The Possibilities and Limitations of Feng Shui

As powerful and effective as Feng Shui can be, it is not a cure all. It’s important to know what this Key in bookancient art and science can do and what it cannot do. Some folks feel Feng Shui brings good luck.
If one’s fortunes change, I guess you could call that good luck.  That’s a bit too indefinite for me.  Others say the changes appear to be mystical. Yes, if by just moving furniture around, everything in the home goes better-it would appear to be mystical.

Anyone can move furniture around, but the energy of a place doesn’t always change -and sometimes not for the better!  Yet, properly applied, the changes can be profound. With Creative Visions I try to pass along simple techniques that can affect your harmony, your prosperity, your health and your relationships. Then there also comes a point where you need professional help, and that’s when a complementary conversation determines if my services can effectively make significant changes in your life.

Where is your belief? Would you care to make a comment?

Beauty is Good Feng Shui

Positive Feng Shui can be strengthened using beauty when working with any environment. Yet everybody has their own idea of what  beauty is, but not all spaces that an individual thinks beautiful have positive chi.  What makes the difference, what makes one space work while another does not?  Beauty can be in the eye of the beholder, how do we know when it’s working and when it’s not?
The answer lies in the principles of Feng Shui. Negative energy, or sha chi can remain on a site, and an energy clearing may be qrequirede. No matter what school is followed, the overarching guide is one of balance, harmony and the flow of positive energy. Engage the guidance of Feng Shui and any space can be made prosperous and peaceful.
A client approached me having purchased a long time dry cleaners and laundry business. It was being sold because the cash flow wasn’t sufficient.
Archie's cleaners T&C ext We looked at the location and found it was good, but needed to change the look and feel from industrial practical to efficient and beautiful.  This was accomplished by changing the front end of the business. The awning was replaced with one that balanced the yin and yang. Healthy plantings were added along the display windows.  Inside the clutter of hundreds of clean garments was taken from public view and the counters covered in hammered brass formica. Interior colors were kept to earth tones. 
The results made each customer feel not only welcome, but quietly showed them this cleaning service was going to be of the highest quality.  The simplicity of the public area  made the customer feel individually important. Soon after the completion of the renovation, the business became the profit center of the new owners, even though they had other branches in other towns nearby.
As time went by, the wife passed, and the widower began to become tired of carrying the whole load of the business. Many of the little touches, like the plants in front of the store, began to be neglected. T&C afterThe strip of ground between the sidewalk and the curb became full of weeds.  In other words, the ‘face’ of the business started to reflect the owner’s fatigue.  He would finally decide to sell the business and retire.  However, he was unable to attract a buyer and finally had to let the property be sold at a loss.
It was an unfortunate ending for the owner was a good man who had high standards for the quality of cleaning. But had had he paid the same attention to the physical appearance of his business he did to the cleaning, he would have potentially realized a profit not only the property but the business as well. Mies Van der Rohe, the famous architect, said ‘God is in the details.” A master Feng Shui practitioner keeps that in mind, bringing balance and harmony to each project. A refined sense of beauty is most often the result.

5 Keys to Effective Lighting

It’s amazing how much light affects us, yet most people have little awareness about this important element. Surprisingly, light is not included as one of the 5 elements in Feng Shui, yet it’s affects on us can be just as significant as the other elements. So here are 5 tips to make light work for you.

daylight1) Try to get at least a half hour of real sunlight a day. If you can’t, take Vitamin D3.

2) Don’t place lights sources in back of you. Often kitchens and offices just have overhead lights and people stand at a surface casting a shadow on their work. Under-counter lights to correct this. The less you strain your eyes, the less likely your eyesight will diminish with age.

3) Visible light comes in a full color spectrum. Though most of us can’t recognize the different between a 2500K light source and a 5K source, it affects the colors we see and how we feel about them.  Many people say “use daylight, or full spectrum lights. That’s fine, but the light feels cold and impersonal. It can do the same thing to many colors, making warm color feel cold. We are used to a warmer light. So before you replace bulbs (anywhere!) go to a dealer who has a series flight boxes with the same photo in each. You’ll quickly see which one looks the best to you. That’s the amount of Kelvin you want to get. [Kelvin is the measurement of the light wave length.)

4) If you’re converting to LEDs you are being kind to the environment and using electricity wisely. But make sure you know what you’re getting. Ever notice some new cars have piercingly blue/white headlights? You don’t want that inside. Look for warm white LEDs for inside use.
Storefront5) Want to draw attention to something? Put lots of light on it. If you’re in business, you’d be surprised how that can bring people into a store. Likewise, if you want your party to be mellow and casual, keep the lighting soft.  Soft lighting

One fellow I know made his entire lucrative business lighting restaurants so that women look really good.  He laughed all the way to the bank while his cynics thought he was cracked. How and were you use light is more important than you think.

Want to solve a situation with light? Call Sugeet. He’s not only a Feng Shui expert, he also was an art gallery director for 12 years. Talk about lighting!

