Author Archives: bette

2020: Your Soul In Focus

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“Sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream that no one can see but you.”
– Enrique Iglesias

2020 is the year of conscious living. What this means is there will be a pronounced shift from operating via our intellect to living from our heart. We can take real advantage of this incoming energy when we marry our soul desires with our purpose. This alignment is the kind that incites our joy which creates good timing, prosperity and abundant opportunities. If you want to realize your dream for 2020, here’s your opening to envision “your future you”.

Beginning is not so difficult when you understand that physical reality is not fixed but malleable and can be manipulated for positive change. Now through the end of the year is a perfect incubation period for imagining, setting intention and seeing all the details. Explore the dynamic, prosperous person you are, first in the subtle realm, by writing out your day to day activities. See all the elements of the work you’ll be doing. Imagine what your good health looks like. Envision the high value relationships you will attract and muse over the opportunities you want to see happen. Invest in this daily and you will create a solid foundation for your future you.

Master this shift with four areas of the Bagua that enhance personal development. Blend Feng Shui design with self discovery and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the alchemy. Isn’t it time to go for what you want?

Knowledge/Self Cultivation
Self awareness is the foundation to understanding your potential. The Knowledge area, Gen, of your home (front left corner of the house) is referred to as the Mountain. It is the time to strategically withdraw and muse over your experiences. Hiking up a mountain trail and resting at the summit is a form of contemplation. The fresh mountain air stimulates deep breath and this activates the brain, opening the channels for your intuition to directly access your cognitive functions. Which means your decision making is direct, fluid and connected to your desires. Literally this may be achieved with spiritual breath work like the Nine Step Breathing. In Feng Shui design, place an intentional object in this area. It can be a wall hanging of a mountain you love; or paint the room or a single wall the color of this gua (blue, teal, turquoise); or hang a clear, faceted crystal for clarity. With proper visualization, anyone of these adjustments will encourage mental reflection and remind you to perform daily meditation. The gateway to your success is your intuition and meditating helps you connect to the world through it with a calm mind. Dedicate time to ponder your behavior, your choices and your experiences. You will be in sync with your goals and confident to release beliefs and behaviors that will not serve you in 2020.

Helpful People/Travel
Heaven is the complement of Earth, the Yang of the Yin. The duality of Yang and Yin creates balance. You can bless your endeavors with the help of Heaven. You can manifest your intentions with the ease of Helpful People. Chien is in the front right corner of the house. This area symbolizes the head. If you are experiencing fuzzy thinking, distraction, confusion, obfuscation and you really want a shift to occur, place an image of a person who is helpful. It may be a public figure you admire, a mentor who has helped you or a deity whom has assisted you in times of need. Set the intention to amplify a ‘clear head’ and laser focus. Also pay attention to a streak of bad luck with contractors, vendors or service people. If it’s taking longer for the work to be completed or materials are misplaced or stolen, this drama consumes your valuable time where you could be doing something else. This is another opportunity to place a cure in this area. But remember do not place two.

Fame/Reputation
In the central back area of the house is the Fame gua. Its Chinese name Li means ‘clinging’ but it also signifies ‘brightness’. The sun and the moon cling to the heavens brightening the world. Grass and trees cling to the earth prospering the world. The I-Ching (from which the Bagua derives) describes the intention of Fame/Li in the following. “It is advantageous to persist to clinging to the right object; then what is intended can progress smoothly. When clinging to the right object, one must act with tenderness. i.e. remain steady with it and nourish tenderness….(iching123.com).” In the Bagua metaphor the eyes symbolize (the light that shines through them) Fame. If you are stymied by inaction, if you are ruminating and cannot access what your heart is telling you, if you are searching but your eyes cannot perceive what you truly desire, place an adjustment here to carry out your aspirations for 2020. The color is red and the triangle shape represents Fire. Remember this is the area where your reputation shines onto your community.

The Center
As you prepare for a transition in your life, call upon the Center of your home to provide support. It is the center of your Universe. It is your domain, your place to collect yourself, poise your thoughts and absorb life events and to pull it all together. In the transcendental sense it is mental, emotional spiritual and physical health. When you are experiencing a shift or growth, life may feel unstable. Create firmness here. Add yellow (orange or brown work too) if you need to feel safe and trust your ideas. When the fruit of our labor have been harvested we are ready to push on. Place an adjustment in the center for a harmonious conversion to the next stage. With change disarray may suddenly appear. Go to the Center, pause and let Earth support you as you move through the life lesson. Because the four sides are equal and it lends soundness, the shape is the square.

