Posts Categorized: Sense of Space

Every time I travel, I learn new things and the same applies when I teach: I find that new insights come out spontaneously, and I often learn valuable perspectives from my students as well. My recent trip to Japan provided one such viewpoint when a lady who has taken two of the four advanced programs that I offer towards becoming a facilitator in this field gave a brief talk in my weekend seminar in Tokyo. This lovely retired lady has a true knack for feng shui and she articulated a brilliant point that illustrated the essence of the practice.

The Japanese word for ‘story’ – monogatari – is made up of two root words: ‘mono’ means ‘things’ and ‘gataru’ is the verb ‘to talk’. She stated eloquently how our homes and possessions speak to us and speak ABOUT us, and how Feng Shui helps us to better understand what they’re saying, and how our home reflects the story of our life, what WE are saying in the world. Since applying the principles that she learned in the two trainings she’s taken with me thus far (only a total of six days), she has been experiencing more flow and seamlessness in her life experience: increased simplicity, less complication. She said she is more conscious of what she owns, and has gratitude for her possessions: she thanks them for being there and at the end of the day, she thanks her day and all that happened.

The audience was moved almost to tears (as was I!) hearing this diminutive senior citizen speak so gracefully about the new lease on life she has experienced applying Contemporary Feng Shui in her traditional home. We were all filled with encouragement, realizing that it is never to late to experience gratitude and to wake up to our life story as it is, and we can always start taking new steps to enhance our life experience.

What is your home saying to you? What have you not been hearing? What is there in your home you would love to listen to some more and how can you showcase it more prominently? Is there anything that has been centre-stage that no longer deserves the spotlight?

Michelangelo’s legendary ‘Creation of Adam’ on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel is justly celebrated for its artistic brilliance. But while the ‘Da Vinci Code’ has become known in recent years, there is a hidden message in Michelangelo’s own creation as well. If you look closely, it becomes obvious that God and his surrounding angels in this artwork are in the form of a human brain – indeed, once it’s been seen, you can’t unsee it! Furthermore, the distance between His finger and Adam’s parallels the synaptic gap. Michelangelo is not necessarily dispelling the existence of God but highlighting the divine creative power within each individual’s brain.

Despite this image being extremely famous and having been gazed upon by countless people, its hidden-in-plain-sight message has largely gone unnoticed. Your own environment is communicating messages of which you are unaware as well. What my training affords me is the capacity to recognize the subliminal coding of your surroundings and how that feedback might be supporting or hindering your mindset, experience, and progress. By removing the less-than-flattering messages and replacing them with more supportive, enlightening programming, you can subtly but noticeably shift both your thought process and your experience.

Look in your surroundings and identify one item that either has unpleasant associations or that no longer inspires you, and remove it. Then locate something that you truly enjoy seeing and that improves your mood and mindset, and place it somewhere that you’ll be able to see and appreciate regularly. Each step you take towards replacing brain pollution with brain food will enhance your life experience!

A friend of mine, who was doing some clutter clearing at my suggestion, came across this page from an old magazine that she had pulled some years before, and she quite rightly thought it would be of interest to me – indeed it is! It is a wonderful exploration of the importance of beauty in our lives. While it seems to start off talking dualistically about beauty versus ugliness in a superficial sense, it soon shifts gears to explore the importance of spiritual beauty and harmony in our surroundings, and the importance of living in an environment that communicates to us directly a sense of harmony, balance, and beauty.

“People who live in harmonious surroundings carry with them a certain harmony of their own which is not possessed by those who live, apparently contented, in unlovely surroundings. But material beauty is only a beginning of the satisfaction that comes with the appreciation and possession of spiritual beauty.”

A wonderful reminder that the energetic state of beauty in our reality – more so than a trendy or picture-perfect conception of it – is what deeply nourishes and satisfies us!

Advertisers spent $5 million per 30-second commercial slot during the 2018 Super Bowl: that’s over $166,000 a second. They spent a total of half a BILLION dollars throughout the whole game. They do this because they have the capacity to reach many more viewers at this time – and by “reach”, I mean access their brains through their eyes to impact their thoughts.

If finance-focused corporations are willing to spend so much per second, what is the value of what you look at for days, weeks, months, and years? They would not be spending the money unless advertising worked – and advertising is based on the principle that seeing things together helps form ideas. Similarly, your surroundings are also advertising a certain mindset to you – don’t sell yourself short! Be sure to recognize the cost in mindset and life experience that the things you look at have on you.