Start to eliminate overwhelm. Here’s a key

You may know you are in overwhelm or that you become overwhelmed from time to time.  How bad does it get?Overwhelm How often? If you’ll take the time to look at you desk (if that’s where you spend most of your time) or your office, or you shop, or you home, and you see clutter, you have a thermometer for overwhelm.  It’s a well known fact in Feng Shui and in business circles that if you have a lot of clutter, your thinking will reflect that back.

It’s an ego trip to think of “how busy I am, look at everything I need to get done…” That’s the perfect cue to go into overwhelm. You probably aren’t getting that much done and what you do get done may not be your best work. So take the baby step, clear everything off your desk and only outback things that are used everyday. Keep it simple. Then notice that you are thinking more clearly about what you have to get don. Try it! You’ll like it.

How important is your front door?

If your home is considered as a body, the front door is the mouth. The chi (energy) comes in through the door and fills your home.  If you want to help insure that positive energy comes in, pay attention to what Feng Shui has to say!

Someone is approaching your front door. It is dull, perhaps cluttered, not terribly attractive.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhat mood gets conveyed to the approaching visitor? Nothing very positive, nothing very welcoming. When you open your door, you are greeted with, at best mild positive to negative and angry. You’ll have to deal with that.

But let’s change the picture. You stand at the end of the walk and visualize what would lift your spirits, make you want to come into the home? Flowers? A wonderful, colorful door, outlined by a trim that sets of the color of the rest of the house?  A welcome matt in good condition, and a pleasing door knocker or a wreath reflecting the season.

Laura@mainelynautical.com

Laura@mainelynautical.com

Someone approaching your home now is greeted by a home that welcomes and invites. Without their knowing it, their mood has been positively affected by the energy of your home. You brighten and lighten their mood without even saying hello.  Is it important? Could it make your life easier and more positive? Yes. Take a critical look at your entrance and make it as wonderful as you can. It will be well worth it.

Oh – you come in through the garage? Use the front door at least once a day. Don’t close the mouth of chi just because you car is more important than your home and the people who come to it!

Our Lives are flooded

We’re flooded, and I don’t mean Louisiana! As I prepare for a multimedia presentation at the Ashland Coop, Monday, September 17, I become overwhelmed at the multiple facets of what’s weighing us down! It is simply too broad to try and cover in an hour, to show a way out. Anyone with a storage unit knows they have more stuff than fits in their living space. and that’s just the tip top of an iceberg of gargantuan size. My newsletter, coming out this week, takes on one area that is counterproductive – that of garage sales. If you don’t already have a subscription, I hope you click on the box to the right and subscribe. If you’re in the Rogue Valley, I hope you will attend the co-op talk. This is a huge subject. It’s a worthwhile undertaking. I say let’s get our lives back, get out from under, actually reclaim our lives. I hope you’ll join me.

Losing weight – more than just pounds

As you may have noticed, I’m starting to refocus Creative Visions on a problem this society has BIG TIME: too much stuff. It comes in so many forms besides the physical . And what it’s doing is dragging our lives down. It stymies creativity. It causes unnecessary stress. It clogs up the gears of good relationships. And it costs us dearly financially.

OK, so what’s the answer? Obviously to see how to make out lives cleaner, smoother, more creative. And I’m passing along tips on my Facebook page [not what I had for dinner last night!] Things like how to get a better night’s sleep. A technique for gradually reducing the physical clutter that gather in almost all of our homes. Stop by www.Facebook.com/CreativeVisionsAshland and give me a like. I will not clog up your email with more useless garbage, just tips and tricks for you to use to make your life better. You’ll also be among the first to learn about my upcoming free webinar to help you get started.

Too Much!

It often feels like we’re being hit by a tidal wave – of climate disasters, economic woes, scandals. And in my personal life, more and more keeps knocking at the door, saying “Look at me! Pay attention.” More and more things grabbing for my attention and time. I don’t know about you, but I notice how this slows me down, gets me confused too often, and leads to unintended and unwelcome consequences. Part of the project I’m working on is a system allowing you to lose weight. Not the extra pounds you may be carrying, but the extra weight of too much of everything. The success of the program is extraordinary. But I’m not unveiling it until it’s fit and ready.

A gift Giving Thanks

At a time when the corporate world wants to move us away from giving thanks to buying material things for “gifts”,  a friend sent me this. View it full screen. It is a gift and reminds me of just how precious this existence is. http://bit.ly/sXC0rU

Keep it Clear!

Summer is the time we trip in and out of the house: back door, front door, any door – shed the shoes, drop the gear, set the garbage for taking out.  The problem with this style of living is we are dropping boulders in the stream of chi. The front door is the mouth of chi for the house, but any entrance allows chi in and back out. The more clutter you have at any entrance to the house, the more you block favorable energy from coming in.

The solution: keep entrances free from clutter and pleasing to the eye. This may require developing a new habit.  Not only for you, but the entire family.  And old habits are hard to break, but if you keep a compassionate reminder for your partner/for your kids, you can allow everyone to slowly adopt new behavior patterns — ones that allow for the free flow of positive energy to come home and enhance your life.  Be brave! Go for it! And if you run into problems, remember you can always drop me a line asking for a bit of coaching info@creativevisionscv.com. Blessings!