The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter Issue 14 February 2008 Love Conquers All Been a Long, Lonely Time? Also: Feng Shui Tip Inspirational Quotes Dear Friend, Welcome to The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter for February 2008; it is good to have your company, as always! This month we talk about love... aww! Many of us are in a relationship, but don't always act like we're in love ¨C did you know Feng Shui can help iron out the lumps and bumps in your relationship, and make life that much happier? However, if you aren't in a relationship yet, Feng Shui can still help ¨C by getting you started! We also have inspirational quotes and Feng Shui tips, as usual. May peace and harmony reign for you for February. 0x Feature Article: Love Conquers All - Like the idea of a week with your partner without arguments? Change your home, and change your love life. 0x Q&A: Been a Long, Lonely, Lonely Time - Attract love energy to yourself using the ancient art 0x Feng Shui Tip ¨C Softly, Softly 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: Love Conquers All It might have been said so many times that it has nearly lost its meaning ¡­ but it is true that love conquers all! There is a lot you can cope with in your life if you have love to help you through. Money worries, difficult families, work troubles can all fade away while you are in the arms of a loving partner. If you are having trouble with the love of your life though, everything else seems that much more difficult. Did you know though, that your love life is one of the easiest things to change for the better, with the help of Feng Shui?! It is like falling off a log, really! Just read on ¡­ If you find yourself arguing a lot and generally feeling tense in your relationship, you can help yourself and your partner become more connected, centered and harmonized by improving the love and relationship Chi of your home. The most important parts of your home to concentrate on for this are: ? Your love and relationships gua ¨C the right hand square of the back row in your house. ? Your bedroom! Especially your bed. ? Also all the other throws, cushions, rugs and linens in your home ? Communal spaces, especially where you spend the most time with your partner. If you are familiar with some concepts in Feng Shui already, you'll know that the most important first step is to clear the clutter out of these areas. Previous issues of our newsletter have gone into great detail about the easiest, best and most effective ways to de-clutter your home ¨C not involving bulldozers or wrecking balls! Check out the archive on the website. The reason that clearing out the clutter is so important is that it is impossible to make a fresh start, and create new and more harmonious energies with constant reminders of the past, and stale Chi hanging around. Believe that as of this moment (once you have taken out that big black garbage bag!), your relationship is more positive and productive, more loving and caring, and absolutely new and different to how it was yesterday. The overriding principles in all of your Feng Shui efforts should be compassion, understanding and positivity. It will be much easier to create a loving relationship if you can see things from your partner's point of view ¨C and then beyond that, to accept that their point of view is just as valid as yours! It is counter-productive to constantly argue about how the clothes should be folded (or not!), and how much salt to add to your dinner. These inner changes are just as much a part of your Feng Shui practice as changing your home environment. If you need a bit more harmony in your home life, then make your surroundings reflect times that were happy and harmonious in themselves. Don't hide your wedding photos away in an album ¨C don't hide any gorgeous photos of happy times away in an album, for that matter! Put them up on the walls and on top of your drawers and dressers. If you don't have any suitable photos to put up, then blow the dust off that film canister and start clicking, and either developing or downloading. What better excuse could there be, to do something purely to make the two of you happy? The ruling element for your love and relationships gua is earth, so if you put these photos in frames made of clay, or colored in lovely rustic ochres, yellows and beige the enhancement will be even more effective. Alternatively you could use the energetic fire tones that support the earth element in this gua. To help remind yourself that nobody in this life is alone, and you are especially not alone if you have a romantic partner, other excellent enhancements are paired objects, such as bookends, or symmetrical or mirrored ornaments. Mandarin ducks are the traditional Chinese paired object to add, but you can choose whatever suits you best, and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling deep down inside! In the same vein, you can add art, paintings, drawings or sculptures of other human couples (or animal couples ¨C who can sometimes be even cuter!). Above all, make these areas of your house feel inviting, comfortable and safe ¨C both for yourself and for your partner. Use the process or rearranging and redecorating as a marker or milestone indicating a new beginning in your relationship. Let the process help you let go of the past ¡­ and concentrate on a bright, shiny, happy future! Q&A: I just can't seem to meet the right sort of person to be in a relationship with ¨C let alone trying to make that relationship more harmonious! How can Feng Shui help me meet Mr./Ms. Right? Many of the Feng Shui remedies we have recommended above can also help single people find the right partner, by making their home and personal energy more receptive to love, wherever it might show itself. Some of the ideas only need a little bit of modification; and some none at all. The areas for you to enhance are the same whether you have a relationship already or not ¨C so look to the south west corner of your home and of each room, to your bedroom, your bed, and the communal spaces within the house. If you are looking for romantic love, not only friendship (although that is always a great first step!), then your bedroom and the south west corners are the first places you should be looking at. Attend to the clutter just as we talked about in the main article ¨C get military tough on that junk! And while you're going through it all, make sure you don't have photos or mementoes from your past relationships displayed ¨C or even hoarded in cardboard boxes in the back of your wardrobe! This stuff may not technically be junk ¨C but according to Feng Shui it is toxic clutter, and the Chi from it makes it extremely difficult to find a new relationship. If you do, you may end up finding one that echoes the last one, with all of the same problems, personal differences and arguments. Relegate it to the past, and either throw it, recycle it, or donate it. If there are things you just can't let go of, wrap them up, take them out to the garage, and put them with everything else that you use only rarely. Check your overall color scheme next ¨C go for colors in furniture, paint and ornaments that are in earthy tones, or passionate fiery tones. Earth and fire are the ruling and productive elements for this gua. Just be aware that despite the fact that soil can be brown, brown is actually a wood element color! Avoid wood colors (green and brown), as they sap the energy of this area. Your love and relationships gua is mostly ruled by yin energy ¨C soft, feminine and yielding. This yin energy brings you warm cuddles, soft touches and sweet nothings ­ aww! A great way to attract these things to yourself in real life is to make your bed reflect all the gentleness and soft suppleness of yin energy, so choose mohair or woolen blankets and rugs to throw over your bed. Choose restrained colors for your bedding, especially pinks and beiges. However, if the thought of a pink and beige bed makes you recoil in horror (especially if you are a single male and have an image to uphold!), then choose whatever suits you best from the range of earth and fire colors. Go for muted versions to preserve yin energy. And remember that the biggest and most useful change to bring love to yourself will be in your outlook ¨C what comes out of your brain, as well as what is in your house! You don't need to become a desperate limpet ¡­ just look for the positives in other people, enjoy their company, forgive their faults, and love life! Feng Shui Tip: Softly, Softly If you are looking for love ¨C whether you want that to be in a new relationship, or in your current one ¨C an oft-neglected area to enhance is your linens and soft furnishings around the house. These can be in any room ¨C not only the ones in the traditional love and relationship areas. Pay attention to: ? Your sofa as well as the extra cushions on it ? Any tapestries or wall hangings you have ? Knee rugs and TV blankets ? Floor rugs ? And of course, the sheets and blankets on all of the beds! Choose your colors and materials according to the guidelines ¡­ wait, and watch the love come pouring in! Inspirational Quotes No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. ~Mother Teresa Sticks and stones are hard on bones Aimed with angry art, Words can sting like anything But silence breaks the heart. ~Suzanne Nichols