Feng Shui principles teach you to read your environment and understand the belief systems it reveals so you can upgrade your space and consciousness with mindful adjustments. You are not just receptive to symbolism, associations, colours, images, and so on when something is on television: your brain is constantly bringing in and interpreting information beyond just the conscious level.

Every single female client I’ve worked with who was actively looking for a partner had artwork of single women throughout her home. This is but one example of how ‘what you see’ on a regular basis can be ‘what you get’ in life experience, in the same way that ‘what you think’ habitually becomes ‘what you get’.

Choose what you love … and also be aware that the image or object might be communicating more than just what your conscious apprehension is. You can use this website – and my consultations – as a resource for learning more about the impact of certain colours, images, and objects on your mindset.

Select mindfully – you are worth it!

Advertisers spent $5 million per 30-second commercial slot during the 2018 Super Bowl: that’s over $166,000 a second. They spent a total of half a BILLION dollars throughout the whole game. They do this because they have the capacity to reach many more viewers at this time – and by “reach”, I mean access their brains through their eyes to impact their thoughts.

If finance-focused corporations are willing to spend so much per second, what is the value of what you look at for days, weeks, months, and years? They would not be spending the money unless advertising worked – and advertising is based on the principle that seeing things together helps form ideas. Similarly, your surroundings are also advertising a certain mindset to you – don’t sell yourself short! Be sure to recognize the cost in mindset and life experience that the things you look at have on you.

Feng Shui principles teach you to read your environment and understand the belief systems it reveals so you can upgrade your space and consciousness with mindful adjustments. You are not just receptive to symbolism, associations, colours, images, and so on when something is on television: your brain is constantly bringing in and interpreting information beyond just the conscious level.

Every single female client I’ve worked with who was actively looking for a partner had artwork of single women throughout her home. This is but one example of how ‘what you see’ on a regular basis can be ‘what you get’ in life experience, in the same way that ‘what you think’ habitually becomes ‘what you get’.

Choose what you love … and also be aware that the image or object might be communicating more than just what your conscious apprehension is. You can use this website – and my consultations – as a resource for learning more about the impact of certain colours, images, and objects on your mindset.

Select mindfully – you are worth it!

I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday about the simplicity and ordinariness of life. We were discussing how the perception of ‘exciting’ lives on social media can leave one feeling that all of life is supposed to be a party and that something is missing if you are experiencing something that you wouldn’t be posting about on Instagram or Facebook. He stated that he believed that one reason people might be reluctant to go out is that they might think that either their experience won’t live up to their expectations or they won’t be able to show themselves as ‘happy’ as they like to appear in social media postings, so they’d rather hibernate than go in public and be real with a fuller and more authentic range of emotions.

I was reminded of John Lennon’s statement that ‘life is what happens when you’re making plans’ and thought about how there is no aspect of your experience that isn’t your life. The previous weekend I had towel washed and mopped my floors – a deeper clean than I’d done in a while – and I enjoyed it. While washing dishes is not my favourite thing to do, I can enjoy the process of doing them. There are no ‘in between’ times – while we are alive, we are living our lives. Expectations of what we should be doing and how things should be are a sure-fire way to limit one’s actual enjoyment and experience.

Some of this came up in conversation the other day when I met with a friend of a friend who is familiar with my postings on my public Facebook pages, and she said that she had to admit she was a bit jealous of my lifestyle, to which I replied, “I sometimes wish I were living that kind of life too!” – meaning that it’s not always what it appears. Yes, I travel a decent amount, although I actually like traveling more than that (I can be satisfied and grateful with what is AND also wish for more), and the highlights that are posted about aren’t the full movie: there are quiet times, there are questions, there are issues to be dealt with… yes, I am well trained at navigating and resolving these, and nevertheless challenges still exist. That’s the nature of reality. Unfortunately, we are brought up with ‘happily ever after’ fairy tales that make us think that once we get to a certain point, ‘problems’ disappear.

In fact, ‘problems’ disappear when you stop seeing circumstances as a problem but simply as a situation on your journey and asking yourself how you can navigate these in a well way (and listening for the answer…).

Similarly, Feng Shui doesn’t eliminate all ‘problems’. It doesn’t make everything ‘perfect’. It does bring more alignment to where it was lacking so that things can start to go more smoothly – sometimes far more smoothly than we ever imagined. But our perceptions can certainly get in the way, and the invitation is always present, as we make changes to our outer world with a specific intention, to revisit limiting beliefs and to practice a new way of being. And it is not a ‘one time’ thing – it is a continual evolutionary process to engaging with your environment and your life.

