Deliver me my sweet surrender
A chance to know you, your soul so tender
A morning smile that sweeps my lips
Your hands hold me close with its grip
To be within your loving arms
I feel so safe there, no fear for harm
Your warm breath that kisses my ear
Having you close to me, your heart so dear
Wrapped together is this kindred embrace
It’s your lips I long for and their taste …
Deliver me your sweet surrender
I will show you my soul with all its slender

Written by
Elizabeth Pozoglou 2015

With tears in my eyes I write this
I send it off with a kiss
When something comes to end
There’s no more need to pretend
They say things come in threes
I didn’t realise that it would bring me down to my knees
A friendship salvaged, a friendship lost and A friendship broken
It comes from my lips with these words that are spoken
Lessons that have presented themselves in this thing called life
How betrayal can cut you deep with a knife
Dear friends how I have valued you in my journey
But the distance ahead now looks blurry
There comes a reason, a season and a lifetime of harvesting
You friend that betrayed me was for a reason
You’ve now become the end of my season
It’s taught me to respect myself enough to end our story,
Your sorry ain’t enough to win you glory
You friend that let our friendship go after 10 years of seasons
A friendship broken there’s no more pleasing
You’ve become my reason to let you go in return,
From you friend I have learned
You friend who salvaged our friendship have become my lifetime
Fighting for something you believe in stands the test of time
Yes things do come in threes and mine all came at once
Listen to your gut instinct and never loose trust
My lessons learnt have taught me a great deal about who I am
Being honourable with myself and here I stand

Written by Elizabeth Pozoglou 2015

I believe people are brought together for each person’s maximum spiritual growth. When the growth is done, it’s time to move on.

1. Don’t be afraid.

As you learn and grow, so do your friendships and relationships. I really noticed this when I started committing to a spiritual practice everyday. My circle of friends completely shifted. This is nothing to fear.

It’s not a “good” or “bad’ thing, but it’s important to understand that throughout our lives, people are going to fall away. And who knows, they might be back, but all you do know now is that you’ve learned all that you can from each other at this time.

When relationships and/or friendships end or shift, there is nothing to fear. Whether or not you realize it, everything always works out the way it’s meant to.

2. Take responsibility.

If the break-up was messy, or the friendship ended in a not so positive way, take responsibility for it. When you get to the point where you no longer blame someone else for how you feel, miraculous shifts occur.

I often turn to my inner guide, the voice for love within me, and ask, “What is the spiritual lesson here?” Your power is always hidden behind the people and circumstance that disturb you the most.

As some of my recent friendships evolved and fell away, I’ve discovered areas within myself that needed to be healed. The purpose of the relationship or the friendship was to show me those areas. Relationships can be amazing tools that catapult us to another level of peace and love.

3. Trust that you always have everyone you need.

This tiny idea can bring massive amounts of peace to your day. What if you woke up every morning knowing that every person you needed that day would be brought to you?

I try and start my day with this idea because I immediately stop trying to control my reality, and instead, trust in my inner guidance a whole lot more.

There is no one missing from this moment whom you need right now. If you’re sitting in a chair with no other bodies around, that’s because in this moment, your soul does not need anyone else to learn from.

4. Get ready for new friendships and relationships.

When you create the space for friendships and relationships that are not working to fall away, get ready, because new people who are more in-line with what your soul most needs to learn are on their way! This only becomes a fearful process when you forget that you’re always guided and that everything happens for you, not to you.

5. Release your guilt.

As I got more and more committed to praying, connecting to my true self, and meditating, I felt deep in my heart it was time for me to make some shifts in my outer world. That decision involved moving across the entire country, far away from family and all my friends.

At first, a few of my close friends couldn’t understand why I was leaving, and for a brief moment I felt guilty about it. But I had to follow my path and trust that new people and experiences were on their way.

Other people may not understand why you’re making the decision to move on, but that doesn’t matter. You can’t control what other people think. Always trust your heart and never feel guilty for it.

