Uncompaghre Peak at daybreak

Here’s what Feng Shui teaches us:  all things are alive with energy.  On the morning of our hike, leaving the trailhead at 5 a.m. we looked up and saw shooting stars as the night sky lightened.  Scientifically, a star is dying when it shoots through the sky, but its impact on us was to lighten our packs, our steps, our hearts.    I felt alive and energized.

Feng Shui teaches us that all things are connected.  As we walked and began our climb, I looked up to see one of my climbing partners silhouetted against the sky, a perfect line between earth and sky – we are the conduits between the earth beneath us and sky above.  We humans are the connecting energy on the planet – our awareness of this means the difference between care-taking our magnificent home or destroying it.  When you’re hiking in the mountains you feel the responsibility of our stewardship.  We must take care of this fragile ecosystem – new growth on a bristlecone pine tree exhorts us.  It’s hard to walk a trail and not feel the beauty of the land seep into your bones.  And, as any 14er climber knows we are also the conduit for the huge electricity that the sky can bring – so getting up and down the peak before noon is essential (that’s when the thunderheads are more likely to come in.) 

As the day broke, and the sun came up, we took off some of our layers – the fleece vest, the wool hat.  The trail got steeper; we came through tree line.  My climbing partners are faster than me and soon I was hiking alone.  I wondered if this was the mountain I might not summit – 6.5 miles to the top, 6.5 miles back down.  My feet were feeling heavy, my energy was low – a change from the exhilaration of the morning’s shooting star send-off.  Maybe my climbing days were over.  All things are constantly changing – this is a mantra of Feng Shui.  I couldn’t expect to keep that exhilarating pace and I acknowledged that I was feeling discouraged.  I began to breathe with each step, imagined myself as the turtle keeping its easy – albeit slow — pace and I made it.    Exhilaration always returns at the summit!   All things are constantly changing – now, I felt ready to hike another peak. 

On the summit!

Seeing through Feng Shui eyes has helped me feel  like an integral part, connected deeply to my everyday world – I live and breathe and move through the energy of my home, my office, a yoga class, and the magnificent mountains as an active and connected participant in the ever-changing environment.   Wishing you the feeling of a 14er high!

When people describe how they decided to buy their home, they usually say something like:  “I just knew when I walked up that this was the right home.  When I walked in, it just felt right.”   That feeling – of something striking the chord of “just right” — is what Feng Shui is all about.

Feng Shui teaches us how to enhance our environments to reach our goals – in this case, the goal is to sell the home.  So what kind of enhancements can you make to your home to get that “just right” feeling in your buyers?  Of course, you start by pricing your home correctly for the market – that’s something only you and your Realtor® can do together after reviewing the comparable sales in your neighborhood and reviewing the competition.  Assuming your home is priced correctly for the market, you will be achieving your goal of getting calls for showings.  You want to be ready when buyers show up. 

 Feng Shui for Home Sellers will teach you how to

• Prepare your home and your family — energetically – for the transition.
• See your “home for sale” through Feng Shui eyes.
• Welcome buyers and invite them to linger… and write a contract!
• Use Feng Shui tools like the bagua and the five elements to energize the spaces in your home. 
• Be memorable.

 This 2-hour workshop will be given Saturday, July 31 at the CFU campus in Lowry @ 1^st & Quebec Streets.  In addition to my work with Feng Shui, I have worked as a marketing professional in the real estate industry for 8 years and have  calculated that I’ve walked through at least 1000 homes for sale to date!  Sign up for the classes at www.freeu.com, 303.399.0093  or follow this link:

 https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=255771

I am on vacation as I write this and thinking about the balance of the places I choose to rekindle and support my energy.  I have found the perfect place and I wonder if you can guess where I am when I explain the elements I needed to balance my life.  The Fire element is expressed in all things electronic, lighting, fireplaces, all things made from animals (leather and fur, for example) , the shape of pyramids and . . . people.  Earth element is expressed with earth – adobe, tile, brick, the shape of squares and rectangles and the color yellow and gold and brown.  The Metal element is expressed with all things made of metal – gold and silver, aluminum, steel, and stone – granite, marble, slate.  Also the shape of the circle, arch or dome and the color white and light pastels.   Wood is the element of trees and plants and all things made from plants – such as cloth.  It is expressed in the shape of the column and the colors of green and blue.   Water is an element that also expresses as itself – water – and also in things that reflect, like mirrors and glass/windows.  Its colors are dark ones – black and dark grays and blues and its shape is asymmetrical and wavy.  Each of the elements balances each other by enhancing or controlling its mirror element.  An easy way to remember this is:  as Fire burns it creates ash (Earth), as Earth presses down it creates Metal, shaped Metal holds Water, Water is needed to grow Wood, and Wood feeds Fire.  This is the enhancing cycle of the elements.  The elements can control each other, too:  Water douses Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood, Wood takes nutrients from the Earth, and Earth dams Water.  These are two of the ways the elements can be used to change an environment.    

