Are you really prepared for 2009?

Are you really prepared for 2018?

And for my auspicious number eight tip I have decided to “go green” and recycle a few question and answers from a 2004 newsletter on how we use Feng Shui in our life, this was written by Jo:

I thought these questions and answers section would interest you as they are questions sent to us personally and it gives you some insight into our personal life and how we use Feng Shui day to day, I hope you enjoy it.

Q: Do you use Feng Shui in your life every single day?

A: No, well when I say no, obviously we talk, live and breathe Feng Shui daily because of our job, but we do not practice it in our home daily. Our home is like thousands of others; it is not always completely clutter free. My office desk is sometimes such a mess; my kitchen occasionally looks like a monkey’s tea party has just taken place. It really is about balance, I have seen so many beautiful homes that look like something out of the ideal home magazine but they have no real atmosphere.

A home with children and a demanding job will never look perfect and good Feng Shui is all about balance. Obviously every year we set up the annual cures and follow the monthly flying stars but only ever refer to it when something happens in our life that is unexpected like the boys arguing more or illness comes into the house, when this happens 80% of the time can be explained by energies (flying stars) that are moving round the home and this is where we would normally avoid the area or place a cure.

The time we pay particular attention to Feng Shui is when we make changes to the home, if we were choosing new colours for a room, buying new furniture, new carpets, fitting new kitchen, choosing a painting or picture for a room, even the shape of a new side gate. The most important time is when we have work done in the garden, when this happens you should consult a Feng Shui Practitioner or use our Feng Shui software.

Last year we had around 40 trees cut back at the front of our house, it took 2 weeks to decide how much could be taken back, not that it took us this long to work it out, it was a case of double and triple checking as Feng Shui is mainly about outside environment. My view has always been if it isn’t broken don’t fix it so cutting the trees back are extremely important as it affects the land formations around your home, cutting a tree back too low is like removing a mountain and that can be very good or very bad.

At some point in the week and month I always find an overwhelming urge to blitz the house from top to bottom and it feels absolutely great, believe it or not Michael is the same he has a thing about drains and clean bathrooms (I know pretty weird) when he cleans he really does clean, its great I just sit back and let him get on with it.

The point I am trying to make is yes clutter can have an effect but it does not mean you have to be clutter free 24 hours of the day, cleanliness is more important. I have read books that tell you, you must live with absolutely no clutter in your home at any time, nonsense, if you have children and they leave their toys scattered all over the place this is good Feng Shui, good energy, if like me writing this newsletter you have resource books all over your desk do not worry about it, the secret is just tidy up at the end of the day and do not get stressed when it gets messed again.

Is my home clean? Yes, behind radiators, bookcases and every nook and cranny you can think of, this is far more important, how far do we take cleanliness? When I had a new kitchen installed last year, part of the contract with the fitters was for them to come in on a Friday to rip the old one out and return Monday to fit the new one, this gave us a whole weekend to clean behind the old cupboards, obsessive? I do not think so, every part of your home regardless if you can see it or not stores old energy, this old dormant energy needs to be freshened up and this is why every now and again we have major clean ups in our home, this is far more important than having clutter, clutter is normally things like books, toys, papers etc all these things are moving round the home at all times, dirt and dust is stagnant energy and needs clearing.

I have just thought of something you may be able to relate to, have you ever noticed how you feel when you are spring cleaning? Some people get very stressed this is normally because they are releasing a lot of negative energy from their home, I don’t know about you but I love the feeling of going back to what you have cleaned (about 10 times) and standing there admiring my work.

Keep a diary of all changes you make in the house, if you install a new water feature, erect a fence, cut down a tree, move furniture, knock down a wall, repaint a room, change floor colours, replace a main door, install a new indoor pot plant, move bed positions, change your desk location, in fact any change you make in the home. Why keep a diary? If you notice changes in your life good or bad you can easily identify what may have caused it by checking when you moved or changed the inside of your home.

Q: You must have many wind chimes around your home?

A: I only have one wind chime inside my home this year in the north for the #5 bad luck star, last year I had one in the south because I could not find a suitable area to hang the chime outside for the annual #5 star.

Again the books tell you to hang wind chimes to negate the bad energy of a beam or a long corridor, hanging wind chimes in the wrong area can cause devastating effects

Q: How many Ba Gua mirrors do you have inside and outside your home?

A: We have one in the front and one in the back and absolutely none inside, again books, websites and even some Practitioners recommend placing a Ba Gua mirror indoors to make a bathroom door disappear or some other inauspicious object, this is so dangerous please take my word never hang a Ba Gua mirror indoors. If a Ba Gua mirror were so powerful it can make bathroom doors disappear I would have made a belt by now with a Ba Gua as a buckle to make my waistline disappear.

