It’s December 31st; what are you doing to prepare for the New Year? For Feng Shui practitioners, today is all about moving energy and making room for the new –new goals, new projects, and all the new stuff you got as gifts! Here are my Feng Shui tips for the New Year:
1. As a Christmas celebrant and decorator, I have enjoyed my tree and various holiday decorations for the past three weeks and now I’m ready for them to be put away. Today is the day! This process is always bittersweet as ornaments are wrapped and put away and some have accidents. For example, Gingerbread Man, who starred in this blog a few weeks ago, broke into pieces when I took him off the tree. (Thank goodness I took a photo of him for this blog!)
2. Did you already put all your gifts away or are they still tucked into various corners of your living room? Make sure they’re out of their boxes (which can be recycled!) and onto your shelves. Need to make room? This is the perfect time to weed out those old toys, books, clothes, and doodads to make room for all the new.
3. Are you celebrating tonight? Then you need to . . . (did you think I was going to say “take a nap?”) EXERCISE! Yep, no better way to move some energy than to exercise – take a walk, a yoga class, or simply dance around your house to music while you put decorations away. In a paradox that no one understands, actually using energy in the form of exercise gives you more energy. All right, maybe physiologists understand this but I’ve always just thought it was magic!
4. Do some “thank yous” – in note form, a phone call, or even electronic. (I can imagine my children saying, “What? Electronic?!.”) I made them write thank you notes for years and sometimes it could take months to get them mailed out. I’m a little more flexible these days and I truly believe a heartfelt thank you can be shared in so many different ways. Isn’t it more important to get more gratitude out into the world, faster? I received a texted photo of the new boots my daughter purchased with her Christmas money along with LOVE MY BOOTS. THANK YOU, MAMA. It was immediate, came with a photo of the gift and a note; works for me.
5. Sweep! How I love to sweep on December 31st! I am not only sweeping out the dirt and dust and flecks of holiday paper and bits, but I’m sweeping away all the rue and regret of things not accomplished last year. While I sweep I remember to be grateful to have a home to take care of, a family to love, friends to share my life with, work that makes my heart glad. I sweep the dust out the back door, then I go to my front door, open it wide and breath in that fresh New Year.
Happy 2012 everyone!
