Monthly Archives: April 2013

Show Me the Money

Wad of money

photo credit: Refracted Moments™ via photopin cc

Are you living an abundant life? Are you happy with your finances, your relationships, your health? If not, your home or office may be working against you.  But don’t worry, you can apply feng shui principles to boost your prosperity as well as success in all areas of your life.

The first thing you have to do, of course, is map the Bagua. The Bagua is an energy template representing your whole life. It’s your starting point in feng shui. Each area of the Bagua represents an aspect of your life. You can use it to enhance and change your physical space, and thereby enhance and change what that particular area corresponds to in your life. If there is an area missing in the Bagua, that aspect of your life is not being energized. Unfortunately, the Wealth & Prosperity area is one that is commonly missing.

Once you have mapped the Bagua accurately, you can investigate your environment to see which areas may be blocked and therefore affecting your success. If you don’t have it correctly mapped, any feng shui you apply will be a waste of time. In fact,  you could be creating even more disharmony in your life.

Your life reflects the flow of energy in your environment. 

Are all areas of your life being energized to support your success? If not, here are five ways to use the Bagua to help increase the flow of abundance in your life:

 1. Look for the greatest area of clutter in your home.

Cluttered room photo credit: Sudipto_Sarkar via photopin cc

Which area of the Bagua is it in? Is it in the Wealth area, or perhaps the Creativity area? If so, you’ll know this is directly impacting your prosperity, or perhaps your ability to complete a project or come up with a creative solution to a problem. The clutter may well explain why energy seems to be stuck in that area, and will give you an added incentive to clear tit out. Once you have the clutter cleared, you can place an enhancement in that area – something that represents abundance or creativity to you.

2. Use the Life Wheel to see where your life is out of balance. 

life wheel

The Life Wheel is like a snapshot of your life at any given moment. It helps you to see how you are doing in the areas of your life that are important to you (i.e. family, spirituality, wealth). In turn, it allows you to pinpoint where you may be off balance. Just fill in each segment according to how satisfied you are with that area of your life at the moment. Once you discover problem areas, you can then use the Bagua to go to that area of your home and start investigating. Is there clutter there? Perhaps in your Relationship area you have images of single women or men, and you’d really like to attract your perfect partner. In the Wealth & Prosperity Area you may find a broken clock. This will be blocking the flow of energy there. Using the Life Wheel and Bagua together will help you find clues as to what may not be in alignment with your desires.

3. Create a greater flow of abundance. 

Check the Wealth & Prosperity area in your home. Does this area represent what you want more of? Do you have your bills in your Wealth area, for example? Are there dead plants in the Health area? Get rid of anything that may be blocking the good energy of a room!

Because all areas are connected, boosting the energy flow in any one area of your home will impact your abundance in all areas.

4. Turn financial challenges around. 

Act like a detective. What can you find in your Wealth area that may symbolize struggle or lack. Perhaps there’s a dark corner or perhaps it’s in a very cluttered garage. Is this where you keep the cat’s litter box? Make sure this area is clean and tidy and enhance it with tokens or pictures of what you hope to achieve.

5. Check for missing areas.

Most homes are not a perfect square or rectangle, which means there will be missing areas. This will result in parts of your life not being energized. In that case, you may need help to map the Bagua, since there are feng shui rules as to when certain features such as garages, patios, balconies, etc. should be included. The good news is that once you know how to map the Bagua, you can easily address those missing areas so the energy of your home will be “whole” again and all aspects of your life will be supported and flow abundantly.

Start small. Print out or draw a Bagua Map and walk around your house. Get familiar with the different areas. Then you can follow the five steps above to help get that good energy flowing, both in your space and in your life.

For more about Feng Shui and bringing luck into your home, read this.

Do you have any tips for enhancing your abundance? If so, please share!

Categories: Feng Shui | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

SNOB

G and I drove up to Charleston yesterday. He had an appointment at the Immigration Office, to renew his Green Card.

I wanted to try a restaurant I read about recently, SNOB – Slightly North of Broad.

Fortunately the Green Card renewal went quickly. We drove down East Bay Street. There was a huge cruise ship docked in the river, and the streets were swarming with tourists. I was afraid we were going to have a tough time getting a seat in the restaurant. SNOB Restaurant in Charleston

There were a few people waiting inside the door, but G and I were seated within minutes. The place was packed, and the buzz of voices forced us to lean into each other to talk at our little table in the back. We were close to the open kitchen, which allows diners to watch the crafty preparation of their meals. SNOB Restaurant kitchen

The great thing about SNOB is the executive chef, Frank Lee, truly believes in sourcing local ingredients, including produce and fish. In fact, he was a proponent for ‘local’ and ‘sustainable’ before it was trendy. His menu is eclectic but you can definitely tell it is Lowcountry: the bread in the bread basket is cornbread and there is the obligatory shrimp and grits! 

It was hard to choose. There is a daily special that includes a soup or salad and tea or coffee. Yesterday, it was an Asian Bowl, so I declined that option as I have eaten lots of noodles lately. The other special entree was local swordfish with fingerling potatoes and caramelized Brussel sprouts. G went for that. I finally decided on the grilled Scottish Salmon over local greens with feta and avocado. Both of our meals were delicious.

Fresh Swordfish

Fresh Swordfish

Scottish Salmon

Scottish Salmon

It’s funny, when we compare Charleston to Savannah, G describes Charleston as “a polished diamond” and Savannah as “a diamond in the rough.” And it’s true. Savannah is funky and charming and most of all young. SCAD students dominate the downtown area with their vibrant, artistic energy. Our tourists like to party! In Charleston, the atmosphere is more subdued, and the people on the streets and in the restaurants are older. They seem more serious.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, and our little walk back to the car. But we were happy to get back over the bridge and  home to Savannah!

Categories: Delectables, Travel | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

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