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December 30, 2005 Fast Feng Shui Newsletter In
this issue:
New Year, New Intentions January 1 is just a couple of days away now, and many of us have started to think about New Year's resolutions and goal setting. I've always liked the idea that we get to make a brand new start with the new year. But I have to confess that my goals and resolutions for a coming year have often looked a lot like the list I made last year, and the year before that. Perhaps yours have, too. When "lose weight," "stop smoking," "get more exercise," "find a better job," or "spend more time with the kids" show up on your New Year's resolutions list year after year, you may eventually feel like you're making list of failures, not goals. You might feel more discouraged than motivated by writing them down one more time. I'm not saying we shouldn't take time out to do a little goal-setting this time of year, or that New Year's resolutions are a bad thing. But it struck me recently that the word "resolution" doesn't fit the idea of a new beginning very well. Yes, "resolve" does mean, "to make a firm decision about," but it also means "to find a solution to" or "to bring to a successful conclusion." The new beginning we experience with each new year doesn't emerge from nowhere. It's the beginning of another round of the annual cycle, and in spite of feeling like a fresh start it really begins with how we conclude (resolve) the previous year. Traditional New Year's resolutions tend to emerge from a focus on the negative. Our "resolutions" to do better come January 1 arise out of thoughts such as "I'm too fat," "I haven't been taking very good care of myself," "I hate my job," or "I've been neglecting my spouse/family." What negative thoughts have inspired your New Year's resolutions, either current ones or from past years? Review those self-critical thoughts in your mind for a moment, and pay attention to how they affect your energy. Probably they make you feel tired, depressed, or discouraged. Instead of focusing on negatives, how about focusing on some positives instead? Take a few minutes to think the successes and accomplishments you experienced in 2005. What "successful conclusions" did you achieve? What are you grateful for receiving? What did you do that was fun or joyful? What happy memories have you added to your life experience? Using the ba
gua as a guide, identify 1-3 positive accomplishments or experiences
from 2005 in each of these life areas: Review your list, then take a moment to check your energy level again. Do you feel a bit lighter, more alert, more optimistic than when you focused on the failures driving the typical New Year's resolution? We often forget that our own energy and focus is an important part of the feng shui equation. That's why I think it is so important to step into the new year from a position of empowerment. Focusing on your positive accomplishments during 2005 helps you to do that. Thinking about your positive 2005 experiences,
ask yourself, "What would be even better than that?" Coming from a position
of strength and empowerment, what do you intend to achieve, do, feel,
receive, or experience in 2006 in each area: Review your 2006 wish list and pick one area to focus on. Think about what new behaviors, attitudes, or habits will support your intention in that area. What are you going to do differently next year that will make a positive difference in your experience? For example, maybe "lose weight and get back into shape," (#1 on many New Year's resolution lists) has made it through to the top of your list. If so, what specific changes will you need to make in order to experience improvement? Do you need to make healthier food choices, control your snacking or portion sizes, get more exercise, or "all of the above"? What support will you need? Maybe getting your spouse or partner to commit to a healthier lifestyle with you is the key. Or maybe you need to join a gym, stock up on new workout DVDs, sign up for a yoga class, or hire a personal trainer or nutritionist. What will make a significant difference to you? Now go back through the ba gua one more time just with this top intention in mind. See if you can identify at least one way each area is related to your goal. This might be in terms of a result you expect to experience, or it could help you define action steps that you will need to take. For our "lose weight and get back into shape" example, you might come up with something like this: Career: Knowledge/Spirituality: Family/Community: Prosperity/Blessings: Fame/Reputation: Relationships: Creativity/Children: Helpful Friends/Travel: Obviously, if your top intention for 2006 isn't diet/exercise related, your list will look very different. And if you have more than one priority goal you can repeat this exercise for other intentions. The objective here is to see a fuller picture of the changes you want to create and experience next year, and to start focusing in on specific action steps, results, and rewards. This fuller picture will give you a clearer idea of the benefits you can expect to receive, as well as the specific choices that you will have to make in order to achieve them. In preparation for the new year, you may want to go around your house to see whether the feng shui cures and enhancements you've put into place in the past are appropriate for your new priorities. The purpose of feng shui is to support positive change in your life, so it's okay to make changes in your feng shui imagery and objects from time to time. In addition to re-evaluating your existing feng shui accessories, plan to add at least one new object or symbol in an appropriate area to support your goals and intentions for 2006. Keep in mind, too, that one of the best ways to get ready for the new year is to clean up your home and get rid of clutter. I find that my best intentions to do that every year tend to get waylaid by the winter holidays and I find myself with too little time left to get the house fully in order before January 1. For the past few years I've been using the last week in December for the kind of annual review and future planning I've described here, and then I use the time between January 1 and the Chinese Lunar New Year to focus on cleaning and de-cluttering to make room for new energy, new projects, and new successes in the coming year. The "Year of the Dog" begins on January 29th, 2006, which means we've got four more weeks to get our houses in order. What positive changes and new habits will you be making room for? (c) 2005 Stephanie Roberts Serrano
