Archive for the Feng Shui Tips

This weekend I was reading the new In Style magazine and I came across this heading and subheading –

Life, etc.
Because style isn’t just about what you wear

And it got me thinking. For me, style is about living a life that embraces who I am and what’s important to me. A life that reflects my authenticity and personality – with panache and aplomb! Style is a way of living; it isn’t just about what we choose to wear or how we choose to decorate our homes. What we choose to wear and how we decorate our homes should be a reflection of our personal style, not the other way around.

Take a look around your home and in your closet. Does what you see bring you a sense of comfort and satisfaction? Do you like what you see? For many of us, the items in our homes are items we’ve accumulated over the course of our lives – and while this might be a good thing, it might also mean we’re surrounded with a jumble of furnishings and accessories that don’t bring us a sense of joy, things that we have just because they’re here not because we love them.

The same might be said about the items we have hanging in our closets. If you have clothes that don’t make you feel comfortable and attractive it’s time to release a few things and make room for something new!

When your surroundings, whether furnishings or clothes, don’t nurture and comfort you or reflect who you are, they are devoid of vibrant energy, they are devoid of style. And the energy in our surroundings is what inspires and motivates us, so it’s important that it be positive and uplifting. Not depleting and depressing.

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to really evaluate your belongings. Consider each item, determine if you love and need what you have and if some of your things aren’t things you love or you find you aren’t quite sure, consider releasing them.

Releasing items that no longer serve us creates space for change, space for opportunity, space for new things. And if the new things we select are things we absolutely love, they will also be things that reflect our personal sense of style, they’ll be just right!

When you surround yourself with things you love, you feel good about where you are and you feel good about who you are. Feeling good about who you are, empowers and enriches your life experiences and it all starts with the things you choose to live with.

Click for past article on clutter

For more info on clutter visit Lifestyle Feng Shui

© 2012 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.

Feng Shui is based on change, the ebb and flow if life. An acceptance and understanding of this enables us to move through lifes’ challenges with a greater sense of comfort and ease. Just as the river adjusts and shifts to the shape of the land. A sense of flexibility and the ability to ‘go with the flow’ allows us to move through our hectic, busy days and lives open to new opportunity and relationships.

Is there a place in your life where you’re feeling stuck, immersed in old energy or thought patterns? How are these past experiences and patterns serving you? Does remaining in old patterns and ways of thinking enable you to remain in a job you don’t like? A relationship that doesn’t nurture you? Are you choosing to stay with the old because it’s familiar or because it helps you be the best you can be?

I believe that everything that happens to us provides us with the opportunity to grow stronger, wiser, more creative and more diverse. Often our needs for safety, predictability and controlled outcomes prevent us from fully experiencing all our life has to offer.

I believe that we can all truly learn to experience the perfection of each and every moment by simply letting our days unfold, letting each moment propel us to the proper action. We can chose to act rather than react. Life is experienced in the moments, in the now. If we are too focused on getting through our list of things to do, intent on ‘doing’ versus ‘being, life has a way of slipping by us. We are too busy to ‘see’ opportunity, to see and experience life before us. It is the unexpected moments that bring us synchronistic opportunities.

Lifestyle Feng Shui Tips for Living in the Moment

1. Stop filling your days with tasks and activities that don’t serve your highest intention. Do you define yourself by how busy you are? Do you think being busy is proof that you’re successful? Are your days all about quantity rather than quality? Slow down, don’t fill every moment with activities, experience your life. Living is in the moment, not the past, not the future. Living is now.
2. Do what you really want to do. What activities would you do right now if there were no obstacles in front of you? Take one small step toward doing something you like but haven’t given yourself permission to do. Start small, and stay consistent. You deserve to love the life you’re living.
3. Stop trying to control everything. Let it go. Is it important to you what others think or do? By learning to release being stuck in the outcome of what others do or do not do, you free yourself up to focus on you.
4. Tell the whole truth, all of the time. Most of us don’t realize how much energy we waste by not being entirely truthful with ourselves. Stop trying to live up to someone else’s idea of how you should be…..just be who you are. Who you are is not only enough, it’s perfect!
5. Slow down and breathe. Reflect on where you are and where you’re going. Quiet time is a way of checking in with yourself as well as a way of connecting to those around you. Going ‘with the flow’ requires that we change our mindset, that we let go of the need to control every aspect of our days and lives. This doesn’t mean we can’t set goals, it means surrendering the need to forge ahead at all costs, it means trusting that what you’ve accomplished is enough; that what you’ve accomplished is what was meant to be.