So if you work with computers in some way and with people – your job may be to help people solve problems.  This describe a lot of jobs :  if you work in a shop; if you’re an assistant or a manager; if you work in a school or other non-profit.  Your job brings you in contact with  a lot of Fire energy on a daily basis.  I know many of us work with a lot of Fire energy – and what is the anecdote to too much Fire energy?  Water, of course. 

Can you guess where I am?  I am controlling my daily routine, my  Fire- energized environment by spending vacation time at  the ocean.  What a balm to my soul is this water energy!   Splashing and swimming in it; laying down beside it, smelling it, watching it – all things to douse the Fire energy of my busy life. 

And will I tire of this?  It’s hard to imagine now, but yes, I know I’ll soon wish to be back to the routine that I truly love and my beautiful, landlocked Colorado; my home. See you soon.

Back garden enhanced with potted flowers

Feng Shui teaches us how to enhance our environments to reach our goals – in this case, the goal is to sell your home.  So what kind of enhancements can you make to your home to get that “just right” feeling in your buyers?  Of course, you start by pricing your home correctly for the market – that’s something only you and your Realtor® can do together after reviewing the comparable sales in your neighborhood and reviewing the competition of what’s for sale now.  Assuming your home is priced correctly for the market, you will be achieving your goal of getting calls for showings.  You want to be ready when buyers show up.  This workshop will give you practical advice you can take with you to change your energy and that of your home to invite buyers in and help them to stay by buying it!  This is not about tricking buyers or making changes so that you can overprice your home – this workshop is for people who understand the integrity of the process and want to invite positive energy into shaping the experience for everyone involved.

 Feng Shui for Home Sellers will teach you how to:

• Prepare your home and your family — energetically – for the transition.
• Welcome buyers and invite them to linger.
• Use Feng Shui tools to energize the spaces in your home. 

This 2-hour workshop will be given four Saturdays this spring and summer through the Colorado Free University at the CFU campus in Lowry @ 1^st & Quebec Streets.  Teacher Lorrie Webb Grillo is a Certified Practitioner of Essential Feng Shui™ and owner of Thriving Spaces, a Feng Shui consulting and product development company.  In addition, through her work with a local real estate company she calculates that she has walked through at least 1000 homes for sale to date!  Sign up for the classes at www.freeu.com and click on Real Estate or follow these links:

 Saturday, May 22^nd 9.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

  https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=255769

Saturday, June 26^th, 9.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=255770

Saturday, July 31^st 9.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

  https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=255771

 If you wonder whether you suffer from mental clutter, ask yourself if this has ever happened to you: 

• Thinking about a problem or rehashing a conversation while driving to your destination and arriving only to realize that you don’t remember anything about the drive at all!
• Doing the laundry while cooking dinner only to walk into the kitchen with an armload of folded clothes to find an open refrigerator door and soup boiling over. 
• Talking on the phone while driving and missing your turnoff.

Three for three?  Read on. 

When did multi-tasking become a badge of honor in our culture?  Brain scientists tell us that multi-tasking is a misnomer – we are not equipped to do more than one thing at a time and yet we have convinced ourselves that not only CAN we multi-task, but we SHOULD multi-task.  In fact, multi-tasking is considered the expressway to high achievement!  Alas, a uni-tasker is simply, a slacker.

I beg to differ.  I’ve been a self-proclaimed-and-proud-of-it uni-tasker going on six years.  I gave up multi-tasking on a memorable birthday much to the chagrin of my family, who were convinced I wouldn’t be able to do it, and then they were upset when I only focused on one person at a time and later banned texting at the table.  Here’s the upshot:  I get more done in less time and am happier with the results of my efforts than when I was a multi-tasker.  Plus, we talk to each at the table. 

Feng shui supports this finding.  A traditional Feng Shui saying:  “Energy goes where the eye goes,” helps everyone understand the energy of a cluttered space.   It’s hard to know where to begin to clear a cluttered space because the eye bounces from one pile to another.  You must start with one item and decide where to put it.  Soon, one item at a time – the space will be clear; the energy will gently flow through again, and you’ll actually feel your nervous system relax.  It’s the same with your mental clutter.  You must start with one thought or idea and figure out what to do with it.  Schedule a time to think about that problem.  Rehash a conversation if you’re going to actually speak to the other person – and schedule a time to do that.  Drive – and really look at the road, your fellow travelers in other cars and the speed limit.   Fold the laundry.  Cook dinner.  You’ll be amazed how much time you’ll actually save!  Put the phone in the back seat while you’re driving.  You’ll hear it ring and know to look at your calls when you arrive.  Experience the clarity of your present. 

Life was not meant to be a balancing act on a high wire; but we can find balance. Use your Feng Shui point-of-view to not only look at the clutter in your home or office, but in your mind as well. 

Happy uni-tasking!