The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter Issue 12 December 2007 Healthy New Year! Work to Live, not Live to Work Also: Feng Shui Tip Inspirational Quotes Dear Friend, Welcome to The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter for December 2007; it is good to have your company once again! This month we talk about New Years resolutions for eating and exercising better. They can be difficult to keep, but Feng Shui can be a huge helping hand! For those of you that are fighting fit, but not looking forward to going back to work next year, we explain how Feng Shui practice can help you in your career. We also have inspirational quotes and Feng Shui tips, as usual. May peace and harmony reign for you in December. 0x Feature Article: Fighting Fit with Feng Shui - Keeping your New Years resolutions is a breeze this month 0x Q&A: Working to Live - Do you have to force yourself back to work after the holidays? 0x Feng Shui Tip - Light My Fire 0x Inspirational Quotes Enjoy! Mike Z. Wang Author of The Spiritual Feng Shui Thespiritualfengshui.com Unit 616, 220 Lake Promenade, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, m8w1a9 Feature article: Fighting Fit with Feng Shui Are you one of the many people who resolves every New Year's Day to eat better, exercise more and stretch every day? Health improvements are the most common New Year's resolution. Every year, around 3-4 times more people resolve to improve their health than resolve to spend more time on their careers, with their families, or to spend less money. Now, this doesn't mean that people's families are less important to them than their health? the exact opposite! People find it easier and more enjoyable to spend time with their family or on the career, than working on their health ... I know I do! Who wouldn't rather play with their kids on the floor than go for a run? Or read up about what's going on in your career's industry than put on your swimmers and bare all for everyone else at the cold, cold pool? And who doesn't prefer chocolate to brussel sprouts ... be honest! Feng Shui can help you turn this around! If you change the focus of the energy in your home, you change yourself ... and your life. The place to start is your Health Gua, which is located in the centre of your house. This is highly symbolic – your health is central to your life, and is the basis of feeling balanced and happy! However, your kitchen is another area which is absolutely integral to your mission, and your bathroom and any areas in your home that are used for exercise also affect the flow of Health Chi. Your plumbing and electrical wiring represent your inner systems, too. As always, removing clutter is your very first step. You have to do the boring cleaning before the fun stuff --- just like being a kid! So Mom's theory did make a little sense after all ... Start by cleaning up the obvious things, but after you have done that, you can move onto more specifically health-related clutter removal. In the kitchen, make sure there isn't any food left in the fridge past its use-by date. Either give this to pets (if it is safe), or use it as compost. Have a look through your pantry as well ... right to the back of its dark, dingy depths! Pull all those cans of beans and creamed corn to the front, and if you don't expect to use them shortly, you could donate them to human services charities, give them to your pets, or compost them if they are no longer edible. In the bathroom, do the same thing with all those half-jars of creams and potions that have been there for donkey's years. Make sure you throw out medicine that is past its use-by date (wet or crush tablets so that children do not think they are lollies in the bin), and also throw out tubes and bottles you no longer use. If your sink and bath pipes drain very slowly, put some drain-cleaner down there. Remember, both your bathroom and your plumbing affect your health Chi. A wonderful way to improve your health using Feng Shui is to get a pet --- living things are a great source of energy, but more than this, they are an excuse to get out and about, and a reason to get up in the morning! For those of you that have made a New Year's resolution to walk every day (quite common), here is your impetus. Dogs have to be walked, cats have to be let out, and other animals all need to be fed. Fish or reptiles are good options if you live in an apartment, and most landlords that do not allow dogs will allow small, contained animals like these. Or you could just try bringing home the puppy anyway, and seeing if the apartment owner can possibly resist its cute stare! This gua is symbolized by all of nature, so objects that incorporate natural elements, like water, earth and wood, are fantastic. Here is a great excuse to buy yourself some fresh flowers (if nobody else will!), or a plant for something more substantial. Just for something different, you could put them in the bathroom -- tropical plants will love the humid environment, and they are a gorgeous unexpected surprise in this area! You can also use paintings or photos of nature