We all carry the initiative to awaken our heart and identify our purpose which lifts everyone on this planet. My hope is you find this time insightful, fertile and rewarding for however you choose to fulfill your potential.

Want to get started right on designing your future you? A well designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. Call me, 503-232-2543 and I will help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation https://shenmenfengshui.com/services/consulting/ or for an hour telephone conversation, Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Design Your Life Around Your Purpose

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“Your life has purpose. Your story is important. Your dreams count. Your voice matters. You were born to make an impact.”
– Author unknown

When you make a decision you’re dynamic and you are powerful (thank you Abraham Hicks). This mindset immediately creates a field that surrounds you with positive intent where everything moves in cooperation with what you’ve asked for and supports your alignment with your desires.

When you are in symmetry with your desires (this is where Feng Shui comes in) the design of your home, the arrangement of your furniture, the position of your desk, bed and stove, the alignment of Ch’i and the accents to the front door maximize the wish-fulfilling energy coming into your house. This positive Ch’i creates worlds. So you may want to consider this: envision the walls in your home, the shape of your furnishings, color and lighting in your rooms, less as physical, finite objects and more as you’re composing a directive to assemble the people, places and events you desire to experience. Consciously putting your home into order yields the good fortune (luck, money, love) that blesses you.

For my September blog I am offering a secret enhancement to design your life around your purpose. This cure is from Professor Lin’s infinite body of Feng Shui wisdom. But before I give you the secret cure, consider implementing these practices, they are 99% on the mark to help you succeed.

Professor Lin recommends that meditating daily has extraordinary benefits: it calms your mind, you develop the focus to act with discernment and it broadens your inspiration, all of which help you master your life. Allow meditation to have a place in your day to access your inner voice, your intuition, it has wise messages for you. Add journaling and chanting to encourage self-esteem and self-reliance. Include a personal mantra or Buddhist mantras to transform your inner dialogue so that you recognize what you nurture, you become. Then this cure will be the most effective and powerful.

Place the bed, desk and stove in command position (you can see the door but not be in line of the door) because these areas are your command centers. You make more powerful yet meaningful Feng Shui adjustments when you understand how lack of command hinders your ability to stay aligned with your desires. The necessity for command position influences your sense of safety; you may experience lack of opportunity; anger and mood swings. In the case if the bed is out of command heart trouble, insomnia and illness along the midline (among other health issues) may arise. When your desk is out of command you may have an outdated perspective, unable to see both opportunity and trouble coming and experience lack of support. If you cannot see what is going on while you are at the stove, this suggests a downturn in finances, diminished good luck and heart trouble. Referred back to the 27 Bedroom Concepts for how to place your bed in command, it will apply to the desk too. If you have a question about command position I am happy to answer your inquiry. Please contact me bette@shenmenfengshui.com (I follow the Red Envelope Tradition). In Feng Shui Matters To Your Heart, I share a list of design features that affect your focus and clarity. The list can be useful when you are wanting to make a change.

Ba-gua Formation
Choose either your house or your lot, but do not mix and match them. Perform this sequence for either the house or the lot not both. It’s like saying you do not trust the cure’s effectiveness. These specific adjustments mentioned are meant to be suggestions. Please be mindful of the character and qualities of the gua you are enhancing. If you go your own way, your cure could be less effective and then you may conclude the cure does not work.

Perform this cure between the hours of 11 pm to 1 am (Zi hours) or 11 am to 1 pm (Wu hours). You will complete this cure in eight days. If you miss a day you must start over at Helpful People.

Day One
Begin with the Helpful People (Chien)Gua. It is located in the front right corner of the house or lot. Outside you can place a tall rock or a bird bath, a statue of a Buddha. Place something that has weight. Inside a photo of a travel destination you love. A mirror will expand this area with the proper intention.

Day Two
Move clockwise to Career (Kan). If you know a blessing ritual from the Black Sect Buddhist Feng Shui perform that. An image of water or an actual water feature or a photo of your ancestors or an affirmation for your career are appropriate.

