be taken away in an instant. Without prior notice. Without asking. It’s just been taken away. Lost. Broken. Stolen. Burned. Died. Or killed….

So imagine all that you have as borrowed, your spouse, your lover, your children, your health, your car, your computer...These are really just on loan to you..At any point the lender may want these back. Just be grateful for all that you have received. 

In today's relaxing, healing guided meditation we reflect on "Memento Mori"—the ancient Greek practice of reflection on mortality. It goes back to Socrates, who said that the proper practice of philosophy is “about nothing else but dying and being dead.” Plato, who Socrates mentored, taught about the purpose of philosophy in the dialogue of "Phaedon". Plato defined philosophy as a reflection on our own death. This death, of course, could be not only natural, but also the death of the Ego.

​Later on the Stoic school adopted this practice, and named it "Memento Mori' in Latin, (Remberance of our imminent death). “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” Seneca To us moderns this sounds like an awful idea. Who wants to think about death? But what if instead of being scared and unwilling to embrace this truth we did the opposite? What if reflecting and meditating on that fact was a simple key to living life to the fullest? Or that it was the key to our freedom—as Montaigne put it,

“To practice death is to practice freedom. A person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave.”

Note: Alkistis is wearing Zeus + Δione clothing.

In this week's relaxing guided meditation, we go over Plato's liberating concept of "View from Above".

​As Marcus Aurelius wrote in Meditations, 7.48, "How beautifully Plato put it. Whenever you want to talk about people, it’s best to take a bird’s-eye view and see everything all at once—of gatherings, armies, farms, weddings and divorces, births and deaths, noisy courtrooms or silent spaces, every foreign people, holidays, memorials, markets—all blended together and arranged in a pairing of opposites..."

This change of perspective from the individual to “the Whole” has the capacity to change us in fundamental ways. When we take it seriously, it can turn “this human life of ours upside down” (as Plato says in his dialogue Gorgias, line 481c). It can produce inner peace and freedom, replacing anger and pain with compassion and love, even when we are most hurt.

​In this week's relaxing guided meditation, we will reflect on the impermanence of things. Heraclitus taught that "We never step into the same river twice." Find out why its so important to understand this in order to contain and overcome fear, anxiety and depression like the Stoics.

In today's relaxing Guided Meditation, we will be reflecting on The Four Cardinal Virtues: Wisdom (Greek phronêsis), Justice (Greek dikaiosunê), Courage (Greek andreia), Temperance (Greek sôphrosunê).

Historians can’t agree on where this classification originated. It appears to go back as far as Plato or Socrates, although some argue that they can be traced back to about the 12th-8th centuries B.C., to Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. 

Let's see them in more detail: 

Wisdom (phronêsis)
This is the common sense ability to know good from bad. We apply wisdom to judge what is to be done and what is not to be done and to know what is under our control and what is not. Includes good calculation, quick-wittedness, cunning, discretion, and resourcefulness.

Justice (dikaiosunê)
To be fair and just in our treatment of others. To be moral, honest, and conduct ourselves with the dignity, equity, and fairness, we demand of others. 

Courage (andreia)
To resist fear; to be courageous without being reckless. To have confidence and self-restraint about what is truly fearful and terrible; to be bold wisely; intrepid in the face of hardship and death. Includes discipline, confidence, and self-control.

Temperance (sôphrosunê)
Moderation concerning desires and pleasures; harmony and good discipline. It has to do with personal independence, and self -discipline; rational acceptance of what is admirable and contemptible. Includes endurance, modesty, high-mindedness, cheerfulness, and industriousness.

These virtues derive initially from Plato's Republic Book IV, 426–435. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius discusses them in Book V:12 of Meditations and views them as the "goods" that a person should identify in one's own mind, as opposed to "wealth or things which conduce to luxury or prestige." These cardinal virtues are listed in the Bible, as they were adopted by early Christians, who added on the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. 
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The cardinal virtues are considered the ‘antidote’ to the capital vices of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. If you build your life and ambitions around these vices, you will probably be disappointed, because the pleasure they offer is ephemeral. It doesn’t mean that we don’t seek and enjoy pleasurable things like acclaim and monetary success. It means that we don’t “require” them to be happy and fulfilled; to “flourish” in a state of Eudaimonia. 

