Are You Ready for Change?

Are you ready for change? This is a question you must ask yourself and believe.

Making the physical changes recommended by a Feng Shui Consult can only go so far. If you aren’t ready for the change, it’s not going to happen.

Negative energy can only be replaced with positive energy. When the Feng Shui consultant tells you to replace a negative picture with a positive picture, so must your attitude change. Often it’s easy as the client who calls is usually ready, and the picture is usually obvious. But, your attitude in general must be ready to make the change.

I recently had the pleasure of redesigning a Women’s Transitional Home. The residents stated that the room they wanted redesigned wasn’t working for them any longer and that the dark corner with a purple chaise chair wasn’t being used and should be removed. The residents had negative associations with the chair.
Being a charity there is no large budget to purchase furniture. Especially to remove a newer, extra large chair (that seemingly had nothing wrong with it) and find a replacement. A decision was made - the chair had to stay.

Upon close examination of the chair - it seemed slightly dirty and had the appearance of “not belonging” in the room. I had the chair steam cleaned and placed it under a window with a stiff breeze to air dry it. I changed the curtains on the window nearby, added a happy tulip picture on the wall behind, repositioned (the chair) on an angle, put a whimsical colorful bendy arm lamp in the corner and added 2 lavender heart pillows.

The reaction…..the residents now “love” the chair, use it often and cannot believe the transformation. It is now a bright active spot where children play close by, and where parents can sit/relax to supervise or read books with their children.

This is a great example of Positive Intentions. The residents were ready for a change, and after seeing a positive transformation were ready to embrace it and move ahead.

Photographer: prozac1 freedigitalphotos.net

Do You Like the Color Red?

So do I - red is my personal favorite.

The areas in your home where red is a great enhancer is the Fame Gua. Is this really an important Gua? Oh yes it is!

Fame and Reputation is a very important aspect in your life. You need to be sure this Gua is kept in order. Without your reputation your career and love life could be at risk. Then your family and wealth could be impacted. Your creativity would slump and that could lead to poor self esteem and change the ability to stay centered. You wouldn’t have the means to educate yourself so your ability for knowledge and self cultivation would be sidelined. Like I said, this is an important Gua.

They are all important Guas - they all need special attention.

Be sure this areas is balanced with other colors and elements. Fame likes Fire, so using the element works well (in case you don’t like red!) Use lighting, lamps, candles or even a picture of a sun face works well. Keeping a pet in this Gua is a great Fire Element - live Chi represents Fire. Be sure the pet is clean and healthy.

picture courtesy of: Salvatore Vuono at Free Digital Photos.net

Lucky Bamboo

Bamboo is considered a lucky plant in Chinese Culture. Because of it’s almost transcendental sound quality, it attracts energy. Consider it growing in a garden swaying in the breeze; or a dried and hollowed out wind chime. This plant’s energy can be turned into an interesting decoration for your home attracting chi and good luck for you.

How to make a lucky bamboo chi catcher:

Plant a number of bamboo stocks in a glass dish, add rocks to hold the stocks in place. Add a red ribbon and you have all 5 elements of Feng Shui.

· Wood - the Bamboo itself

· Earth - the Rocks the Bamboo grows in

· Water - the Water the Bamboo grows with

· Fire - most (Chinese Bamboo Pots) have a red ribbon tied to them

· Metal - glass belongs to the Metal element. If the pot is clay or ceramic, add a metal coin, or metal figurine.

Depending on what you are looking to enhance, you can choose accordingly:

• 2 for Love & Marriage
• 3 for Happiness
• 5 for Health
• 8 for Wealth & Abundance
• 9 for Good Fortune & Happiness

(9 is considered an overall lucky number)

Gardening is Great Chi!

Gardening is a relaxing, enjoyable “me” time; with the added visual enjoyment of healthy, growing plants that flower and thrive on your attention. This is conversing with nature on a completely different level. Imagine all the fresh air, calming atmosphere, fresh berries and blossoms, enormous vegetables, wildlife that flits around you like you are part of the gang. It does wonders for the beauty rest forcing you to rest with the added benefit of waking up rejuvenated. Try watering the plants while your mind drifts off. Let the wind blow your hair while bugs try to get a drink zooming through the spray. The energy captured from the garden and all that it emits long after you are gone inside is worth every minute.

If you still don’t like to garden or have little time; make your garden interesting visually with color and sculptures, water features and wind chimes. Even if you don’t actually garden…you can still make the garden an interesting area that captures Chi!

Good Luck!

Is Feng Shui necessary in a mostly unfurnished home?

The short answer is YES.

A Feng Shui Consult will help find any “glaring splinters” as we like to call it in the Feng Shui world. A consult will: help with paint colors, determine placement of existing furniture/pictures/knick knacks, point out clutter and, can tell you which elements to enhance while taking into consideration what you already have and what you plan to purchase in the future.

Feng Shui works with what you have and what you love. If you are prone to clutter, remember that passing on the things you no longer need or love, makes room for the new things you would like and possibly do need. Keeping it all = clutter.

Feng Shui will never dictate what color you must paint, but it can answer the questions of what color would go best in sections of your home and what colors to enhance with.

Feng Shui isn’t wholly about color, it is about the elements and which areas of your home prefer certain elements.

Yin and Yang play a large and important role in that you need balance. Balance of color and of the elements.

Feng Shui can help with all aspects of your life. Your home directly affects and reflects who you are and who you want to be.

Feng Shui is an ancient form of modern Quantum Physics.

Feng Shui makes a direct correlation between the quality of your life and your environment.

Feng Shui explores the intimate connection between you and your environment.

Enhancing your environment can change your Chi.

Feng Shui can be traced back more than 3,000 years. Ancient Geomancers of China noticed a relationship between man and his environment and by aligning the environment; change would occur. Feng Shui is the practice of aligning the energy of your environment to cause positive change.

Quantum Physics is a modern version of what the ancient Chinese Geomancers noticed.

Everything is alive! Einstein’s formula E=MC2. Einstein explains the relationship of energy and matter as interchangeable. Everything is energy; dancing, fluid and ever changing.

Unknown to most people, we are picking up the vibrations of EVERYTHING around us, all that we eat, smell, hear and see. Both indoors and outdoors, inert and alive. Our furniture, car, furnace, children, clothing….on and on. This energy is constant and affects our unconscious. Feng Shui taps into this connection between man and his environment; seeking to harness the flow. This allows us to tap into this vast resource of energy surrounding us, using it to our advantage and potential.

I think Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was actually onto something when he wrote “Good Vibrations”.

Take a look at the picture; can’t you just feel this energy?