Welcome to my website!
I'm Despina Gurlides, author of Not a Guru: One Woman's Spiritual Journey to Happiness.

One-on-one coaching sessions are available: Unplugging from the Matrix. Please go to Coaching Page for more details or email me at Despina@Despina-NotAGuru.com for a free 15 minute consultation.

Developmental editing also available. Please go to Editing Page for more details or email me at Despina@Despina-NotAGuru.com.

About my book, Not a Guru: One Woman's Spiritual Journey to Happiness
At a workshop in Esalen, I was the only one out of 40 people who raised my hand when the leaders asked, "Who is happy?" When asked for the recipe for happiness, I replied, "Do not betray yourself." 

I had learned this lesson the hard way, by spending decades betraying myself. At one point, I thought I was happy after climbing the corporate ladder to success and marrying a successful man, but then I realized I felt empty inside. My path to true happiness only began after the "successful" life fell apart and I lost my husband, my job, and my money. 

I found that financial freedom was not enough or even necessary for happiness. There's a freedom beyond financial freedom that is essential for a joyful life.

More often than not, failure is a blessing because it allows us to see how we have been enslaved. Only then can we see where true security and joy can be found.

Whether you are successful and unhappy, or have failed miserably and are despairing, my book will offer you a way out. It will show you that the life you have been leading has been a self-betrayal. You will see how you traded in your freedom and life force for a false sense of security. And it will start you on a new journey towards true freedom, which is where happiness can be found.

You cannot get to happiness by pursuing happiness. Happiness is a by-product of pursuing truth and freedom--a freedom that goes far beyond financial freedom.

I offer the story of my journey in the hope that it will support you in finding your path to joy.

Click here to read more about my book, Not a Guru

 Click here to read an excerpt from Not a Guru

About me: I was born in New York City and earned an MBA from New York University. I spent the first 37 years of my life climbing up the ladder of success, only to find that I was miserable and depressed when I reached the top.

It was the best of luck that my successful life fell apart when my husband left me and I lost my job, though I didn't think so at the time. At the time, I wished I were dead. Twenty years later I realize that I had been living a dead life and that I needed to unplug from the Matrix.

My journey Home has been both scary and exciting. I could never have written the script of my life the way it turned out. I am grateful  that God is much more creative than I am, as I now find myself living a joyful life that I could never have imagined.