How To Create A Feng Shui Blue Space

Posted on July 31, 2023 by bette

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”

– Isak Dinesen

Childhood summers weren’t complete without two weeks at the beach. My sister and I spent everyday composing an imaginary life on a deserted, tropical island as we walked to the ocean. At the shoreline we discovered exotic treasures cast off by the tides from another continent, however most of the time we tiptoed over the hot sand to plunge into the cool, frothy foam of the ocean where we swam with the waves and peered into its watery depths for more aquatic mysteries. Happiness was synonymous with blue.

What we knew then science has researched in the past decade: blue space exposure (views and visits) has many “positive effects upon our physical and mental well being from higher levels of vitamin D to better social relations.” The sea, coastline, rivers, lakes, canals, waterfalls, even fountains are the good for the body and mind. They are where we go to let go and let down.

Studies further identify that the presence of water fulfills the need to connect to ourselves and it’s water that restores us like no other Nature experience. We feel happier in a blue environment.

There are three notable markers when one is by a body of water:

• Generally there is more sunlight and less pollution.

• Those who live by aquatic environments tend to be more physically active.

• Water has a restorative effect, reducing negative moods. Although large bodies of water have been rated high in terms of positivity, any body of water will do, this includes retrofitting or creating a blue space in your home.

– Dr. Matthew White, University of Exeter

If you are seeking a natural way to minimize stress and should the coastline or a lakeshore not be possible for you to visit with regular frequency, a blue space in your home will offer you a way to recalibrate and relax. The following Feng Shui design can have a positive influence on your outlook and your future.

• Place a water feature at your front entry. Select a water fountain or water tower that is appropriate to the size of your space, You don’t want to be splashed upon but you do want to feel the essence of water as you enter. It is desirable that it pleases your eyes and ears with its beauty and sound. You are establishing ambience. The effect is to create a palpable shift in your energy when you open the door. The visual appeal, the lilting sound and the water’s ions will lift your mood plus (and this important) will enhance your mental clarity as well.

Now the Career gua (front and central section of the house) is represented by Water element (Five Elements). If the front entry is in this location and a water feature is here, it is a natural placement. A water feature in this location is referenced as Dynamic Water. In Chinese Feng Shui Dynamic Water is related to your career, your network and the helpful people who assist you in doing your job well. Having a radiant water fountain will improve your career and if it’s already great it will enhance it even further. Visualize you are forging a new path of discovery. Set your intention to receive its full effect.

• Create a mini water fall or fountain in the back yard for you and for wildlife. Water is a source of healing and peaceful energy. The sight and sound of flowing water is soothing and will bring energy to your backyard. Likely you will be taking more weekends off and staycations just to enjoy its splendor and the birds and animals who show up will enhance your backyard paradise.

• Set up an outside water feature that is opposite from your bedroom or your office or your kitchen. You want to be able to see it from the bed or the desk or your stove. If you can see it from all three so much the better (but do not over do it with setting up three water features). If the bed in the your master bedroom has a view of the water feature, place a round, fashion convex mirror on the opposite wall from the view. Visualize the mirror is pulling the water across your bed. Since water represents wealth and abundance, the mirror is drawing money across your bed. See how your luck and your finances change.

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.

The Thanksgiving Gift

Posted on November 23, 2020 by bette

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
– John O’Donahue

We’ve been through more than we knew we could handle and though the struggle has been challenging, I believe we have been given this year to birth something new in each one of us. I admire your courage to overcome the obstacles that came your way and your fortitude to grow in love. The signs tell us we are coming into a state of grace and it begins with the Thanksgiving gift.

Wealth is a reflection of good-heartedness, trust in the future and generosity. Here is my Thanksgiving gift to you as “something beautiful to hold in your heart to survive difficult times and enjoy good times.”

