Feng Shui for the Entrance to Your Home

Putting the bagua (the Feng Shui map) over your house can provide you with some concrete ideas on how the entrance to your home should be presented.

If your entrance is pretty much in the center of your home, then a strong presence of dark blue or black can be incorporated.  This can be from accents such as vases, or key tables or dark frames around mirrors or pictures in the foyer.  A water element is also nice - a trickling fountain in your entrance way will enhance the flow of chi.

If your entrance is in the right third of the home, then the colours of grey or silver, or even a soft mauve would be appropriate.  Accents of metal, gleaming in frames, umbrella stands or coat hooks would help the energy flow in this entrance.

If your home entrance is into the left third of your house think in terms of the earth colours of blue and green.  Healthy plants just inside the foyer are in order here, but don't put them in either plastic nor metal containers.  An earthenware/clay pot would be the best.

Above all, when you're thinking of your front door, remember it's the entrance area for your home and make sure it shows off who you are, or who you want to be.  Keep it in good repair, and looking good.  Paint is cheap - and will help you make your entrance inviting to friends, love, wealth and good chi.

Please visit us at www.whisperingpath.com to learn how you can transform your home through Feng Shui.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Love & Harmony in the Kitchen Part 2

We've already talked about your fridge, food and cupboards, now let's really get into the heart and soul of your kitchen - the stove.   Your stove represents and attracts the wealth flow into your home.  For good chi, obviously you need to keep it spotlessly clean, and keep it in good working order.  Replace any burners or lights immediately.  Leaving it in disrepair will keep wealth flow away from your home.

Now the placement of your stove is important, especially as it relates to inside walls and to the sink.  The stove and sink represent two of the five Feng Shui elements, fire and water respectively, so there needs to be something green between them.  This can be as simple as green counter-tops or green tile on the floor, or perhaps the strategic placement of a healthy green plant between them will work.  This will also help prevent arguments in the kitchen.

If you're not lucky enough to have your stove on an outside wall with a fab window view, then here's an ideal spot for mirror placement.  Placing a mirror on the wall over your stove, or having panel mirror instead of tile on the wall brings great chi to your kitchen.  The reflection you can see while standing at the stove, will be similar to a window since you'll be able to see much more than a plain wall.  As well, it will be easy to clean, which will make everyone very happy.

The kitchen is one of the three key areas in your home (bedroom and bathroom being the other two), so pay attention to the most important element in it - the stove.   It is the soul, magic and warmth of your kitchen and therefore your home.   Keep the chi flowing.

Stay tuned for more on the chi in your kitchen, or if you have a question you'd like to ask directly, visit us at The Whsipering Path.

Gaylle & Wendy
www.whisperingpath.com

Love and Harmony in the Kitchen Part 1

You've often heard of the kitchen being the heart of the home, and so it is.  It is the very soul of your home - it keeps your family nourished, good conversations often start there, parties usually end up there, and it's just a popular place for kids to hang out (cookies aren't usually kept anywhere else).  So here are some tips to ensure that the chi in your kitchen supports the harmony needed and wanted in the rest of the home.

1.  Tackle the fridge.  Spring cleaning time isn't the only time to do this - make time twice a month to take care of this puppy.  Pull out anything with fuzz on it and discard.  Ditto for anything that is green or grey that didn't start out that colour.  Check the expiry dates on your dressings and sauces and discard as necessary.  Organize your drawers so that fruits and vegetables are easy to find.  I'm not advocating labelling dates on everything.  If you're honestly going through this at least twice a month, you won't find a shrivelled-up apple in there by surprise... ever!    Finally wash it inside and out - even the rubber gasket around the seal.  Now anytime you have a guest, you won't be embarrassed by the dried gunk on your shelves, and they'll be reassured that they can actually eat your cooking without worrying about food poisoning.