Day Three
Next move to Knowledge (Gen). It is located in the front left corner of your home or lot). Hang a wind chime or place an image of a mountain or a pathway or archway. Something that leads you into contemplation.

Day Four
Continue clockwise to Family (Jen). Hang a wind chime to encourage good luck for the family. Or plant bamboo. It bends in the wind; it bows in the wind and implies having the flexible Ch’i to get along with family members. Or hang an image of bamboo in this area of your home.

Day Five
Move to the back left corner to Wealth (Hsun). It is related to Wind in the I-Ching and also the Wood element. Water is usually depicted here. Hang an image of grasses blowing in the wind. Or place a convex mirror to expand the various resources to receive money.

Day Six
Continue on to the back center of the house or lot. This is the Fame Gua (Li). It means Radiance or Clarity also Clinging (as Fire clings to whatever it is burning). A spot light here to shine the light on your reputation or a crystal to add radiance to your visibility in your community.

Day Seven
Move in a clockwise fashion to Partnership (Kun) which is in the right back corner of the house or lot. This is an Earth gua. Containers, pottery, a bench, or a wheelbarrow are appropriate. Add pink roses in the house or plant roses in the yard in this area.

Day Eight
The last enhancement. This area is the Children Gua (Dui). It is mistaken for Creativity, creativity belongs to all the guas. A white statue for the lot or place a metal statue of children playing. Something hand made by a child like a drawing would activate the Ch’i. 

A home that is not a complete rectangle may have a missing area or in some cases like an L shape home, an extension. These need an adjustment before you begin the Bagua Formation cure.

Want to get started right away? Design your life around your purpose? Let’s get started! A well-designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. Call me, 503-232-2543 and I will help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation or for an hour telephone conversation, Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Magic Is In The Details

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photo credit: Shutterstock

“Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

When Heaven Ch’i and Earth Ch’i conjoin there isn’t anything Human Ch’i can’t do. Such is the case with the July 31 celebration of the new moon entering Leo. The major themes are: broadcast big love, lead with heart and allow your creativity to soar. This is as good as it gets! Now would be the time to anchor this new paradigm into your home with Feng Shui design. You will enjoy the benefits well into the future.

Not only is the western zodiac playing host to Leo (rules the Heart), in Eastern cosmology the Fire element is lighting up the sky. Correspondingly in the Feng Shui Bagua the Heart is connected to the Fire element and its placement rests within the Fame gua, (the back of the house and center). Its Chinese name is “Li” meaning bright or radiance. This is your reputation, how you are known in the workplace, your neighborhood and community. The intention in Feng Shui design is to activate this area so you can broadcast your divine spark because the world needs to experience your gifts. For example how do you shine your light and encourage others to shine in their unique way too? How do you lead others to connect with their passion, their charisma, their warmth and interface with others? This gua is referred to as “rising yang”, the quality of expansiveness. How will you stimulate new ideas and expand your creativity in your profession, intimate relationships, family and friends?

I believe the magic is in the details so I’ve gathered five adjustments to help you anchor this paradigm into new awareness.

Activate the power to move with confidence
Hang the Chinese zodiac animals (three dimensional carved jade animals strung with a red cord) in the Fame gua. Visualize forming amicable bonds and correcting disharmonious relationships. This will help you build trust among coworkers, siblings, family and friends.

Minimize conflict and arguments
If there are a lot of doors in a small space in the Fame gua, (includes any place in the house) it can create conflict where family members or co-workers may quarrel. “It is a “noisy” place because all the “voices” of all the doors are “speaking” at once.” Bring quiet to the doors by camouflaging them or hang a crystal in the center or a light fixture with crystals.

Empower your leadership style
A home office or a family room in this gua is the perfect area to use color to quicken your reputation. Paint the back wall red. Red is symbolic of happiness, righteousness and virtuosity. According to H.H. Lin Yun, red is like “a red sun rising from the East.” When it first emerges over the horizon, it is red hot. It is the source of energy of the universe. Red is a very powerful color for it is an energy source; a stimulator; and a way of expelling bad Ch’i (Interior Design with Feng Shui). Benjamin Moore’s (Affinity line) Moroccan Spice has been a successful color with my clients.

