If you can dream it, you can do it

Reach your goals with Feng Shui

Skip New Year’s resolutions – use Feng Shui to deliver results

Good intentions and wishful thinking are out. Reaching goals and manifesting dreams using Feng Shui is in! What better time than New Year’s to get started.

You must clean and declutter to kick-start the process – I know. Cleaning and decluttering are arguably the least exciting Feng Shui activities you can imagine to start a banner year. But both are vital to your success, health and happiness.  Clean and declutter are the foundation of Feng Shui principles.

Wizardess New Year’s Tip 1:
Until you can clear your clutter, tame it

Taming clutter doesn’t resolve the underlying problem, but it’s the first step toward gaining control and bringing peace to your life. Here’s how:

Gather or stack your clutter into neat square piles. Use boxes to collect non-paper items if necessary. Make NO attempt to take action, make decisions, prioritize, sort or otherwise engage with the mess except to drop obvious trash in the trashcan. Line up the piles in neat rows (or columns). Step back and breathe! 

Taming Clutter: Before and After


Before

← This is my desk. I don’t have persistent clutter anymore, but when my creative side takes over, my desk explodes with decorative paper, stamp pads, glitter, glue sticks, etc. I revel in the chaos.  Until I’m finished…

Once the creative phase passes, the aftermath can be a lot to deal with. Working in and around the mess is impossible! But because I don’t want to face the music, putting things away isn’t going to happen “till later” and till later is the start of clutter getting out of control.


After

← Squaring clutter into piles, rows and columns instantly calms chaos and brings order to the affected area. Squaring up is fast and simple and requires no decision-making. In my case, stress quickly evaporates and I become productively energized.

I can now work calmly in the cleared space until I’m ready to put everything away. Quite often, however, I’m motivated to put things away almost immediately.I came up with this solution several years ago when (not for the first time) I could barely stand to be in my office. My desk and other surfaces were covered with clutter that demanded action, but I couldn’t seem to attend to the mess for more than 5 minutes before rushing away. Now persistent clutter is a thing of the past.

I finally turned to Feng Shui for insight in resolving the problem. Using the five element phases as a guide, I used stoic Earth (represented by squares and blocks) to contain Fiery chaos (clutter explosion). Taming clutter is only the first step toward eliminating the problem. When you’re ready to take further action, declutter just one single pile at time. [/expander_maker]

Wizardess New Year’s Tip 2:
If cleaning feels like too much to tackle, start small

A small project can release unexpected energy flows inside you. The following solution usually has an out-sized effect: Grab a bottle of Windex and erase fingerprint smudges from all your light switches. Also remove grime from around the door knobs. Your rooms (and your energy) will suddenly wake up!

Tiny Cleaning Project: Before and After


Before

← This door (admittedly not a worse case scenario) shows the type of grime that slowly collects on doors and lightswitches when we aren’t watching. Finger smudges stand out more clearly in someone else’s home, or homes for sale by owner (real estate folks usually see that this is taken care of). But the bad impression has an impact on you and your environment, too.


After

← There’s a definite freshness about doors wiped of grime and fingerprints. You cannot help but feel the difference even if you don’t know the reason why.

Wake up your rooms and boost your energy by cleaning your doors and light switches. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself polishing mirrors and pictures as well. We feel better and better the more our surroundings sparkle.

Dust, lint, pet hair, body ash and old-fashioned grime represent stale energy that zaps your vitality and can cause or deepen depression.

Make every attempt to clean your home as thoroughly as possible to ‘chase stale energy out the door.’ Even if you can’t do a deep-clean, do what you can: polish surfaces, wipe down cabinets, vacuum floors, and dust under furniture.

Deep-cleaning is so integral to the health and happiness of Asian families that they meticulously clean their homes every year prior to Lunar New Year.

Cleansing is said to sweep old and dead energy from the home and invite fresh lunar energy to flow through. This energy brings good luck, health and prosperity for the coming year. Although many Western thinkers consider this to be pure superstition, modern science validates the very real health and happiness benefits that cleaning and decluttering bring. (Psychology Today, July 16, 2016).

In my opinion, ancient Feng Shui Masters were 3,000 years ahead of their time. Feng Shui principles work![/expander_maker]

Till next time a very happy, lucky, prosperous new year to you!

Julie Britt