No matter what, remember that every encounter is holy. Every person is a reflection of you. As you change, move, and grow, the reflections around you also change. Embrace them!

There is no need to fearfully cling to relationships and friendships that are not working anymore. Rather, get excited about the new ones that are surely on their way. All changes are helpful.

Power of Positivity: Positive Thinking & Attitude

INSPIRATION
7 Things to Remember When Negative Energy Surrounds You

Negativity can affect every area of your life. Identifying negative energy and thought patterns are an important part of challenging yourself and those around you to a more realistic viewpoint. It can improve your relationships and your overall outlook on life.

Keep these things in mind when you find yourself surrounded by negative energy and use them to help you move out of the negative space.

7 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN NEGATIVE ENERGY SURROUNDS YOU:
FIND THE SOURCE OF THE NEGATIVE ENERGY
Question your thoughts and the thoughts influencing you. Before you can take action to decrease the negativity that surrounds you, you must question the negative energy to find the source of it. Once you do that, you can begin to remove yourself from the emotion surrounding you.

Simply trying to eliminate negative energy doesn’t do much for the reason it’s present in the first place. If you don’t get to the heart of the matter it is likely to keep recurring, so keep questioning until you do.

FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS
The next logical step in questioning and understanding the negative energy around you is to focus on how to eradicate it, and prevent it in the future.

Why focus on the solution?

The answer is simple: you end up receiving more of what you focus on. With that basic principle in mind, it makes sense to focus on the solution rather than the negative energy and problems associated with it.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE PEOPLE
Every day we come in contact with a variety of different people. Some of these people make us happier, and others may have the opposite effect. Who we allow to influence us is up to us and choosing to spend more time with positive people will help prevent a buildup of negative energy around us.

ACCEPT POSSIBILITY AND RELEASE EXPECTATION
Happy people aren’t happy because bad things don’t happen to them, they are happy because they know how to handle the bad things better. Someone who is happy has similar challenges to those that are not happy. The difference is that they release expectation of what might happen, and focus to create their best possible situation – no matter whether it ends up good or bad.

Knowing that life could deal you some good cards and some bad ones, and releasing expectation makes it easier to work through situations because you are ready to accept whatever happens. The key is not dwell in situations where negative energy surrounds you and take action right away to move back into a positive space.

SHOW YOURSELF COMPASSION
No matter how bad things get, remember that the negative energy around you isn’t always about you. While you are responsible for the energy you create, the burden of negative energy of others shouldn’t be carried on your shoulders.

See the importance of this distinction, because if you can separate yourself from the negative energy of others, you can focus on getting to the heart of the matter logically, without allowing the emotion to latch onto you.

FOCUS
Sometimes when negative energy is coming at us from all directions, we have a hard time knowing what to do. It is so intense that it can paralyze us into inaction. Instead of tackling the big ball of negativity all at once, try doing one small thing. Just one.

Doing one thing will crack open a space in the negative energy for the positive to begin to shine. That little bit of positive will begin to build and your motivation to do more “things” will propel you to eliminating the harmful energy.

ACCEPT IT OR LET IT GO
With everything in our lives, whether positive or negative, we have two choices: to accept it or let it go. Accepting it means accepting the negative source to the point where you can begin to move through it. It doesn’t mean you are committed to allowing the negative energy to remain in and influence your life. Accepting it means handling the challenge and creating change.

When negative energy surrounds you, it’s obvious that change is needed. That doesn’t mean change will immediately occur or solve the problem. If the negativity persists you may see that it has become a toxic cycle that no longer serves you, and have to come to terms with letting it go.

In the end, you have to do what is right for you and your mental well-being and overall happiness. It isn’t easy to let go of things that used to matter. When they aren’t serving your highest good anymore and possibly even harming you, what choice do you have?

