Law of Attraction and Manifesting Your Desires

Feng shui (say “fung shway”) is the art of creating a home environment that supports the life you wish to live. A key element of feng shui is creating a smooth flow of chi (positive energy) through your space. Chi likes to move through your home as though it were a gentle breeze or a meandering stream. Where it is blocked, the energy becomes stagnant–like a pond choked with algae and fallen leaves. You are likely to feel blocked in life, and your energy and enthusiasm for matters of the heart will be low. Balancing and correcting the chi of your bedroom helps encourage and invigorate romance. Here are some quick and easy ways to improve your love life by improving the energy of your home:

1. Clean up your bedroom

When your bedroom is cluttered and untidy, the energy in there will be low and slow. Clutter is a sure sign that chi is stuck, so roll up your sleeves and clean the place up if you want to jump-start your love life. Ring a bell, shake a rattle, or clap your hands loudly around the room to clear out old, stale energy.

2. Make room for love

If you want to attract a new romantic partner–or move a casual relationship closer to commitment–make sure there is space for that person in your home. Look at your closets, shelves, and dressers, especially in the bedroom; if they are all filled to capacity with your own stuff, make clearing some room for your current or future partner a priority. Aim to free up 25% of the space in your bedroom for someone else’s things. When you are done, take a moment to visualize your loved one’s belongings finding a home there.

3. Don’t work out in the bedroom

When you exercise in the bedroom, or store your sports equipment there, you bring the energy of hard work and exertion into your romance space. Do you want your relationship to feel like a tough workout? If not, move your workout stuff somewhere else; your relationship is likely to move along more smoothly.

4. Remove old relationship energy

Go through your home–especially your bedroom–and remove anything that reminds you of past failed relationships; this could be an ex-boyfriend’s old sweater you find in the closet, photographs of you with a previous partner, a gift that reminds you (unfavorably) of a giver with whom you are no longer in love–anything that reminds you of a love that went bad. No matter how incurable a romantic you may be, do NOT keep old love letters anywhere in your bedroom unless they are from someone with whom you are still blissfully paired up.

5. Remove inappropriate imagery

The images with which you surround yourself can have a powerful effect on your love life. Feng shui clients who complain of difficulty finding romance often have surrounded themselves with images of a person alone. Inappropriate imagery includes anything that represents solitude, loneliness, aggression, hard work, conflict, or disagreement in any way. That old photo of your Dad when he was in the army may be a treasure, but the wartime energy it carries doesn’t have any place in the bedroom; find another place to keep it.

6. Open the door to love

Make sure both the front door of your home and the door to your bedroom open easily and completely. Doors that stick, squeak, or that only open partway because of all the stuff stored behind them are blocking the flow of romantic energy and opportunity into your home. A loose doorknob on your bedroom door could mean you’re having a hard time “getting a handle on” romance; get out your screwdriver and tighten it up.

7. Create a path for chi

Walk slowly from your front door to your bedroom, pretending that you are a gentle river of chi. Look for any areas where furniture or other belongings are stopping or slowing the flow of chi, or where chi is diverted away from the bedroom to other areas of the house. Clear a path so fresh chi can find its way to your bedroom and nourish your love life. Make sure all the lights along this route are working, replace any burned-out bulbs, and be alert for dark or dingy corners where you can increase the energy by adding more light.

8. Move your bed

If one side of your bed is against the wall, the person who sleeps on that side may feel confined or disempowered in the relationship. If possible, place the bed so there is equal space on either side, so you and your partner can find equal enjoyment in the relationship. The ideal position of the bed will be on the opposite side of the room from the door, but not directly in line with it. If you can’t see the bedroom door from the bed, hang a mirror where it will provide a reflected view of the entry.

9. Bring romance chi into the bedroom

Be sure to place romantic imagery in these two key places in the bedroom: the wall opposite the foot of the bed (where you naturally look when lying in bed), and whatever area of the room you first see when you enter. Beautiful, romantic artwork is always good, as are fresh or silk flowers and anything in pairs (such as birds, cherubs, candles, or decorative pillows). A round mirror is also good for the bedroom, as the shape signifies completion and unity. Look around your home for whatever says “romance” to you, and find a good spot for it in your bedroom.

