Tag Archives: conscious design

Feng Shui. The Gift of Helpful People.

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“Success is never accidental.”
– Jack Dorsey
21 years ago the Bagua spoke to me about my life’s journey and what it would look like through my home’s design. Its principles spoke of my values, my relationships, my soul’s purpose, my karma, my life story. Like a vision unfolding inside a sorcerer’s crystal ball, it revealed how I would handle situations, lose money, make money, create opportunities, find mentors, fall in love and develop my career. It paved the way for me to learned that intentional decorating with sacred objects generates a vibrational pattern that attracts the people and events that would bring to me satisfaction and success. I discovered I enjoy being a Helpful Person. Giving to others fits seamlessly with my sensibilities, sense of purpose and love of being a conduit for positive change.

Do you wish you could find an expert mechanic? Desire a business network that mirrors your dream for growth? Yearn for a massage therapist who can penetrate to your knotty spots or a wealth advisor who can astutely guide your financial plans? Cultivating the Helpful People sector not only gives you a sense that you will manage life changing events but also create:
• Good timing to grasp opportunities right when they happen.
• Increase synchronicity in your daily activities.
• Know there is help when you falter.
• Confidently pursue what matters to you most.

Let’s explore the meaning of this area which will give clues as to why it will benefit you to activate it. Helpful People/Travel’s domain is Heaven, the Creative Principle, where ideas and desires haven’t yet taken form. The Creative is the underlying energy that initiates momentum. If you have something you wish to manifest like purchasing a new house, it first exists in the subtle realm before it becomes manifest in the physical. When it’s an idea, a dream, it’s intangible and this is where you take it to the Helpful People to initiate what you wish to materialize. This area of the Bagua represents the father, males and in the human body it is the head (look in this area if you experience headaches). It will help you find the experienced realtor, the gentle dentist or the mentor – friends, experts and professionals who make life easier. When you immerse yourself in this energy, flow, serendipity, synchronicity and luck are ever present. Reasons enough to add a sacred object here to set this principle into motion.   

What is in the front right corner of your home? What do you see? Is it even there? Could be missing? Is there a bathroom? Is there a garage? Are there stairs? Do you see clutter or calm?

Design Details
Missing area
There is no place to draw Helpful People into your sphere. You are not able to access all their benefits. No one may come to your aid.
• The color of the gua (gray for Helpful People), painted on the wall adjacent to the missing piece, can push the wall out to give back the missing piece.
• Or if you live in a home, then make the adjustment on the lot. Install a light pole or add a water fountain, bird bath or tall rock at the intersection of the missing corner.
• Or place a convex mirror and like the paint, push the wall out to give back the missing piece.

Extension
Folks would call you lucky and fortunate. You can invite more Helpful People to shape your life as you see fit with an adjustment.
• Hang an image of a place you love to travel or have traveled, a deity, a mentor, a time piece like a large clock (do not accept a clock as a gift or if you given one, do the following). When the giver gives a clock it sounds like “to bid farewell” – to see someone to his or her death. Collect a red envelope with money in it if you give a clock as a gift.

Bathroom
One of four inauspicious places in the home. The bathroom is symbolic of our expenses and our internal plumbing. As a result it affects the luck, health and wealth of the occupants of the home. The Helpful People gua is opposite the Wealth gua and the two of them work together. A bathroom in Helpful People gua will deplete that gua. It can drain away the Helpful People in your life. Helpful People bring you money and pay you money for the work you do and help you with your career.
• Mirror outside of the bathroom door. It brings to the bathroom door the reflection of whatever is opposite the mirror. It will appear the bathroom is no longer present and that it has become something else. Even if you leave the door open this adjustment is still effective.
• Or place a round mirror on the ceiling above the toilet. You can use a flat, convex or Sun Moon mirror. Do not use a concave mirror. The mirror counteracts the energy leaving through the drain.
(A bathroom in an extension to a Helpful People gua will deplete or negate all the good fortune of the extension).

Garage
Not an issue.
• Enhance this area with a power animal like a five-toed Imperial Dragon (but do not choose a red dragon because that is a cooked Dragon) to draw to your aid the power of Heaven. In ancient times, emperors wore garments with dragons on them. A civilian was not allowed to wear such garments. The leader’s ch’i was infused with the ch’i of the dragon which is symbolic of power. If you use the dragon design in business, you may attain both wealth and power. 

Fireplace
Helpful People represents the Metal element, Fire melts Metal. You may find it difficult getting your ideas off the ground or attracting the right kind of folks who will support your creativity.
• Place a mirror over the fireplace, allowing the Water (symbolized by the mirror) to put out the Fire.
• Add water near the fireplace.
• Add the color black (also symbolic of Water) near the fireplace.
• Add wood, or the color green (symbolic of Wood), so that the fire burns the wood and not the family resources.
• Add an Earth element to put out the Fire. (the color yellow, a square bench, or a potted plant.)

Stairs
Stairs anywhere are a fluctuating energy. Helpful People could be unreliable. Your father might have an unstable personality. You might manifest opportunities only to have them disappear quickly.
• Lift the Ch’i with a mirror at the top of the stairs, a wind chime or a faceted crystal.

Life Situations
A Run Of Bad Luck
Activate Helpful People in the bed, the bedroom, and the office.

Intangible Stress
If there is something you can’t quite put your finger on, you feel pressure and you can’t quite understand what’s causing it.
• Make an adjustment in Helpful People sector. It could be in the house, the office, the bedroom or any Helpful People gua.

