Dear Earth, I promise to work on the crisis in our relationship! Part 1

Our Planet

Dear Earthlings,

As we know, feng shui helps us humans to live comfortably and thrive in and on our home planet in a supportive, coexisting, harmonious relationship.

Alas, that relationship is in crisis. Climate crisis, that is.

I want to hold up my part of the bargain and work on this relationship. And that’s going to take some action. Happily, I’ve got feng shui to help.

Feng shui asks us to do something to bring about the changes we want. Some people believe individual change won’t do a thing to impact the climate crisis, but I respond with my favorite Margaret Mead quote:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.“

People working together on a common goal
Together we can accomplish a lot!

Are you with me?

If so, read on for some feng shui principles and their practices to help us reach our biggest goal ever: living in harmony with our planet. I’ll be posting some ideas on how I’m working on my relationship with the planet, and I’d love to hear yours!

Feng shui principle: live with what you love and get rid of the rest!

The feng shui action here is getting rid of that stuff without just throwing it in the landfill. So, what can you do?

Clean out your closet and donate/recycle/sell those clothes and shoes.

Goodwill, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army have drop off spots for clothing, shoes and other household items and often have trucks to pick up large items. If your stuff is not good enough to donate, you can recycle it by using a service like Ridwell, which works with partner companies that turn recycled goods into something new. Ridwell takes a LOT of stuff you might not know what to do with, too. Check them out!

Need new clothes to love? Buy/sell using online consignment retailers (many are upscale!) or clothing creators who have “green” policies.

You can sell gently used (or never worn) clothing on a variety of online consignment retailers. Poshmark, The Real Real, Thred Up and Tradesy are great websites for gently used clothes and accessories.

These brands have eco-conscious policies and commitments to consider if you want to purchase new.

And, finally, here’s an idea that I am embracing:  spend a little more for something truly worthy and buy less of other stuff. Less stuff purchased means less stuff tossed or recycled. Check out this Levi’s ad campaign with the tag line: buy better, wear longer.

Sell or donate furniture you no long want/use and buy used.

I have bought and sold furniture and household items through Facebook Marketplace, Craig’s List and at the local Habitat for Humanity store. Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List feature buyers and sellers that have local connections creating less transportation waste for everyone.

Re-gift things or give consumables or experiences as you give gifts in the future.

I received tickets for the Immersive van Gogh exhibit as a birthday gift and recently visited the venue: what a treat! This is a giant moving digital display on the walls and floor put to music showcasing this master’s artwork. Truly memorable and delightful.

Immersive van Gogh experience showing Starry Night
A photo from my immersive van Gogh experience.

Other ideas for consumable gift giving include homemade goodies, a new plant, a downloadable book or music and the always well-received (at least by me!) dark chocolate.

Do you know other places or organizations who are doing their part to work on our relationship with our planet? I’d love to hear about them or ways you are making a softer imprint as you walk your path in life and I’ll share them in a future post! Email me!

 

 

Next up:  how I think of refuse management as another way of balancing and harmonizing my life!

Remote Feng Shui consultations during Covid-19 are safe, easy and effective

Phone or computer works for remote consultations.

First, I hope you are well and staying safe and sane during this trying time. I am one of the lucky ones, with my health intact, the opportunity to walk in a peaceful open space nearby, and with work that I love and can continue to do while under quarantine. This just touches the tip of how lucky I am; I hope you are one of the lucky ones, too.

I have always offered feng shui consultations remotely, via FaceTime, Zoom or Skype to clients that were not in the Greater Denver Metro area. Today, this is the service that I offer, period.

Remote consultations are safe, easy and effective.

As we slowly move from our stay-at-home to our safer-at-home restrictions, remote consultations may be the service I offer for the foreseeable future. Feng shui always looks to safety first, as a way to remind us that we can’t get creative about our spaces until we feel safe in them.  Now and in the future, I can connect with you while we are both safe at home.

How does it work? Quite easily, I’m happy to report.  And, the results are equally as good!

Already we can feel the new energy coming in …. and we look forward to implementing the other changes. Since we will be spending lots of time at home this feels like the perfect time to set our home up in such a nurturing and supportive way. Many Blessings and Gratitude to You,

Elizabeth and Rob (Metro Denver remote feng shui clients, March 2020)

Are you ready to try it? Here’s how a remote feng shui consultation works:

  • You fill in the questionnaire on my website which tells me about your interest in feng shui, your favorite and least favorite areas and what goals you want to achieve with a feng shui consultation.
  • I follow up with you about what I can do to help you reach your goals with a remote consultation. We determine the scope of the work and set our “appointment” based on an agreed technology.
  • You send me your floor plan, digitally (either a scan of a hand-drawn plan or from architectural plans), photos of your space, and/or videos of your home or office. Start with the outside, and walk through the front door and through the entire space. Sending the videos via Dropbox, or other file-sharing service, works best as these files are usually quite large.
  • I go to work reviewing the floor plan, photos and videos to help me get a three-dimensional sense of your space.
  • I draw the Bagua grid on your floor plan, often including any additional floors you may have. I can show the command position for your desk in a home office, or best placement for beds. I send the Bagua to you in advance of our appointment for you to review. I may have questions about your space, such as location of storage areas and your choices for room usage at this time.
  • I make notes to go over with you after I review your space through the lens of the Bagua. Now I’m ready to share ideas for enhancing with the 5 Elements and balancing with yin and yang.
  • We have our scheduled video call on a phone or tablet, using FaceTime, Skype or Zoom.  Together we “walk” through your space just as we would in a live consultation. You have the choice to record our conversation, stop and take notes along the way, or have me write up a report for you.
  • We determine the best time for me to check back in with you. I remind you that you can contact me anytime with follow-up questions; it’s all part of the consultation package – live or remote!

