Looking for a Deeper Feng Shui Experience: Astrology and Feng Shui

 

I have been reading books about feng shui for some time, but I didn't grasp how broad and deep the subject is until this past year when I picked up a book by author Master Lam Kam Chuen which put feng shui in the greater context of many other facets of life than just the arrangement of one's home.

As he explains, in China feng shui masters train for decades in the breadth of the system and then specialize in a specific area. Feng shui can be understood to encompass health in many aspects - from diet, exercise, energy balance, meditation, and the home. In the West we tend to separate these into their own fields without training on the interactions between these aspects of life; thus while you may likely have heard of Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Chinese Astrology as well as Feng Shui, within the Chinese culture they are interconnected and all spring from the same worldview. It is all about coming into harmony with the universe.

Spring Cleaning Week 4: Make Your List of Annoyances, Nagging Items, and Fix-Its

I've been looking into how things change from items that pile because they are "active" or require action and when they start stagnating into clutter. I've also been on the lookout for explanations to why I feel stiff and uncomfortable in some parts of my house since I started my spring cleaning clutter challenge. Among those are my collections of things that relate to fix-its or annoyances, but I also have brain clutter around those same things that may not have solutions yet.

Chi Moves, We Breathe

Today was a good day. YAY!! I'm so glad to be able to say it, particularly the way things have been going.

Big Week for the Family - the Kids Move Rooms

The time has come for our infant to get his own room, so my older child has to vacate the nursery... The big selling point for her is her Big Girl Bed, though the move has brought more fears of the dark to the fore again. I have "mom emotions" over the change since she'll be farther from our room, but there is added nervous energy in me because... my stuff suddenly has no home!

Clutter's Sticky Energy (and related Emotional Tension)

Sorry folks. I had to warn you from the get-go on this one. But working very consciously on the state of my house is really shaking things up for me, and since this is an experiment in what clutter and decluttering does to us and means to us, I feel I have to lay some of this out there too.

Spring Cleaning Week 3: Using To-Do Lists to Create Order

In a previous post I talked about the importance of starting your clutter cleaning by dealing with "active" items and seeing results. I admit that I was so excited to get started with my spring cleaning, I didn't stop to consider how much time would be needed and never made it to my To-Do List task! Setting time estimates aside, let's look at making to-do lists.

Clutter, Love, and Giving Gifts

The kids and I went to the zoo today, and my daughter glommed on to an umbrella on a souvenir stand as we were leaving. She liked the frog one, and with some minor negotiating, she proudly headed home with her first umbrella, which she was so excited to show to her daddy when he arrived home from work.

Let me just say that my husband's face was not as excited as hers. And I could see the subtext... "Yet another toy for her? Don't we have enough stuff?"

It was a good moment to cause me to reflect on how things arrive in our house.

Strong Emotions and Mood Swings: Cleaning/Decluttering is a Cleanse

Have you ever done a cleanse? It's a rollercoaster ride which you exit feeling like a different person. The first time I tried a cleanse I actually quit halfway through because no one mentioned that I'd actually feel terrible for the first part as my body worked all yucky stuff out. I figured my body would just do its thing and didn't realize that the chemical reaction of my body cleaning stuff up would wreak havoc with my emotions.

Well, proof that sometimes you have learn a lesson over and over again... This cleaning project is running me through the emotional wringer.

Spring Cleaning Week 1 (Part 1): Deal With Your Most Active Items First

So start with a small win, right? Something to build confidence? This week, I'm going through 2 big bins of stuff and working on keeping a functioning to-do list.

Let's talk bins.