If you can learn to incorporate the principles and spirit of Lifestyle Feng Shui into your daily life, not just your living environment, you will find you accomplish more than you can imagine. Pay attention to what makes you feel energized, connected and stimulated. Let go of the need to control your life and begin living it instead. 

This weekend I was reading through some of my past Ezine articles and I came across this one. It’s as valid today as it was in 2007. I hope you enjoyed it.

© 2012 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.

To celebrate the new year, I decided to create my first video! Join me as I share 3 powerful Lifestyle Feng Shui tips to help you change the quality of your life this year. I hope you enjoy it!

SPACE CLEARING FOR THE NEW YEAR

A good time to space clear your home is at the start of a new year. This year, I’d like to share the steps I take when I clear my own home.

Space clearing is a way to instantly shift and transform the subtle, energy or the feeling in your home or workspace.

I believe that our homes mirror and reflect our consciousness, our inner state of being, and the act of clearing or re-aligning the energy in our living spaces shifts our energy and our experience of the energy within our living spaces.

There are seven basic steps to I use when space clearing my home. I usually do the first two steps the day before the clearing.

1. Cleaning. I thoroughly clean my home from vacuuming carpets and floors to windows. When everything is clean the energy automatically feels better.
2. Personal preparation. After cleaning my home, I make sure to take time to eat a nourishing meal and bathe. I like making this step a bit of a ritual. I love taking an epsom salt bath, (great for clearing toxins from our bodies while grounding us), with a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil added for clarity and focus.
3. Preparation. At this stage I create a beautiful display that includes my space clearing tool (I personally love sound instruments – my favorite is a crystal singing bowl), a bowl or vase of fresh flowers, a beautiful table cloth, several candles and a fabulous crystal or semiprecious stone. I use this space to set my intention and to say my house blessing.
4. Clearing. There are many ways to clear a space, this is what I do. I begin at my front door and moving clockwise through my home and each room I gently ring my singing bowl as I move through the space, paying attention to the clarity of the singing bowl. If the bowl sounds dull i know to spend more time in this space. When the bowl resonates with a clear tone, I know the area is clear.
5. Blessing. Once I’ve cleared my entire home I go back to the front door and begin again. This time as I move through the space with my singing bowl, I also say my blessing, or intention for my home.
6. Closing. Once the entire home has been cleared and blessed, I return to my beautiful display and I state the blessing once again as I close the ceremony.
7. The final step is sealing my intention or blessing into my home. I do this by placing the vase of flowers on my kitchen table. The flowers represent vibrant, living energy and reinforce the power of the clearing. Their beauty embraces the beauty of my intention and blessing.

© 2012 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.

As we herald in the New Year many of us take this time to reflect on the year past and to set intentions for the year to come. The use of Feng Shui can provide us with a deeper understanding and appreciation of our lives and our intentions. When we make space for what we desire, we open ourselves to possibilities and opportunities.

For many of us this is a time for resolutions and resolutions are often focused on things we don’t like: our weight, our relationships, clutter in our home, our jobs or lack thereof, and our balance between work and life, to name a few.

This year I’d like to suggest that we shift our focus from New Year resolutions to New Year realignments.

A New Year realignment is an awareness and appreciation for what’s working in our lives rather than a focus on what isn’t. When we focus our thoughts and energy on what’s working, we literally make it bigger.

And when we make the good in our lives bigger, those things that aren’t as good become smaller. When they’re smaller, they become less important and when they’re less important we give them less energy. With less energy they continue to get smaller.

Top 5 Lifestyle Feng Shui Tips for the New Year

1. Clean your house – literally. When you take care of the space around you, you feel better about yourself and the world reflects your energy back to you…if you don’t like what you’re experiencing, give your house a good cleaning!
2. Place your bed in the ‘Command Position’. The Command Position is when the position of the bed provides the widest view of the room and is supported by a solid wall. (The more you can see, the safer you feel and when you feel safe you feel supported.)
3. Celebrate the positive in your life (no matter how small, good things are even better when we notice and appreciate them)
4. Choose to shift your focus in your relationships away from what isn’t working and embrace what is working. (Changing your thinking and behavior is so powerful, it’s literally enough to completely makeover the quality of your relationship.)
5. Write an affirmation focused on gratitude and appreciation on a lovely piece of paper and then plant that paper in the soil of a plant (ideally located in the Abundance area of your home). Each time you water that plant visualize the positive in your life growing stronger, more resilient and abundant. (To find the Abundance area of  your home click here for a free Bagua Map)

In the world of Feng Shui you get what you focus on. Changing your focus energizes and empowers the positive in your life – and when our lives are empowered we are too!

