Whatever Feeds Your Soul, Add Feng Shui Cures To Enhance Your Experience.

Posted on August 2, 2014 by bette

“Promise me you’ll remember, you’re braver then you believe, stronger then you seem and smarter then you think.”
– Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh.

Have you made a commitment to your heart? I recently did. I spent two glorious sun-filled days at the Oregon Coast but the journey didn’t begin that way. A dark sky, the crack of thunder, gale force winds and pelting rain flashed intermittently, contrasting against gentle grazing Holstein and Jersey cows that dotted rolling coastal pastures. This little storm made navigation tricky, yet it was the perfect insular hum for ruminating, if you will excuse the pun.

Weather and Life are mirrors. Sudden theatrics, torrents of expression whether rain or anger, will derail most plans. A “perfect summer” bubble is a prime target for a dark cloud. I thought if this start is any indication of the next two days I might as well head back home. But there was no time for misgivings, I was halfway there and I was determined to feed an ache in my heart. This trip was not only about Big Blue and leisure walks, but drawing and paper and pencils and dusty doubts from years on the shelf. I blew them off and I blew off my fears. The next day my ache was mended. Like the moon that follows the sun, the jolly red ball came to play again. I indulged in a relaxed morning then tentatively made my way to a place that carries sweet but poignant memories. The same creek was making its timeless rendezvous with the ocean. A wild bunny was sunning itself on a rock, I tiptoed passed and walked to the water’s edge, set up my camp chair and inhaled the marine air. I reveled in the trees, the rocks, moss and pounding surf. I tuned out the distractions of folks searching for pebbles and shells and applied my attention on capturing the wild scene set before me. I let my heart flow and my hand followed. Grace under fire, I danced with Spirit once again.

There are no coincidences. When I settled back in to Portland I found the “Heart Mender”, a gift I received some years ago. Its message reminded me of the polarity I had witnessed on the coast, Nature’s storm and then the calm, my stress and then surrender, the words floated like a beautiful refrain: “this Heart-Mender has been specially designed to fit your hand and lighten your heart. The natural exotic wood will become more beautiful as you hold it and rub it. Allowing your worries and stress to melt away.”

We tell stories to ourselves. Some are true, some are not. But what holds veracity for both is that life is complicated and compacted with details and we become constricted from lack of mental space. Peace and joy become smothered under dust and responsibilities. If you worry and work long hours may I suggest that before summer fades, feed your soul, embrace your inner child and balance work with play. Wondering where to start? Your home can also be your Heart Mender. Beauty is an integral part of our human experience. Feng Shui cures create beauty. They support you, lighten your heart and melt your worries away. l am delighted to share with you these four Feng Shui cures that, I believe, will help you tap into your happy space.

The sound of a bell ease the afflictions in the heart. Hang a wind chime on the front left eave (as you face the street from the front door) of your home. Visualize a steady stream of benefactors coming to your aide to support you. Say a prayer to complete this cure and honor this sacred object.
When you have little money and you need a big change, purchase a Pre-Heaven Ba-gua mirror. It will get things moving. Turn it upside down; placing Earth at the top, and Heaven at the bottom. Place it over your front door. This arrangement turns heaven and earth upside down, bringing heaven to earth. Visualize and invite paradise into your life. Say a prayer to complete this cure and honor this sacred object.
Your esteem has a great deal of influence on how well you do in life. This is also true, even though someone may be doing well, they might express low self esteem. If you are constantly in a bad mood change this by wearing a solid color of green. When you first dress yourself in this color, say a prayer to honor this sacred message.
Bamboo’s symbolism means longevity. It’s durable and resilient through all the seasons. It is hollow inside so it is humble. It has been carved into a flute, its tune brings peace. It has been used as a sword, it protects. If you want to attract peaceful financial transactions hang a bamboo curtain in your wealth gua. Say a prayer to complete this cure and honor this sacred object

Whatever feeds your soul this summer, may the experience be abundant. There is nothing like the pleasure of barbecues with friends, jumping off a diving board or simply sipping cold lemonade on the front step and soaking up Vitamin D.

