March 28, 2024
Local News

Messages from the heart: Sterling author hopes his words will inspire people to listen to their inner voice

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ROCK FALLS – Some authors would be happy enough to come up with one universal message. Elias Patras has come up with 100 of them.

Now, he’s hoping people will find inspiration in those messages, available in his first book, the self-published “From The Universe to Our Hearts.”

It shouldn’t be too hard to find it. With words of wisdom touching on dozens of topics – fear, perseverance, opportunity, giving up, to name a few – readers have plenty of heartfelt advice from which to choose.

“I wrote the book because I think it’s really important to inspire others,” Patras said. “If we spread inspiration, we can create a ripple effect, and then build a community that supports each other.”

As for what inspired the 53-year-old Sterling massage therapist, he found it in his beliefs, meditation and self-recognition, and what he calls the universe – God, spirit, higher power and the divine.

“I learned that it was important to look for the subtle signs, because I think sometimes we ask for a big glowing neon sign, when it actually speaks to you in little whispers,” Patras said.

For Patras, those whispers grew louder after he went under the knife.

While recovering from surgery, he went through 5 years worth of daily posts on his Facebook page, looking for motivation in that troubling time.

“I was in physical pain from two surgeries that forced me to slow down. I had to look within and ask some really deep questions, one of them being what was my purpose in life,” he said.

The answer came, and it was to help other listen to their own whispers – their inner voices.

“I worked at Leo Burnett advertising in Chicago until 1996 when I left the corporate world to work as a server at the Chicago restaurant Ed Debevic’s, and I started feeling emotional and physical pain when I was next to people,” he said.

His friends encouraged him to seek an intuitive therapist, who told him that he was on a path to heal others.

“I was told I was an empathetic feeler, and that the physical and emotional pain I was feeling was theirs when I was next to people,” Patras said.

That lead him to become a motivational intuitive coach and massage therapist. He’s spent the past 16 years helping others through motivational intuitive workshops, weekend retreats, and classes at Sauk Valley Community College.

If there’s one thing Patras has learned, it’s the way the universe has worked through him.

He was 18-months-old when he was adopted by Marina and Petro Patras while they were traveling through Greece.

“My parents settled on not having children. But my mom had a dream about a baby in a blue clothes with a white dove above the crib. She had a feeling about stopping at an adoption place, like in her dream, and found me exactly like that,” he said.

For Patras, it was the universe speaking to his parents and in turn, to himself.

“I am the person I am today because of them and their love. They taught me how to love, teach and believe in myself. Even though they’re gone, I feel their love, so I dedicated the book to them.”