feng-shui | My Experiments with Sanity

If you didn’t read Part Uno, please do: http://wp.me/p2mGmR-57

We’ve got our Baqua Map and we’ve got our orientation, right? Sweet. You’ve made sure to ground any “empty” spaces in your map. And now we’re ready to move forward.

With your map in hand, take a moment to look over what is located where in the Baqua map. Is your love and relationship section in the bathroom? No wonder you always have shitty relationships. Is your health and family section a dumping ground for, well, anything? No wonder your sick and your family hates you. Ok, they just called. They don’t hate you. They may be a little peeved right now but they don’t hate you.

Look into the space in question. Is it cluttered? Is it dirty? Do you like the objects in this space or do they remind you of things you’d rather forget? This may all seem like common sense but so often we (ok…I…) walk around things instead of dealing with them. Like for example, the pile by my front door for the thrift store. It’s grown into, well, it’s own private store. Time to take action and take it to the thrift store.

So what’s the first area you’re going to work on? I would suggest picking the area your having the most difficulties in. Is it your health? Your wealth? Your creativity? Your career? Make that decision and go forward from there.

The easiest improvements you can make are clearing clutter. Maybe you’re not an out an out hoarder but let’s be real…you don’t need all that stuff!

One of the basic premises of Feng Shui is the flow of Chi. And no, that’s not a type of tea. Pronounced chee, the Chinese believe it to be vital life force energy. It flows naturally, unless hindered and blocked by say…a pile for the thrift store. There are many ways to describe it but put basically; it’s good stuff and you want it to flow effortlessly.

Even though Chi is some magical stuff, it’s not a very good driver. If you put stuff in it’s way, like a stack of newspapers that touches the ceiling, Chi will get all jammed up. But it doesn’t even have to be as extreme as that. A few shelves with no detectable order will jam it up. For being so omnipresent and eternal, it’s pretty damn picky.

So your homework for this week in Operation Feng Shui (OFS for short) is

A) Clear the clutter…ALL of it

B) Choose your focus area, the space that can use the biggest boost

C) Write out affirmations for all the areas

I know, I know, no more damn affirmations. But these ones you write out, hide in the space and can essentially forget about. This is something you can do tonight for the low cost of some ink, paper and time. I suggest starting them out with “I am so happy and grateful now that…” and fill it in for each different area.

For the health and family example you might say “I am so happy and grateful now that I enjoy a healthy loving relationship with myself and all of my friends and family.” Slide the paper under something in that area and forget about it.

Stay tuned as we walk thru each area and add enhancements in an upcoming blog. And let me know how it’s going or any questions you may have. Now go get you Shui on!!

-B. Wright

Peaceful days in the Jemez Mountains, NM

In honor of Chinese New Year, I’m going to talk about Feng Shui. In my quest of self-betterment I’ve maintained the attitude that if something has been around a long time, it’s got serious street cred with me.

Like Acupuncture. If you’ve never tried it, make an appointment today. But not just one. You need a to do a couple sessions in a row to see some drastic improvement on whatever it is that may ail you.

Let’s get to business. Feng Shui. Your home, your office, your desk, any area that you habitat can be “shui-d”. For impact purposes, choose an area you spend a lot of time in. Or if you’re like me, go big or go home, do your whole house. First things first, we need to draw a baqua map of your space. It’s not too hard, don’t worry.

First, jump out of your body and look at the space from above with a nice aerial perspective. Ok, now come on back to your body and sketch the outline of the space. Draw it with the entrance or front of the space at the bottom of the page and the back goes to the top of the page.

Next, draw a perfect square around the outline, sharing the same line as the outline when appropriate. Hang in there; we’re almost done, I promise.

Within your square and right overtop of the outline of the space, draw a tic-tac-toe board so that now you have 9 equal segments within the square. Each square represents a different zone. Let’s label them.

Starting from bottom left corner and working our way clockwise:

Knowledge and Self Cultivation (K&SC)

Health and Family (H&F)

Wealth and Prosperity (W&P)

Fame and Reputation (F&R)

Love and Marriage (L&M)

Children and Creativity (C&C)

Helpful People and Travel (HP&T)

Career (C)

Center (goes in the center…)

So just to check you identified the areas properly, W&P is top left corner. HP&T is bottom right corner. Does it all match up? Great! Let’s keep going!

Are there any areas of your space that don’t go all the way to the square outline? Maybe they’re outdoors, or for me, in a different apartment? This is important.

If possible, you must ground the corners of the baqua map. Perhaps bury a crystal at the point, or do something ceremonial recognizing that space as part of your “shui-dom”, or kingdom, whatever you call your space. I like Dapperdom.

Draw in doors, windows, toilets, water drains, stairs and walls. Now, get a compass, “they have an app for that”, and find north. Mark your baqua map with all the cardinal directions, including the mix-breeds, SW, NE, etc.

Ok, there it is. Your own personal baqua map. I’m going to do a series of these, hence the “Part” part (hehe, had to do it). Maybe you should redraw it so it’s legible and since now you know what needs to go where. This little map will be a major part of our shui-ing of your space. Make it nice.

All right Dapperville, till the next time…Keep it real, keep it Dapper.

-B. Wright