Enjoy your inner journey and make sure to comment, like, share and support my work via www.patreon.com/alkistis
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In today's guided meditation, we reflect on the lesson of Greek / Stoic philosophy that says that everything that's happening in your life, is happening FOR you, not TO you...

​Imagine that you are a fire-without logs being thrown into the fire, the fire dies. We need these challenges, to bring out the best in us, to practice Virtue ('Arete' in Greek). Marcus Aurelius's note to himself summarises it beautifully, "The impediment to action advances actions. What stands in the way, becomes the way."

For philosophers, the REAL purpose of our life is not to be "successful" (as an end in itself) , but to flourish and be fulfilled ('Eudaimonia' in Greek), and this can only be done through practicing Arete

In today's guided meditation, we focus on the ancient Greek method for remaining calm and confident, no matter what you are challenged with: When undertaking the fulfillment of any goal, Stoics apply a very clever technique called "Hupexairesis" (meaning 'Exception' in Greek). The "Reserve Clause", as it is known, means adding the caveat “Fate permitting” or "God permitting" to our plans to achieve a certain goal.

This can help you in many ways:
1. You avoid disappointment if your plans don't work out.
2. You maintain equanimity (a balanced spirit) in the face of adversity so you can think more clearly, and find solutions.
3. Although you pursue your goal with passion, at the same time, you are inwardly free of the result, and this cultivates self-confidence and long-lasting happiness.
4. When you're free, it sometimes actually attracts what you want to you, rather than you pushing or forcing something to happen.

To listen to this guided meditation without advertisement interruptions, become a patron on www.patreon.com/alkistis

Yo-Yo MA, the world renowned cello player, organized a unique event at Athens, in the summer of 2019 together with the Heritage Management Organization and Baumstrasse and this organization was hosted in the gardens of the Athens Observatory.
Other speakers included professor Andreas Papandreou Jr. and former minister of culture of Greece Lydia Koniordou.

The theme was democracy, focusing on the Funeral Oration. (The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead. (The Funeral Oration is significant because it differs from the usual form of Athenian funeral speeches. David Cartwright describes it as "a eulogy of Athens itself...".The speech glorifies Athens' achievements, designed to stir the spirits of a state still at war.

​In this week's guided meditation, we reflect on the the Stoic art of Acquiescence; Accepting and loving whatever is happening, by focusing on a a quote by famous Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, " Oh world, I am in tune with every note of the great harmony. For me nothing is early, nothing late, if it be timely for Thee. Oh Nature, all that thy seasons yield is fruit for me."

My meditations are filmed in beautiful, healing GREECE. To listen to more like this ,go to my website, in menu, under "GUIDED MEDITATIONS" or Subscribe to my youtube channel, 'alkistisTV' ​"

My deeply relaxing guided meditations based on Greek Philosophy & alpha wave technology will help you to move from fear to freedom effortlessly, in your sleep."

DOCTORS RECOMMEND daily practice of a deeply relaxing inner state, to help us manage stress and anxiety. Scientific Studies have proven that in relaxed state, the mind is more than ​200% more receptive to suggestions, than in ordinary, conscious state. In addition, when we introduce a 'positive mission statement' during this practice, it can bring on positive powerful changes in our life.

THE 7 BENEFITS of a GUIDED MEDITATION: ​
1. CALMS YOUR STRESS & RELAX
2. CULTIVATES SELF-INDUCED RELAXATION AT WILL
3. INCREASES MINDFULNESS & INTUITION
4. CONNECTS YOU WITH YOUR DEEPER WISDOM
5. RELIEVES MIGRAINES & PSYCHOSOMATIC SYMPTOMS
​6. DEEPENS POSITIVE AFFIRMATION FOR PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS​ 7. ATTUNES YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU TRULY WANT IN YOUR LIFE