10. Clarify your intention

Make a collage of images that symbolize your perfect relationship, and place it where you will see it every day. If you are already in a relationship, invite your partner to make a collage with you, to represent your intention to build a joyful and loving future together.

Copyright © 2002 Stephanie Roberts

This article is based on information in the book Fast Feng Shui for Singles: 108 Ways to Heal Your Home and Attract Romance (Lotus Pond Press, Kahului, HI, ISBN 1-931383-04-9), also available at Amazon.com.

Tags: Chi, Feng Shui, intention, Love, love life, positive energy, relationship, romance, romantic partner

A growing number of people across the nation are exploring the ancient art of Feng Shui as they design both interior and exterior spaces. This centuries-old practice involves using color, materials and object placement to enhance positive energy, or “Chi,” in homes and offices.

“People are often surprised at how incorporating Feng Shui into their design choices can have a positive impact on their lives,” says Linda Binns, executive director of the Feng Shui Success Institute and a certified Feng Shui practitioner. “By considering how various objects and colors affect the environment, we can direct energy to work for us in supporting our life goals.”

Binns notes that use of color is an important, but often overlooked, consideration in creating a space with plenty of positive energy. “There is a whole science that focuses on how color affects us. Certain colors are stimulating while other colors are calming,” she says. “We also have to bear in mind that the use of colors in one culture may be completely different in another.” For example, white is often a key color at weddings in Western cultures because it is symbolic of purity and new beginnings. However, in China white is associated with death and is worn at funerals. In India, red is the most prevalent wedding color.

Personal preference and cultural norms are important considerations when working with color in Feng Shui. Colors that have any sort of negative connotation for the building’s occupants should be avoided in decorating. However, some general rules do apply when choosing colors for various parts of a home.

There are several ways to think about color in Feng Shui. The first is in terms of color’s connection to the five elements - fire, earth, metal, wood and water. Feng Shui practitioners work to balance the presence of these elements in order to bring a sense of balance to a home, and each element is associated with specific colors. “We instinctively feel most comfortable when all elements are present in a room, often through a combination of using items that are composed of the elements themselves and using the colors that represent them,” Binns says.

The colors associated with each element are: red spectrum for fire; yellow, gold and earth tones for earth; white and pastels for metal; blue and green for wood; and black or very dark tones for water.

Binns advises her clients to make sure they do not overdo any one element in a particular space. For example, bathrooms, by their very nature, contain an abundance of water. Using black or very dark colors adds even more elemental water to the space, which can result in a sense of passive fluidity and lack of structure for the home’s occupants.

Another example is the overuse of wood. Many new homes feature hardwood floors, which create an overabundance of wood when paired with wooden furniture, predominantly blue or green furnishings and lots of plants. Feng Shui practitioners warn that too much wood in a home can cause the occupants to feel overwhelmed. “Creating a good balance with all five of the elements will not only help us to feel better, it can help us to be more successful in life as well,” Binns says.

Another way to use color in Feng Shui is to focus on enhancing specific life areas with the colors that represent those areas. For this, practitioners use a “Bagua,” which is an energy layout of a space that identifies specific areas that correspond to various parts of the occupants’ lives. (See illustration.)

Wealth & Prosperity Colors: purple, green, blue, red Fame & Reputation Red Love & Marriage Pink, white, red
Health & Family Blue, Green Unity Yellow, earth tones Creativity & Children White, pastel colors
Knowledge & Self-Cultivation Blue, green, black Career Black, very dark tones Helpful People & Travel Gray, black, white

ENTRANCE

Although each area of the Bagua corresponds to a complementary color, simply using one or more accents in the appropriate color may be enough to enhance the area and encourage the flow of Chi, Binns says. In fact, the best color choices often combine the personal favorites of the occupants with the colors used in Feng Shui.

When assessing spaces with Feng Shui in mind, it is also important to consider color choices in relation to a room’s primary purpose. For example, adults’ bedrooms are for rest and relaxation. Therefore, the best bedroom colors are calming, muted tones. Green and blue are good choices for children’s bedrooms because these colors encourage growth and development. However, hyperactive children often do better in rooms that use earth tones and muted yellows, which have a grounding effect.