© 2012 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.

Winter blues. We’ve all heard of it but what does it mean? As the days get shorter and the nights get colder many of us find ourselves low on motivation, high in exhaustion and feeling blue.

For some this may translate into an entire season of malaise, spawned by lack of light and energy. For others, our blues may be based in emotions, tied to unrealistic expectations of family, our friends, and ourselves during the holidays. We may experience feelings of boredom due to cold weather confinement, or even a sense of depression due to the sheer number of grey days winter brings.

Can feng shui fight the winter blues?

Feng shui can help you shift the energy around you, and in that shift you change not only the way your spaces look, but you also change the way they feel.

No matter what your experience or how long your winter blues tend to last these 9 powerful feng shui tips will help ensure that this winter season isn’t a season of blues.

1. Let the sun shine in! Open your curtains. Sunlight, or rather the lack of it, contributes to the winter blues. When you open your curtains you allow sunlight to enter your home, energizing you and your spaces. In feng shui, sunlight represents fire energy, and fire energy is full of vitality and life.
2. Add colorful accents, pillows, throws, candles, curtains, tablecloths and art in red, orange and yellow. All three of these colors are warm and inviting, and they increase the energy of the space they are in. Using warm colors literally makes your home feel 10 – 15 degrees warmer. And warm feels good when it’s cold outside!
3. Place plants and flowers around your home to literally bring life into your space. Plants and flowers have living energy and vitality, they connect you to nature and in that connection they bring balance. (Think of them as little spots of springtime.)
4. Exercise – it’s not just about losing weight! Exercise helps relieve stress by relaxing your mind, tones and strengthens your body by working your muscles and gives you more energy by boosting your metabolism. With benefits like that, your mood is bound to improve! (Our body is our most important environment, even before our homes – and feng shui believes in creating supportive environments. So get outside and take a walk, go for a run or a bike ride. You’ll soak up some sun and improve your living environment at the same time – sounds like good feng shui to me!
5. Eat healthy. What you eat and when you eat has an effect on your mood and energy.  Try to avoid or limit processed foods and simple carbohydrates. (Sugar, white rice, white bread, etc.) Instead eat complex carbohydrates such as whole grain bread, fruit, vegetables and oatmeal. According to CBS news correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, “…your diet can have a significant impact on your mood. Oatmeal is a great winter option its got lots of fiber and whole grains, it’s warming, it’s comforting and it’s not just for breakfast. Oatmeal can be used in bread and whole grain rolls; it can be used in place of breadcrumbs in meatloaf and much more. Vitamin D can help combat the blues. There’s research linking Vitamin D deficiency and depression — so make sure you get enough Vitamin D. Good sources include fish, eggs and milk “ Don’t’ forget sunlight. Every time you go outside you soak up Vitamin D, another good reason to go for a walk! Tea may help relieve stress — one British study found that those who drank tea found their cortisol levels (stress hormones) dropped almost 50 percent when they drank black tea four times a day.
6. Create a treasure map. Treasure maps and collages capture your thoughts, your desires and intention with a series of images. You select the images from a series of magazines and pictures of your choice. The images you choose should be images that convey the image of what you desire. As you select these images, do so with a spirit of abundance, gratitude and joy. (Click here for Treasure Map how-to)
7. Break out of your routine. In winter, when every day seems cold and grey, it’s easy to find yourself going through the motions, stuck in a boring, tired routine. Shake it up! Go out for breakfast with friends before work, meet friends or colleagues for a warm eggnog or apple cider and talk about the latest books you’ve read, swap colorful accessories with a friend and wear them, change your lipstick color – go bright instead of dark, join a wine club, take that cooking class you’ve been considering, join Facebook and search for your long lost friends.
8. Paint a room in your home. Paint at least one wall in your home a warm, vibrant color. Color transforms space faster and easier than any other decorating tool. Color can change an uninviting, drab space into a personal paradise, full of vibrant energy and warmth. Afraid to paint a room or a wall? Then consider painting the frame of a wooden chair, the legs on the sofa, a picture frame or even a chest of drawers. A few little touches can really help chase away the winter blues.
9. Embrace the things that make this season special. Even if you haven’t thought of winter as special there are many things to enjoy this time of year. The smell of pine, cinnamon and apples. The warmth of a roaring fire. Roasted marshmallows. Hot Chocolate. Special seasonal TV shows, some of my favorites are; Babes in Toyland, Hocus Pocus and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Wear winter clothes you love, for me that means jeans, boots, mufflers and an assortment of coats – if you don’t have any winter clothes you love, get some! When you like what you wear you feel better about yourself and feeling good helps chase the blues away.

