Reinvent Your Home This Month
By Ken Lauher
Do you remember the first day of school? September — just like spring and New Year’s — represents a time of renewal.
Dating back from our school days, people often view September as the opportunity to reinvent ourselves — a new look, a new wardrobe. Why not extend that philosophy to our homes by looking at what works — and what doesn’t — and making changes to our space so that we’ll be happier, healthier and more comfortable? Let’s get started right now. It’s easy to make positive changes in your environment when you start small, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, either. (I know things can get tight in September between new clothes and school supplies — but you and your home deserve a few nice things, too!)
What’s in Your Wealth and Romance Corners?
When you use Feng Shui in your home, you may want to start with the Ba Gua map, one of the tools used by Feng Shui experts across the world. The Feng Shui Ba Gua http://www.kenlauher.com/feng-shui-tips/bid/5844/How-To-Use-The-Feng-Shui-BaGua-To-Analyze-Your-Space divides your home into nine separate sections (called trigrams), which relate to different areas of your life.
If you’re struggling in a specific area, whether it’s in your current relationship, finding romance, or in your income or career, you might look at that part of your house and see if it offers hints as to what’s going on in your life. Just as we can manipulate our environment to better reflect our goals; our environment often shifts — without our realizing it — to reflect what is actually going on in our lives.
In other words, if you’re struggling with finding romance and the love and marriage section of your home or your master bedroom is sort of a lifeless corner, dark, with dust and cobwebs collecting there, it could mean you’ve actually been neglecting that part of your life.
If you have unpaid bills piling up in the corner of your home office that represents wealth — that provides a pretty good clue as to what’s going on. You might feel overwhelmed by finances, lacking order and maybe even lacking direction.
It’s not necessary to work on every trigram in your home or apartment in one weekend. What we’re doing is looking at the home with the view of a fresh start — so begin with those areas in your home that really bother you. You know, that one corner where junk keeps piling up, or a dark spot that needs some sort of life energy but you’ve never been sure what to do with it. These are the areas to focus on as we re-invent our home. It’s amazing what small changes can do to your mindset and, as a result, to your life.
What Quick, Easy Changes Can You Make Today?
Let’s look at the areas of your home or apartment that you wish looked and felt different. Maybe there’s a stagnant energy there; you know the space needs an infusion of life, but you’re not sure what to do.
This article will offer some general suggestions but remember, many Feng Shui solutions are tailored and personalized to you, your home and your situation. Do what feels right. Take what works and ignore what doesn’t work for you, your lifestyle and your family. And if you need further direction, contact me to discuss a Feng Shui consultation package that fits your budget.
These suggestions can help introduce positive life energy (called chi) in any trigram. When you introduce positive energy into a specific trigram of your home, you are focusing your intention on the corresponding area of your life, and you’ll begin to see positive results.
So if you want to improve your career and make more money, focus on the wealth and career trigrams. If you’re intent on meeting your soul mate, focus on the love and romance trigram, in the back right corner of your home. Improving the flow of chi across your home, and particularly in your home’s central palace, can give you more energy and help improve your health. Follow these steps to energize your home this fall:
1. Clear the clutter – If people, including a home’s residents, can’t navigate your house or apartment easily, neither can the energy. Too much clutter can leave people feeling blocked, trapped and without the energy to pursue their goals. Even if space is tight, it doesn’t mean that you have to put something — a piece of furniture, a storage solution — in every corner. White space on walls makes the artwork you do hang even more impactful, and empty space on your floors lets chi flow freely and gives your home a welcoming feel.
Is there any furniture, artwork, photos, or just junk that you no longer have a use for? Get rid of it. Focus on one room a day and go through each room. If you have so much junk that even clearing out one room seems impossible, focus on filling just one box for donation, recycling or trash pick-up each day. You might want to start in the areas of the Feng Shui bagua that represent the areas of your life you most want to change, or start with Feng Shui in the front entrance and then work your way through the rest of your home.
2. Add live plants for life chi. – If you’ve successfully cleared your home or apartment of things you don’t want or need, you may be looking at some empty space. That’s great! Empty space is good, but you don’t want dark, empty corners where more clutter can begin collecting though. Live plants or potted trees can enliven and enlighten an empty corner. Consider a Feng Shui money tree in your wealth corner, or a plant with bright red flowers for the love and marriage trigram. You can also soften protruding angles (like harsh corners) that exude negative chi by placing a plant in that space.
If you have pets, children or a lack of natural sunlight in your home that could make keeping live plants difficult, silk plants can look as good as the real thing, with less mess and care.
3. Create the home for the life you want to live — but make it work for now, too! — You may be familiar with the concept of “living as if.” This means adopting the mindset that you have already achieved your goals, even as you are on the path to achieving them.
If you want to meet the love of your life, for instance, you might consider: “What would it feel like to find true love?” Once you capture these emotions, practice living with them. It could mean a feeling of happiness, peace and security. Then, align your space to encourage these emotions. I’m not saying you should leave space empty in your house for the person you will someday meet, or constantly live in the future by making plans for “someday.”
Live in the now, and enjoy and appreciate every day. Set your space up to be comfortable and surround yourself with objects that will help you capture those feelings of security and happiness. Let’s say you have a fireplace in your home and you dream of cuddling up in front of the fire with a significant other… Light that fire now, today. Get a cozy chair and place it fireside, or sprawl out on a comfortable rug and enjoy it. Don’t wait to begin living the life you want to live and soon you’ll find everything you want coming your way.
Similarly, if your main goal is to become a money magnet, attracting wealth at every turn, surround yourself with objects that capture that feeling. I’m not saying go into debt under the assumption that you’ll soon be making millions. Find affordable items that remind you of luxury. Splurge on a new throw rug, pillows or a piece of framed art you’ve always wanted that will remind you of your success and encourage you to achieve even more. Even putting out candies in a crystal dish can evoke that feeling of wealth. (Unless your goal is weight loss — then make it fresh fruit, instead.)
One Last Step
There’s one final step to beginning to live the life of your dreams and having everything you always wanted. Give yourself a mindset makeover to go with the new positive changes in your environment. When your home or apartment is in alignment with your goals, you’ll find it easy to live in the now and maintain a positive attitude.
Remember that first day of school and the way everyone would smile at friends, new and old? Sure, the smiles faded by the end of the month, but those first few days were an exciting new adventure. Treat every day as if it’s the first day of school, open to new possibilities. If you find yourself slipping, falling into old patterns, just begin again. Take time to look around and really appreciate what you’ve done to your space, and use it to remind you that every day is a beautiful new beginning and a chance to re-invent yourself.
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About Ken – One of America’s premier Feng Shui consultants, Ken Lauher helps thousands of people achieve their goals through Feng Shui. He can help you become a money magnet, attract passionate love, jump-start your career and get unstuck. Visit www.kenlauher.com to get your FREE Feng Shui guide and discover the ancient secrets that can help you unlock your true potential.