The Three Harmony
If a house is square or rectangle and there are no extensions you can magnify this shape with the Three Harmony. It’s a method from Professor Lin to create auspicious extensions in your home. If you wish to improve your career, go to the Career gua (middle front) and place a mirror. Visualize a projection and in your visualization, the mirror becomes an auspicious extension. You may stop here OR enhance the mirror placement in Career, by placing a mirror in Wealth (far back left) and one in Partnership (far back right). These guas harmonize with Career and this adjustment is The Three Harmony of Water (water is the element of the Career gua). Complete with the Reinforce with each adjustment with your body, mind and speech.

Three Harmony of Water

If you are looking to build a new home, remodel, plan a wedding, purchase a home or sell one, when you begin has tremendous influence on the outcome of your event. Beginning on the right foot with an auspicious date and time will bring success to your endeavor. Contact me, bette@shenmenfengshui.com for details of how I can assist you with getting started.

Photo credit: Jack Hood, Flickr

Diwali 2019. Bliss And The Blessings Of Light.

Posted on October 26, 2019 by bette

“A warm Diwali wish for every happiness. May the warmth and splendor, that are a part of this auspicious occasion, fill your life with happiness and bright cheer and bring to you joy and prosperity, for the whole year.”
–Diwali Blessing

The house is cleaned and the diyas (lamps) are lit. These simple rituals are the basis of good fortune in the Hindu tradition of Diwali, the Festival of Light. In tribute to Vastu Shastra, the origin of Feng Shui, I invite you to be part of the celebration of gathering in goodness, joy and heaven t0 bless you and the ones you love for celebrating the Light not only raises your energy but the vibration of humanity and cultivates eternal bliss. This year it culminates on the new moon, October 27, 2019.

Diwali is about celebrating the sweetness of life and a time of reflection too. Those who practice this festival entertain the changes they will make to improve the upcoming year. The following customs are practiced with sincerity to raise the pulse of all human beings, everywhere. Maybe all it really takes is to remove some bits of dust and light the corners in our homes to magnetize an auspicious year.

Forgive and forget Forget the wrongs done by others. It’s a cleansing process that lifts the air with festivity and friendliness.
Rise with radiance Waking up an hour before sunrise is a great blessing that promotes health, ethical discipline, efficient work habits and spiritual development.
Merge and meld Mingle with others and find your commonality. Share greetings of love to create an atmosphere pungent with kindness.
Accomplish and advance Merchants open their account books and pray for success and a prosperous year. You can do like the citizens of India: purchase new clothes. Homes are cleaned and decorated and lit with earthen oil lamps. Perform good deeds. The poor are fed in massive numbers.
Polish your inner self The Hindus believe there is a light of lights that steadily shines in the Tao of your heart. Sit quietly and focus your thoughts like a laser beam on this supreme brilliance that illuminates your soul.

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.

Feng Shui Cures That Make A Place For Joy

Posted on September 22, 2018 by bette

And Doors Will Open For You!

“The most fearless thing we can do is keep showing up with love, gratitude and joy in our real, right-now lives.”
–Sarah Bessey

The winds have let loose and leaves will soon cover the ground. September marks the time of getting everything in order and turning our attention towards eliminating what is unnecessary, simplifying our objectives and refining our surroundings.

As we draw inward the fluctuations in Fall make for a balancing act of minding our discernment, our emotions and our lungs. As we slow down to regain equanimity, big questions may surface. Have I accomplished what I set out to do? Do I have the courage to ask for what I want? Where can I find meaning that will bring me joy? If you’ve sought answers to questions like these but have only been stopped by obstacles, your home may have some answers.

The Children gua (Bagua) is associated with Fall. In the Chinese Five Elements this season relates to Metal. Step over the threshold of your home and turn your body right at a 45 degree angle, look to middle area and there you’ll find Tui/Children. The I-Ching describes Tui like a smiling, clear lake. The quality is joy based on steadfastness. When we harvest what we have sown, it brings happiness, pleasure and satisfaction. However if every autumnal equinox you feel anxious; you cannot complete what you started; there are blocks to reaping the fruit of your labor and there is no spice in your life; what is going on in this area? Are there stairs? Is there a bathroom? Is there a stove out of command? Any one of these design features may inhibit your full expression of joy. Correct the Feng Shui in your home and you will open the doors to your bliss.