Heavenly Aid
If you are working on a project which requires lots of Helpful People.
• Make an adjustment on the lot, the house and the bedroom (all three). Some of the ancient images associated with the trigram Heaven, the trigram for the Helpful People gua, are: dragons, horses, lions, elephants, geese, fruit trees, meadows and plains with a prominent sky, the famous, the elderly, a dignified ruler, a dome and a clock tower, a skyscraper. For example, where there are horses there is success and a fruit tree displays its bounty in the season of Heaven, autumn (Five Elements).

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service 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.

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.

A Guide To Anchor Abundance In Your Home

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“Abundance can be had simply by consciously receiving what already has been given.”
–Sufi saying

According to Chinese philosophy, Heaven Luck, Earth Luck and Human Luck are the cosmic trinity that shape the course of our lives. July 12th big Heaven luck becomes available to all of us and into the coming weeks. “The solar eclipse will be in the area of the sky called Punavarsu in Vedic Astrology, which means “return to the light”. Endless improvement and new possibility abound within the star. This is a star that promises renewal and new growth, even against impossible odds. Punarvasu holds the shakti of wealth and substance and is symbolized by a quiver of arrows.

This eclipse has to the potential to accelerate motion…if there are places in your heart….money, time and emotional labor weighing you down; this solar eclipse can shoot the arrow of positive transformation into motion.”
– Kari Field   

It’s the perfect time to make use of your unlimited ability to create the good in your life and your home is a powerful vision board to support that good. Beginnings have magic. Start on this solar eclipse, infuse your home with new energy and you will magnify the momentum that the stars have initiated. Reinventing your home enables you step into more of who you are. So in the spirit of supporting positive change and abundance, I have created this quick guide to open heaven’s gate to help you receive the good you desire.

Front Door/Chi Kou. Your front door invites into your home the ch’i of health, wealth, heaven, helpful people and opportunities. Its position favors your career, your future, your reputation, your head and your health. Take an assessment. Is it bright when you enter? Is there a pleasant fragrance or sound? Do you feel welcomed? If not then you are not expanding your abundance. Elevate your energy with the vital, life force of one, three or nine vital plants depending on the size of your entrance. If your entryway is dark and small, hanging a large mirror will expand the space. Put the spotlight on you when you install a light to come on or a chime to sound as the door is opened. Create a focal point! Place something opulent here, hang a crystal chandelier, an antique vase with peonies, a glass bowl of oranges (in the Chinese language oranges sound like gold). Red is a joyful color and auspicious. Add a red framed picture of person, place, animal (yes, red flamingo) or calligraphy that puts a smile on your face.

Helpful People Gua/Chien. Helpful People are those who make life easier. This is the realm of Heaven in the I-Ching. The Helpful People position in the house is in the front right corner. When you place an adjustment here, it stimulates movement in its opposite gua, Wealth. Images associated with this area are fruit trees, a prominent sky, the famous, a dignified ruler, dragons, lions, elephants, geese, horses and deer. Deer are deeply connected to prosperity and often replaced the God of Prosperity in ancient Chinese paintings and images because the words for deer and prosperity sound identical. An image of one hundred deer represent ‘prosperity one hundred times over.’ A simpler option is to display a painting or sculpture of a deer in your home or office and visualize the qualities of status, honor and advancement. These qualities are on the same vibration as abundance.

Wealth Gua/Hsun. The Wealth corner in your home is in the far left back corner of the house. Movement represents this gua. Water gliding along miniature rocks in a celadon green fountain, grasses blowing in the wind within gold frame, eight red fish surrounding one black fish painted on a scroll or a mirror that reflects the limitless sky. A classic Feng Shui wealth adjustment is imagine the wide array of possibilities such as an inheritance, winning the lottery, a monetary gift from a friend when you hang a convex mirror in this area of your home.

Center/Tai Chi. Your health is your wealth. The Center of your home represents health. If there is a lot going on here, it will “grab you in the gut”. If this is Grand Central Station you may experience digestive issues. A bathroom can deplete all areas of your life. Stairs manifest fluctuation in your finances. But if no specific design detail as mentioned is in this area that depletes this area, come to the center to set your life straight. Color lifts moods and feelings. One of the colors that represent the Center is yellow (gold too). It stands for power which is why the emperor of ancient China donned gold robes. Yellow gives a sense of tolerance, patience and wisdom gained from past experiences. Enhancing your personal power with yellow or gold, lifts your personal abundance and enables you to deal with any life situation with grace, flexibility and ease. Gold sconces, a golden statue, a golden light fixture, a yellow or golden circular rug, any one of these will focus your energy. Remember to add your intention.

Family Gua/Jen. Family harmony is foremost in the attainment of the Five Fold Happiness–an important concept to achieve: long life, wealth, peace, virtue and honor. When you honor the beginning of a season (such as the solar eclipse), career or project, you draw more luck to it. Placing an adjustment to honor family sets the tone to create good luck. The Family gua is the middle left side of the house. The Chinese Dragon is looked upon as the ultimate symbol of good fortune. It represents fertility, immortality, happiness, power and wealth. Fire up the untapped dragon within you by placing an image of a green Dragon in this area of your home. Green symbolizes hope, freshness and spring growth and the implementation of this enhancement raises the good healthy earth ch’i in your home.

Today, July 12, is an auspicious day. The energy generated from performing one cure will create a quickening, I hope you take the opportunity to start the magic of abundance.

photo credit: Jonathan Adler design. Simon Doonan photos

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.