Tag Archives: creativity

How To Create Feng Shui Heaven Luck

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“…My mother gave me drive, but my father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future.”
– Liza Minnelli

With the new moon (new beginnings) coinciding on Father’s Day, June 18, Heaven luck is in abundance to accelerate your fortuity. These two events are like a twin turbocharger, they give power and drive to your focus. And what better way to begin this new moon than to set an intention to enhance your luck and success with an impetus from your father and Heaven.

Do you have memories of when you were a child watching your father disappear five days a week and whatever he did made your life comfortable and stable? Days when he wasn’t absent he would be in deep concentration tinkering in the garage. Maybe he oiled your bike’s chains, fixed the lawn mower, redesigned the kitchen clock or built something extraordinary. Whether  it was work or play he seemed to be an inventor of energy. Your father was tapping into universal problem solving – creatively manipulating energy – he was generating a vortex of impetus, motivation, inspiration and genius to manifest his vision.

In the realm of Feng Shui we can harness those same principles to realize an idea, goal or desire into form by tapping into what the Taoist masters called “the field of Ch’i”. In fact employing Feng Shui design can shorten the length of time it takes to materialize your goals. So if you are looking to:
• Uncover the Muse to stimulate your creative juices.
• Get an idea off the ground.
• Receive help from a mentor to formulate your plan.
• Find a support team to implement a process.
• Solicit a coach who can help you regain your lost momentum.
• Locate a distributor for your product/line of products.
• Connect with business partners to monetize your creation.
• Visualize the opportunities to line up a new career.
• Retain the right attorney to handle a dispute.
• Be accepted into the college of your dreams.
• Make an offer on a house.
Now that you know what it can do, here’s what you can do to activate Helpful People/Heaven gua in your home.

In this sector energy resides in the Unknown and it takes the generative power of the Creative to move it into the world of form. This gua is located in the front left corner of the house as you are standing at the front door facing the street. Whereas Mother resides in the Relationship Gua, Father resides in the Helpful People Gua. If you need some of his courage, a new perspective to be inventive with a problem or realize your potential, this area will help you succeed in your daily life just like your Dad did when confronted with a life situation.

The process of BSTB Feng Shui begins with the aspects that create “The Perfect Cure”. Choosing the right object, choosing the right day, selecting the right hour…It begins with tidying the area and irrigating the Ch’i so the imprint of your intention is strong, effective and devoid of the previous energy’s influence. Begin by clearing the area of only those objects that no longer resonate for you. Release them to be donated, sold or given to friends. Cleanse with orange peels and leave for three days. If you want your adjustment in place sooner than diffuse orange essential oil during the hours of 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Chant if you know a mantra. It opens a portal between Heaven and Earth and draws in benevolent forces from Heaven. The emphasis of this gua is on the qualities that are related to Yang energy, the male principle, Father, the Creative – generative, firmness, durability, persistence, resoluteness, fertilizing the seed.

Now for your artistry. Choose an object that is most appropriate. An image or statue of a five toe (Imperial) dragon (green or gold not red); eight horses running into your home; a painting of the sky; a beloved teacher, a mentor with whom you would like to study; a Father who has had your back; a place that is elevated, like the islands in the Aegean or a Tibetan temple in Nepal or a monastery in China, a basilica/cathedral (dome) in Europe. See in all details what this cure object represents for you and what you wish to create. Identify with its beauty and strength. Don’t  hold back from employing your senses. For emphasis place an adjustment in three areas – your lot, main floor of the house and the bedroom or home office. Enjoy what comes up in your mind as real and certain.

In addition to cure objects there are BSTB ceremonies to magnetize the course of action you wish to take.

• Introducing A Desirable Dream (a method to perform at night)
• Receiving Auspicious Ch’i (wedding Ch’i catapults your dream)
• The Pillow Cure (a cure near the bed is very powerful)
• Planting Auspicious Seeds (sprout new opportunities)
Sharing a ceremony requires receiving red envelopes from you. Please contact me via bette@shenmenfengshui.com if you would like to receive one or all.

