Abundant Expectations

Recently I taught a class about how to use Feng Shui principles to improve abundance. It was a good reminder that I need to leave my expectations at the door.

I had fully anticipated the class to be focused on each person's financial situation -- wanting to improve their wealth or career, two very logical connections  to abundance. These are also two very clearly defined  areas of the Feng Shui map or Bagua, which identifies the areas of your home that are connected to nine areas of your life -- with wealth and career being two of them.

In Instinctive Feng Shui though, one of the most important components of any enhancement is the intention you have for placing that enhancement. For instance, while two people may both want to improve their finances, one may want to travel with their money and the other may want to save for a new car. It's what they want to do with their money that ultimately defines how the chi they are attracting will support them. This allows them to create very custom enhancement to support their specific goals.

For this reason, I wanted to ask the students what abundance means to them. I fully expected references to money but instead I heard things like -- connection to nature, family, balance, security in relationships, being surrounded by people they love.

It helped me to identify enhancements that would ultimately focus on what would make each person happy -- now that's abundance. And that's one of the reasons I started doing Feng Shui so many years ago.  

Until next time... in gratitude.

Finding Your Balance

Many people talk about finding balance in their lives. They feel they spend too much time at work, or too much time juggling tasks at home, or feel so out of sorts they can’t pinpoint what part of their life is out of balance in the first place. They just know they are out of balance.

The challenge of correcting imbalance is not a new one. Feng Shui can be a great tool for helping you not only correct the imbalance but Identify where the imbalance may be in your life. Chi flow in your home, a primary focus of Feng Shui, represents that balance in your life. If the chi flows smoothly, it supports greater balance. If chi becomes blocked and stagnant or moves too quickly through your home, this balance can be compromised.

So the question becomes, where do you begin? First let’s start with understanding how your home reflects your inner life.

The Bagua

There is a map used in Feng Shui, the Bagua, meaning eight trigrams. A trigram consists of three lines, each line representing either Yin or Yang, and combined in three they represent different areas of your life. The life areas include:

1. Family
2. Prosperity
3. Fame/Honor
4. Relationships
5. Children/Creativity
6. Helpful People/Travel
7. Career/Life Journey
8. Self-Knowledge/Spirituality
9. Health/Balance

The first eight are represented by trigrams and the last (Health/Balance) is represented by the tai chi. This map can be a very helpful tool as you look around your home and identify which rooms or areas fall within each of these life aspects, or in some instances, which of these aspects may be missing entirely.

It’s important to understand that another primary tenet of feng shui is that your inner life is reflected in your outer life, which includes your home. So in essence, your home can reflect where things are going well in your life and also where there may be challenges. For instance, if you have a favorite room in your house, there’s a good chance that where this room falls within the Bagua is an aspect of your life that you feel is going very well. Conversely, if there is a room in your home that you do not like, and or rarely use, where it falls in the feng shui map may represent an area of your life that is not as ideal as you would like it to be.

So now looking at your home with this perspective, it’s easier to identify not only what may be in balance in your life but also what may be out of balance. You can begin this detective work by simply walking through your home. Go first to a room that you really enjoy. Consider what in the room makes you feel good – define why it is your favorite room. In contrast, go to a room you do not like. Perhaps it’s a room that either you don’t use or one that you just don’t enjoy the feeling of when you enter.

Without telling you anything further about feng shui, I would recommend you make one change in the room you do not like that shifts how you feel about the space. Perhaps it’s as simple as adding some light. Maybe you want to get rid of a chair. Consider changing the color on the walls or adding pictures and artwork that make you smile. Once you notice a difference in how you feel about the space, you’ll also find a corresponding change in one area of your life. It could be a small change or shift, but you’ll notice it. It may be just a change in how you feel about a certain situation. In order to make a room change truly support your goals in that aspect of your life, there are some additional feng shui techniques to consider, but that would require a personal consultation.

Let’s say it’s already clear to you what is out of balance in your life: your career for instance. Using the feng shui map, you can find where in your home your career is represented. Go to this room or space in your home. As you walk into this space, what is the first thing you feel? That first impression is important, as it also can be a reflection of how you feel about your career.

As noted above, you want to make sure the chi or energy flows smoothly in this room. This means there should be a good flow of traffic and it should be easy to get to various places and things in the room. In addition, the space should support the generation of chi for this room. This means the purpose of the room is clear (e.g., how is the room used? Is that what the room is intended to be?), and there are items in the room that you actually enjoy – generating positive emotions or reactions from you.

Here are some common challenges and simple ways to address them:

1. Clutter – not only can clutter be an eyesore, but it also can stagnate chi. The simple solution here is to remove it. Consider, though, that clutter can be many things: left over moving boxes piled in a corner, stacks of books you won’t read, collections of knick knacks that overwhelm a shelf, or a mass of disconnected photos or artwork on a wall.
2. Darkness – light, whether natural or artificial, generates chi. When a room doesn’t have enough light it can create a lack of chi. Unless the room is dedicated to a purpose that would be enhanced by less light (e.g., a meditation space), add some light. It’s best to bring in natural light when you can, but light fixtures/lamps can be used as well. Traditional fluorescent lights should be avoided if possible.
3. Large windows – while windows are great for bringing in natural light, when you have large windows across from the entryway, or in fact anywhere in the space, the chi can flow quickly out of these windows. You can hang shades or curtains, but assuming you’d like to let some light in, hanging 30 – 40 mm multi-faceted crystals in these windows at about eye level will help to keep the chi in the space.

These are just a few suggestions, but they can help you on your way to bringing greater balance into your life.

Now that you know about the feng shui map or Bagua and have a new perspective on your home, you can start to make real changes that start in your home and have an impact on key areas of your life.

In gratitude.