Become aware of the messages you are receiving throughout the day. Find the sources of negative messages and begin to eliminate them from your daily routine. Learn to recognize the type of unhealthy thinking you are most likely to encounter. Start having an inner dialogue about how to handle these situations now, before you are in the moment. Knowing how you will handle the situation before it occurs, will help you when the time comes.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”- Rumi

It doesn’t matter how old you are, your background or your spiritual belief system, love and relationships are important to almost everyone.

While we are all here to learn self-love, a lot of our healing journeys in this life seem to stem from our relationships, particularly our romantic ones.

Love is always easy, however it is our own baggage, past experiences and belief systems that can cause things to get blocked or challenging.

If you are having difficulty manifesting a positive relationship it may be worth looking at these 5 common blocks:

1. A Fear of Being Seen

Do you get embarrassed when someone compliments you? Do you deflect or change the conversation when someone praises you for something?

Learning how to take a compliment without feeling guilty or feeling the need to deflect, is one of the most important steps to opening your heart to receiving more love.

If you can’t accept a compliment, chances are you are blocked from receiving and this goes hand in hand with being blocked from receiving love.

Practice learning how to graciously accept compliments and to appreciate and admire yourself for all the praise you do receive.

2. A Fear of Opening

In order to receive love you must be open to giving love. Being open to giving love means that you not only love and trust in yourself but also in the world around you.

This can be challenging at times especially if you view the world as a cold and harsh place, but the more you start opening up room in your heart, the more you will attract positive experiences.

To practice this, start simply smiling at people you meet on the street. This small act helps to open you and invites trust and compassion into your life.

3. A Fear of Not Being Good Enough

Everyone has fears, they are normal and part of life. The trick is to not allow your fears to overrun your life.

When you fear that you are not good enough or smart enough or good-looking enough, you instantly block the flow of love and abundance into your life.

When you accept yourself, perceived flaws and all however, you open up space in your heart and release the blocks holding you back from receiving love.

To practice this you must walk the path of forgiveness. This means that you must accept and forgive all the things inside of you that you once believed were not good enough. Cleanse them out so they are no longer part of your belief system and then replace them with positive and uplifting thoughts.

4. Placing Judgements on Yourself and Others

Are you quick to judge others based on their actions or appearance?

While how people can act can give us clues as to their personality, be mindful of judging others harshly.

When you find yourself putting down others or speaking ill of others it not only lowers your vibration but it also closes off your heart from opening to love.

Judging others harshly is also a sign that you are quick to judge yourself and your own actions, which moves you away from love and into a space of limits or fears.

Instead of judging yourself and others, try to practice compassion. Be gentle with yourself and try to bring a new sense of understanding as to how you perceive others.

This doesn’t mean that you need to tolerate bad behaviour, instead it means that you find a compassionate and loving way to deal with all of life’s situations.

5. A Lack of Self-Expression

Do you know what you want? Do you know what you are really looking for?

Learning to express yourself not only to others but also to yourself is a powerful way to open up your heart.

Being clear about what you want is not about making a vanity list of all the traits you want your partner to have, instead it is about being clear about what energy you are wishing to attract into your life.

Get really clear with yourself and tap into your hearts desire, ask your heart what would be most beneficial for it at this time. It may be a relationship or it maybe a time for independence, either way connecting with the dialogue of your heart is a great way to release blocks.

There are other ways that the heart can become blocked to receiving and giving love, however the most important thing is to not get caught up in the why but instead focus on being gentle with yourself and practicing compassion.

Here are some further tips to clearing energetic blocks around the heart:

Do yoga poses that expand and open the chest area like camel, standing bow pose etc.
Recite the sanskrit mantra- OM MANI PADME HUM. Repeat this mantra during your meditation practices
Keep rose quartz and emerald crystals close by
Spend time with friends, family and those you love
Consciously breathe oxygen into the space around your heart
Practice gratitude daily
Be open to new experiences such as meeting new people and going to new places
Be mindful around patterns you have created surrounding love and what they may be trying to teach you
Prioritise the voice of your heart – learn how to choose your heart first
Allow time and space to love yourself and others