I asked fabulous feng shui consultant, Liz Brown, for a few easy tips anyone could implement in a hurry without having a background in the Chinese art of placement. And she wrote this whole article. I do know some of the most amazing people…

Top 10 Feng Shui Tips
to Enhance Your Home & Change Your Life

1. The most important Feng Shui tip of all: clear the clutter! Ask yourself two questions about every item in your home: Do I love it? Is it useful to me right now? You need a YES to at least one – preferably both – of those questions to retain the item. Otherwise, it’s not only NOT doing you any good, it’s taking away some of the positive chi (life force energy) that might otherwise surround you. What you will have created is a sanctuary! Imagine this: stepping into a home where you’re surrounded ONLY by items you love and that are useful to you. Everywhere your eye lands is pleasing to you. Pure bliss! It’s truly an act of faith – having faith that God/Source/the Universe will indeed provide all that you need when you need it and you can let go of all that doesn’t work for you right now. You can let go of the stack of magazines or old newspapers that is 6 feet high, because that information you need that’s 6″ off the floor will find its way to you through some other avenue, rest assured.

2. Make your entryway inviting. As people drive by – or walk by your apartment in the hall – they should be intrigued and pleased enough to want to get to know you. use mats, wreaths, banners, flags, color – whatever works for YOU – to design an entry that is alive, for the front door is the portal for all the Good of the Universe to come your way. Accordingly, USE your front door! If not every day – which would be best – at least every few days, bring your energy through those doors and invite in all manner of Good/God.

3. Claim your space! make sure you have house numbers – or apartment numbers – and your name clearly identified at your home’s entry. If people can’t find you easily and effortlessly, then Universal Abundance will have a hard time getting to you as well. After all, Publisher’s Clearinghouse needs to know EXACTLY where to deliver that check!

4. Make sure all your doors and drawers do not stick. All should open easily and effortlessly. Don’t put up with little aggravations, because they drag down energy – yours and the home’s – in a BIG way. You’ll be amazed what a difference it makes in your life when you literally have a good handle on things.

5. Replace all the burned-out light bulbs in the home and consider upping the wattage in key areas. Light is life! It’s good chi. Efforts to find your soulmate or your career or good health can be helped by simply putting a little light on the subject. Enliven that area of the bagua (back right corner for relationship, center for health, center front for career) in your home and see if that area of life doesn’t become just a little bit clearer for you.

6. Never seat yourself in a vulnerable position. Have a view of the doorway from your chair (whether it’s your chair in the living room or your seat in the office). Just like the Mafia don or the bear in the cave, don’t sit with your back to the door. You want to see what’s coming up, don’t you? Have a view of, preferably, ALL the doorways into the room. That way, you can rest easy and devote all your energies to the task at hand, whatever that may be.
***The same holds true for the cook standing at the stove. If you can’t see the reflection of what’s behind you in the microwave above your stove, place a mirror or reflective object at the back of the burners or on the wall. The stove is a financial center in your home, so if the cook is startled, finances may suffer.
***Ditto for the bedroom. Your headboard should not be along the same wall as the door. When you sit up in bed, you should be able to view the doorway across the room, but NOT be in the direct line of the doorway with your feet pointing directly out the door. Doorways and hallways channel the chi throughout the home. Those pathways are akin to streets, where the chi is active and threatening. Laying in the path of the door with the door closed is like laying in the street, but the light is red. How good does that feel?

7. Use ALL the burners on your stovetop to invite multiple avenues of prosperity into your life. Each burner represents one avenue of prosperity, so don’t limit yourself and think that all your abundance comes just from that one paycheck. God wants you to prosper – in ALL ways! So overlay the bagua (hexagram) on the stovetop and when you cook (or if you don’t cook, just boil water or potpourri!), set your intention to light a fire in your relationship (back right corner) or get your prosperity burning (back left corner), instead of just using the 2 burners in front. Knowledge (in both this dimension and beyond) is front left corner. Helpful People & Travel – which is all about connection and synchronicity and being at the right place at the right time – would be the front right burner. So if you need to stoke the fire in either of those areas, just set your intention and go for it!

8. Assure a meandering flow through your home, with no obstacles to your path. Feng Shui is all about bringing nature’s flow indoors. Any obstacles to free, easy movement INSIDE your home or apartment can outpicture as obstacles to health, relationship, career, etc. OUTSIDE those walls.

9. Remember: “Wherever the eye goes, the chi goes.” Pull your attention to that which pleases and uplifts you. That means, either keep your toilet seat down OR the bathroom door closed OR place beautiful plants, pictures or candles atop the toilet tank. After all, you don’t want the positive energy in your home going down the toilet, so pull your eye away from that bowl.

10. Use the Three Secrets Reinforcement in every Feng Shui “cure” you implement. “Cures” are the actions you take to change the energy of your home. You can make those “cures” triply-effective by incorporating body, mind AND speech in all your efforts. That’s the essence of the Three Secrets Reinforcement: Take an action, speak to your intention AND envision that glorious outcome coming true. Each of those elements – actions, words and thoughts – are powerful and can change the world. Imagine how life-changing it can be to incorporate all three!

Liz Brown provides a full complement of Feng Shui services including long-distance residential and commercial consultations (via phone, snail mail or Internet), presentations and self-study workbooks. Visit www.AHandInHealing.com for more information or e-mail liz@ahandinhealing.com. (Note from Victoria: I’m gathering my frequent flier miles to bring her bodily to NYC and up the energies in our condo. She’s that good.)

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