scenes and landscapes, interesting rocks or pieces of petrified wood, and water features to bring the outdoors into your home. Earth is the ruling element for your health gua, so to help yourself keep your New Year's health resolutions, change your color scheme in these areas to an earthy one, and also use pottery or other clay objects as enhancements. You can return to the earth, from whence you came (although not literally!). Try to make the color scheme in these areas focus on natural and earthy tones, in terms of your paint and furnishings. Another, more novel way to use these colors to help your Chi flow would be to cook with them! Red and yellow capsicums are generally available all year, and chili is a lovely warming ingredient in the colder seasons. Tomato-based dishes are ever popular, and nicely filling in the winter months. Where there's a will, there is always a way … and Feng Shui can help give you that will, drive and subconscious desire to keep your body fresh, fit strong and healthy for 2008! Q&A: I always leave work on a low note at Christmas holiday time and have to force myself to go back in the New Year. How can I use Feng Shui to help turn my career around for next year? Feeling a little sick of work by the end of the year is natural. Everyone is thinking about family, gifts, good food and good times, and work just seems like a waste of time! It does become a problem when you still feel like that after the holidays though. There are plenty of enhancements you can make to your home to help you make a fresh start at work, for a fresh year! If you live in the northern hemisphere, this is also a perfect time of year to be thinking about improving your career, as the season related to your work life is winter, so Chi is naturally working towards helping you out in your job. The career gua of your home is at the northern corner, or the middle square of the bottom row. The other areas you need to look at are: * Your home office or workspace * Your computer area * The exterior of your home A very versatile solution to enhancing these areas is to look at the color scheme -- there are literally hundreds of ways you can change the palettes of these rooms. When you are redecorating for career success, avoid yellows, browns and earthy tones in the related areas, as well as greens. Black, blues and purples are all good choices for furnishings, carpets and paint. Look for ornaments, paintings and photos in these general color schemes as well. The exterior of your home is another area that has a great impact on your career and success. Here you get to use many different enhancements that aren't possible indoors -- a change is as good as a holiday! If you don't have a cat, put a bird feeder in your yard, or a bird bath. Even if you live in an apartment, it should be possible to hang one out of a window, affixed to the window sill. The birds not only increase the amount of living energy around your home, they bring natural music and sound to your house. While you are pottering around in the garden, try adding flags and banners that will flutter and catch the wind to increase Chi flow to this area … and bring new life to your career for next year. Think beyond your national flag ... you can make your own flags with fabric paints or even watercolors. Attach them to strong twine, and string them between verandah poles, or across your front porch. You could even hang them up in trees. Once you've made your way back indoors, pop some photos of yourself in these career- related areas of your home. Also, if you have any trophies or certificates clean them up and display them. If you are still working towards your first Oscar or Emmy (!), use photographs or objects that symbolize where you want to be in your career, eventually. This is a constant visual reminder of your goals. One last, simple tip -- always use a black pen to help enhance your chances of career success! Change your home, and you can change your mind about your career! It doesn't have to be a chore to go back to work in January or February ... it could be the start of something fascinating, exciting and positive. Feng Shui Tip: Light My Fire Many of our readers are in the northern hemisphere, which means that over Christmas and New Years, you will be wearing scarves and hats, and your heaters are more likely to be going than your air conditioners. But before you turn on the heater, consider using fire to heat your home ... it has the double effect of both warding off frostbite, and adding natural Chi to your home! If you have an open fireplace, it is much the better. But if you don't, you can also use candles to introduce fire energy into your house. If you have a yard, it is a lovely picturesque time of year to build an outside fire and toast marshmallows ... Inspirational Quotes: Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along. ~Hugh Allen One can enjoy a wood fire worthily only when he warms his thoughts by it as well as his hands and feet. ~Odell Shepherd Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. ~Aldous Leonard Huxley, Texts and Pretexts, 1932