I cleared a space at the dining room table to start my journey. I sat down with The Feng Shui Journal – A guided workbook to bring harmony into your Life (by Teresa Polanco). I made myself a cup of mint tea in my “angel” mug (as I know I will need all the extra help I can get).My Feng shui goals were simple
The instructions in the first exercise were already overwhelming: “Before you can begin to use Feng shui effectively, you must clarify your intentions.” I thought my statement that “I want to change my life” was sufficiently clear – but no, they need more. “Are you ready to proceed with deliberation and apply yourself with purpose? …detail the changes you want to make.”
So I recorded a few:
- Find a new location for my teddy bears;
- Be able to work at my desk;
- Find the dining room table when we want to eat dinner; and
- Make lots – actually heaps – of money this year.
The instructions continue: “You need to see yourself living the new changes – see them, feel them, smell them, taste them. Be sure to include specific things you do not want to do, as well.” So I added to my notes: “I do not want to get stressed or exert an extraordinary amount of energy while changing my life.”
Then I wondered what it would look, feel, smell and taste like to put my teddy bear collection in a plastic box in the closet. I was not getting a good vibe yet. On the other hand, my candy cane mint tea that my daughter gave me for Christmas – now that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious. So, I remained positive.
Starting with the point of most pain
I decided the most urgent place to start was the “office” – where I accumulate anything and everything and there is always so much “chaos” going on that I can hardly get to the desk. But I was still stuck on two things:
- my intentions – why was I trying to do this in the first place and what change did I hope to achieve; and
- how does one position the bagua in order to determine where the sections fit in a house or room.
If I got number 2 wrong, then the teddy bears might continue to sit in the prosperity section – looking cute and cuddly – but blocking all my chi – and standing in my way of making lots of money.
As for “intentions”, all I kept remembering was my mother telling me over and over again how “the best intentions pave the way to Hell”. So intentions would not be enough. It would take some deep soul searching to determine what I wanted I really to accomplish with this project. And then, that would need to be followed-up with “purposeful action”.
As I stood in the doorway, with bagua in hand, trying to determine which corner would form the “starting” point, my intention became clear: “To find a focus for my creative energies that would define my legacy.”
Right now, if someone looked at my home and my life, my legacy would at best be characterized by a successful career in business and politics, as evidenced by the plaques, certificates, and books scattered around. At worst, my children could describe my life as a large heap of paper that would end up in the recycling bin when I passed on. As for definitions of the term “legacy”, my current life most resembled this one: “relating to old or outdated computer hardware, software, or data that, while still functional, does not work well with up-to-date systems”.
Now definitely feels like the right time to transfer the data in my brain (and my files) to a more functional – and relevant – model, that would make sense in my future. I hadn’t realized that Feng shui and the use of technology were so similar.
When you need to make a big change in your life, where do you turn for inspiration? Have you ever used the principles of Feng shui to help you find a new direction?
