The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter Issue 18 June 2008 Summer Daze 'Wetting' Your Appetite Also: Feng Shui Tip Inspirational Quotes Dear Friend, Welcome to The Spiritual Feng Shui newsletter for June 2008; it is good to have your company, as always! It is the beginning of summer for many of you, which heralds an excellent time to solidify your good Feng Shui habits. We look at how summer helps you improve the Chi of your home. With water such a refreshing and ever-present companion in summer, we look at the best ways to introduce it to your home ... fishponds not included. We also have inspirational quotes and Feng Shui tips, as usual. May peace and harmony reign for you in June. 0x Feature Article: Summer Daze - It's getting hot, hot, hot - use it to your home's advantage! 0x Q&A: Water, Water, Where? - How do I add water energy to my home without a fishpond? 0x Feng Shui Tip - Move, Pound and Lift! 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: Summer Daze Whether summer for you means 60 degree temperatures, or 110 degree temperatures, it is a beautiful time of year! Lovely long days mean you can get plenty of work done, the light and warmth make it pleasant to get up in the morning, and if you're lucky you'll get to the beach or a river at some stage over the season. Your kids are home from school, so you get to hang out with them ... and your electricity or gas bill is never such a rude shock in the summer months! There are also many wonderful ways you can modify your Feng Shui practice for summertime - in fact, it sometimes seems that Feng Shui's 'signature' season is summer. So how can you make the most of the opportunities the warmer weather gives you, in your Feng Shui practice? There are two things it is easier and more enjoyable to do in summer than in any other month, and they are also crucial to your Feng Shui practice. These things are opening your curtains, and opening your windows. Let there be light! (and air...) Many of you no doubt live in parts of the world where it is a waste of energy to open even your curtains in winter, let alone your windows. You probably also find that by the time spring rolls around, you are in a daze of forgetfulness, un-productivity, and looking more than a bit pasty and dull. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us! Just take the opportunity summer affords to open your curtains and windows as much as possible. Make it a habit to open your curtains first thing in the morning, and if the weather is nice enough, open your windows at the same time. If it is still a little chilly, wait until the middle of the day and then just open the window in the room you are working in. Especially open the window while you are cooking - the fresh air helps stimulate your appetite, and remove the cooking smells from your home. If you are closer to the equator, you also have the luxury of being able to open your window while you are sleeping at night-time. You'll wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day, with super-levels of oxygen and positive Chi kicking around in your body and bedroom! Incidentally, this is great way to revive your romantic relationship as well, as the bedroom is a key enhancement area for your Love Gua. The long hours of light in summer make it a perfect time to add green plants or fresh flowers, as well. The living energy from these items is an instant pick-me-up for whatever room you place them in. In your kitchen and the center of your home, they'll help maintain your health. In the bedroom, your romantic life will benefit, and in your kids' bedrooms, their energy, motivation, schoolwork and health will benefit. Put plants or flowers near the front door to create a lasting, positive first impression. Ask your garden center which ones will be suitable for where you intend to place them. While summer is a good time to buy fresh flowers, as they are cheap and in abundance, it is also the perfect time to get out in the garden and plant some of your own. Your front garden is inextricably tied to your Fame and Reputation Gua (it is the first thing everyone sees, after all!), and it will also make you feel happy, that the first sight you have of your home in the evening is a colorful, living, vibrant one. Summer is all about color and life - and the season can help you find inspiration to decorate your home, that will carry you through the long-johnned, ear-muffed winter months! Step outside during summer and you'll see a beautiful palette of greens, sky blues, hazy oranges and bright yellows. The summer blues, greens and browns are good colors to use in your Wealth and Prosperity Gua (the top left square of your Bagua map, and also your paperwork and bills area, and your bathroom). Try changing your bathroom's color scheme to a summer one - with fluffy green or blue towels and hand towels, lime or woody-scented soaps, and a green or blue shower curtain or sun- catcher on the window. If yellows and oranges are a better match for your home and personality, use the encouragement summer provides to enhance your Creativity and Children Gua, or your Fame and Reputation Gua. Your Creativity and Children area is the right most square of the middle row of your Bagua map, and your Fame and Reputation area is the middle square of the top row. You can also use these colors to enhance your kids' bedrooms, your creative or reading space, and your front door area. Try adding things like yellow or orange sun-catchers for the windows in these rooms - they'll give the light a beautiful vibrant filtered effect. If sun-catchers aren't practical, try changing the lampshades in these areas (or adding lampshades) in yellow or orange colors. They make the light seem as if it is coming from the sun itself! Above all, enjoy the nurturing warmth and living energy of summer. And remember, even mosquitoes and flies bring their own Chi to a home! Q&A: Are there any easy ways to add water energy to my home? It isn't possible to place a fishpond in my yard, and water features can be expensive. The answer is most definitely, yes! There are plenty of easy way to bring the water element into your home, and summer is the perfect time to do it. The water element is best introduced in your Career and Success Gua - this is the middle square of the bottom row of your Bagua map - so the room will be somewhere along the wall that houses you front door. Water rules this Gua, and the shape for it is a wavy, undulating shape. One of the most important things to remember is that while water itself has water energy, so do representations of water. Photographs, paintings or sketches of lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and the ocean all have the energy of the water element. Photos of yourself are also great enhancements for your Career and Success Gua, so if you can find a picture of yourself enjoying the water in summer (or use the season's opportunity to get a great picture!) and place it in this area, you'll have a doubly effective enhancement. Water can also be added to the inside of your home without using water features. Fishbowls and aquariums contain water - they also contain fish and other living water creatures that bring great energy to your home! The steady flicker of a fish's tail adds life and energy to your home, and the understanding ear they provide when you need to spill out your problems makes fish great pets. Never mind the fact that they can't hear very well through that water - that only makes them better listeners! We often advise you to add fresh flowers to your home, and this is a great way to introduce the water element. They need to sit in water, after all! Just make sure you change the water in your vase every day or two - stagnant water actually brings negative energy with it. Add some cut-flower reviver to the water to keep your flowers fresh for longer - dead and dying flowers won't make you feel particularly energized! Your body is also made up largely by water. Keep a bottle or pretty glass jug of water on the desk where you work at home. Just make sure to buy one with a lid, so you don't end up sharing your water with the flies and other bugs around the house. Leave a glass next to it and you have reminded yourself to have a drink of water - you can take your elements internally, if you wish ;-) And, I know that you aren't prepared to spend a whole lot of money on a water feature - but an article about adding water to your home wouldn't be complete without mentioning them. Water features can be as large or small as you like - mains powered or battery powered - self-built or bought - and they not only bring the water element to your home, they also bring beautiful natural sound into it. If the kids tend to play in it ... so much the better. It is only water, after all, and it brings them happiness! Feng Shui Tip: Move your muscles, pound the pavement, and lift your legs! Summer is a great time to start an exercise routine - a great way to work on your inner Feng Shui! Feng Shui is all about energy, and exercise will not only help get rid of your winter love handles, it will improve the energy flow within your body. If the idea of a jog around the block every day is not inspiring to you, you could look at joining a sporting team ... learning to surf ... starting a yoga practice outdoors ... or even redoing your garden. Digging holes is great exercise! Inspirational Quotes: As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. ~Zachary Scott A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus