Archive for the Feng Shui and Green Living
April 22nd is Earth Day, it’s only a few short days away! This year, Earth Day’s theme is themed after A Billion Acts of Green: a people-powered campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio +20. March 27, 2010 was the day of the world’s largest mass cooperation event ever! What was it? Earth Hour. The world was asked to turn off their lights for one hour to show support for climate change and over 4000 cities in over 88 countries participated!
It’s not about the country you’re from, it’s about the world you live in! What an amazing event! Starting with Earth Hour on March 26th, when the world joined forces in support of sustainable living by turning off all lights to Earth Day on April 22nd, when the people of the world are asked to embrace one simple act of ‘green’ in our everyday lives – even if only for a day!
Click for Earth Hour 2011 video
Green or sustainable living, is living in balance and harmony with our environment and living in balance is the foundation of Feng Shui.We are all stewards of this wonderful world we live in; making choices that support sustainability, recyclability, and minimal use of our resources is a great thing! Sounds big and daunting doesn’t it? Well, the good news, it doesn’t have to be. There are simple things each of us can do to make a difference, to make a change.
Top 5 EASY steps to a sustainable lifestyle-
- Recycle – recycle your glass bottles, jars, cans plastics and paper products. The more we reuse what we already have, the less resources it takes to provide what we need.
- Food – buy local products as much as possible. If it doesn’t have to travel to get to you, resources are saved. Now you can find local, organically grown food at almost every major grocery and specialty grocery store!
- Cleaning Products – Cleaning products are the easiest change to make. There are so many companies and products to choose from in this category, you won’t have any trouble finding something you like at a reasonable price.
- Choose low VOC paints – All major paint companies have something with low VOC’s. A favorite, Benjamin Moore recently introduced two fantastic lines, Aura and Natura. Incredible advancement in paint technology and they’re great quality paints at an affordable price!
- Lighting – CFL or compact fluorescent light bulbs are easy to find, last a long time and use very little energy compared to standard incandescent bulbs or halogen bulbs. LED or light-emitting diode bulbs are the newest addition in our choices for low energy use alternative bulbs.
Going green isn’t hard and it doesn’t involve strange or unusual choices. In today’s world we can choose the exact same items we’ve always loved and go green at the same time!
Earth Day and Feng Shui – ready to make some ‘green’ changes?
© 2011 Harmony Life®, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
Feng Shui Lifestyle™ articles, tips and conversation http://www.fengshuilifeandstyle.com
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Many people today are interested in having a healthy, harmonious home.
Feng Shui is about enhancing well-being, the quality of your life, through placement of your furnishings, the way you use and decorate your rooms and the application of specific techniques designed to align and optimize the energy of your home.
Much of Feng Shui like sensible design is based on common sense. An uncluttered room, for instance, not only looks different than a cluttered one – but it feels different.
When we think about Green living and sustainability, it often seems like so much needs to be done and that nothing we do will make a difference. We feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.
The good news – we can make a difference. In fact, we can make a BIG difference by making a few simple changes in our lives. I’m going to share 15 changes you can make right now to turn your house into a healthy home.
- Remove toxic, poisonous substances from your home (and dispose of at a proper location – not the garbage.)
- Store sharp knives in a cutting block designed to be placed in a drawer. This is much safer than having your knives on the counter or on the wall. (And it makes your kitchen feel much friendlier too!)
- All windows should open easily.
- Avoid sharp cornered furniture.
- Furniture should sit firmly on the floor – no wobbling.
- Keep area behind all doors, hallways and at the entrance to the home clean and free of clutter.
- Good lighting – indoor and outdoors. Entrances, paths and stair should all be clean and well lit.
- Maintain electrical equipment. Keep loose cords contained in a cord catcher, organizer or in cupboards. And keep electrical equipment turned off when not in use. A fantastic way to do this is to use a smart power strip- they look like surge protectors and while they do offer surge protection, they also allow you to shut down the power to all attached components. (Did you know that appliances and electronics draw power even when they’re off?)
- All doors should open and close easily. No stuck doors, squeaky doors, loose doorknobs or damaged doors.
- Change your HVAC filters once a month. These catch all sorts of airborne irritants, from dust to allergens.
- Use natural pest repellants instead of pesticides.
- Remove your shoes when entering your home. There is a significant amount of toxic pollutants on the soles of our shoes any given day, from petro-chemicals to pesticides. Taking your shoes off keeps it outside.
- Change to green cleaning products. (This is super easy to do, simply go to the grocery store and choose only those products that are environmentally safe and non-toxic.)
- Choose and use only low or no VOC paints for all your paint projects.
- Bring nature indoors. Plants are Feng Shui powerhouses; they benefit us on many levels and instill our homes with vibrant, positive energy. Plants are a fantastic and natural way to clean and refresh the air.
A Feng Shui healthy home is safe and environmentally friendly. Choose a few or all of the changes above and the feeling in your home will change. Your home will feel better, smell better and be safer for you, your family and pets. It doesn’t take a lot to create change, all you have to do is start, make one change and the rest will follow.
© 2010 Harmony Life®, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
Feng Shui Lifestyle™ articles, tips and conversation http://www.fengshuilifeandstyle.com
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the copyright and link above.
Green living and green design are about living in harmony with our environment. Feng Shui is about living in balance and harmony with your environment. Feng Shui has been green all along!
Feng Shui is the oldest form of holistic healing and that is healing through your environment.
What better day than today to learn more about Feng Shui and how it can help you create a living space that not only looks good, but a living space that feels good and is good for the environment. Energetically, all things are connected and through conscious choice and awareness we can improve the quality of our life and the quality of life on earth.
Today we have options and choices in all areas of our life that don’t compromise our sense of style, our sense of taste or our sense of self. We can be who we are and embrace a way of living that is more supportive and beneficial for our health and well being as well as the health and well being of the planet.
- Paint – All major paint companies now have low VOC paints, so finding one you like is easy. One of my favorite paint companies is Benjamin Moore. In addition to their low VOC line, Aura, they have introduced a no VOC line, Natura. Both lines are available in any color!
- Zar offers a broad range of waterborne stains and finishes.
- AFM offers a broad range of waterborne stain colors and finishes, caulk and other household repair products
- Titebond makes great tub & tile caulk, painter’s caulk & kitchen & bath sealant.
- AFM makes sealants for tile, concrete and floors
- Breathe Easy; this company makes low VOC cabinets. They are the perfect choice for your custom kitchen or bath.
- Cleaning products are the easiest change to make. There are so many companies and products to choose from in this category, you won’t have any trouble finding something you like at a reasonable price. It’s as easy as going to your favorite discount store or the grocery store!
- Bon Ami for scrubbing jobs (bathtubs, toilet, etc.)
- Dishwasher detergent – the best I’ve found so far is Ecover, I like the tabs.
- Dish soap – lots of choices, from Seventh Generation to many old, tried and true brands that have embraced green tenants, this is one of the easiest items to find.
- Meyer Cleaning products clean well and use natural essential oils for a fresh scent
- Shaklee products have been clean and green for ages. Effective and cost efficient.
- Clothing – You can find bamboo fiber, organic cotton and wool sweaters, tops and pants through many catalogs, at specialty shops and, of course, online.
- Green towels, rugs and drapery fabrics are now available in most of the major mail order catalogs, at the major home accessory stores and at major department stores. When you see products like these at such a diversity of retailers, you know that organic based fabric, accessories and home goods have gone mainstream.
Making sustainable or green choices is more than a popular trend; it’s about making choices that help you live a healthier lifestyle. To help you in your creation of a healthier lifestyle (let’s face it, we can all do better) see the tips below.
Top 10 Feng Shui tips for Green Living
- Bring reusable bags to the grocery store instead of using paper or plastic bags.
- Start a personal recycling program. Newspaper and boxes are an easy first step!
- Turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth or shaving.
- Replace your old incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) with the newest safest energy efficient light emitting diode bulbs (LED).
- Buy locally grown fruits and vegetables (saves on fuel, packaging and more!)
- Group errands together to save fuel (one trip vs. many).
- Pay bills online – saves on paper use and fuel use.
- Use low or no VOC paint for your next painting project.
- Replace your household cleaning products with green cleaning products.
- Incorporate the principles of Feng Shui into your life and create an environment that looks and feels good – and is good for you!
In this world, we are all connected. What we do impacts not only the quality of our life; it affects the quality of life of those around us. All we have to do to change the quality of life around us, is to begin to change how we choose to live our lives.
Choose wisely.
© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
Feng Shui Lifestyle articles, tips and conversation http://www.fengshuilifeandstyle.com
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the copyright and link above
My oldest daughter just started a blog and I was impressed by what she wrote and inspired to change the way I write on my blog. Starting today I’ll be writing several posts a week, sometimes article based, other times like today, a conversational post. I hope you enjoy the changes as much as I think I will!
Feng Shui, Change and the Gulf
This morning I woke up, checked Facebook and clicked a You Tube link about the oil spill in the Gulf. As I was watching I was inspired to write an Examiner article about how the principles of Feng Shui can help us at this time.
I know that this probably sounds a bit far-reaching, but hear me out.
Our sea and our land need us. The destruction the oil spill in the Gulf is causing is difficult to comprehend. What can we, as individuals do? We can use this terrible experience as an opportunity for change. We can choose a new path, a new way of living in our world. One that honors and respects all life.
Feng Shui is about living in balance and harmony with your environment.
Two of the basic principles in Feng Shui are:
- Everything is connected
- Everything is constantly changing
And they both apply in this situation. First, everything is connected. We now know just how much this is so. Everything we do ripples out and affects the world around us, sometimes good, sometimes not so good. For example: When we use pesticides we affect not only the insects we view as bad but we also affect the good insects. And we affect the quality of our water and the land we live on. Everything is connected.
Second, everything is constantly changing. We can see this is the ever changing seasons and weather around us. And now, we can see devastating change occurring daily in the Gulf. Change that is affecting our sea, our land and the animals and people unfortunate enough to be close by- and ultimately change that will affect us all.
How can Feng Shui help? By embracing the basic principles of Feng Shui we can choose to change the way we live our lives and that in turn can make a difference the way we use energy and how the energy we use impacts the world around us. We can choose to move away from energy sources that contaminate and damage the world we live in.
5 Easy Steps to Big Change
- Recycle
- Buy local food and produce whenever possible to cut back on the fuel needed when our food is sourced elsewhere
- Change to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reduce the amount of energy you use
- Drive less, use public transportation more
- Turn your thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter – every little bit of energy you save helps
Change starts at home, with each of us. We can make a difference. We can choose to change. And Feng Shui can help, when we live in balance and harmony with our environment everybody wins.
© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:
Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui and Lifestyle Marketing articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.
Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.