If you see results from these cures, a red envelope is appreciated. And when you share with friends, please acknowledge the source, Bette Steflik, Shen Men Feng Shui.

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.

The Gratitude Jar – Sparking Freedom Everyday!

Posted on July 7, 2014 by bette

July 4th reminds me how I am lucky to live in the United States. It is more than backyard barbecues and trips to the beach. We’re blessed we have the resources to burn the night sky with brilliant pyrotechnics, free to express dissent or appreciation and to pursue the happiness we choose.

Declaring gratitude is a lot like a declaration of independence. When I practice tenderness and compassion, I feel an inner freedom. When I practice a grateful heart, it sparks a happy resonance. When I say “thank you”; when I acknowledge the people I love; when I affirm kindness, I feel liberated. I’ve discovered that expressing gratitude increases the value of, not only what I appreciate, but my value as well. It throws the doors open to sovereignty, to being authentic, full, expressing unlimited potential, receiving divine inspiration and these augment my well being. If this is not freedom, then what is?

If you’ve been waiting to amplify your health, your happiness, appreciate your worth, wouldn’t now be the time? It’s takes very little out of your day to write down your mementos, your thoughts, your love, your appreciation, your victories, your tributes (jazz them up on brightly colored paper) to the people, places, animals, colors, sounds, moods, emotions, music, whatever moves you, and pour these into a ‘Gratitude Jar’. Give it a try. You may see that this container of joy quickly creates an unrelenting flame.

Building joy, luck and flexibility leads to personal freedom. Feeling unappreciated? Need to feel stable? Here is a Ch’i strengthening exercise to spark your energy, manifest robustness and increase prosperity. I’d love to hear what you experienced.

Stability Cure

Materials Needed: new black pen and a circle of red paper.

Procedure:

Using the new black pen, write “stability” on one side of the red circle. Hold your breath while you write.
Continue to hold your breath, turn the circle over and write the name and birth date of the person in need of stability.
Attach the red circle under the bed (beneath the heart). The word “stability” should face the ground.
Reinforce with the body (calming heart mudra or prayer mudra), speech (six true words mantra or prayer) and mind (visualize stability).

Friggatreiskaidekaphobia And A Full Moon? Hold On! Don’t Get Unhinged By Superstition Again.

Posted on June 12, 2014 by bette

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
– Albert Einstein

This week as I stay awake late collecting the waxing moonlight for a cure, Einstein’s quote and my friend’s words, “Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean you have to put it down or fear it.” filtered through my thoughts. It occurred to me it would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t talk to you about a subject that is the underpinnings of the work that I do – superstition. Rare indeed and equally profound, tomorrow is a full moon plus friggatreiskaidekaphobia aka Friday the 13th. If you have experienced accidents or conflict on either of these days, it may be hard to swallow but you need not anticipate this double whammy as a cause for double trouble. You can shift your anticipation from a bump in the road to a bright spot. Let me share with you why and how.

Taoist Master Deng Ming-Dao wrote, “The moon is faithful to its nature yet its power is never diminished.” Before science there was superstition, folk cures and rights of passage to ensure a life of safety and prosperity. Before science, life was rich with connectivity to Nature. Continuity via tribal tradition and family unity were celebrated with cultural rituals that included the moon. Water was honored as the essence of life; we are born from a watery womb and we are made of 70% water. Primal and creative, the moon has the power to influence the tides and to pull an entire ocean from shore to shore. Equally profound the moon can pull the tides of our emotions within us too. In the early development of Chinese cosmology, this constellation quickly acquired cultural significance because of it’s life altering qualities and gentle influence. The Chinese believe the moon’s indirect reflection and bright silver, fullness bring a happy life. Its mystery continues to captivate our gaze and its 28 day waxing and waning cycle has birthed myths and ceremonies that emulate its essence.