Red is often considered to be the color of choice for a “Feng Shui-friendly” space. But Binns cautions against tossing around too many red throw pillows. “It is true that red is often used in Feng Shui as an ‘activating’ color,” she says. “It is a high energy and very auspicious color and therefore may be recommended. But it’s definitely not always the only option. For instance, you may have heard that it is good to have a red front door. This does not mean that you absolutely must have a red front door in order to create positive energy. Red may not be your favorite color and may not match the rest of the house.”

However, it is not a bad idea to have at least a splash of red by your main entrance. This can be achieved with red flowers, a welcome mat with red accents or a wreath with a red ribbon on the door. “Remember, the most important thing is personal preference when it comes to color - do not use a color that you do not like just because you think it would be ‘good Feng Shui’,” Binns says.

Tags: Bagua, Feng Shui, feng shui colors, feng shui practitioners, linda binns, positive energy, sense of balance

What is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui (pronounced Foong Shway or Fung Shoy) is the ancient Chinese art of luck management, which works by maximising the flow of energy (known as ‘Chi’) in your environment. Every object, inanimate or living, possesses its own energy field and also has an affect on the flow of Chi in your environment.

The orientation and layout of your home, garden or business and its contents can impact your career, personal relationships, health and wealth. Whilst observing the basic rules of Feng Shui can greatly enhance your lifestyle, ignoring its principles can similarly bring misfortune and sorrow.

Feng Shui is a complex art which, when studied in-depth, uses birth dates, colour and numerology when assessing how best to organise your home or office. However, there are simple rules that everyone can observe to help bring harmony into their lives by increasing the flow of positive energy in their environment.

Intuition
I am a firm believer in intuition, which also plays a part in Feng Shui. How often, for example, have you instinctively chosen a house or positioned a piece of furniture just because it ‘felt right’. How often have you sensed an atmosphere of happiness or discontent, simply by walking into a room or judged a person on your initial meeting? In general, first impressions are always right. Even if you go against those feelings, they will eventually prove to be correct. So, the first rule of Feng Shui is:

Always trust your intuitive feelings. Your inner voice is probably the most important tool you possess.

Remove Clutter
Perhaps one of the most important rules of Feng Shui is to remove clutter from your life and that also means negative people who only serve to surround you and your family with negative emotions. Clutter and dirt create stagnant Chi and impede the flow of positive energy. Therefore, the first step is to be ruthless and go through cupboards and drawers and clear out everything that is no longer of use, as well as cleaning everything as you go. Too much furniture in confined spaces can also block the path of beneficial Chi, so minimalism is the key. The actual process of cleaning and clearing can also be very beneficial as you are symbolically removing unwanted elements in your life and creating order out of chaos.

Assessing your Home or Business
There are several different schools of Feng Shui, but here we will concentrate on the compass method.

The Ba Gua
The Ba Gua, an octagonal, nine-sectioned diagram is at the core of Feng Shui. Each section corresponds to a different aspect of life such as Marriage/Relationships, Career and Wealth, the central point containing the Yin and Yang symbol being the centre of your life force, your personal energy. The idea is to draw up a floor plan of your house and place the Ba Gua diagram over the plan, which will indicate which room falls into which sector. Enhancing the flow of positive energy in any sector can improve that particular area of your life.

The Ba Gua is always aligned with the wall containing the front door or main entrance to the premises, with the compass points corresponding to those of the house directions. For example, if your front door faces South West, then you should place the Ba Gua diagram on a plan of your property with the South West sector (the Marriage sector) aligned with the front door.

Obviously, not all properties are a regular shape and some sectors could be missing, which will become evident once you have placed the Ba Gua diagram over the plan of your house. This means that depending on the area to which the missing sector corresponds e.g. marriage, the owner could experience problems in that area of their life. Steps would have to be taken, therefore, to employ one of the Feng Shui cures to help overcome any ill fortune caused by the missing sector.

The Five Elements
Feng Shui is based upon the relationship between the Five Elements; Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. There is a productive and destructive sequence of these elements and it is important to place objects together that are in harmony with each other and in harmony with the sector in which they are placed. For example, it would not be a good idea to have a water element e.g. a sink or fish tank in the Southern sector of your home, which relates to Fire, since water extinguishes fire.

Poison Arrows
Sharp angles in any form are very damaging and are known in Feng Shui circles as ‘Poison Arrows.’ They can appear in all guises such as corners of pillars, furniture, sharp leaved plants, roofs of buildings, church spires and so on. Again, the negative effects of a poison arrow can be neutralised by, for example, strategically placing a soft-leafed plant to conceal the corners of a sharp-angled pillar.