Despite the public perception of Feng Shui as a ‘quick fix’, I see it as a much deeper practice of ongoing integration. Yes, you can get fast results for sure – but that doesn’t mean that everything is fast or that if things take time supportive changes aren’t happening. Needing to know how/when/why things are happening is a great way to get in your own way. Letting go of the need to known and simply staying attuned to what is happening without needing to understand can open up possibilities beyond expectation.

The art pictured here by the Imaginary Foundation captures one key aspect of the issue: the mystery – the unknown – occurs where ‘something’ and ‘nothing’ meet (or is perhaps a transcendent state off the something/nothing dichotomy). Those who think that nothing is happening in their lives are lacking a connection to the mystery of existence and the very fact that they are alive; those who are always engaged in ‘something’ might not have time or mindset to recognize the mystery that is ever-present. That mystery can be tapped into while doing ‘nothing’ like washing the dishes (it’s actually still something) or while doing ‘something’ that you enjoy – and there’s no guarantee in either state that you can embrace it. But it is there and it is possible. Not judging or avoiding anything in your experience is a great first step towards embracing the mystery.

To cultivate the mystery at home, cultivate ambiguity with creativity by displaying abstract art and asymmetrical arrangements, and stimulate the senses with inspiring displays, art, aromas, and sounds – these serve to welcome the mystery of existence into each moment.

May you embrace your entire life and its fullness of expression in every moment!

Commercial spaces are far from immune to the logical and integrative principles of Feng Shui. Every physical space requires balance to function well, and for a commercial enterprise to be successful, alignment with its purpose and its customers is essential.

In an interview on the Retail Insider website, I discuss some of the key issues facing commercial properties when creating a welcoming and functional space. It is not just about displays, although those are clearly important: the arrangement, spatial proportions, and flow through the property are all key ingredients to help customers feel drawn to a store or business. A visible and accessible cash area, space to move through the displays without feeling cramped, and a varied array of products creatively arranged can help invite potential customers to explore what a store has to offer.

Read in more detail at this link.

Photo courtesy Simons Canada and Retail Insider

I am featured in the second issue of The Empath magazine in an article about designing homes for the highly sensitive. Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of people with an active interest in spiritual matters, and sometimes their focus on crystals, sacred geometry, and other realms can create a space that is unintentionally more challenging to feel restful in because it is over-stimulating. While there is no issue having any of these items present, the volume and location is important – one client recently had so many crystals in her bedroom that the area felt over-charged. Once she minimized the displays and catered more to her physical comfort in the space, she was able to rest much more profoundly.

I still think that having an image of nature or two in the space – as well as real plants and flowers – can be wonderfully grounding, helping us feel connected to our deeper nature while sustaining physical presence. It is equally important not to vary the ‘flavour’ of our space. All of the Chinese healing arts refer to the Five Elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. Having all of their colours, materials, and shapes appropriately and stylishly present throughout the space can help create a unified space – if it has all the essential ingredients found in nature, you have all of the building blocks in your space that supports your full nature.

You can read the complete article at this link – my article is on page 10.

Although they serve an important purpose, the walls and ceilings that shape our homes can feel limiting to our boundless consciousness. Blank walls feel like an artist’s canvas on which the first stroke has not yet been made, and can subconsciously feel like a block – our eyes then naturally go elsewhere, usually down, which is certainly a less uplifting (in every sense of the word) way to focus our attention.

Images of natural settings and meandering paths help us connect to the innate sense of possibility and expansiveness that exists in the natural world. Placing images such as this one – where there is depth, openness, and a natural sense of growth – in a narrow entryway, hallway, or other constricted area of the home can help us sense a possibility of moving beyond limitations. The great blue sky, lush green fields, and inviting curved paths all stimulate moving beyond our current circumstances in a natural way.

Although I took this photo at a shop in Japan, it is not just in that more traditional country where gender roles are still often colour-coded: Western countries still market an abundance of cool colours to men. Every shop I go into, I’m greeted by an array of cool, bland, hard colours that do nothing to inspire warmth, intimacy, and connection.

If the colours of the room set the thermostat to ‘cool’, how hard to you end up having to work to heat things up? And if the tones are blue or grey, how easily does your mindset follow suit? Blue bedding in particular can lead to any number of challenges, from moodiness to fuzzy emotional boundaries, while blue towels in bathrooms can strengthen the downward energy flow already present in these spaces beyond comfortable levels.

Both of these spaces benefit from neutral to warm colours, which create a welcoming, comfortable atmosphere (and in the bedroom, warmer relationships). It doesn’t mean you have to go full-out pink or red – balance is key. But warming things up in these spaces – where we will spend time in various states of undress – can go a long way towards raising one’s mood and inclinations for connection.