Our 21st century urban mindset and high tech world may get us through the day but our computer-age brain still needs the basic requirements for safety, comfort and prosperity that only ritual can fully satisfy. Eventful times need ritual. It gets to the heart of our emotions like a mother comforting her child. The moon is the great crone, the grand mother of all, the Yin to the sun’s Yang, the other half of the Tao. Without the moon life would stagnate, there would be no hope for peace within, a sense of benevolence, balance, nor forward movement.

Select BSTB Feng Shui methods and rituals honor the moon.
Anger dissipates your sensibilities. If you find your emotions are getting the better of you, someone just cut in front at the check stand or a car nearly hit yours and this has left your fuming, when it is safe take yin time, take five to draw within yourself. Here is a spiritual breathing method that may help. Hold your hands in the heart calming mudra (left hand over right, thumbs together, palm up) and place them over your tan’tien (two inches below your navel). As you take a deep breath in through your mouth, chant: gate, gate, para gate, para sum gate, bodhi swoha, nine times. Breath in positive karma and good luck. Visualize and focus on the cool light of the moon and see yourself releasing distractions. See it penetrate your cells, smooth the Ch’i throughout your body, its silver essence relaxes your mind. See tension release when you exhale in eight short puffs with the ninth puff expelling all the air in your lungs. See any negative karma and bad luck disappear. Repeat nine times. Email me for the complete spiritual breathing method. Red envelopes apply.

Special Offer!

Until the July 12th (2014) full moon I am offering a $26 (13 doubled) discount on first time residential consults only. Plus the first nine who sign up will receive a beautiful 38mm crystal. Consultation appointments must be completed by July 31, 2104 to apply the discount.

The K.I.S.S. of Good Health

Posted on June 1, 2014 by bette

Do you believe that being healthy is only about being mobile? That as long as you can stand up, go to work, do your job, make time for family, go on a two week vacation every year, that is health? It’s an old paradigm, It keeps your health a mystery and you are powerless to influence the course it takes. Eventually a crisis takes you by surprise which costs you time and money, as you lie debilitated in a hospital bed, never suspecting that you needed to learn how to live and master ways of seeing the world to create good health.

Now consider this: your thoughts, the state of your emotions and stress cause your good health or poor health. That changes what health is, doesn’t it? Dr. John Hagelin, quantum physicist, shares, “Happier thoughts lead to a essentially healthier bio-chemistry and a healthier, happier body. Negative thoughts, stress, have been shown to seriously degrade the body and the function of our brain. Because it is our thoughts and emotions that are continuously reassembling, reorganizing, recreating our body.”

At this very moment if you are having a health setback you have the power to shift the outcome by a shift in your thoughts and emotions. Even if you are feeling well, you can maintain your vitality by implementing a daily practice. These are simple, short and I hope you think, sweet things you can start doing today to feel the effects of more happiness and the K.I.S.S. of good health.

Keep in tune with your emotions.

Take time to check in when you are happy, angry, depressed or sad. You may not be able to respond to what caused the feelings nor would it be appropriate, but acknowledging them allows the emotion to move through your body. This practice keeps you tuned up and all of your systems humming. And even better, you are less likely to even catch a cold. Feng Shui solution: if you are distressed by your emotional state, tap your head 108 times. It will help you to get clear about what is causing the intense emotions. You may need to do it two more times for a total of 324 times but well worth the good night’s sleep when you go to bed that night.

Invite awareness.

Turn on your inner compass. Unplug. Go for a stroll. Look for something new in your neighborhood. Say hello to a stranger. Immerse yourself in the moment and appreciate it’s magic by feeling the temperature of the air, the sun on your face and the depth of your breathing. This expands your consciousness and opens neural pathways for creative problem solving. You get to the solution quicker with the most desired results. Feng Shui solution: place a mirror in front of you where you sit at your desk to open your perspective.

Stimulate your senses. Switch things up.

