Most of us have goals. Hopefully yours are written down, and perhaps you even have a vision board related to your goals – something that can really help you achieve them more easily. But have you made space for your new ambitions, relationships and experiences to come into your life?
Whenever you want to bring in something new, you must be ready to let go of something to make room for it. When you think about everything as energy, then it makes sense that in order to create something new in your life, you have to let go of old energy.
In Feng Shui we recognize this as we talk about clearing clutter or removing items that no longer have current value for you. The purpose in doing this is to remove old, negative energy that is keeping you stuck or tied to the past. This helps to make room for what you do want to come into your life.
But this doesn’t just apply to your home, or to your office environment. The same concept also applies to your personal environment – your thoughts, beliefs, actions, life situations, relationships. To be able to open up to new energies, you have to be able to let go of the old. To be able to manifest what you want, you need to let go of what no longer serves you. This is true in every area of life.
For example, if you want to lose weight, you will have to let go of something in order to have the new reality of a fit, healthy body:
- You may have to let go of hurts from the past that have caused you to gain weight now
- You may have to let go of beliefs that do not serve you – such as I’m not good enough or feeling that you need to be ‘invisible.’
- You may need to let go of old habits, such as eating unhealthy foods and not exercising.
- You may need to let go of people who are not supportive – who encourage you to eat what is not good for you and tell you that eating healthily and exercising are a waste of time.
- You may need to let go of feelings of guilt or shame and non-acceptance so that you can learn to accept yourself and love yourself enough to do what you need to do to have the body that you want.
If you want to attract a loving relationship:
- You may have to let go of hurts and disappointments from past relationships
- You may have to let go of limiting beliefs, such as I don’t deserve to be loved
- You may have to let go of people in your life who tell you that you can’t have what you want, or who are not supportive.
There is a saying, and I’m not sure where it comes from, but it’s very appropriate here: “To reach for something greater, you must first let go of what’s in your hand.” I think that sums it up quite nicely.
If your life is already full, you will have trouble attracting new experiences and opportunities. You’ll have to let go of something to make room for what you want.
You can certainly use your environment to help you with this. When you let go of physical things in your home or work space, you are releasing energy that you don’t need. This, in turn, will help your personal energy and will help you to let go of people, situations, beliefs, etc., that no longer serve you.
Even more interestingly, when you actively look for what is no longer serving you in your life with the intention of letting it go – new, unexpected and wonderful opportunities just start showing up.
Tags: Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Feng Shui Life, Law of Attraction, Life Balance
I’m sure you’ve noticed that life does not always run smoothly. Things don’t always go the way you want them to. One fact of life is that there will be times of sadness, grief, pain or anger. What matters most is how you deal with these situations and emotions when they arise. Since it’s unrealistic to think that you can avoid them, it’s helpful to learn some techniques that can help you get through them.
It is true that people often think they are not supposed to feel the so-called ‘negative’ emotions. So they stifle them, avoid them or just feel that they should think only ‘happy’ thoughts. But none of these techniques work – they simply push the feelings away where they continue to affect you, building up over time and draining your energy until the result is depression or health problems or some more serious life situation.
When something happens to you that causes you to feel angry, sad, unhappy, frustrated, etc., there are several things you can do that will help:
Acceptance – first of all it is most important to accept how you feel. Rather than trying to stifle or eliminate the feeling, as uncomfortable as it may be, you must acknowledge it and acknowledge what has created this in you. When you accept it and allow yourself to feel it fully, it loses its strength. The first step to letting these feelings go is to allow yourself to feel them, not to try to deny them or not feel them.
Journaling – writing about what you’re feeling, about the situation and the circumstances around it can really help you to move past it and to understand it on a deeper level. This is a wonderful way of tapping into your sub-conscious, of moving beyond the immediate situation and how you feel about it and uncovering what’s behind it.
Look for the lesson – every situation, particularly those that are uncomfortable, offer opportunities for growth. When you actively look for the learning experience, rather than simply focusing on the negativity of the situation, not only can it help you to move beyond it faster, it helps you to move from feeling like a victim of the situation, making you feel more empowered.
Ask for help – don’t try to get through it by yourself. Talking to others helps to release the burden of how you feel. If you have the opportunity to talk to someone who has been through a similar situation you can learn from their experiences. It can also be most helpful to consult Healers, coaches, counselors or therapists – anyone who has the skill and knowledge to help you on a professional level. There is no weakness or shame in asking for help. There is strength in allowing others to help us.
Take care of yourself – it is important to be gentle with yourself at times like this. Don’t expect too much. Do things that make you feel good, get a healing massage, read an uplifting book, give yourself time to reflect, be still and recover, rather than simply trying to push through or work harder so you don’t have to think about it.
Change the energy in your home – since you and your home are so closely connected, any changes you make to the energy in your home have a direct and immediate impact on your own energy. Here are a few examples:
- Purge – pick an area in your home and remove items from it that you no longer need, use, want or love. Removing items that no longer have current value helps to free up your energy, as well as making the space for new and positive people and experiences to come into your life.
- Organize – nothing makes you feel better than de-cluttering and organizing. It’s one of the fastest ways to uplift your energy and will benefit you much more than simply making the space look nice.
- Move things around – move some furniture, change out accessories or pictures. Sometimes just moving the energy around in your home can be just what you need to give your energy and your life a much needed boost.