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.Photo credit: Master1305/Freepik

De-stress The Holidays With Full Moon Rituals

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“The moon does not worry….It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
– Taoist Master, Deng Ming-Dao

Not only is the year ending in a few weeks, but this month closes the decade. Questions are likely distracting you. Will I get it all done? Can I afford the expense of the holidays? Will my family make demands? Will my in-laws get along? There is a light on December 12, a full moon light that has the potential to shift you out of any anxiety and transform that anxious state into bliss; to bring heaven to earth allowing you to enjoy the season with family and friends.

The numerology of the December 12 Full Moon (1212) signifies something has changed for the better and you have gone through some type of portal or gateway. It means “Have faith in your dreams. You are on the right track.” If you read my blogs you are familiar with my message: Feng Shui is a portal through which you can advance your development by consciously designing your space. To access the auspicious full moon energy, I have included four methods to add to your Feng Shui toolkit. These rituals will help you enhance your savvy, establish a mindfulness routine and unleash the power within you because in your being you’ve got this.

Cool down
Full moon light clears your thinking. We are all innately wise but how do we access it at will? The wise men of times past would consult the Heavenly bodies to heal their hearts and minds. If they needed a remedy, a healing, a purification, they consulted the moon or the sun. The December 12 full moon light can bathe you with its restorative power. If you feel fuzzy, distracted, angry or overwhelmed, walk out into a clear space like a park or a field, free from electrical wires. Stand facing the moon. Open your arms to receive. Feel the cool, yin energy. See your body, your mind, your spirit relax and the moon’s essence washing over you. Neither Motrin nor Benadryl have the power like you to put the pieces back together when life is out of balance.

De-clutter
Full moon energy increases your attention to detail. Marie Kondo’s simple and gentle advice for releasing the physical things that no longer serve you is a wonderful full moon ritual. Begin days before the full moon. Take fifteen minutes. Hold the object in question. Ask yourself does it bring me joy? Do I feel love? If not, thank it with sincerity for the time it served you and find it a new home.

Release
Full moons highlight endings. This is an opportune time to purge emotions, trauma, grief (if you are ready), suffering and what has been blocking you. Purchase a new white candle(s), find an area where you will not be disturbed. Best times are 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. If this is not doable, December 12 is an auspicious date so you can perform this ritual at any time that is suits your schedule but ideally you want to see the moon when you look out the window. Orange or lemon essential oil is perfect for purifying your space. Pour a few drops onto the burning candle or use a diffuser. Or cut circles out of the zest of an orange or lemon and sprinkle around your room. Visualize the light of the full moon encircling you. Write down what you want to release on several slips of paper or just one page. Say out loud what you want to let go. Throw the paper into a small fire-proof cauldron or cooking pot or let the candle burn them. Feel the burden lift off of you. Feel your breath deepen in your tan’tien (belly). Feel the transformation in your heart. You have exited one portal and entered a new phase of your life.

Amplify
Full moon power can increase your intuition. Performing rituals illuminate your senses, not just your mind. They have the capacity to activate a full body awareness. This advanced awareness accesses your subconscious which can annex universal information/super knowledge, the source of all creativity (Edison accessed infinite intelligence to create his inventions. Mozart wrote his music note perfect the first time. He said when he sat down to write the entire opus, it would come into his mind and he would simply transcribe it onto paper). If you need an answer to a difficult problem, give it to your subconscious at bedtime and it will download a creative solution. But you are not limited to sleep to source your creativity, you can do this at any time of the day. Maintaining a daily meditation practice is key. It helps you focus on your goals and inspiration will come to you more easily. If you do not have a mediation practice contact me and I would be happy to discuss what BSTB meditations might work for you.

Full moons expand human consciousness. We are in need of big compassion this time of year. His Holiness, Grandmaster Lin Yun gave us a secret to a successful life: perform a good deed every day. By helping another person, you shift, not only their reality, but yours as well. A kind deed will improve your luck, circumstances and income. Kindness is the antidote to the economic down turn. For emphasis do nine good deeds a day and if you need to really shift energy, twenty seven good deeds in one day. But remember that your sincerity is the most important part.