Design features in the Children Gua that could be limiting your joy.
Bathroom: energy drain. Adjustment: Program a 3 inch round mirror to collect the energy that is leaving the house via the toilet. Position the mirror on the ceiling over the toilet bowl with the reflective over the toilet. Set your intention that the mirror counteracts the energy that is dissipating through the drain.

Stairs: move up and down. They are a fluctuating energy that creates instability. Cure: Program a wind chime or 40 mm crystal with the intention to lift the inconstant energy of the stairs upwards .

Stove out of command: cannot tell what is going on around you. The experience is limited opportunity; feeling out of control and ill at ease. Correct: Place a mirror the length and height of the tallest person in the house on the wall opposite the stove. Seeing what is going on behind you calms your brain and smooths your senses.

If you have made the adjustments and still feel a lack of courage and childlike wonder, your Metal could be depleted. Add yellow to the Children gua in your home. In the Five Elements, Earth is the mother of Metal and feeds Metal. It is represented by the color yellow. Place an yellow object (your child’s watercolor of the sun, a set of brass candlesticks, silk sunflowers) in Children gua and visualize the Ch’i of joy spreads like a sunbeam over the lake. You can take this down when you have regained your bliss.

Each gua is associated with a body part. With Children it is the mouth. If a family member is critical and harsh or talks, talks, talks all the time to fill the air, this is a Metal excess. Bring in a healthy, lush green plant and set the intention that the Wood’s vitality provides a complementary rising life force to the shrinking, critical, chatty, demanding Metal personality. Or if you have received feedback that you are overly critical, wear a non-metallic ring on your third finger of your right hand if you are a woman and the third finger of your left hand if you are a man. Visualize that you weigh the impact of your words before you speak.

Though white is the color for the Children Gua, you can add light tones of silver, light gray, yellow and light browns. Metal objects or art work by children stimulate joy. Always set your intention for the optimal activation of this gua.

Every season serves a purpose and life will always present you with change. Make a place for joy in your home and know that the right doors will open for you.

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.

Photo credit: @HaywardMedia, Dreamstime

Tis’ The Season To Get Engaged!

Posted on December 5, 2017 by bette

“Every once in a while in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale.
– Author unknown

Tis’ the season to get engaged! 40 percent of engagements occur between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day with Christmas Day the most popular so when my client, Loretta Rossini, Wedding Officiant, asked me to share good luck wedding customs.

Start with luck. A 1500 year old symbol must have some good juju, right? The Chinese created a symbol for marriage that is as potent today as when the first two lovers used it on their wedding day. The character for happiness is set side by side. The bottom part looks like the number “8”. In the Chinese language the number eight attracts prosperity. It’s been a long standing custom to give double happiness red envelopes with money inside to the wedding couple.

Pick your flowers. Whether a Bridal bouquet or one flower, selecting the heavenly, fragrant peony as your wedding flower is auspicious. The flower is believed to be of divine descent, no wonder it represents wealth, rank and honor. If you use vases with a neck for your centerpiece, it expresses the wish for prosperity and peace because the vase symbolizes peace.

Wear a touch of red. Red is like “a red sun rising from the East.” When it first emerges over the horizon, it is red hot. Wearing a touch of red on your wedding day (it can be hidden) is a good fortune adjustment and attracts auspiciousness. It’s the traditional color for Chinese brides.

Let the stars decide. When Heaven and Earth line up it leads to a successful marriage so start out on the right foot by selecting a lucky date for your wedding. I can help.

Choose happiness. Keep the luck coming. Whether it is a grand reception or intimate dinner for two, pick eight dishes (not including dessert) for the word eight not only sounds like prosperity but “good luck” too.