Freshen the energy
The bright energy of an orange peel ceremony instils a more positive attitude and smooth handling of events. It’s warm sunny, sweet aroma conveys joy. Cut nine circles out of nine oranges and break those into smaller pieces onto a plate. As you break the pieces down see the orange pieces filled with positive Ch’i and spiritual light. This intention will bring blessings to your home and remove stagnate and predecessor energy. Say a prayer for posterity. Leave one or three days. Remove all the pieces and place in a folded red piece of paper. Compost or throw into the trash. You can use lemons instead, the smell should be strong and bright.

Clean and be clear
Windows are symbolic of the eyes. In the Bagua there is a direct link between the eyes and the heart. Clean your windows often and expand your vision to include acting on the messages from your heart.

Ritualize your intentions
The new moon is empty and ready to receive. Perfect time to promote blessings, to summon, to decide and to forge your intentions. To marshal your forces sit at your altar, light three sticks of incense and meditate on the themes present at this time: beauty, leadership, expansion, love and creativity.

Let the magic begin!

A well designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. Call upon me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation or for an hour telephone conversation, Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Plant. Love. Pray. Coping With Eclipse Energies.

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“If you adjust your ch’i well, your good ch’i will influence your heart. If your ch’i is good, love is created. And, love develops good ch’i.”
– H.H. “Professor” Lin Yun

The summer sky is ablaze with change. Eclipses and retrogrades activate profound advancement in humanity. But if all we experience is chaos and conflict while they transit, can we ever imagine we could live in grace under fire and find a softer, easier way to evolve? Yes! There is sacred way and your home is the key player.

If you are new to my blogs and presentations, I decorate interiors for the soul. Calmly arranging your space depopulates stress. Adjusting design details that cause conflict opens each room to love, beauty and abundance, waking up the spirit in your home and helping you cope with heavy energies, especially the current eclipses.

You can deflect those curve balls the cosmos has thrown at us by implementing a firewall of peace with good luck adjustments. I have selected six to help you get started living in grace under fire and finding your way home to love.

Shift If your luck is not good, every 9, 18 or 27 days, change some aspect of your furniture arrangement. You are changing the ch’i using the sense of touch. Your life force will be adjusted and awakened.

The best approach is move items that have not been moved recently. For example: your bed, the dining room table, the couch or the crock pot. You only need to lift the bed or table and then put it down in the same spot. The same holds true for objects that have been stored. At the moment the item is moved, the area beneath begins to breathe and shift. The space is revitalized, and the auspicious Ch’i begins to fill your home.

Alleviate If you or a family member or friend are suffering from an intangible stress. If you feel the weight of the world but you can’t quite put your finger on what’s causing it, make an adjustment in Helpful People. Nuance: in the office, the bedroom and the yard strengthens the effect.

Stabilize One of the best cures for calming the heart and mind:
Materials:
A circle of red paper
A brand new black pen
Tape

Procedure:
• Hold your breath and write “security” (with the new black pen) on one side of the red circle.
• In the same breath, write your name on the other side.
• Place the circle under your bed or chair, with “security” side facing the floor (adhere with tape)
• Visualize security and/or stability in your career, marriage, health, finances etc. You can also extend your visualization to include the stability of your family, your neighbors and everyone around the world. You might even wish for the stabilization of an unsettled, national or worldly, financial, social or political situation.
• Reinforce with the Three Secrets, using the Expelling Mudra to eliminate all obstacles (If you want to details I request nine red envelopes for this section, email me bette@shenmenfengshui.com).

Nuances:
If you write “stability”, you also may be able to help:
A child who cannot concentrate.
A parent whose child cannot manage time.
A wife whose husband frequently spends time away from home.
An employer whose employees quit again and again.

Plant Professor Lin was asked what to do when we live in an area that is vulnerable to floods, hurricanes, avalanches, earthquakes and natural disasters. He said planting trees will help vulnerable areas. He said, “Plant bamboo in every gua of a vulnerable area. You can also place bamboo in your home. It can be a picture of bamboo, a wall hanging, a flute from the Yun Lin Temple or a bamboo curtain. Bamboo is hollow, it bows in the wind. It provides peace, safety and support and drives away negative forces.

Love The secret to a successful life is performing a good deed daily.
Do these without expectation. Helping another person you shift not only their reality but yours as well. A kind deed improves your luck, circumstances and income. For emphasis do nine good deeds a day. But if karma has eclipsed your good luck, perform twenty seven good deeds in one day. Your sincerity is the most important part. Performing good deeds will strengthen your cures.