The senses are extraordinary but they can be dulled by monotony. Eat something pungent like Indian curry for breakfast. Listen to classical music if all you play is soft rock. Spend three hours in an art museum if you continuously watch T.V. If you have an aversion to a certain smell like popcorn, sit with a bag and explore what that really is. Maybe it’s connected to an experience, a memory and it’s not the popcorn at all. Feng Shui solution to adjust the Ch’i by sense of touch: one of H.H. Lin Yun’s favorite adjustments is to place a piece of fur on your banister. When you, a family member or guest touch it, the difference in texture startles you and wakes up your Ch’i.

Smile often and without a reason. Feel grateful.

Expressing gratitude cultivates happiness. When you appreciate what you have it appreciates in value. It’s not about more and buying new things, it is loving what is already in your life, that being the good health and prosperity you are experiencing right now. Announce to the Universe how much you love you, your family, your pets, your friends and your coworkers. It will exponentially improve your relationships and the love you send, comes back to you. The added bonus, it boosts your immune system. Feng Shui solution: H.H. Lin Yun expressed that when we perform a kind deed, this act of love is generosity in action. Not only does it uplift the Ch’i of the person who receives the kindness but the person who does the kind deed. Performing a kind act daily expedites your Feng Shui cures.

Think Outside The Travel Channel – Feng Shui Travel Cures

Posted on May 2, 2014 by bette

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
– Maya Angelou

Minimizing stress on a trip makes for more relaxation and fun. I want you to have a great time so here is my Feng Shui A list that have worked for me. I believe these travel cures will help you experience an out-of-the-ordinary vacation, complete with feeling safe, at ease and when an unusual circumstance happens, you can respond with an open heart.

Travel With The Buddha Purchase a small Buddha statue, one inch is a good size. 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 travel.

Start On The Right Foot The Red Carpet ceremony is performed when departing 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, time change, activity fun can catch up pretty quickly. Color influences how you feel. Make sure you pack a scarf or ensemble that has the five elements-black, green, red, yellow and white. At the first notice of overall weariness change to this and start to feel the vibrance, radiance and balance of these colors. Visualize you are receiving what you need and paid heed to what advice your intuition is giving.

Remove Old Energy It might be old, it could be negative. It could be whatever. Don’t take chances on who or what has resided in your room even if it is five star Hilton. If you forgot to carry orange spray or mister made with true essential oils, you can also use the peels of an orange to clear out 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 Probably the biggest influence keeping the trip upbeat and good luck coming. If anxiety flairs quickly for you: before you say something you will regret, 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 with your family and travelers but strengthen your organs, in particular, your stomach and spleen.

photo credit: Bubo Blog, A New York City Dad

Feng Shui Cures “I Have Nothing To Wear!”

Posted on April 15, 2014 by bette

I bet you have a few all time favorites from your closet that make you feel super comfortable, right? Yet they aren’t your “go-to” kick-ass ensembles when you have an important engagement. Nor when you’ve received a quick phone call for an interview or a spontaneous dinner date, same ole, same ole, won’t do. You want an outfit that makes you feel put together, dynamic and you don’t want to purchase something new. Step out of panic, you are in luck! You can take those favorite black pants or little black dress and go “3 for 3” with the Five Element Colors. These colors may be placed in specific sequences to balance your Ch’i, give you confidence and help you feel your best. Yes! Color plays a huge role in how you look and feel. And that’s the secret you can pull out of your closet in a moment’s notice.

The Five Element Theory derives from Chinese cosmology. Each element shares a corresponding color. Water is black, Wood is green, Fire is red, Earth is yellow and Metal is white. There are two cycles and they either feed or control the other. In the Constructive Cycle an element feeds the next element. You must choose at least three colors to make the cycle work. A CC sequence is: water (black) feeds wood (green) and wood (green) feeds fire (red). Begin at your shoes or feet and work upwards to your head. Feeling a little tired when you get up? You can rely on this sequence to brighten your mood, strengthen your Ch’i and support your mental capacity. The Containing Cycle controls or destroys an element. For example: wood (green) chokes earth (yellow) and earth (yellow) absorbs water (black). Why use this sequence? Because there are times when life is coming at you fast and you need to feel stable. Or if you have experienced a trauma and you want more security. Begin at your head or throat and work down to your shoes.

