Photo taken by bvohra ( Flickr )
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”- Andre Gide ( French writer, 1947 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1869-1951 ) |
Courage….
Reply
Do you appreciate what you have….?
Friday night. I’m working on my laptop while watching “A Summer in Genoa” with Colin Firth, I bawl every time his character’s daughter cry in her nightmares, longing for her mother who died in a car accident.
In front of the television with my laptop working away…. I stop. I think of my daughter who’s safe and sound, asleep in her bed. Healthy and full of life. I think of my husband of almost nine years still looking at me with that glint in his eye.
Photo by gregoryhogan ( Flickr )
In my line of work as a feng shui consultant I obviously ask my clients during our initial consultation, ” what areas in your life would you like to see a change to?” They’ll tell me they’re looking for The One… or they’re wanting to figure out if the career path that they’re on is right for them… or that the moment they move into another house their luck seems to take a turn for the worse… or that their business no longer thrives as it once did.
It occured to me that while it’s important for me to understand the situations that my clients want to see a shift in, it is equally important for me to maybe remind them as well that there is always, always, something to be grateful for. I was told once that if you’re not grateful for what you have, why would the Universe give you more? Imagine, if you gave someone a gift and they don’t appreciate it, would you be inclined to keep giving more gifts to that person?
I used to have a gratitude journal that I write in every night before I sleep. I would pick 3-5 things that I am grateful for that day ( can be as simple as seeing a baby smile during the a stressful time of the day…. sometimes it’s in getting a client from the most synchronistic opportunities… ). While I now devote those minutes before bed to mantras, meditations and visualizations, perhaps it’s time to pick it up again… Anyone care to give it a go?
“What feng shui products do I need?”
Going through my email and with all feng shui enthusiasts wanting to get ready to update their feng shui for 2012, I realized this is the perfect timing for me to address one question that I get all the time :
” What feng shui items / amulets do I need to carry for 2012?” What if I told you that you don’t need to do all that…?
I used to do consultations based on what we now refer to as new-age feng shui, where it places a lot of emphasis on placement of asian-looking items around the house. With Classical feng shui which is what I practise now, however, you no longer need to limit yourself to these ‘feng shui objects’ to suppress bad energy or strengthen good energy. Once you step out of that box – feng shui possibilities are limitless!
While I still recommend some pertinent feng shui items for my clients, I have done away with many other items that are no longer considered necessary.
If you can’t place a water fountain, do you know that you have alternatives to activate wealth stars…?
If you need to suppress the Wu Wang #5 based on Flying Star Feng Shui, or the Illness #2, you can pretty much go to any home decor stores and look for.. let’s say a copper statue, and you’re on your way. If you need to suppress the #3, a good-sized bright red item will be more than sufficient.
This will work, provided of course, that you have plotted your chart properly. I can’t stress this enough, for if you get the house period wrong the whole chart is a write-off. If you don’t know how to determine the facing or the direction of your house, then your whole chart is useless. If the mountain stars and water stars are placed incorrectly, you run the risk of activating the negative and weakening the positive – which would be tragic!!!
It’s hard to say this without coming off as self-serving, but if you want to make sure 2012 is a strong year for you and you don’t want to risk going the wrong path where your feng shui is concerned, getting a properly-certified practitioner is of the utmost importance.
My mantra as usual, is this : feng shui works – if you work it right!
New year audit – get a head start on 2012 and save $100 off your feng shui audit!
Lay down feng shui foundation for a strong 2012 & save $100!
Energy is always shifting – will your home / office be supporting or breaking you in 2012? Take $100 off your home and business audit. Make sure you optimize good energies and suppress negative energies – before it’s too late.
Email me at safrina@fengshuiandprosper.com to take advantage of this offer – ends January 31, 2012!
*** Offer only valid for on-site feng shui audits ( long-distance audits not applicable ) for Toronto and GTA area
Moved bed = get a gig for a Tom Cruise movie!!!