2.  Tackle the freezer.   Remember the last time you did this (maybe you were moving) and you had to throw out food that had freezer burn?   What a shame from three fronts...1/ your pocketbook, 2/ if it's meat, some animal gave up it's life to nourish you and you didn't even bother to eat it and 3/ the environmental impact to package and transport the food that is now wasted.  Pull everything out onto your counter and clean out the freezer just like you did the fridge.   Sort out the food on your freezer into sections and before you put it back into the freezer, make a quick meal plan for the next week (or more if it's a big freezer) and plan to eat through ALL of that food.   Don't worry, your food will NOT thaw out as you do this because I'm talking QUICK plan.   If you have 22 pieces of meat in your freezer then you know you over three weeks of freezer food to plan for (unless you count on one night a week eating out & or having leftovers).  Organize your vegetables accordingly to the meal plan and then everything back into your freezer with organization in mind - fruits in one section, vegetables in another, separate chicken, pork, beef and fish as well.

3.  While we're still at the meal plan, now make it more formal with a full plan, post it on your fridge, and add the items you need to complete it for this particular week to your weekly shopping list. OK, we're not talking about being completely a freak about this - feel free to switch around one day for another, but we are talking about eating through the food in your freezer so it doesn't get wasted.  Now I think if you're a Morman, I understand that the requirements of your religion be that you have food ahead for a year, but I presume you have a series of cold cellars and freezers and are well organized to boot.

4.  Finally (for today) tackle the cupboards you keep your food in - cereal, canned goods, etc.   For the canned goods, if they're dented they're compromised and need to be ditched.   If there's rust that you can see on the outside of the can, what do you think you can't see on the inside of the can?  Got opened boxes of bran, or graham crackers, or cereal that you've not touched in eons?   You know what to do.   Check out anything like extra dressings or sauces that may have expiry dates on them.   Yep... they expire even if they're not opened.   Ditch, ditch, ditch.   Take a look at your food plan - can you avoid some of the things on your weekly shopping list by just eating out of your cupboard?   Before you put everything back into your cupboards, clean and wash them out, and also wash the tops of all your cans.  Why?  Because once upon a time, your canned vegetables were on a pallet in a warehouse, which is a fun place for rats and mice to hang about, and where there's rats and mice, there's their awful offal.  So... for the cans you now have in your home, clean them, and for the future ones you bring into your home from the grocery store, clean them before putting them away.

At the very least, now you're feeling a little better about the food you have in your house - you know it has nourishment value for your family.   Going forward, for the most energy bang for the buck, consider the sources of your food purchases.  The 100 mile limit that environmental advocates have been talking about for a few years now is a terrific start.  Not only are you not paying the money for the transport of food, you're supporting your own local food suppliers, and lowering the environmental costs of that food transport.  You're  also ensuring that the nutrient value of your food is high because it didn't take so long to get to your house.

Everything has chi (energy) - and with your food, you want good, high quality chi.  Obviously a bag of half rotten beans in the bottom of your fridge don't only look horrible, but they attract bad chi.   Enough said... you've made a good start on good chi for your kitchen.   More tomorrow...

Meanwhile, if you have any specific questions, please contact us at www.whisperingpath.com.  We can help you with the daunting task of applying all the principles of feng shui to your home.

Gaylle & Wendy,
www.whisperingpath.com

A Crowded House

One of the calls we received on our last radio call-in shows was from Leena who had just moved into a small two-bedroom apartment with her two children.  She had downsized a fair bit, and was frustrated by the lack of space for her things.   I was very sorry that we didn't have much time to talk to her since it was right near the end of the show.

Leena mentioned that she'd packed up some things already in boxes, and had them sitting around, and was contemplating moving again, back to a larger space, although she really wanted to avoid paying higher rent costs.

Here are some quick tips if you too are in this situation ...

1.  If some things are already packed, then clearly they're not really needed on a day-to-day basis.  Decide whether you can part with them - give them away or sell them.   If you don't need them on a day-to-day basis, but want to keep them because they've got serious memories attached, like family pictures, then see if they can be either stored on CD, or if they're heirlooms to be passed down to your children see if they can be stored at another family member's house.

2.  Have a look at what you're keeping around - is it magazines that you've perhaps read (or not) and because you've invested money in them, you think you should save them?  Nope.  Ask your doctor or dentist if they'd like them in their waiting room.  Seniors homes love them as do hospital waiting rooms.  If you REALLY want to read them again - take a walk to your local library.  

3.  Photo albums in general take up tons of space.  If you don't have access to a scanner, you probably have a friend who does.  CDs or thumbdrives take up so much less space.

