All of the books I have read on feng shui include stories about changes that have occurred after the practitioner or consultant assessed the client’s home or office and made suggestions for “cures” to solve specific problem areas.
I love the stories – like the one about the woman who kept burning up her kitchen because of how much red (symbolizing fire) she had included in the kitchen’s decoration. Or the one about the woman who complained that none of her friends would stop by her home to visit, and what do you know – she had thorny rose bushes lining the walkway to her front door. Another story that seems to pop up time after time is the one about the man who feels like he isn’t part of the family, and come to find out – most of the mirrors hung throughout the home chop his head off when he stands upright. These are just some of the incredible stories I have read in all of the many books on this fascinating subject.
My Feng Shui Stories
Even my own personal experiences with feng shui have been incredible. In fact, if they hadn’t been, I am positive I wouldn’t still be a feng shui practitioner, and even more importantly, I wouldn’t consider offering advice to others as a feng shui consultant.
In 1996, after reading just a few good books on feng shui, I realized why I hadn’t been asked out on any dates after I moved to Blacksburg to get my B.A. at Virginia Tech. Hanging on the wall of my relationship corner was a framed invitation to my parent’s wedding. Normally, such an item would be appropriate for this area – however, in this instance it was not. My parent’s marriage had ended in divorce! The negative energy produced by this reminder of a failed relationship was strong enough to put a damper on my own relationships. When I removed the invitation and placed a picture of two lovebirds in the same location the positive results were nearly immediate. Within two months I had three different gentlemen calling me regularly for dates!
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Interestingly enough, when I moved to back to Frederick I was surprised when I began to have relationship problems once again. When I first started studying feng shui I had selected the form school method as the easiest and most understandable way to define the specific areas of the bagua in my home.
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Everything worked fine while I was in Blacksburg, but in Frederick nothing I tried seem to work. What I realized was that in Blacksburg my front door opened to the north, and therefore perfectly matched the standard layout for the form school AND the compass school. In Frederick, my front door faces south/south-west, and the areas are now completely reversed for the form school method. When I switched to the compass school and reassessed the bagua in my home, remarkable things began to happen.
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My relationship area is now near the front door to my home – and not in the corner of my bedroom as I originally believed. The space just inside my front door had been cluttered with boxes of things to give away or re-cycle, and there were piles of shoes, toys and jackets dropped by my son on his way into our home. The effect was blocking any hope for good relationships to begin. All summer my son had been complaining that he had no one to play with and that his friends never stopped by. After clearing away the clutter and the unwanted items, my son’s friends began showing up at the front door every day! (The word “relationships” does not only apply to romantic relationships.) The change in his life was immediate. As for me – well, I recently received a phone call from a man I haved loved from afar for many years! As this story unfolds I will be sure to keep you posted.
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Another simple change in my life occurred when I realized I had blocked my potential for travel when I piled boxes of past relationship and vacation memorabilia in front of my luggage in my bedroom closet. The result was I was continuing to live in the past, thinking about what had been instead of opening myself to the opportunities that lie ahead. As soon as I removed the mementos from the past, and placed my suitcases in an easily accessible area, I heard about an international feng shui conference coming up in Orlando and I was able to get very reasonable travel and accommodations enabling me to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. A few weeks later I was invited to a conference in Las Vegas related to my latest business venture as a nutrition consultant. In the last few months I have also visited Cleveland, Phoenix, Kansas City, and Dallas!
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Other changes in my life have occurred since I realigned my home with the compass directions. I added an aquarium to the wealth area of my home and moved the books I had piled up in the helpful people area. Shortly afterwards my father called asking me if I needed any financial support (remember – I am a full-time graduate student) and he offered to pay my real estate taxes for the coming year!
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The most amazing change in my life just recently occurred when I increased the number of goldfish in my aquarium to eight (four orange and four calico) and removed a picture from the wall in my career area. The word eight sounds like the Chinese word for wealth, and four is the symbolic number for the wealth area. The picture portrayed a short path leading to a stone barn that symbolized a stone wall or dead-end blocking my career or life’s journey. Just one week after I added the additional fish, and two days after I removed the picture, I received a business opportunity from a complete stranger! She has become my mentor, and with her help and guidance I am moving toward my dream for a lifestyle that ensures complete freedom from financial worries and allows me to work from home. The time I will save by not having to commute to work and being able to set my own hours will give me the time to pursue my own personal goals. These goals include helping my son to succeed academically at school, being able to attend all of his baseball games, writing about art on a free-lance basis, traveling all over the world to see and collect art, establishing a local art museum, and volunteering to help young children learn to read better. My own opportunities for personal growth and my desire to help others achieve the same are limitless, and I have feng shui to thank for my wonderful life.