Stay positive, focus your thoughts on what you like rather than what you don’t like and the cold winter months will be gone before you know it.

© 2011 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.

I was reading a recent issue of Real Simple magazine and found this statistic -

83% - The percentage of human-resource managers who say the appearance of an employee’s workspace
affects their perception of her skill level and professionalism.

Apparently reality is guided by perception and if that’s the case then our perception of our living and working spaces directly impacts the quality of our lives, or our reality. You are strongly influenced by the spaces you inhabit – so much so the impression of others is also affected.

If you don’t like your reality, change your surroundings!

You guessed it; this is where Feng Shui enters the picture. When we incorporate the principles of Feng Shui into our living and working spaces we create spaces that not only look good but spaces that feel good as well. And when a space truly feels good, it is supportive of us, whether that support is for our goals and dreams or for a good impression from our co-workers.

Top 5 Feng Shui tips for your living and working spaces

1. Arrange your furnishings so that you are in the power or command position. This means that you have the support of a solid wall behind you and full view of the room in front of you.
2. Eliminate clutter.
3. Bring in a plant or two to improve the air quality and remove toxins.
4. Increase the amount of light through the use of additional light fixtures and lamps or open the curtains! Light energizes and activates a space.
5. Have a view of something inspiring. This can be a picture, a beautiful piece of art, a plant, or the view out a window. What you see is less important than how it makes you feel…find something inspiring to motivate and energize you.

These five simple steps are a great way to begin the Feng Shui Lifestyle™ process. For more tips, recommendations and articles, visit http://www.examiner.com/feng-shui-lifestyle-in-national. It’s up to you what impression your space makes on others and whether or not it supports you and your desires. You can change your reality simply by changing your spaces!

What are you waiting for?

© 2011 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.

As a Feng Shui practitioner and teacher, I often hear folks talking about ‘needing balance in their lives.’ And feeling like they need to ‘get away’ to achieve it.

Balance – is it connected to someplace we go, like the ocean, the mountains, or the country?

For me the answer is ‘no’. Balance isn’t a place we go. While it’s true that our living environments can affect how we feel in a space, it is also true that we can affect the energy of the space around us.

Balance is an inside job.

Embracing balance is all aspects of our lives, from our living spaces to how we live our lives isn’t about going away, it’s about going within. It’s about understanding that just as we are profoundly affected by our environments, our environments are affected by us as well.

If we’re are as affected by our environments as they are by us, then balance takes change in both our living spaces and our way of living. If you are unhappy with your home it is usually because the energy is blocked. When you begin to make changes, to open it up, there will be a period when all that unstuck energy stirs things up. Don’t give up! Things start to get uncomfortable inside right before change occurs, if you stop now you will slip back into old patterns of behavior and old patterns of living.

If balance is truly what you desire, step forward and embrace change. Instead of making your living space responsible for the lack of balance you are experiencing, partner with your living space and create balance.

All it takes is commitment, patience and a little bit of Feng Shui housework!

To help you get started, try my FREE Feng Shui Ecourse – it’s filled with lots of simple and effective strategies to help you embrace balance in all areas of your life!

© 2011 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.

For this week’s blog post I’m sharing a question I was recently asked about Feng Shui and cleaning.

Do I have to clean my house before I do Feng Shui? 

It is always a good idea to clean your home before you incorporate Feng Shui changes into your space. Cleaning your space removes old energy, resistence and stagnation and it makes space for the change you desire.

The energy of a place is created in part by the people who have been there, past events, past emotions, the energy patterns inherent in our style of building and of course, by the people living there now.

10 Simple ways to uplift the energy in your home

1. Clean and vacuum
2. Clear clutter
3. Clean the windows
4. Replace old, burned out light bulbs
5. Open the windows; let fresh air flow into your home
6. Spritz your rooms with essential oils (lemon, lavender, eucalyptus and pine are wonderful for this)
7. Burn incense or use an essential oil diffuser
8. Light a candle
9. Add fresh flowers or a beautiful plant
10. Play inspiring music

Your results are a reflection of your efforts, so get out the duster and vacuum cleaner and get started!