Nature as Nurturer

I have mixed feelings about the holidays. While on one hand, it's great to see family and friends you haven't seen for weeks or months or in some cases longer; it also can be a challenge working all of those people into an already packed schedule that involves the stress of shopping, decorating, cooking, hosting and traveling into a relatively short time span.

Despite all of these holiday happenings, I know deep down I wouldn't want to change much if any of it. So instead I have to find a way to manage my stress better. In Feng Shui, there are many methods to help, and for me I have found the way that works best for me is to draw on nature.

I can look out my back yard and see trees sprouting from a blanket of snow that has fallen over the past couple days. The trees themselves support various hills and valleys of white that cling to their branches. This masterpiece offers a sense of stillness and peace that allows me to re-center myself.

Of course if you don't have this view outside your back window, you can still bring this gift of nature into your home. Consider pictures/posters of nature that you've seen or even have in your home. While they may be simply representations of nature, studies have shown that even pictures of nature have beneficial effects on people's stress levels and emotional well being. Now allow yourself a moment or two each day to just take it in and consider what it is you see -- nature can be awe inspiring.

Be awed, and allow yourself to be nurtured by nature.

Four-legged Feng Shui

I love our dog. Her name is Maggie. She has a tilt to her head that melts my heart and I love that whenever I say her name, her tail begins to wag. When I'm around her, my energy lifts. No wonder dogs, and in fact all of our four-legged friends (and two-legged and no-legged), are good Feng Shui.

For anyone who has a pet they love, I'm sure they'll agree that just having the pet around helps to lift spirits, soothe nerves and re-focus our attention onto something positive. Good Feng Shui can be defined as an environment that makes you feel good. Well, there's nothing like a purr or gentle swish of a fin or a sweet chirp to help you to feel good.

In Feng Shui we use enhancements to direct the energy or chi of a space and intention to attract the kind of chi we seek. Our pets naturally do this for us. For one, they're movement alone directs the energy of a space, keeping it active. (Stagnant energy can create blocks to achieving our goals from a Feng Shui perspective.) For another, when you're near your pet, and enjoying your pet, you are taking a big step toward establishing some positive intentions. Our intentions are driven and reinforced by our emotions. When we feel positive emotions, this helps us to attract more positive emotion -- more energy or chi.

The more chi you have, the greater support you will have in achieving your goals -- and ultimately creating balance.

So enjoy the pets in your lives. Not only do they make you feel good, they create good Feng Shui, naturally.

The Wonder of Winter

As the snow blankets us here in the Midwest, it marks an important seasonal change. While not officially winter for another couple weeks, it certainly signals that the new season is about to begin.

In Feng Shui, Winter represents an important time for us -- a time of reflection, a time to look inward, a time to rejuvenate from all that has occurred in the past year and begin to plan for the next. We can take a cue from the many animals that hibernate at this time and allow themselves to rest.

You may ask when you have the time to rest. That's a good question, especially in US society today. Resting no longer appears to be a natural state for many of us. We're always on the go, focused on the next task and worried about that looming deadline. This forces us to always be "on," always be "connected." Many people seem to have forgotten even how to rest.

So in the spirit of Winter, I offer this simple advice: stop and breath. You'd be amazed how this can help in the middle of a hectic day, at the end of a long day and even as you rise to greet the day. Stop and breath. Consider the months that the bear is doing just this. You can take a moment every day. Stop and breath.

Once you do, you may find you like it. Go on give it a try. It's good Feng Shui.

Feng Shui & These Financial Times

There’s no escaping the financial news. Every day there seems to be a new reason for stuffing our mattresses with money and locking our doors and windows. It’s a time when focusing on anything but the economy is a struggle.

So you may ask yourself, what can Feng Shui possibly do to help? There are actually many actions you can take from a Feng Shui perspective, both practical and seemingly less so, that will help.

We’ll begin with the idea of focus. A key principle of Feng Shui is that where we apply our focus has a significant impact on the energy around us. Another way to think about this would be “where attention goes, energy flows.”

In Feng Shui, we create better environments by balancing the energy or chi around us. If too much energy is directed in one area, we create an imbalance. For example, let’s say you spent 95% of your time in your family room. While you may enjoy the activities in this room (watching TV, playing Wii, or visiting with family), that only leaves 5% of your time for all the other rooms (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.). You need these other rooms, and their related activities, as much, and in some cases more, but you aren’t giving them the attention they need.

If you are focusing all of your attention on the financial news of the day, it’s like spending all your time in one room. You aren’t giving yourself a chance to reap the benefits of any of the other “rooms” in your life – like your family, your career or your health.

One way to help you refocus your attention is to schedule time and create a space for another part of your life. Yes, you have other things going on in your life, but how much time do you actually spend focusing solely on those? Consider what it feels like when you’re listening or reading the financial news. You can become completely entranced, blocking out all other thoughts or ideas. When was the last time you were that focused on another area of your life?

One way to refocus your energy is to dedicate a room or a space in your home to another aspect of your life.

Start by finding a place in your home where you can shut off the TV or radio and remove any newspapers or magazines that report on the financial news of the day.

Next, find a comfortable place where you can sit and relax in that space.

Now consider something you WANT to focus on. Something that makes you smile; something that makes you feel good.

Finally, surround yourself with things that support this focus. If it’s your family, consider gathering family photos or reviewing family albums. If it’s a hobby, consider including magazines on the topic, or samples of your hobby, or tools to inspire you in this hobby. If it’s your career, include any recognition you’ve received, or goals that you have for the next stage in your career.


Doing this, and using this new space every day, will help you to rebalance the energy in your life – and also remind you of the truly important things in your life.

Welcome!

Introducing Feng Shui 24, a place to share ideas about using feng shui and space clearing to improve our lives.