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 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.

photo credit: Old World Witchcraft

Sacred Space Is Where You Find Yourself

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“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”
– Joseph Campbell

Beginning of June I made a reentry into the world of pigment, canvas and brush and I love it! It’s an online course from a remarkable painter. Listening to her I feel my excitement mount over the possibilities that lay before me as she extolled in her video, “The best painting, no, the most joyful painting, comes from a soul that is nurtured from the inside.” Her gentle encouragement has blown confidence into my heart and I feel a release of trepidation. In one short week I have learned, painting is not just what you put on the canvas but what you surround yourself with too. Who you are and what you love is right there in your composition of discovery, “Before you even pick up a brush, welcome what nourishes your soul into your space and you will find this nurtures your ideas and what flows from your brush onto the canvas.” Sounds a lot like Feng Shui? We are all creative, it’s what we have come here to enjoy. In a space that expresses all that you love, you foster your creative impulse. Your space is the threshold to your inner sanctum. Assigning time to cultivate what your soul desires, you champion what you came here to be.

You are the creator of your life, however life does not come without challenges. Oftentimes life changing events obscure your heart, your desires and what you love. They pull you off course and off balance: the death of a beloved; losing a pet; moving to another state; missing a promotion….These will and do come to you in life yet they need not define how you live the rest of your life.

Upon first meeting some of my clients they inform me they cannot let go of life changing events and are puzzled when they find clutter piling up when before there was none. Or they find they argue with their spouse, children, friends and coworkers for no apparent reason. Opportunities for career advancement passes them by. They may spiral into depression, lethargy and illness. If any of these resonate with you, if you are feeling disappointed, disconnected and distressed, it may be your soul’s S.O.S. to find yourself again.

I urge you to create a sacred space to renew your connection with your inner self, especially if your life is chaotic. Claim an area of your home, make it just for you. Size does not matter, it can be a room, a nook, even a chair in the corner of your bedroom. This space is for you to explore, to write, draw, paint, chant, sing or listen to Nature. It is your time to connect to the sacred and in doing so imagine a clear vision of your future. I encourage you to get started. To make it easy here are six insights for creating a sacred space.

Lighting The choice of lighting can set the tone for a room. More light is energizing, lower light is relaxing.

Mood This is your special area to invite stillness, to be silent, to be contemplative, meditate and pray. These methods engage an inner dialogue with your soul. Add pillows or a comfortable chair. Your body needs to be supported.

Decor Plants’ life force bring you into balance in an natural way. Flowers invite beauty. They add color, Ch’i and oxygen. Choose soft fabrics to hang or drape. Create an altar with candles, incense burner, essential oil diffuser and natural objects like feathers, rocks and shells. Choose what is meaningful to you. Consider placing an object that is related to your spiritual practice.

Color Purple transforms on a higher level. It relaxes the nervous system and has a calming mental effect. Pink opens the heart. Green refreshes your body and spirit. It can help you feel grounded, creative and calm. Yellow enlivens your health. 

Wall Art Display an image or images of the ocean, mountains, lakes, meadows, gardens, spiritual teachers, mentors, deities or angels and you’ll create an ambiance for harmony and reverence during this time of inner engagement.

Music Choose whatever inspires you. You want it to be soft and low, in the background so it is supportive of going inward. Select authors who arouse a sense of mystery such as Rumi, Hafiz and Emerson. Their words invite transcendence. And remember be selective with the words that live in your sacred space. You want them to summon contemplation and divine connection. 

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” (Joseph Campbell) Each opportunity to create reciprocity with your soul bathes your mind in clarity and rallies you to live the life you were meant to live.

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 Power. It’s Easy Being Green.