© 2011 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.

This has been an extremely busy few weeks. After my blog post about preparing our home to sell, I started doing everything I suggested…and I’m still at it! (I really thought that I was ahead of it!)

I managed to clean our front entry, closets and kitchen cupboards. Rearrange our living room, family room and kitchen eating area and that’s as far as I’ve gotten!

As I was clearing clutter and rearranging, I had an interesting experience. I found that many of the things I had no longer had a real purpose. Things I had thought I needed weren’t needed at all! Sometimes, even when we think we don’t have clutter we actually have items that have fallen out of usefulness … and that makes them clutter. 

I emptied my longstanding mismatched casual china from my kitchen cupboards and replaced it with the casual white china I use whenever we have lots of company. I took out all the extra wine glasses (how often do you really need 18 wine glasses?), and kept only 8. I put all the champagne flutes on the ‘release these things’ table. And I cleaned out the pantry while I was at it.

I was so motivated I even went through all my cookware – those of you who love cooking will understand why this was unusual. I either packed what I don’t need regularly or released those items that have never really been needed….like those 12 miniature tart pans, or that orange juice squeezer way at the back of the cupboard!

After I finished, I opened all the cupboards and felt a sense of accomplishment and great satisfaction; it was as though the home and I were not only preparing for the next phase of our lives, but we were ready to transition.

Now both of the closets in my front entry are neat and organized. Everything that remains has a purpose and a reason for being there. With the closets clear, the front entry actually feels bigger! (Neat trick when the closets are behind doors…it’s about making space, and space creates the opportunity for energy to move, and movement creates a sense of space.)

I discovered that no matter how organized or detail oriented you are, things are going to take longer than you think they will. And that’s OK. Letting life unfold as it’s intended is truly going with the flow and living a Feng Shui Lifestyle™. When we try to force life around us into our time frame, we can find ourselves frustrated and bogged down.

Going with the flow is more than just a catch-phrase, it’s about doing what you can and then accepting that what you got done is what was intended. Things really do have a magical way of working out when we stop trying to force it.

The next part of my ‘get your home ready to sell’ process will be to clean all the trim and doors in my home and to touch up the paint on the trim throughout the house. (I’ve decided to make my to-list into several smaller lists – this way it won’t take as long to complete each list!)

And I thought my home was almost ready to list! Looks like I have several more weeks before I get there!

© 2011 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.

Guess what?

We’ve decided to sell our house and move! And I’m going to share my Feng Shui Lifestyle™ process and experience with you.

I know many of you have been either trying to sell your home or perhaps you’ve been giving it some thought. The tips I’m going to share will put you and your home at the front of the pack. Preparation and commitment are critical here – you have to do the work to get the maximum benefit.

Step 1 – The basics (Feng Shui can be practical!)

1. Clear clutter. If there is ever a time to release your extra stuff, this is it. Go through every room, every closet, and every cupboard and release everything you no longer use, need or love.
2. Now that you’ve cleared clutter, go back through every room, every closet and every cupboard and pack up approximately 10-25% of the items in each space. (Why you ask? This is the time to literally make room for someone new, to make room you have to move some stuff out!)
3. Take down and clean all curtains.
4. Wipe down your baseboards, doors and all trim.
5. Time for spring-cleaning, even if it isn’t spring! Move the furniture, get behind the fridge, the washer and dryer and really clean up.
6. Clean your windows (You want your home to sparkle and shine – time to get the ‘girl’ ready for a show!)
7. Thoroughly clean your garage – time to throw away everything you don’t want to take with you. (Believe me, you have more to throw away than you think you do!)
8. Touch up walls and trim where the paint has been chipped.
9. Dust all ceilings and corners for spider and dust webs.

Once your home sparkles and shines, it’s time to hire a home inspector. I know, you’re thinking that a home inspection is part of the contract process once you have a buyer and that’s true. And here’s why I recommend hiring an inspector before you put your home up for sale – you want to know everything about your home that needs fixing or correcting before you go to sell it. And once you know, make those repairs now.

Almost 2/3rds of all home sales that fall through do so because of something that comes up during inspection – if you get ahead of the process you can be assured that your home will pass inspection with flying colors!

Step 2 coming soon…

© 2011 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.