That’s it!  You have received a feng shui consultation remotely, with recommendations and a Bagua grid you can follow; you’re ready to get to work on bringing about the changes in your environment to help you reach your goals. If you request a report, I get that to you within five days. I have done remote consultations for clients in Oahu, Seattle, Boulder, Aspen, Santa Fe, San Francisco and now in Denver.

I would love to meet you in your space to share feng shui, but a remote consultation is a wonderful option to get you started now on making the changes you may have the time and energy to implement while you stay safer-at-home.

Stay safe and healthy!

 

 

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

 

Balance your life with rest and play, even when you’re not on vacation.

Feng shui reminds us that we’re at our top physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual power when we are living and working in a harmonious space that allows us to balance work, rest, and play. When we intentionally set up our environment to create this balance, we are supported to maintain it in our daily lives.

I was disheartened, but not surprised, to read recently that more than half of all American workers left their vacation time unused. In a 2015 survey, that amounted to a whopping 658 million unused vacation days in one year! For the past 15 years, according to Project: Time Off, Americans have been taking fewer and fewer vacations. We are the only country that doesn’t require employers to provide vacation time, but that is not the only problem. Equally at fault are the employees who simply don’t take the time off they are entitled to!

We’re working our way to disharmony, imbalance, and burnout! When we don’t take care of ourselves, things fall apart around us, including our relationships and our physical and mental health. I understand that not everyone feels they can afford to take time off, but I also think that we’ve lauded work over other ways to spend our precious time, and have made being busy a badge of honor. How do you balance work, rest, and play? Feng shui can help.

Here are some ideas:

  • Create a Vision Board that showcases ALL aspects of your vision – including work, rest, and play. Post it in a place you see every day and make it a point to review it several times a day. Let your subconscious soak it in.
  • Set an alarm on your phone or computer to take a break during the day – a walk outside, a visit to a co-worker, a brief closed-eye meditation.
  • Make your bed every morning. This “accomplishment” feeds into your sense of taking care of yourself and being a powerful, organized person.
  • Clear off your desk at the end of the day. This is another way to signal to your subconscious that you work smart, and that when your workday is done, you make time for other activities.
  • Speaking of your desk, place something on it NOT work related that makes you smile. A small Eiffel Tower, an animal statue, a squeeze toy – you catch my drift. This will communicate that you are more than your output, that you have a personality and life beyond your work.
  • Turn off all electronics 30 minutes before heading to bed.
  • Keep electronics to a minimum in your bedroom. If you must have a TV or desktop computer in your room, house it in a cabinet that has doors you can close when it’s time to sleep.
  • Create a beautiful oasis of calm in your bedroom so that when you’re prepared for bed, the space is ready for you to rest and relax.
  • And, finally, take that vacation! Hang a 12- or 18-month calendar in your office or at home and mark your vacation days. Keeping them visible will remind you to plan something special and commit to doing it!

Work is vitally important to all of us, but so is rest and so is play. I hope these ideas help you find the balance that will keep you both happy and productive every day.

Try some Feng Shui baby steps!

Red lady bug sit on a wet floating dandoline

In the spirit of baby steps, I give you some small ways to practice Feng Shui as you dive into spring cleaning. These practices will help you de-clutter and invite fresh energy into your spaces. Don’t do more than one per day and, don’t forget to cheer for yourself after each step; you are learning Feng Shui!

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Feng Shui balance: work, rest and play!

feng shui balance

My business tag line is Work, Rest Play with Feng Shui – and it’s meant as a reminder that our spaces can help us achieve a Feng Shui balance so that our lives can express it, too. Here in the U.S. we’re not so good at balance. We are the “workaholic” culture; we now work more hours than any other country on the planet. I contend we now play harder than anyone else with our penchant for extreme sports, X-Games and the competitive nature of children’s athletics. What I don’t think we do very well is rest.

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Energize your cubicle workplace with Feng Shui!

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer at the Veteran’s Administration for their employee Diversity Day 2012 “Perceptions, Stereotypes and Conversations Leading to Understanding”.  Topics were wide-ranging and fascinating from What Our Names Say About Us to a display on how to raise Koi (with live fish)!  For those employees who stopped by my table on Feng Shui, I learned that many were interested in how to energize their cubicles. Office cubicles offer both opportunities for ease in working and problems to solve for the Feng Shui practitioner. 

