Enhancing Travel and Helpful People Gua

Why enhance this area? It doesn’t sound important?

Feng Shui believes in balance and every Gua should be equally enhanced. You can’t always get your health balanced without a good Dr. Nor, can your career take off without helpful people. What good is a great career without the great paycheck or the ability to travel? How about staying centered – can you accomplish everything you want without being centered. Every Gua is connected – just as everything in your life is connected. This Gua is about experiencing synchronicity in your life.

Tweaking your travel section is as simple as collecting postcards; even ones you have bought yourself. I buy them everywhere I go, and usually never get around to mailing them. Instead, I keep them on a bulletin board in my travel section. The travel Gua is the area to keep pictures and/or mementos of your travels, where you would like to travel or even travel related memorabilia you have received as a gift.

The travel Gua is also an area for enhancing the “helpful people” in your life or lack thereof. Keep pictures of dear friends and helpful people in your life. This is where that poster of Einstein, Beethoven’s Bust, Buddha, Jesus on the Cross or lovely angelic figurines can be kept for optimum Gua enhancement. Keep things that remind you of the people or figures you admire and would love to receive help or guidance from, even from the spiritual realm. Consider keeping white, silver and gray in this area. Metal items are especially enhancing, and this is where you can keep that silver intention box or bowl.

This area is also great for times you feel as though life isn’t fair, or you are planning a move and would like it to transition smoothly.

When arranging this Gua, intentionally place items that represent travel or helpful people, always clearly state in your mind or out loud your desired intentions and the desired outcome. If this area is not conducive to adding the above features, writing a very short sentence clearly stating your intentions and keeping the note in this area is a great way to intentionally bring in Helpful People and Travel.

How Does the Energy of Your Home Feel?

So what does the energy FEEL like in your home? How do you FEEL it?

Here are a few clues to help you discover the FEELING in your home.

1. How does it smell; like last night’s dinner or fresh air?

2. Does it look like a tornado has gone through or like a place you want to sit and stay a while?

If there are any smells that are lingering they should be dealt with immediately. Get in the practice of opening windows and allowing the fresh air to blow through, even just a few minutes for the very cold days of winter. Keep them open as often as you can on temperate days. Burn some incense, candles, or use aromatherapy oils to help clear the air. If the furniture acts as a pet bed, consider covering the furniture with a blanket that can bewashed frequently.

How does it look? This is a loaded question and one worthy of a book! However, to be fair a home does not need to look like a “Show Home” or a decorator’s magazine. It should reflect who you are and how you live. It should be free of major clutter, and kept clean. This takes us back to our senses – does it smell clean? Does it look clean?

After clearing the clutter, dusting and vacuuming; can you stand back, look at your place and take a deep satisfying breath and release slowly – savoring the vision and smell? Then you have successfully accomplished “feeling the energy of your home”.

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!