4.  Are you a book hoarder?   Just love the feel of a good hardcover?  Again, if space is really tight, the library is the place for you or start getting your books on a Kindle or some other kind of e-reader.  There are some books that I know I'll read again, and if so, I keep them.  But others I just know I won't bother - I enjoyed them fine the first time but they're not worth a 2nd go. I trot these ones down to either the library for their fundraisers, or the second hand bookstore.

5.  Are you keeping every piece of fridge art your children ever did?  Time to sort through that.  Don't worry, they're not going to care when they're 30, or 50 or 70 that you didn't keep every piece of school art they brought home.  Pick out 2 pieces a year to keep, and YOU choose, not them.  If they're seriously attached to some pieces, buy some dollar-store frames and put them up on their bedroom walls until they too are sick of them LOL.

6.  Have too many dog toys?  Cat playthings?   Seriously... quit spending your hard earned money on multiples of the same thing in different colours.   Your pet's favourite plaything is YOU.

Good chi for your home depends on the energy being able to flow easily through your home - think of it like a breeze if you will.  Clear out the blockages, keep the things you have a serious attachment to... like your kids, your pets, and perhaps that one picture of your grandmother.

Bring Love into Your Home - Part 2

If you read Part 1 of this series, and followed the suggestions, you'll have a well organized, and clean bedroom.  Now let's go a step further.  Let's look at the decorating and organizational aspect of the bedroom.

1.  Colours for your bedroom for good sexual energy and healing are reds, pinks and surprisingly, golds.  For a sizzling hot room, strong colour on the walls (say gold) and the opposing red in bedding will stimulate the senses for a healthy sex life.   If, however, your bedding is already bought and you're not in the market or financial circumstances to go out and replace it, then let's think about accessories and the placement of these accents to bring out the colours needed.   If you're replacing your linens or repainting/wallpapering this room, then you have the opportunity to start fresh with the right colours.

2.  If your bedroom is blues or greens, or any other neutrals, then the furthest right hand corner is the spot to put the hot reds and/or pinks.    Maybe it's a vase with red flowers - the vase can pick up the colour too.  Or perhaps a picture with the colour predominant.  Changing the shades on your lamps is a fairly inexpensive way of bringing the colour in.  As well, you can use crystals with the appropriate colour and properties spaced strategically around your room - rose quartz or rhodonite come to mind.

3.  For placement of furniture try to put the bed in the far right corner of the room, across the diagonal of the corner of the two walls, furthest from the door.  If you have a really large room, the absolute ideal placement would be with the headboard across the corner of that far right corner.  This offers a delightful untraditional set-up which looks fabulous as well as being perfect for the energy in the room.  Of course, having that kind of space available isn't usual, so the second choice is at the back of the room, as close to the right wall as possible, with just enough space for a person to walk up beside the bed and a nightstand.  Don't have the bed directly across the room from the entrance door if at all possible, offset it to the right.

4.  If you have an office in your bedroom (horrors... is this really where you want your workspace?) and this is the ONLY place you have for it because of very limited living space, try to block it off with some kind of screen.

5.  If you have a TV in your bedroom, again, horrors... is this what you want to spend your time doing in this room?   Take it out of the room, unless you promise to only watch education sexual technique videos LOL.   Seriously, this is the room to nurture your love life and love relationship.  Watch TV in another room.

6.  If you have a big clock on the wall, remove it.  This isn't the room for it.   A small alarm clock for its simple practicality is just fine, but there should be no focus on time in the bedroom where you should be focused on relaxation and sexual energy, neither of which have time limits.

7.  Definitely have two nightstands - one for each person.  As well as providing grounding energy, they invite you to have a partner :)  They don't have to be exactly the same, but they do need to provide each bed partner with their own space.  By the way, you probably know already how I feel about clutter - make sure the drawers of the nightstands, if they have them, are not graveyards for miscellaneous junk.

8.  Let's talk about the furniture properties - in this room, wood is best, and given my druthers if you have the opportunity to re-decorate, the warmer the colour of the wood, the better.

9.  Mirrors in your bedroom should not be directly across from the entrance door, nor over your headboard.   Placement over or near a dresser is just fine, or on a wall neither facing the door nor bed is also fine.