What’s great about working in an office cubicle?   Office cubicles have been designed and arranged to maximize storage and optimize workspace. Most cubicles are built with plenty of storage space above and below the desk so you have clear space to work without having to store your files on your desk.  Another great option in cubicles is open, useable wall space either with a built-in bulletin board making it easy to place artwork that supports and enhances your workstation or a white board for making notes and keeping organized. Plenty of storage and a built-in art or planning wall are two good Feng Shui reasons to enjoy working in a cubicle.

What about the challenges of cubicle office space?  Most challenges revolve around feeling uncomfortable and dealing with noise.  We are at our best in terms of creativity and productivity when we are spatially comfortable and confident.  This can be achieved when we are seated in, what’s called in Feng Shui, the power or command position.  This is the place where, when seated behind your desk, you can see the door.  It’s also preferable to have a wall behind you or next to you for support.  In most cubicles you are facing one of the walls with your back to the open doorway when seated – exactly the opposite of the power/command position!  And, because it’s all built-in you can’t change the location of the desk.   What do you do?  With Feng Shui there usually is a way to “fix” an arrangement problem.   The fix is to place a mirror on the wall where when you look up from your work with a quick glance you can see if someone is coming into your space from behind you.  This easy fix can immediate give you the confidence of having control over your space – and you will be able to work more productively.    In addition to using sound cancelling headphones or placing a sound machine or water fountain on your desk (if allowed), mirrors can also be helpful to mitigate noise.  A mirror placed facing away from you toward the wall where the noise is coming from is a way to intentionally “reflect” back the noise away from you without negativity or judgment.   Obviously it’s also important to speak to your co-workers about keeping the noise down!

It’s always rewarding and fun to share Feng Shui and I particularly enjoyed meeting the open-minded, enthusiastic employees working at our local Veteran’s Administration during their “Diversity Day” many who said they’d be putting these Feng Shui recommendations into practice!

Practice Feng Shui: Listen to Your Clutter Meter

Decluttering your home is one of the easiest Feng Shui practices I know of to break the dam of stuck energy. It can be done without spending any money, unless you need to buy some storage bins. It can be done in any amount of time (5 minutes is all you need to de-clutter a coffee table!) and over time. To keep the clutter meter needle close to my tolerance level I schedule a de-cluttering date every week.

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Celebrate a Feng Shui Valentine’s Day all month long!

Who doesn’t need a little boost in the Love Department?  Practically all of us do and with Feng Shui, it’s easy.  Whether you’re looking for love, nurturing new love, or energizing mature love, you can use Feng Shui to create some energy around your goal.

Feng Shui is based on three important beliefs:  all things are alive with energy, all things are connected and all things are constantly changing.  We take these beliefs and use them in practical ways to create the lives we want.  Hence, we move things around in our physical lives (e.g., artwork, furniture, bikes, lamps that are alive with energy) to impact our emotional lives.   We are connected to our things and our spaces and we can change them around.  When it comes to enhancing love, Feng Shui gives us lots of options.

Two hearts equal love

Here are a just a few ideas:

  • Place things in twos around your home to remind you of your “coupledom” – it can be two candles on a mantelpiece; two vases with flowers on your table, two ceramic figures on a shelf, two chairs by the fireplace, two birdhouses in a tree.  You get my drift here:  the intention is two and the physical space holds two.
  • What if you’re not currently in a relationship?  Do the above anyway – if your intention is being in a relationship.
  • Look around your space and make sure that there is room for two – e.g., two bedside tables in your master bedroom, two stools at the bar, space for two in your closet.  Sometimes clients will tell me that they want to be in a relationship and their home is so packed with stuff there’s no room for another person.
  • Love is supported by the Fire element – use the colors of fire (reds and oranges), the shape of the pyramid, photos of your loved one and animal prints to spice things up.
  • When using the bagua, Feng Shui’s treasure map of your space, you’ll find the Love & Marriage area of your home in the upper right hand corner from your front door.   The Love & Marriage area is also supported by the Earth element – earth-toned colors, the shape of the square or rectangle and things made of earth, such as ceramics.   Two terra cotta birds sitting on a windowsill would work well here and here’s why:  you’d be using animals (Fire element) in a pair (two), made of earth, in an earthy color sitting in a rectangular window (Earth element x 3)!
  • When laying the bagua remember that all areas under the roofline belong inside it, which means for many homes there is an attached garage in one of the bagua areas.   I know what this is like because in my home, the Love & Marriage area is in my attached garage!  In order to enhance this area I keep it very de-cluttered (no stuck energy), and we’ve hung our bicycles and fiery orange kayaks on the wall together.

With Feng Shui, there is always more than one way to change or enhance a space and you can usually use what you have on hand!  It’s simple to try, so boost up your love energy during the month of February and enjoy the good vibes.  Happy Feng Shui Valentine’s Day!

Feng Shui bed placement and other guest room ideas!

If you are lucky, you will have guests coming and going over the next six weeks blessing your home with love and laughter, great conversation, fabulous food and gifts. Feng Shui principles can help you prepare for them and keep your home running smoothly. With Feng Shui, we’re always looking to make our spaces safe, comfortable and harmonious.

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