Announcement
Congratulations to Lisa P., in San Francisco, winner of the Jade Ba Gua necklace. This was our most popular give-away so far, with close to 500 entries from many different countries! We don't have any more ba gua necklaces, but we'll keep in mind your enthusiastic response to "wearable" feng shui for future give-aways. Feng
Shui Q+A (Most questions will have been edited for clarity and length, and any identifying details have been changed. Please note that due to the high volume of email I receive, it is no longer possible for me to respond to every question personally. I still welcome your questions, and if I cannot provide a personal response I will try to address your issue in a future Q+A column.) Q: : "I'm starting to design a country
house, and one of the entryways into the house will be a 'mudroom' and
half-bath, so that we can wash up and use the facilities without tracking
dirt through the house. I was thinking of placing the laundry room in
this area too. Looking at the ba gua, though, every area is important
and shouldn't be soiled. But the mud room's function is to be a place
where you can get rid of the dirt before it gets into the house. What
do you advise?" In pre-modern times, personal hygiene was taken care of by portable means (chamber pot) indoors or in separate structures outside of the house ("outhouse" and/or bath house). Back then, a "bathtub" was exactly that: a wooden or metal tub that was brought into a room and filled with water heated over a fire. After the bath, the tub was removed and the water dumped outside. Laundry was washed outdoors as well. Personally, while I do agree that the draining influence of plumbing and the excessive water element present in a bathroom or laundry room need to be acknowledged and treated with care, I do not agree that bathrooms are necessarily horrible feng shui and a terrible influence wherever they appear. Modern indoor plumbing, automated washers and dryers, and hot water "on demand" are all wonderful and I am delighted to be living in an era when they are considered normal necessities, rather than luxuries. I agree with your thinking that including a mudroom/laundry/half-bath in your home design is a good thing. However, this should -- if at all possible -- be a side or back door. It's not a good idea to have these features at the front door. If you are concerned about placement in relationship to the ba gua, you can try to position this entry so that it overlaps the boundary of two guas. This will dissipate the influence, compared to having it completely in one gua. If this were my house, I would place the mudroom/laundry/half-bath where they made the most sense in terms of functionality and traffic flow with the rest of the home. Then I would use color/décor/accessories/cures to correct or balance the elements within those spaces as necessary,
Recommended
Resources NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS TOOLBOX Yes, it's that time of year once again when everybody's making jokes about their New Year's resolutions. Over the years we've learned that our good intentions will only be met with certain and absolute defeat :D And you know the reason, too, why that is. No matter how sincere you are to change, old familiar habits carved within the old neural pathways of your subconscious mind eventually win the day. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are ways to change those 'hard-coded' patterns and technology can be quite effective. Here's a couple of our favorites:
Clutter
Clearing Tip PRESERVE MEMORIES BUT NOT THE CLUTTER The reason it is so hard for mothers to let go of the toys, clothes, and boxes of papers their children have long outgrown, is that letting go of this stuff is the emotional equivalent of letting go of the children themselves -- and it's a rare mother who wants to do that! Creating a photo album/scrapbook"Memory Book" for each child is a good way to create order and preserve the memories, without holding on to lots of clutter. Artwork, newspaper clippings, sports certificates, programs from music and ballet recitals, can all be included. Those who aren't interested in a major "scrapbook" project can use plastic page-protector sleeves in a simple 3-ring binder. Favorite stuffed animals, clothes, or other toys can be passed on to your now-grown kids if they want them. Keep a snapshot of 3-year-old Junior with his favorite stuffed bear, and let the bear go. You can even take a photo of it now, if you don't have an old one, and put the picture in the Memory Book, instead of keeping that musty old bear in a box in the attic. These Memory Books make a wonderful gift to pass on to your kids at the next birthday or holiday season. "Going through the Clutter Free program
made some big dents in areas that I refused to touch before."
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Hau`oli Makahiki Hou! (Happy New Year!)
Feng
Shui Books & eBooks
Miscellaneous AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND EDITIONS Softcover editions of "Fast Feng Shui" and "Fast
Feng Shui for Prosperity" are available in AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND
through Fast Trak Direct Pty. Ltd. ••• Newsletter Archives This newsletter is published approximately twice a month. If you missed our previous issues, you can read them here. ••• We also invite you to visit our other sites: All About Prosperity - Articles and resources for developing Prosperity Consciousness and Wealth Building skills: creative visualization, goal setting, emotional intelligence, as well as affiliate marketing, money management, and more. Feng-Shui-Ebooks.com - Our popular Fast Feng Shui book series is now available in ebook version for your immediate download. BIOPRO EMF Protection - Watch special video report on "The Invisible Dangers of EMF Radiation." Learn the facts about electromagnetic fields (EMF) and how they affect your health. Find out how you can create an electropollution-free zone in your home and office with the Home Harmonizer. Amazon Rainforest Herbs - Wild Foods Nutrition from virgin soil of the highest concentration of life energy on the planet - the Amazon Rainforest. Save your health while helping save the Rainforest.
(c)
2005 Stephanie Roberts. All rights reserved.
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