Think of your bedroom as a place for inviting love and sexual play.  Like Part 1, do a little pretending.  If you are in a relationship, pretend that you're NOT.  Who's your fantasy partner to bring into that room for a little fun?  George Cooney?  Ellen?  Denzel Washington?  Fergie?  Ross Matthews?   Chelsea Handler?   What would they think about that room as a love nest?  If they were sober, that is LOL.

Get it ready, and have some fun with YOUR honey.

Bring Love into Your Home - Part 1

Feng Shui is about clearing out old energy and bringing new Chi - creating a new flow in order to enhance important aspects of one's life. And the bedroom is certainly an important part of your love life.   So... let's talk about that room in particular.

First, just stand at the door. What do you see?  Is the bed made or unmade?  If the latter, how enticing would it be to bring a new bedmate into that room?   If you're already in a relationship, it doesn't matter.  This room must appear inviting and enticing to anyone you'd like to bring into the room.  So let's pretend if you're already in a relationship that you aren't.  At least for this conversation today.

1.  Make sure the bed is made.   Always.  Every day, no exception.  And think about how often you change the sheets - would you wear the same clothes or underclothes day after day?   You sweat in these sheets for 7-10 hours EVERY day.  Just sayin'.

2.  How do your nighttables look?  Cluttered?  Unclutter them.  Clear off the top for the very essentials.  Do the same for your dresser top.

3.  Got a chair/bench that you throw your clothes on?   Hang them up, or put them away, or toss them in the laundry basket.

4.  Now you've got the obvious clutter taken care of, take care of the dusting and vacuuming.   Polish the mirror (s).   You'll get why this is way easier to do AFTER the decluttering.

5.  Have a look now behind the scenes.  Your closet and the drawers of your dresser.   Pull anything out that you've not worn in 2 years, and separate it for goodwill or the trash (obviously for underwear).   Hanging on to fat clothes because you're afraid you'll gain back the weight or to too small clothes because 'someday' you'll fit back into them isn't cutting it today.   Remove them into a bag for the proper charity or garbage immediately.  Load them into your car NOW.

6.  Go back to your closet and drawers and pull out anything that you've not worn in the past year.   If it's a piece of too small clothes that's within 1 size of what you're currently wearing, and you're actively engaged in losing weight, then keep it, otherwise do the same as #5 above.

7.  Go back to your closet and take a look at the accessories hanging around.   Now here, we're going to be a little more lenient because they can be organized into a small area and because they're likely to come into and out of fashion, or if you're eclectic in your tastes they're usually ok to keep around.  But fold scarves neatly into one of those little plastic baskets from the dollar store.  Limit them to ONE basket.  Hang good belts from hooks (any ratty belts that have worn areas in multiple hole spaces need to go out the door into that bag in your car).  Hang ties on a proper tie rack (and don't leave it knotted so you can slip it quickly around your neck you lazy person).

8.  Organize your hanging clothes by colour - whites, beiges etc to black.  Trust me, you'll find things quicker when you need them in a hurry, and you won't be buying yet another white blouse/shirt because you'll quickly realize you have 4 already.  As you organize, you will likely find duplicates that you didn't realize.  Keep the best and toss the rest.   You know, that bag in your car.  LOL

9.  And finally, just for today's activity, have a look at the shoes in your closet.  Certainly you'll have a mix of shoes for all seasons in there, as well as all activities. Nobody needs more than two pairs of running shoes - an old pair for painting or outside yard work, and a good pair for walking/running/exercise.  Keep one pair of any specialized shoes, obviously (baseball, soccer, yacht shoes)  Look at shoes you've not worn for over a year, because you have new favourite ones, or ones that are more fashionable, or because the old ones are just worn down.   Clear them out.   Make sure you take them out to the car RIGHT NOW.   Now line up the leftovers in your closet - isn't that way neater?

10.  This takes care of the organizational basics.   Next blog will be on organizing and decorating the room itself for good energy flow.

Until then, visit us at www.whisperingpath.com.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui from The Whispering Path now on radio!

Visit us on Sunday, April 24th at 2:00 pm EDT at blogspotradio.com/whisperingpathtarot to learn how to enhance your love, wealth and harmony within your home.  Host Gaylle will walk you through the clearing of energy within your home spaces.  We're looking forward to meeting you!