Now that you have a bit of Five Element savvy you will be spot on for an important presentation and brilliant when negotiating a transaction. And as you know a picture is worth a thousand words. I am delighted to share two, one minute videos for when those words fly uncontrollably out of your throat, “I have nothing to wear!”

Feng Shui Cures “I Have Nothing To Wear!” Constructive Cycle

Feng Shui Cures “I Have Nothing To Wear!” Controlling Cycle

Mud not clean, but it is what you need to grow.

Posted on April 4, 2014 by bette

Mud is unavoidable. Plop. plop. Giant drops. Spring started in biblical fashion, wet, soggy, take a soaking weather. Heaven had conspired to macerate every penetrable fingerbreadth of earth. To stay inside was the safe alternative rather than experience getting stuck. Thich Nhat Hanh’s soothing voice softened the backdrop of thunderous rain. His talk: the nature of mud. Coincidence? Maybe not. When it stopped, the rains wet force brought floods of mud. It was everywhere. If you could sell mud, it would make you a fortune. Playing in mud were happy days for me as a child. I couldn’t wait to twirl the mud swimming tadpoles and make mud pies. When did it happened that I sidestepped mud? When did we disconnect from the life giving medicine of mud?

Some of my client’s stories are a stark reminder how powerful our present circumstances and past memories can keep us caught in a storm. One dear friend felt his home was sucking him under. He felt it would kill his spirit if he didn’t leave. What appeared like a drastic measure was a summoning of courage to save his own skin. He began a pilgrimage, visiting havens to collect the fragments of his past. One experience he described was so compelling I felt equally compelled to share he need not feel inundated by the ooze of his memories. I sent him a compassionate teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh. It was meant to reassure him that vicissitudes bear gifts, “Mud…not clean, doesn’t always smell good but it is what the lotus needs to grow. It cannot grow from anything but mud.” “Remember friend, your mud makes you a lotus.”

Mud, glorious mud. Mud represents a meaningful part of the lotus flower’s development. In Buddhist teachings, we humans are born into suffering, it is a vital part of our experience. The sacred lotus grows in the deep mud, far away from the sun. Yet eventually it reaches the light becoming the most beautiful flower imaginable. If you’ve struggled to accept your fears. If you’ve felt your burdens have undermined your redemption. If despair reminds you of what you feel you have failed in, it may be difficult to see that these muddy waters make you the exquisite human being that you are. And you are!

Rain renews the earth, it is a blessing. And renewal is a universal theme this time of year. It is inherent in all manner of life’s DNA. The mud the lotus grows in is the “rising and blooming above the murk to achieve enlightenment.” Rebirth and renewal need not only be a physical transformation but also a change of heart about your ideas about life. It can be the renaissance that changes the course of painful memories by forgiving and saying prayers of gratitude when you receive a second chance.

When you feel the pain of your past, hold yourself gently as you would a crying baby. Thich Nhat Hanh shares: breathe in, come home to your body and say softly, “I recognize in you there is pain.” When you breathe out say to your mind, “I will take good care of you.” Mindful breathing brings concentration, insight and liberation. When you feel anger rising, you are not in your body. ”Breathe in, you are home. Breathe out, you realize the miracle of life.”

When you breathe mindfully you grasp the root of your passion. This simple mindfulness practice brings peace and the gift gives rise to find wise, funny and creative ways to reinvent your glorious mud.

There are many metaphors in Feng Shui for creating awareness. Rather than “the aspirin of Feng Shui” as a mirror has been described, it is like your higher consciousness, your Buddha nature. It does not judge, it only fills what is before it. It reflects, it expands, it can bend or turn an image. Like mindful breathing, enhance your confidence and your command of the present moment when you place a mirror before you at your bed, desk or stove and may your blessings multiply in this month of the Dragon.

Eight Lucky Cures for St. Patrick’s Day, Feng Shui Style.