Photo by Warren Noronha
Just wanted to quickly share an email I got just earlier today from a client in LA whom I did bazi analysis as well as home audit for, another testament to the power of doing feng shui FULLY and COMPLETELY, with no pieces of the puzzle missing, no cutting corners, and no ” I want my life to change but I’m not willing to do what you recommended me to do”.
” Safrina gave me a feng shui consultation and in particular suggested that i move my bed so that it faces west in order to improve my financial cash flow. I reluctantly shifted the bed on the prescribed date and was quite surprised to receive a totally unexpected job offer that very day to do some ADR on the new Tom Cruise film, Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The gig was a well paying one that will see me receiving ongoing residuals from the film. Coincidence? Maybe, but from now on I am paying more attention to my energetic patterns. Thanks Safrina.”
…
… My dear readers, what is the price you’re willing to pay by not placing your bed correctly…???
Do you want to make a change or stay the way you are…?!
This topic has been gnawing on me for a while so I decided, once and for all, to bear my heart and soul about this topic – why do people say they want to change but are not willing to do the actions necessary to make that change?
I’ve seen many different personality types over my admittedly young career as a feng shui practitioners. Some come to me when their situation is already in dire straits and I tell them we can try our best to diffuse the bad energy, but when there’s already so much havoc already wreaked, you can’t expect feng shui alone to get you out of that situation ( which is why, over and over again, I will stress meditation, prayers, good deeds and visualization practices to be used in conjunction with feng shui practices ). Whenever I dispense holistic ways of dealing with an issue, sometimes it gets dismissed as too inconvenient.
Some clients are new in feng shui but are open to implementing the recommendations I laid out. Some have already seen the results from feng shui in past audits but are taking chances in not updating their feng shui every year ( which is very, very important as energy patterns do not remain stagnant, it’s always moving so you need to observe the movement to protect and to strengthen yourself ). Some are willing to do some of the smaller actions that yield small results, but balk at doing the real groundwork of making positive changes in one’s life.
As I speak with my clients as a feng shui practitioner, I always find myself in situations where I also wear the robes of a life coach, spiritual counselor and normally after a few times communicating with my clients, their confidante. I’m not only there to give recommendations as a feng shui consultant, I’m also there to listen as a spiritual sister.
Self development guru Tony Robbins would give an analogy in his book Awaken the Giant Within, of a fly that is trapped in a room but keeps bumping its head against the windowpane trying to get out of the room, not realizing the door behind it is wide open.
Why, if you want to see a different result, would you not be open to trying to DO things differently? I am saddened when I see this happen, in my consulting as well as around me. My teacher reminds in her gentle ways that if they don’t listen, it’s not in their karma to receive that opportunity to grow. As with anything, I suppose, I will have to learn to let go and wish them well….
For feng shui DIYers – you need a compass!
Photo courtesy of Picocarhot from Flickr
As much as people know me to be patient and empathetic, I have to share a pet peeve of mine when it comes to those wanting to apply feng shui for themselves – doing it without a compass!!!
I hear over and over again about locations and directions but more than once I’ve gone in with my luo pan and advised them that they in fact have gotten the directions wrong, meaning the chart for the whole house will change and that affects remedies as well. If you want to do feng shui and you’re willing to do it on your own ( I personally believe in empowering yourself with the why’s and how’s of feng shui and I usually guide my clients in this whenever I do an audit. I don’t just write down recommendations and don’t tell them what it’s for ), but you HAVE to invest in a proper compass.
A good compass you can get at a hobby store or the hobby aisle in your favourite stores. I remember getting my first one at an army surplus store. Here in downtown Toronto’s Mountain Equipment Co-op ( MEC ) I was happy to find that they have Silva compasses. Where non-feng shui ( ie. not a luo pan ) compasses are concerned, I find the Silva brand to be trust-worthy and efficient enough as part of your feng shui toolbox.
Even with my impressive and expensive luo pan I still carry my small compass in my bag whenever I need to figure out my facing directions ( for meetings ) and for impromptu “I wonder what is the facing direction of this building” moments. If you eat, drink, sleep feng shui as I do, a compass is definitely a great tool to have on hand!