Keep your love fertile. Have plans to bring a little one into the world? A formal tea ceremony is served by the bride and groom during the wedding festivities. The reason being is the words, “lotus”, “year”, “seed”, “child”, “date” and “early” sound alike but have different meanings. Dropping lotus seeds and two dates into the tea will help the newlyweds to have a baby early and every year. The sweetness of the special tea is also a wish for sweet relations between the bride and her new family.

————————

After you’ve said your vows, kissed the bride or groom and shared sweet pleasure on your honeymoon, do something extra for your love. Create a radiant space for your hearts to grow together.

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.

Closing The Gap On Joy.

Posted on September 2, 2014 by bette

“If you make joy your goal, you are eternally joyful.” – Abraham

Do you love treasure hunts? Here is a pretty special one about Joy that I am excited to share with you and I think you’ll be excited too. I was searching the internet and came across Abraham and Ester Hicks. Their work is well known but up to now it had been in the background for me. I found one of their Q&A videos. I clicked. Flashes of truth appeared on the screen. Brilliant like a diamond, the talk encapsulated this phrase, “our reason for being is joy”. This time it really came home (literally)! Now at my house, Joy and Happiness have come to play and I am having the most delicious time. Joy is open, receptive, expanding and allowing. Happiness embraces “Yes!” Like Botticelli’s Venus, her presence uplifts. But it is not her emergence from the sea of emotions but from the senses that makes her presence most felt. I recalled H.H. “Professor” Lin’s immortal teaching, “We have 100 hundred senses in our body and Feng Shui helps us to open up to them.” Another piece of the Feng Shui puzzle landed in its rightful place–live your highest potential when you create mirror-like resonance between your senses, space, Feng Shui and Joy.

Closing the gap. Abraham shares we will always be in a place of wanting. It is our inherent nature. It creates a life of expansion. Our part is to experience joy by matching our energy vibration to the things we want to experience. How do we close the gap? First admit the wanting creates anxiety. You ruminate and worry, “I want it but will I get it? I don’t have it yet but I want it…” relax into the dance until it manifests. But if you cannot and your thoughts are in a spin, know it will create resistance and push your desire away. Quelling your anxiety to receive what you want can be supported when you create a Feng Shui umbrella over your home. Where there is a blocking wall at the front door (limitations), create space with a mirror. Where there is a stairway in the middle of the house, (fluctuating health and finances) lift the Ch’i with a wind chime. Feeling good is the path to your desires. When you take your difficult design details out of the anxiety equation, you are poised to send laser-like focus to what you truly desire and care about and this has joyful side effects.

One more word. Well being flows from Joy and visa versa. A home where the Ch’i has been adjusted expands awareness, creates calm and supports your well being. The interconnectedness of well being, Joy and Feng Shui shine through a beautiful home that delights your senses. What more could you ask for than living in an oasis for Joy to expand.

But if Joy evades you. Though I would love for you to feel Joy, there may come a time when you don’t quite know how to resolve a problem or you are overwhelmed by a crisis. Go to the Center (of your home). The eight trigrams of the Bagua were created as a representation of the thousands of things in the universe. However they cannot manage to cover everything. So, what is not covered, is in the center. Go there to find what you cannot find anywhere else. If, for example, you are having an issue with your oldest daughter and your not quite certain whether to place an adjustment in Tui (Children) gua or Hsun (Wealth) gua which represents the oldest daughter, remember the following: If you are not sure about the appropriate gua, or if you want to be “totally covered”, adjust the center as well. If something cannot be resolved, the t’ai ch’i also faces outward to all the trigrams. In this way you may find the answer. Herein lies the poetry of Feng Shui and the effectiveness of its wisdom will get you through.

Happy Treasure Hunting!

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 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.

Shen Men Feng Shui Consulting

Tag Archives: Happiness