Posted on March 17, 2014 by bette

Can we change our surroundings to bring about change for our own good?

Happiness said, “Let’s meet.” Serendipity replied, “In a blink an eye”. How lucky I am. I wear green because it brings me the luck, not of the Irish, but of Feng Shui. It shifts circumstances from bad to good, from stuck to serendipity. Or is that a superstitious belief.

Cindy emailed and said she met a wonderful man. I think back a few months ago when I came to her home. As we talked at her dining room table she said she wanted to get her consulting business up and running again. But as I sat there I felt the white curtains, the white walls in her apartment and the white flowers in her bedroom tell a different story. White symbolizes death for the Chinese. When I told her this she shared how badly she had been burned in her past relationship. She didn’t want to admit she was unhappy and at a crossroads. But then the tears started to flow uncontrollably, there was no hiding how she felt. So when she wrote me a few weeks ago with, “Also, since I last saw you, I met a wonderful man. We’ve been having great fun getting to know each other. I’m enjoying myself tremendously.” I was ecstatic for her. It was more powerful, more compelling than any new client prospects she could have told me about. In my mind’s eye I could see her hanging new curtains in her relationship gua with a broad smile beaming over her face. And a sparkle of happiness lift her heart when she hit the nail to place the red and white framed cat drawing that she loved. In the bedroom she arranged a vase of beautiful pink flowers next to her bed; they were robust, bursting with vitality. Bit by bit these secret delights started to reshape her world and her inner confidence bloomed once again. The adjustments helped her to open to the vulnerability that she felt in her heart.

Building a new life using Feng Shui adjustments, each item that Cindy placed was crafting a future moment of joy. Fate works this way: happiness creates opportunities and serendipity follows.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day: luck cannot be contained by borders, it’s spread by the currents of love. May the luck you receive be generous like the blessings from heaven above.

From our esteem founder of the Black Sect Tantric Buddhist School of Feng Shui, “Professor” Lin Yun, here are eight lucky cures for St. Patrick’s Day, Feng Shui style. It’s an opportunity for you to change your energy field and change your fate.

Adjust the Feng Shui in your bedroom and office
Professor Lin told the following story: I was recently sick and almost died. I had not been in my office in Berkeley which is my main office for a very long time. It was important for me to be there, to check in and to be sure all was well. It was important for me to:

Sit in my office chair.
Activate (place a cures like a water fountain in Career and a picture of a beautiful place you’d like to visit in Helpful People). If you do not check in, bad luck may “catch up with you”.
Place a crystal ball, or a wind chime, in the center of your office. Visualize that the Feng Shui of your life is positive.

Changing Your Ch’i Type

If you are constantly in a bad mood change this by wearing a solid color of green.

Adjust the Effects Of A Bad Experience

Carry nine round pieces of orange peel for twenty-seven days to soften the effects of a bad experience.

Being Taken Advantage Of

If you feel you are being taken advantage of, carry the three dimensional zodiac animals.

Refocus Your Energy

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 Ch’i will be refocused, and awakened.

Still Encountering Bad Luck

If you have completed the Feng Shui above and still encountering bad luck, perform good deeds without expecting a reward. Be sincere, you will never be disappointed.

One thing 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 Safety Checklist For Your Home

Posted on March 3, 2014 by bette

Safety might be the last thing you connect to Feng Shui design.

Imagine walking a tight rope. Would you feel anxious, nervous, frightened, think you are going to fall? Very likely. This experience is no different to your brain than a corner that acts like a finger pointing at you, making an accusation. Or a wall that blocks your way and throws you off kilter or a small, dark, confined entry that pounds upon your head. Your body’s first response is to feel nervous, anxious and unsafe. Next your body will bring your attention to the matter by sending a smoke signal to your emotions. If that doesn’t get a response, you’ll find yourself getting sick. What a thread, one scenario can cause.

As a Feng Shui consultant I look for how I can help you understand your unique living arrangement and make your home more suitable for your personal lifestyle, maintain your good health, harmonize your relationships and create overall peace of mind.