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Within each thing is contained all things. In the seed is the tree; in the tree is the forest…Each thing exists to nourish all others and in return to be nourished itself.
– Vasant Lad and David Frawley, The Yoga of Herbs

At the moment I am writing, Nature’s Spring Power has bloomed all over the northern hemisphere. As if awakened by Prince Charming’s kiss, the sun’s radiance arouses the landscape, dissolving winter’s sleep. Green, vernal shoots burst forth and aromatic scents perfume the atmosphere where hungry bees buzz mightily ensuring that our summer tables are fresh with fruit. Everywhere is an intelligent, pulsating world of creation, nourishment and support.

If you are like me you may want to harness this Spring Power for now and when winter’s twilight comes early and the leaves have fallen. It’s definitely the way of Feng Shui. You see, thousands of years ago in order to align with the seasons of creation and decay, the philosophy of the Tao, Yin-Yang theory and the Five Phases evolved. The Tao is the governing order of all things. However to explain the Tao’s movement through time, the Yin-Yang Theory of opposites emerged followed by the Five Phases/Seasons which further differentiated its dynamism as exemplified by the five powers, Water (winter), Wood (spring), Fire (summer), Earth (late summer) and Metal (fall).

You can imagine in the waining days of the year how a burst of Spring Power could keep your system running at its optimum. The Wood element is represented by Spring. It is a creative season. It’s symbolic of new beginnings. Its meaning is to be on purpose and be the change. It is benevolence and compassionate understanding, qualities we find useful in certain stages of our development, our relationships and our careers. Building the Chi in your home with Wood cures gives you the drive to remove stagnate energy and finish projects that have been languishing.

If your bedroom feels devoid of life force, your health is suffering from too much Yin Ch’i, or you want to enhance the energy in your home, here are five BSTB Feng Shui cures that invest your home with positive energy that will take you in a new direction.

Spring clean any time of year. Whenever there is an excessive build-up of stress and frustration, it’s time to pull out the oranges. When Ch’i becomes blocked, oranges have a warm, sunny, sweet aroma that convey joy and positivity, dispersing moodiness and irritability (Gabriel Mojay, Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit). To change the Ch’i and the fortune of you and your home, purchase nine oranges. During the hours of  11:00 p.m to 1:00 a.m. cut nine circles (zest only) out of each orange for 81 circles. Break these down onto a dinner plate and chant a mantra or say a prayer that invests the peels with the light of 10,000 Buddhas. Take a small handful of the peels and start in any direction. Every few steps, scatter the peels throughout the house until the plate is empty. Allow for them to stay for one night, three nights or nine nights. For a detailed version of the ceremony, send me an email (red envelopes requested).

Show your ‘face’ to the world. What story is your front entry telling? Does it represent who you are ? Does your door knob working properly and easy to grasp? This is how you grasped life. Do you have vital plants in and around your front door? Plants are life force. We are most aware of their rising yang energy in Spring but they are useful in balancing our Ch’i throughout the year. Your front door can be enhanced with healthy round leaf plants on either side. They lift your Ch’i and attract prospects. If sustainability is part of your philosophy, purchase native, evergreen plants that require little water as a green addition to the Feng Shui.

Transform worry into calm. Bamboo has a long and humble connection to the Chinese culture. If your children live away from home and you are concerned about them you can hang a bamboo drape in the Children/Tui gua of your home. If your child has a dangerous occupation, sport or hobby, hang a bamboo drape in the Children gua of your home because bamboo is symbolic of safety, it provides safety.

Work peacefully for money. The drooping bamboo leaves cross one another, as if they are composing the Chinese character “An” (tranquility). Being both hollow and soft inside, it symbolizes humility (the Chinese word for hollow means to be humble). Its hollowness allows it to bow in the wind. The sound a bamboo flute makes is peaceful and it can drive away negative influences so it protects. If you wish to have money and work peacefully for it, hang a bamboo drape in the Wealth/Hsun gua of your home.

Double your happiness. To nurture a partnership that you have already created add the Spring Power of nine lush plants in the bedroom. The demands of work can deplete your energy. The plants’ life force will support your own and expand your mental focus so you can dedicate time to your partner. A nuance to this cure is place fruiting or flowering plants as they symbolize that your efforts will bear fruit.