Okay. I’m done ranting. 
Death and emptiness falls on Hurting Officer…. forever doomed with bad love luck?
I had a bazi reading with a client lately and based on the reading that I shared with her, it doesn’t take much when you see ” Death and Emptiness” linked with her Hurting Officer star ( which usually denotes the husband as the primary, boss as the secondary ). She indeed confirmed that it was hard for her to find a committed relationship.
Although she sounded nervous that her chart seemingly tells of an uphill battle to find a life partner, with her mother on her case and her age advancing as the years go by… However, she was open enough and had enough faith that it will turn around.
I proceeded to advise her of feng shui remedies to place in her surroundings combined with mantras as well as physical action that can be taken in order to start shifting things around with her. A few days later she’s already finding that she’s in a more general good mood and the relationship between her and her mother is seeing shifts as well. With a little more time and some customized feng shui advise, I’m sure we’ll hear from her soon enough about a major breakthrough!!!
What does YOUR chart say about your potential for the love of your life…?
“… love and beauty can never leave you…”
Quote
3t
Photo courtesy of Jennuine Captures
“When you look upon another human being and feel great love toward them, or when you contemplate beauty in nature and something within you responds deeply to it, close your eyes for a moment and feel the essence of that love or that beauty within you, inseparable from who you are, your true nature. The outer form is a temporary reflection of what you are within, in your essence. That is why love and beauty can never leave you, although all outer forms will.”
- Eckhart Tolle
Move bed = get baby?
Hi Safrina,
We are pregnant!
We had to pursue some help from the specialist so that definitely helped our chances but it has finally happened!We moved the bed about a week before our procedure and I’m not sure if that is what did it but it worked! I did end up getting a beady thing to hang at the bathroom door so I felt better about bed placement. If all goes well we are going to have the baby in January. Can you think of any other things (based on our house and charts) that we could do to promote a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby?
Its interesting, a lot of the things that you were able to find with my chart correspond with a chart reading that my mom had done for me when she went to India. Good job!!
Take care!
Nandini, British Columbia Canada
I got this email in my inbox just a few nights ago, a wonderful news from a client who started working with me around August of last year. Like many of you reading my blog post now, she came across this blog through her research on feng shui and, lucky for me, she decided to reach out and take a chance on a feng shui practitioner living on the other end of the Canadian mainland, doing the whole consult on the phone.
Nandini and her husband has been trying for a while now to get pregnant. We moved the bed ( as you can read from her email ) to a spot that is more supportive of both of them not only to conceive but to also get overall better chi. Her house had an afflicted children’s sector which we remedied with the correct feng shui placement. Looking at her and her husband’s paht
New mom and baby, courtesy of Photosavvy from Flickr
chee / bazi chart I also realized they have clashes with regards to their affinity with children. This initially really worried her, but I reminded her the birth chart reading is to let her know of potential energies surrounding a certain issue. Through action, inner tools as well as feng shui a negative thing can be suppressed effectively.
Obviously delighted with this baby news, I replied to her with my congratulations. However I gently reminded her to take things easy as, again, based on her chart, she is prone to miscarriages, an advice she is most likely to heed. As a mom myself I highly recommend doing as much meditation as possible while pregnant. I personally believe that is the reason why my own baby was very good-natured, ate and slept well, and my pregnancy and labor was without a hitch.
I am pre-empting some readers who may say, “Well, they went to a specialist, that’s how they got pregnant”. Well, yes and no. How many times have you heard of couples doing their second, third attempt at a fertility treatment? Once again I’ll repeat that I am all for taking action as well, so seeing a specialist definitely is not a wrong move – PLUS, based on Nandini’s chart she is more likely to get pregnant through Metal methods ( ie. modern medicine ) rather than, let’s say, Wood methods ( usually more traditional medicine involving herbs etc ).
I’ll repeat myself until I’m blue in the face I suppose. Feng shui is about complementing visible action with the invisible energies at work.
No voodoo involved.