When a client calls often they have a crisis on their hands. A daily drama they’ve tolerated for months, maybe years, erupts and no longer do they have the coping skills to deal with it. I tell them the good news is there is a Feng Shui solution. And I want you to know that too.

Here is a little mantra that I share. It is BIG in empowerment and leads to real change: “your home is your second body”. If you are feeling worried, carry vague anxieties around in your head, don’t sleep well at night, suffer from a chronic health issue, lose money and are overlooked for a raise or job you want, it’s not “just life”.

Wouldn’t you love an alternative to “just life”, one that makes you feel secure, stable and balanced? Feng Shui adjustments actively address problem areas in your home, create stability, power up your energy and give you confidence to handle what life delivers.

Is your home Feng Shui safe? If you suspect it’s causing some of your problems or you feel uneasy, here’s a mini checklist to determine if you have imbalances and how they are affecting you. There are more than I can list here but it’s a good way to get started and expand your thinking about safety in your home.

Feng Shui Safety Checklist

Accidents and Bloodshed

A door that is nailed shut suggests a hole in your physical body.
Seeing the stove through the kitchen door from the front door can cause illness, surgery that involves bloodshed.
Shoes left at the front in disarray can cause unexpected events and accidents.
Anything in front of the bed, furniture that is too large in the room can cause you to stumble and fall.
A bed that faces out of the bedroom door and you face the stove, that position can cause an accident or illness involving serious bleeding.
A stove that backs up to a desk causes danger which can involve an accident.

Arguments with family members

Split at the front door: the brain is stimulated unevenly, the two sides begin to lack coordination. You may think more and act less, or the opposite, you may act more and think less. Either situation, an imbalance is created which can create illness along the midline, confusion, and an inability to make decisions. There can be endless arguing, even violence.
Too many doors in a hallway: a door represents a mouth. Here is an opportunity for arguments to ensue among you and your partner or you and your child.
Biting doors: doors which are slightly out of alignment with one another create a split and this may create a trauma. There may be conflict between parents, or arguments between the parents and children. You may lose your friends. Where you work you may experience internal strife, power plays, and back stabbing.
Arguing doors: doors that bump up against one another when they are opened create conflict and they are especially offensive at the front door. Conflict may spread throughout, affecting everyone who comes into the house even people outside with whom you interact.

Health Issues

Bathroom in the middle of the house can drain your life’s resources. Not only poor health may make your family suffer, years on end but into future generations.
Blocking wall at the front door will have you feeling blocked from moving forward in your career. Health wise your shoulders start to round down over your heart and lungs causing back, heart and respiratory difficulties.
Stairs that ends too close to a wall or door may inhibit the flow of ch’i both in your home and your body. You and your family may be blocked in some way, physically, emotionally, and perhaps your career.
A toilet back to back with a bed can create an unusual, uncommon or undiagnosed illness which can take it’s toll on the resources of a family.

Money Troubles

Fireplace in the middle of the house will burn up money, create infamy instead of fame and your career may slow to a trickle. Feeling hopeless, your happiness may be reduced to indecision and doubt, depleting your vitality.
Blocking wall at the front door may find you struggling in your career and you may entirely fail.
Contrary door is when a front door opens into a wall rather than the room. You may work hard and not enjoy the results of your labor. Life could become exhausting and filled with disappointment.
House below the street: every exit will feel difficult to get up and get out. You may become more and exhausted each day. You can lose time and energy. It greatly affects your ability to begin or follow through on any project.
Trapezoid lot that narrows at the back can also bring unfortunate luck over time. The wealth gua is in the far back left corner and if it is diminished in size that will affect incoming flow of money.

Need to see it to understand? Here is a link to Floor Plans Matter, examples of common design details and how they affect occupants’ Ch’i. Perhaps you will recognize your home in one of this.