Pray Creating an altar in your home invests your home with an illuminating focus. It can contain a candle, incense, flowers, a crystal, a holy icon such as a Buddha and an object of personal meaning. Visiting the altar daily infuses your home with grace and your endeavors with a positive influence.

A well designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. Call upon me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation or for an hour telephone conversation, Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Upgrade Your Vacation With Feng Shui

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“Surely of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.”
– Freya Stark

Is an irresistible vista calling your name? We humans have a keen curiosity for distant horizons that only mobility can satisfy. If travel is on your current agenda for business or pleasure, romance or spiritual awakening upgrade your vacation with “Think Outside the Travel Channel” Feng Shui essentials. This collection of insights will help you experience your vacation in an entire new spirit. Learn how to play with the energetic field in far away places. Discover you can smooth out a difficult situation. Develop quick tools that help you enjoy the unfamiliar. Open your heart to the profound appreciation of foreign places (at home or abroad) and find yourself abundant with opportunities to form meaningful encounters.

Set Your Intention Imagine this experience to be all it can be. 27 days before your departure meditate daily. Visualize the feelings the vacation generates – the joy, the excitement and the flow. Visualize the places you listed on your itinerary. Hold that vibration for fifteen minutes. Your subconscious will take care of the details.

Make A Favorable Start Date selection is part of Feng Shui astrology. Choosing an auspicious date is a proper part of vacation planning. When your vacation incorporates Feng Shui principles, it has a higher degree of travel success. Helpful People show up easily to aid your journey and help you find your way when you are lost. Consult a Chinese calendar or email me (bette@shenmenfengshuic.com) for general auspicious dates. I will be happy to go over this with you for red envelopes (generally nine).

Travel With The Buddha One of my favorites. Purchase a small Buddha statue, one inch is good or it can be larger or smaller. Place it in a container that holds heat such as an incense holder or a cauldron. Place this in a private area like the top of your bedroom bureau for nine days. Each day offer incense, visualize this is your “Traveling Buddha” and it will protect you when you travel and bring good luck. Let the incense burn down and allow the ashes to fall onto the Buddha. On the tenth day take out the Buddha, do not brush off the incense and carry with you. See you are protected wherever you vacation to.

Start On The Right Foot The Red Carpet ceremony is performed when departing from your home for an business appointment, wedding or trip. Create auspicious opportunities and safety by placing a six-foot red cloth over the threshold of your front door. As you step down onto the carpet (cloth) with your left foot, visualize your trip is accident free and negative energy is cleansed. Make eight steps and end with the ninth step, your left foot, stepping of the the carpet. Fold and take with you. Do not go back into the house.

Boost Your Immune System Jet lag and time change can leave you overwhelmed quickly. Color influences how you feel. Make sure you feel good. Pack a scarf or ensemble that has the five elements-black, green, red, yellow and white or the rainbow colors. When you notice an overall weariness change to this. Visualize you are receiving vitality, radiance and balance from the color combinations and they are infusing your endocrine system with vital Ch’i.

Remove Stale Energy It might old, it could be negative. Don’t take chances with who or what resided in your room even if it is five star Hilton or private B&B. If you forgot to carry orange spray or a mister made with citrus essential oils, you can also use the peels of an orange to clear stale or negative energy. Cut nine circles, rubbed them in your hands then place them under your pillow for a great night’s sleep.

Use Insight Over Anger The biggest influence maintaining an upbeat attitude and the good luck coming. If you are prone to tension and you speak before you think, step back and “Swallow Your Saliva”, nine times. First create the saliva with the tip of your tongue on the upper palate of your mouth by moving your tongue back and forth 27 times. Then swish the saliva around your gums and teeth. While doing this think whether what you have to say will cause harm. Swallow then speak. It connects all the meridians in the body. Not only will this create positive relations but strengthen your organs, in particular your stomach and spleen. Setting intention is the motivating factor to maintaining a great vacation experience. You will see heart-felt results.

Bring Home Only Good Memories and Mementos Think about what you want to gain from this experience and what you want to remember in the days ahead. Purchasing hand crafted items that depict a country, an artisan, and an experience create good karma. You are supporting the local economy and the creativity of the local craftspeople. Choose something you absolutely adore and will use.

