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Spiritual Essence
| Spiritual Essence The Spirituality of Physical Things |
by Becky Roberts
Although traditional feng shui (pronounced fung shway) has been around for centuries in Eastern cultures, it’s relatively new here in the United States. In theory, it’s about space planning and placement. In fact, it’s about so much more.
When done correctly, feng shui enhancements change the energy of your home, office or business and, by doing so, they change your life. The results are obvious and measurable. Let me try to bring it more into focus.
Feng shui literally means ‘wind and water.’ It symbolically means ‘the seen and the unseen.’ In western terms, the wind represents our inner world or the life force that drives our goals, defines our beliefs, and ultimately creates our attitudes and feelings about our lives and about ourselves (the unseen). In the same way, the water stands for our external environment or the ‘sea’ of challenges we ‘swim in’ everyday in the outside world, at work and at home (the seen).
These two forces, external and internal – the seen and the unseen – are constantly interacting and influencing each other. The resulting inter-dependency is described by the three basic principles of western feng shui.
Everything in the world is alive with energy. That means everything – your TV, your computer, your exercise equipment, your refrigerator, the laundry... everything! And you have a relationship with all these things. It can be adversarial or friendly, but whatever it is, you react and respond in certain predictable ways that can be shaped and directed with feng shui.
Everything is interrelated. Everything we do sets into motion a whole array of possibilities and consequences. Just as a stone tossed into a pond creates ripples in every direction, so do our actions have far-reaching effects. What we think and say and do today creates how we will live tomorrow. Feng shui guides you to be thoughtful and intentional in creating your future.
Everything is constantly changing. Life is rarely static. It changes and we change. Feng shui enhancements work for you to invite change into your life and then to shape the changes to your advantage. Feng shui gives you the tools, and you provide the good intentions.
When you act in harmony (through thought and deed) with your aspirations, the result is advancement of your goals. Most of us do not even realize when we are not acting in harmony, when we are out of sync with our life goals. We get stuck in our everyday lives and forget to look up. Feng shui is a reminder, an invitation, at the very least a wake up call. By practicing feng shui, you get realigned with yourself and redirected onto a better and more fulfilling path. By creating daily reminders (environmental affirmations) of your hopes, your dreams, your aspirations, and by being constantly exposed to these subliminal messages, you begin to make different choices and get different results.
If what you had previously heard about feng shui is that you need to buy lucky crystals or happy Buddhas in order to get results, I’m here to tell you... you don’t. It’s not about buying or bringing in more stuff. It’s about clearing out all that extra stuff and rearranging what you do have to work for you and not against you.
Western Feng Shui is less about hanging crystals and more about de-cluttering and living only with our favorite things. Here are some practical Western Feng Shui guidelines:
Live with what you love. No, truly love – not all that other stuff. Feng shui helps you know the difference and ‘exhale’ the excess.
Listen to your surroundings. Everything is ‘talking’ to you all the time. Make sure the subliminal messages you’re receiving are the ones you want and need to ‘hear.’
Repair or replace broken items. Doing this alone will keep the rest of your life in good working order.
Arrange your space for safety and comfort. Are there things in your home that send scary subliminal messages?
Keep your life simple and organized. One of our greatest challenges in this abundant world!
By applying these practical feng shui strategies, anyone (with the help of a how-to book or a trained feng shui advisor) can create a space that brings their inner world (hopes and dreams) and their outer environment (home or work) into alignment.
Your home is your safe space. It’s where you relax, refuel and rejuvenate. It’s where you share your life, and where you plan and build your future. If you come home to a crowded garage and enter through a laundry room filled with dirty clothes, it’s hardly possible to feel enthusiastic about life.
On the other hand, if you arrive home to a nicely trimmed lawn and orderly garage, and you enter into an open and uncluttered living room, you feel a distinct “ahh.” Your body gets the appropriate message in response to seeing the place that you call ‘home.’ You can feel the difference ... it’s palpable. It’s the same when you are practicing good feng shui. By making a few intentional changes in your home, you feel differently and do things differently.
Want to learn more? Buy a book. Go online. Talk to a feng shui advisor. Then try a few enhancements. Before long, feng shui will create movement in your life. Remember: changes may occur quickly and feel a bit overwhelming at first. So be ready and embrace the changes. Relax. Go slowly. Learn from the experience and all will be well.
Becky Roberts has been a certified feng shui advisor for seven years, and recently moved to Vermont. She may be reached at 802.310.6770 or by visiting her website: www.westernfengshui.net