(image credit to Poesia, Roberto Weigand)

Double Your Happiness With 8 Feng Shui Bedroom Tips

Posted on February 4, 2014 by bette

“There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved.”
– George Sand

Conscious communication, curiosity and a cozy ambience for intimacy keep love alive writes relationship expert, Liz Higgins. I could not agree with her more. Since it’s Valentine’s Day add a little Feng Shui because an element of surprise is the gateway to intimacy. Surprise your partner with one or all of these 8 Feng Shui bedroom tips and revel in the magic!

To nurture your relationship, place nine lush plants in the bedroom. The demands of work can deplete your stamina. The plants’ vitality will lift your energy, giving you the focus to show your partner how much you care.
Purchase a diffuser (found at most grocery stores or online). Include in your purchase a stimulating aroma like sweet orange essential oil. Ylang Ylang is a scent that draws lovers together. Add a few drops of each to the diffuser and percolate your romance.
Texture initiates the senses. Satin or 300 count cotton sheets will shift your attention to your affections. And don’t forget color. Green is invigorating, yellow is comforting, a deep pink hue is invitational, chocolate brown satisfies both partners tastes. Enjoy the sensation of how these caress your bodies.
Good communication is the basis of a lasting relationship. Purchase the best headboard your money can buy. Preferably solid wood but slats are acceptable too. Make sure the headboard is securely fastened. It connects the two sides of the bed so it connects you and your partner. And a little secret to help the Ch’i flow, make sure your mattress is up off of the floor.
Place your bed so you can see the door but not in line of the door, that’s “taking command”. However if that’s not possible because your bed is on the same wall as the door, add a standing fashion mirror and watch the tension fade away.
If you want to attract a broad range of wooers and widen your field of possibilities, especially if you’ve only been drawing to you one type (and now that no longer works for you), hang a convex mirror in the partnership corner. The meaning of a convex mirror is to take in a broad view or expand your view. You can place this in either your bedroom or the main floor of the house.
Another Feng Shui bedroom tip, this one is for men (but this can work for women too). If you want to attract a partner but detest pink in your bedroom, use the Five Element colors (green, red, yellow, white and black) in a balanced proportion by selecting furnishings and accessories along with paint choice that contain these colors. You can put these in the bedroom or any where in the house. They work best when you add your intention. And once you find your partner, the Five Elements creates stability in your partnership because combining all five covers all the basis.
If you don’t have a partner or if you want to enhance your relationship with your partner, go to a Chinese wedding ceremony. If they use cinnabar rice or any rice take it home in a red envelope. Place it in your car, or on your desk or in your child’s room. It is not only auspicious Ch’i of a wedding but auspicious Ch’i of all kinds. Your child will benefit, you and whomever rides in your car will be safe and it can benefit your career. For your partnership place the red envelope in the partnership area of your bedroom. Visualize creating the good fortune, health and abundance that shine forth on a wedding day.

The Double Happiness character (which you see adjacent to the text in this blog) is often found in Chinese restaurants and at celebrations. The character for happiness is set side by side. The bottom parts of the symbol can look like the number “8”. Eight is “Ba” in Chinese. It sounds similar to the word, “Fa” which means to make a fortune. It contains the meaning of prosperity, success, and high social status too.

Besides these 8 Feng Shui bedroom tips, make luck to find love and make love to keep the love you find with one of these two packets (one for singles and the other for couples).
“The Heart Of What Matters”
Find your match. Includes Attract A Romantic Partner, The Four Pillars with a nuance for singles; Receiving Auspicious Ch’i plus The Three Secrets Reinforcements and five robust cures to magnetize your true love.
$27 plus nine red envelopes.
“Nurture A Match Made In Heaven”
Solidify your partnership. Includes Linking Lovers Cure, The Four Pillars with a nuance for couples; Receiving Auspicious Ch’i plus The Three Secrets Reinforcements and five robust cures to nurture and strengthen your partnership. $27 plus nine red envelopes.

I love helping you prepare for Valentine’s Day but the 8 Feng Shui Bedroom Tips and ceremonies from the packets can be implemented any time of the year. The best part, they create a space for love every day.

To place your order, contact me via email: bette@shenmenfengshui.com