Keepsakes are an ever-present reminder of your most fondest moments and they can also be used to reinforce the Feng Shui in your home. Here are a few suggestions. To enhance the power of Heaven and the continuous support of Helpful People gua purchase a relic or statue. If you want to amplify your wealth, shop for a gilded mirror to draw in resources or a gold container that will hold intentions and symbols of money in your Wealth corner. If you want to create good luck in your budding romance. Purchase your Chinese Zodiac animal and your partner’s too. Purchase a three dimensional animal made of jade, boxwood or bone for your Partnership gua. If you are not living together purchase two of each, one set for your home and one for theirs. Display together in your Partnership gua of the bedroom. 

Relax. Be Safe. Enjoy.

A well designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. I am available to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Feng Shui Acts of Beauty

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Beautiful are those whose brokeness gives birth to transformation and wisdom.
– John Mark Green

Stress is no longer the by-product of a busy life, it’s a 24/7 affair. If you’re feeling it’s a life sentence you have the power to turn this around with a lifestyle change. Feng Shui acts of beauty create a stress free zone that allow only the good stuff in where the possibilities for something extraordinary can happen. In this blog I shed light on how design decorates our emotions in our partnerships and offer solutions that suggest a “transformational power where this power changes the feelings in our bodies” and links us to positive change in our relationships and the world.

Feng Shui Acts of Beauty
We may not see beauty as functional however it has a very important function. Creating acts of beauty eases our suffering. For couples whose love has gone sour it refreshes their relationship. It’s effective in softening conflictive opinions in the house when partners are at odds.

Pillow Talk
Minimize arguing by placing a mirror on the wall at the head of the bed. The nuance: hanging a round mirror invites soft words between partners.

Pear for a Pair
Let Nature help! If you and your partner cannot share–life, bank accounts, whatever it is, plant a pear tree in the yard. Pear in Chinese sounds like partnership, it symbolizes the act of sharing. 

Stairway to Happiness
A stairway in the middle of the house can magnify differing of opinions. It’s not just health issues that slip and slide but opposing viewpoints. Solution is a Feng Shui act of beauty: hang a 50 mm crystal ball at the top of the stairs to lift the Ch’i of the fluctuating energy and lift your hearts.

Fresh Starts
If vitality is lacking in the bedroom, add the color green, place flutes above the bed at the angle of Wealth and Partnership or use plants with flowers and fruit in the bedroom. A plant that bears fruit means that the growth of the plant has seen results and your efforts will bear fruit. Flutes have an uprising force so you are taking the next step (www.yunlintemple.org). Green is associated with springtime, a fresh start, vitality and hope. It is a prevalent color in nature from grass and trees to vegetation. You can look at green for a long time and not experience eye strain. Purchase sheets, a duvet cover or curtains or all three.

Partnership Perplexity
If your partner speaks their mind and you choke on your words. If you cannot cannot speak up when you have relationship troubles, purchase the Yundrung necklace from the Yun Lin Temple in Berkeley, California. The thunderbolt releases “Choked Ch’i”.

Fire Danger
Is love is simmering outside and your partner is cooking in someone else’s kitchen? A fireplace in the center can be the suspect. Add water like a mirror (above the fireplace) to put out the fire or place water in a jug close to the fireplace. Be sure to keep it fresh and do not let it evaporate.

Love Chimes
Has your partnership gotten to the place where one of you is holding back and now you are feuding? Try an act of beauty with sound. Placing a wind chime in the house can help get the reverberation of conflict and dissonance out of your systems.

For our mental health and emotional well-being we really can no longer afford to bring more stress into our lives. If this blog has triggered an avalanche of emotions, if you are curious about more acts of beauty for you home, I am available to help you with either a full consultation or an hour telephone conversation, Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Photo credit: House Beautiful

Celebrate Home. Earth Day 2019.

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photo credit: Shutterstock

“If we did not take care of Mother Earth where would we live?”
– Louise Hay, Hay House Publishing

Are you as astonished as I am by the beauty on this planet? I am ever grateful to Gaylord Nelson, senator from Wisconsin for proposing April 22, 1970, the United States’ first Earth Day. And I am excited that we have this annual opportunity to honor where we live. Earth Day’s influence has been immeasurable. It spawned laws that protect the environment: The Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Our quality of living would be greatly diminished if not for these measures.