Colours
Again, each sector corresponds to a particular colour and ideally that colour should be followed as closely as possible. However, everyone obviously has their own personal choice and it can be just as damaging to your personal energy to go against your natural choice, just because a Feng Shui practitioner told you to employ a different colour scheme! The alternative would be to place a small ornament in the ‘correct’ colour, which is far less intrusive than painting the entire room in a colour that you dislike.

Feng Shui is all about balance and harmony, equal measures of yin and yang, and each colour has yin (calming) or yang (stimulating) properties. Red, for example, is a yang colour whilst blue is a yin colour, so again, it is a question of finding that balance whilst keeping in line with your personal taste.

Feng Shui ‘Cures’
For every Feng Shui ‘problem’ there is generally a Feng Shui ‘cure’. These include:

Wind Chimes, Crystals and Bells: These attract and invigorate ‘Chi’ and help to dispel negative energy

Plants and Flowers: Preferably round-leaved, since spiky leaves and plants e.g. cacti, Yucca Palms, can create a ‘spiky’ atmosphere. Remove dead flowers or plants and avoid dried flowers as these emanate negative energy. However silk or plastic flowers are fine

Mirrors: Mirrors have the effect of ‘doubling’ up whatever it is they are reflecting. Therefore, care has to be taken when placing them. You should never, for example, place a mirror so that it reflects a toilet. On the other hand, placing a mirror opposite a cash till symbolically doubles up the money! Mirrors should also not reflect your bed, particularly if you might see your reflection upon waking. This can lead to sleeping difficulties and also symbolically doubles up the number of people, which can signify infidelity

Water Features: A fish tank or fountain in the Water (North) or Wood (East & South East) sectors of a property are superb good fortune enhancers

Tips
Two of Everything: Keep objects such as ornaments of animals in pairs, particularly if you wish to enhance relationship success. Single items, especially photos of yourself on your own, could signify loneliness

Position of Bed: When you are lying in bed, your feet should not directly face the door, since this is known as the ‘coffin’ position and is very inauspicious

Regular Shapes: Regular shapes such as squares, circles and rectangles are preferable to irregular shapes such as triangles. This rule applies also when designing a company logo

T-Junctions and Straight Roads: Try and avoid purchasing a house or business premises that lie opposite a T-junction or at the end of a long straight road. If this is not possible, try blocking the negative energy by planting a row of trees, building a wall or some placing some other barrier between the end of the road and your property

Fireplaces: The best position for a fireplace is along the south wall of your home. The East, Northeast, Southeast and Southwest are also good locations. The worst position for a fireplace is in the northwest and in this case, it would be best to close it up or re-position it.
Family Pictures: Place happy family portraits on the Southwest wall. Alternatively, they can be placed in South, Southeast or Northwest

Cramped Areas: Any area of your home that is cramped or narrow, such as long, tight corridors or rarely used corners, should be well lit and preferably painted white to prevent ‘Chi’ from becoming stagnant and potentially causing harm

Sitting: In the office, always sit with the wall behind you if you seek co-operation and support of colleagues. Sitting with your back to people or a door can signify ‘back stabbing’, betrayal and lack of support.

Lucky & Unlucky Numbers: The most auspicious numbers are 8 (becoming rich) and 9 (longevity). Other lucky numbers are 2 (easy), 5 (in harmony, 6 (wealth) and 10 (certainty). These numbers can be used in combination with one another to create a positive meaning. For example, the number 26 would mean ‘easy wealth’. The numbers 1 and 3 are neutral and the only number that is considered to be unlucky is 4 (death).

Seeking Advice
If you are not sure that the changes you are making are correct, then you would be well advised to seek the guidance of a professional Feng Shui practitioner. In theory, anyone can call himself a Feng Shui expert, so it is important to contact a reputable organisation such as the Feng Shui Society (in the UK) who can direct you to a genuine, fully qualified practitioner.

Excellent Reading
Lillian Too’s Complete Guide to Feng Shui
Sacred Space by Denise Linn (Enhancing the energy of your home and office with Feng Shui)

Tags: Chi, Feng Shui, happiness, intuition, Life, luck, money, negative emotions, positive energy, wealth, wish, Yang, Yin