Also note that you should renew a Ba Gua mirror every 12-18 months, they store so much negative energy, the ones we sell on our site are designed to fade with weathering within this timescale, do not get tempted to buy one of those everlasting plastic ones they cause many problems as they store years of negative energy.

Q: Do you force Feng Shui onto your children?

A: No, yes, I mean ummmm, no not at all, well not really, seriously I have to admit yes I did but indirectly when they were younger, they are now 22 & 20 and thankfully they use Feng Shui themselves. By indirectly I mean I used to place objects in certain parts of their rooms and apply monthly cures or make them avoid parts of the home that were afflicted. The sort of enhancers I had in their rooms were a Kwan Yin, crystal globe, happy Buddha and of course annual or monthly cures like 6 coins etc.

A funny story, a few months ago Sean our eldest was having an argument with his girlfriend and he came to me and asked if there were any monthly afflictions this month in his bedroom and if so could we please sort them out because he did not like arguing, I thought that was so sweet, firstly because he still needs his Mum (those of you with 22 year olds will know what I am talking about) and secondly because he thought of Feng Shui and he knows how powerful it can be.

Did he have any Feng Shui problems in his room? No but his girlfriend could have done in her parents home and it would have probably been a visiting #3 wood which causes arguments and legal problems.

Q: Do you keep the toilet lid down when you flush?

A: I have five toilets and three of them we keep the lids down and the other two the lids are kept up whilst flushing and closed straight after.

Now that goes against everything you have read in the books doesn’t it. The three we keep closed are in good areas of the home and we do not want to flush away that good energy, yes you guessed right the other two are in bad areas so this energy we want to flush away. Please note that the seats must be closed after flushing regardless if the area is good or bad. I give you this example to show you there is no standard Feng Shui, every home will be different and whether you have had a professional consultation or use our Feng Shui software, the advice you are given will be different.

If you know your good and bad areas in Xuan Kong or have had a traditional and professional consultation follow my advice if not keep them closed at all times just to be on the safe side.

Q: Can you honestly say Feng Shui has worked for you and do you believe in the products you sell?

A: Michael and I have been using Feng Shui for around 29 years and I can honestly say yes it has, have we had the perfect life? No we have had a normal happy life with the ups and downs that come with it. We have two wonderful children, we both have the best jobs in the world, we have been happily married for 29 years and yes, there have been a few ups and downs but considering we work together I think that we have the near perfect marriage, Michael has his faults and I have none.

I have always said it and will repeat it again, Feng Shui does not give you a perfect life, and you will have good and bad days, weeks and even years. You will find many books and websites that make unbelievable promises on how Feng Shui can bring you untold riches and romance, yes on the whole but please expect the usual ups and downs that come with life.

The best way to look at Feng Shui is think of it as moving energies distributed at certain times of a minute, hour, day, week, month or year, these energies (elements) will interact with other energies (elements) and cause good and bad outcomes, I need to explain that better here is an example:

Take my house, last month Sean my eldest sleeps in the north of our home and he has suffered all month with a constant sore throat, bad chest and sinus problem, normally he is never ill and if you remember last month we warned you of the north and the fact that the #2 annual is visited by #5 monthly, this is a recipe for disaster. We asked Sean if he would move to another room for the month, and like most 16 year olds said no, so we placed a six rod wind chime outside his bedroom window, another set of six Chinese coins tied with ribbon, a Wu Lou, a large heavy brass Dragon, could we control these sickness stars with our vast experience? Obviously not, we hoped Sean would not suffer and did everything in our power to prevent it but look at it as part of life, you will never have a smooth ride all the time, however, without using the annual and monthly cures, Sean would have suffered a great deal more. The downstairs part of the north, our dining room we did not use at all.

As Michael will tell you on his monthly Xuan Kong section avoidance of a bad area for the month or year is always best but as you know this is not always possible.

Nearly forgot to answer the second part of the question, do you believe in the products you sell? Absolutely, every single product on our site is something we would and do use in our home. Over the years we have never placed an item on our web site what I would call a gimmicky cure or enhancers, all our products are cures and enhancers that any traditional Practitioner would use, in fact many of our products go to Practitioners and Masters from all over the world. The biggest compliment any Practitioner can have is to have another qualified Practitioner ask their advice; we have many testimonials from other Practitioners that not only seek our advice but actually employ Michael to Feng Shui their own home or business and our academy teaches Feng Shui Practitioners from all over the world

Have a lovely month.

Are you really prepared for 2018?

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© Michael Hanna, Feng Shui Store 2009