If you’ve ticked Earth Day 2019 on your calendar and you want to make a difference, here are a few suggestions:
Pick up litter
Start a compost bin, at home or at school
Recycle or set up a recycling station
Turn off water when you brush your teeth
Switch to online bill payments rather than paper bills
Use public transportation
Turn down your water heater
Install energy efficient lights
Plant a tree
Eliminate single use plastic – plastic bottles, plastic forks and knives, etc.
Start a garden, indoors or outside
Make art from trash or otherwise re-purpose waste
More ideas at my 2016 blog Make Earth Day Everyday!

These simple Earth Day 2019 actions have a big impact on lifting the burden off of Mother Earth. But if your heart is not feeling the call to action, if you are seeking “the why” and haven’t found an incentive that touches your senses, I believe Rabbi Leah Novick’s explanation of Nature’s capacity to inspire humans may shed light. “They say the rocks dance strong, the plants sprout, the animals bring a powerful energy, and human beings bring speech and culture to the world. But we’re all unified in that the Shekhinah, the divine presence moves through all of us. From the Kabbalistic, the mystical perspective, it’s like this is where God comes through at the human and the earth level; that there are all different layers or levels in the Tree of Life in which the God energy is expressed, but the Shekhinah energy is the accessible divinity, the divinity that we can apprehend through the senses.

…when there is pollution and violence on the planet the Shekhinah takes the option sometimes to ascend into the Seven Heavens….so when we do good works, when we pray, when we meditate, when we sing, when we host people, when we give charity, what we do is pull her back down….(we feel purified and at ease – Bette Steflik) what we do makes a big difference in the world.”

I hope you enjoy Earth Day 2019 however you choose to celebrate, contemplate or honor your relationship to our dear beautiful, planet, Earth.

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”… start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Spring Into Your Dreams Feng Shui Style

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“If you believe the impossible, the incredible can come true.”
– Terrance Mann, Field of Dreams

Are you as excited as I am about the arrival of April? Tulips, daffodils and sweet smelling hyacinths sprinkle the neighborhood flower beds, their resplendent glory bookmark this miraculous season called Spring. Their life force a harbinger that we benefit from the many pleasures Spring delivers when we bring the outside into our homes.

Feeling the urgency to make something happen? Spring is persistent. It pushes forward. It encourages our psyche to tap into our best self, to reclaim our vitality and to pioneer our aspirations. Its uprising force bolsters our enthusiasm, pressing us to believe we can do it all. If this is you and you’re ready for change, I think you’ll welcome the high vibration adjustments that replenish your career; grow a family member back to good health; plant seeds for a lasting relationship and help you bloom during difficult times so you can remain focused on realizing your field of dreams.

Boost Your health
Where do you go to make an impression on your immune system? The front door! The front door represents the entire household: your career, your future, your reputation, your head but also your health. Place nine potted plants on the inside of the front door to improve the health of a family member who is dealing with cancer or an illness.

Squash the Back Fence Talk
Popular plants for the front entry and walkways are New Zealand flax. Flax are spiky plants and spiky plants in the Feng Shui metaphor may invite scoundrels or people who are jealous of you and gossip about you. It may also indicate that the inhabitants will become distant, their energy becomes withdrawn, isolated, and “strange”. Use flowering and non flowering plants with round ovate leaves to remove the temptation that could destroy your reputation.

Banish Pandora’s Box
Place a large vase with a cut cherry blossom branch in the foyer or a dining room side table or living room coffee table. For in the Chinese metaphor the blossom represents beauty, courtesy and modesty. The fruit itself symbolizes immortality. And it is believed that cherrywood keeps evil spirits away. In ancient times cherry wood statues stood guard in front of aristocrats homes.

Pour Your Heart into Others
If you are a coach, a mentor or wish to teach, place an image of a plum tree in your home in most any area of the house. But if you want to share your wisdom effectively place it in the Knowledge gua. Here it will foster the qualities of a charismatic teacher and student relationship. The metaphor of plum means students everywhere (around the world).