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.

Take Command Of Your Sleep, Start With Feng Shui Design

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“By helping us keep the world in perspective, sleep gives us a chance to refocus on the essence of who we are. And in that place of connection, it is easier for the fears and concerns of the world to drop away.”
– Arianna Huffington, The Sleep Revolution

In July I shared with you I will be part of an anthology, Recipes For Living Coloring Journal. It’s no surprise my chapter is devoted to how Feng Shui bedroom design helps you sleep better. I truly believe the bedroom is the most important room in the house. So when I read Arianna Huffington’s account of her “wake up call” in The Sleep Revolution, I knew that the benefits of Feng Shui design need to spread throughout the world.

“We are in a sleep deprivation crisis,” writes Ms. Huffington. “I experienced firsthand the high price we’re paying for cheating sleep when I collapsed from exhaustion.” She goes on to say, “If we look at our lives as a spiritual journey, sleep becomes a key paradox: when we completely identify with our persona in this world–with our job, our appearance, our bank account–we are asleep to life’s deeper dimensions….We are living in a golden age of sleep science–revealing all the ways in which sleep and dreams play a vital role in our decision making, emotional intelligence, cognitive function and creativity. And how lack of sleep is often the culprit behind anxiety, stress, depression and a myriad of health problems.” (Harmony Books, The Sleep Revolution)

Consulting with my clients I have discovered a similar loop. Usually it takes the form of an underlying anxiety that monitors their decision making where their choices are based on a stress response. For nearly everyone of them this stems from an exhaustive bedroom design.

Sleep not only helps you work efficiently but be a productive part of society. Yet productivity is but one piece of the well-being matrix. Living fully and consciously means tapping into your creativity, your rich well of emotions and you soul’s purpose.

Of all the Feng Shui design advice I give on the bedroom, I have found “placing the bed in command position” carries the most weight in addressing productivity (yang) and creativity (yin) of our everyday lives. And for those who constantly deal with anxiety, worry and depression, it is a gift for the soul. Bed placement creates a palpable shift in your emotions and I have seen a positive attitude change as a result. Choices come from confidence rather than the seat of the pants. Clarity eliminates self-sabotaging behavior that cycles into stress. Inspiration flows freely as the brain functions at its optimal capacity rather than run on auto-pilot.

If you’ve had doubts why changing your bed position is a good idea, I’ve included a short list. You may be surprised how it influences your health and peace of mind.

  • Heart troubles. Where your bed is positioned can place stress on your emotional heart. Prolonged stress can develop into physical heart troubles including a murmur and arrhythmia.
  • Illness along the midline. Your major organs from your brain to your kidneys can be affected.
  • Insomnia and restless sleep. Our brain is responsible for our survival. It we’re too close to an entrance, either facing it, to the side of it or behind it, this placement triggers the amygdala (the fight-or-flight mechanism). Our brain never shuts off and this weakens the immune system which depends on releasing toxins and building tissue in sleep.
  • Missed opportunity. If you sleep in line of the door your body never lets down at night to rejuvenate. During the day you may be preoccupied with a low grade headache which will invariably eclipse a chance meeting or being considered for promotion.
  • Mood swings. If your bed is on the door wall, you cannot see who is coming, you may feel a sense of danger and you may be blind-sided.

Command position is based on H.H. ”Professor” Lin’s Theory of Relative Positioning which states, the energy that is closest to you affects you the most. Think of the gunslinger in the old westerns. He always had his back to the wall and his eye on the saloon doors. Never too close and not in line of those swinging doors.

  • Your bedroom door determines command position.
  • The door should be within eyeshot of the bed.
  • The bed placement should allow the widest scope of vision of the door.
  • The best placement when feasible is the farther wall from the bedroom door.

As you lay in bed tonight take a moment and observe your surroundings. What do you see? What do you feel? Self awareness is key to getting a good night’s sleep.

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.