Start Love on the Right Foot
Before you seriously seek a love relationship look around your bedroom. Is your bed in the right place? What color are your sheets and bed cover? What images have you hung on the walls? The peach is associated with luck, long life and the divine fruit of the gods. The Chinese believe it can make people perpetually young. The peach petals create an intense trance of love. The peach tree represents longevity and the peach wood wards off evil. As you begin your search place peach blossom petals in a bowl in the Relationship gua of your bedroom. Once you have found your beloved remove the petals (for you might attract another suitor) and replace them with an image of a peach tree to create a long lasting relationship. When you are certain of your partner take the image down and either plant a pear tree in your back yard or hang an image of a pear tree in your Relationship gua. The sound of pear in the Chinese language is the same as sharing.

Stage a New Chapter in Your Career
Your office desk and chair are the seat of your power. Whether at home or at work if you sit too close to the door your voice will not be heard. In other words, your boss and colleagues will dismiss what you say and treat you as an underling. Or if the side of your desk is facing the door, you may experience a headache on one side of your head. Both distract you from moving forward in your career. If you cannot move the desk, place a lush plant between you and the door to protect your Ch’i.

Bloom During Difficult Times
The persimmon fruit in the Chinese language sounds like “booming market”. Plant it as an adjustment for your business to prosper. If you cannot find a persimmon tree as a cure for wealth and prosperity or it does not grow well in your area, you can use an orange tree instead. And if you cannot plant a persimmon or an orange tree because you do not have property, a small orange tree in a pot will work. Find the Wealth gua on your lot or in your home, that is a good place for the orange tree.

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”… start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Welcome To Good Fortune

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“At least once a day, allow yourself the freedom to think and dream for yourself.”
– Albert Einstein

Opportunities for good fortune are everywhere and those who are prepared seize the moment. Preparedness is when your heart and mind are in coherence with what you wish to accomplish. At the heart of the simplest success story is the alchemy of clarity and focus. These attributes are the building blocks for that momentum which fulfills one’s goal.

It’s no secret that wealthy people understand that focus, clarity and preparedness combined are the daily strategy for good fortune. These folks listen to their inner voice and keep a consistent attitude. They believe in their self worth; it is the hallmark of their success. They are alert, innovative and turn over every stone when it comes to generating new ideas. They ‘think outside the box’.

If you are looking for inspiration in your career or want more time to enjoy life’s pleasures or desire to increase the good fortune in your life, now might be the time to reflect upon where to expand your thinking. Who better to turn to than Albert Einstein for some pithy insights. I also included four ‘uncommon’ Feng Shui adjustments that may help you broaden your perception about how our environments influence our ability to make and keep money.

Have holy curiosity
Persevere in every endeavor
Use your imagination
Make mistakes
Create value
Spend time alone 

BTB Feng Shui Money Cures

Lift the Ch’i of the House A fan (the type that can lay on its side) on top of the house can save you from serious financial difficulty. Take an old fan and place it on top of your roof, horizontally not standing up, so the wind will blow it. Make sure it is connected and works. You do not have to hooked it up electrically. You do not have to keep it running. But you need to be able to turn it on so make sure it is set up properly. It raises the Ch’i not only of the house but of everyone in the house. That’s the yin piece of the cure. Place it on the tallest part of the roof.

Capture the Winds of Change If you are suffering from financial loss place something associated with a wind mill into the Wealth corner of the Bagua. Or place it into the Career gua to generate money from your career. Or place it in the Family gua so all the members of your family will make money. Or if you need a new beginning in your financial life you can place a windmill or an image of one in the Family gua. Good fortune will soon arrive.

Pray to the Divine When you want to make a decision about money and you have difficulty deciding what to do such as buy a house or not buy a house; if you are unclear or cannot focus on a course of action to take… choose a Buddha as your deity. For example pray to Acala Buddha, also referred to as the “Immovable Buddha”. He is the Buddha of Roosters (in the Chinese Zodiac astrology). Praying to this Buddha will help you decide on a course of action or focus, in this case, on the issue of money.

Cultivate Intuition “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift…”(Albert Einstein). The yin of wealth consciousness is practice connecting to your intuition daily whether it’s spiritual breath work or meditation. A half hour of this type of inner work, what Tony Robbins coined your ‘30 minutes to thrive’, will increase your ability to make accurate decisions when dealing with money. If you do not have a special room to practice, check out my June 2018 blog, Sacred Space Is Where You Find Yourself  for how to create a space of your own. 

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”… start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.