- Introduce color – this can also have an immediate impact on how you feel. Choose vibrant, rich colors, such as red, to energize you or calm, soothing colors, such as blue or green to bring calm energy. Choose colors that you love and that make you feel really good.
- Treat yourself and your home – buy a special item that you love for your home. It could be a piece of furniture or a painting, or it could be as simple as new dinnerware or a special cup for you to have your daily cup of tea or coffee. Honoring yourself in this way with something that you love can give you and your home a much-needed boost and help you realize that you deserve the best.
These are some simple ways to help you through those times in life that don’t feel so good. Since they are a fact of life and you know you will go through them from time to time, it’s best to be prepared and know that you have the tools available to help you.
Linda Binns
Tags: Feng Shui Balance, Feng Shui Home, Feng Shui Life, Feng Shui Success
Have you ever felt stuck or overwhelmed in your financial situation? Or would you just like to make it easier to reach your financial goals?
Unfortunately, there is no one solution that’s going to make everything change for you or for anyone. It all depends on where you are in your life, what your past history with money has been, what your thoughts, beliefs and feelings are around money.
I know from working with thousands of clients that everyone’s situation is different – which is why no one solution works for everybody. The only way to know if your thoughts, beliefs and past programming are holding you back and that’s to look at your existing financial situation. If you’re not happy with it, if you’re not where you want to be, then there’s something stopping you.
So many people are struggling with this, which is why I created the 30-Day Wealth Attraction Challenge. It’s a program that will help you to identify and overcome the unseen issues that have been holding you back around money. And although this program is primarily design to focus on wealth, you’ll find that as you work through it other parts of your life improve as well.
But don’t just take my word for it, see what other participants have to say about this unique and very affordable program. You’ll find more information here.
Linda Binns
The Feng Shui Success Strategist
Giving you the “energetic edge” in your life and business
You set goals. You work hard. You take care of everybody. There’s always work to do, things that need to be done, people who need you. There’s very little time (if any) in the day when you’re not doing something. Does this sound familiar?
Everyone’s life seems to be so busy and full these days, that it’s difficult to remember to take time for relaxation, for fun, for enjoyment – for you. Bringing more joy and fun into your life and doing things that are good for you doesn’t have to be difficult, and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming either. Here are some very simple ways to change things up a little:
Treat yourself to wonderful food (I don’t mean chocolate). Go out for a really special meal, or take the time to find a fabulous recipe (these are easy to find on-line) and enjoy the process of shopping and preparing the meal. Use a tablecloth and candles and soft music – make it a special occasion.
Allow yourself some time to listen to your favorite music – just listen to it. Don’t do anything else while you’re listening. Or go to a concert with friends. Let yourself really feel the music, let it uplift you.
Arrange a get-together with your closest friends. Don’t make it something where you have to do a lot, just enjoy their company. Relax with them.
Do something fun. What is fun to you? When was the last time you did it? Make it something silly and enjoyable and time-wasting. Allow yourself to be silly for a while. Whether it’s a visit to the water park or playing lawn tennis in the back yard or spending time with a coloring book and crayons, give yourself permission to have fun.
Bring some color into your life by painting a wall or two, or hanging a colorful poster or picture or accessories.
Bring fresh cut flowers or vibrant, colorful plants into your home – bringing nature indoors has a very uplifting impact on your energy.
Treat yourself to a makeover. Get a new hairstyle, get your make-up done, or treat yourself to some new clothes or a day at the spa.
Buy yourself something special. It doesn’t have to be something expensive, it could be a beautiful cup to have your daily tea or coffee in, or a book that you’ve been wanting to read, or a new pair of shoes.
With so much going on in our lives these days, it’s so easy to lose sight of ourselves and to lose the joy in life. If you take time to do something special for yourself – particularly if you do this every day – you will start to reclaim the joy in life, the joy in just being you. Take this list and add to it. Keep it near you and every day pick one thing you can do for that day. When you honor yourself in this way, you acknowledge that you deserve to enjoy your life, that you deserve the best, that you can open yourself up to live your best life. The only question then becomes, how much good are you willing to receive in your life?
Could you use a little more abundance in your life? Check out the amazing 30-Day Wealth Attraction Challenge.
Tags: Feng Shui, Feng Shui Balance, Feng Shui Home, Feng Shui Life, Life Balance
Have you ever had days or moments when everything just seems to fall into place beautifully? Where you accomplish whatever it is that you want to accomplish and it seems effortless? The right people and resources show up just when you need them. People are supportive and respond to you in a positive way. You feel good about what you’re doing and it seems as though you can do nothing wrong.
We’ve all had times like this. It feels as though everything is right with the world. You’re doing what you love, the quality of your work is high, and you feel a sense of accomplishment. So why can’t you feel like this all the time? What is it that can make everything fall into place one day and yet everything seems to be a struggle the next? What stops you from being in that flow?
I think it all boils down to awareness. When you are aware of how you feel, of what feels good and what doesn’t in each moment. When you honor what you feel in each moment and take action accordingly – that’s when you’re in the flow.
How many times have you ‘needed’ to do something because it’s on your list of things to do, yet you don’t feel like doing it at this particular time? Your heart is not in it. You’d rather take a nap or go for a walk, or do something else. But because it’s on your list and it needs to be done, you buckle down and do it. It’s a struggle. It takes longer than you had planned. Nothing seems to go right with it. You become frustrated, resentful. These are the kinds of things that can take up your whole day because as you attempt to accomplish the task, more issues come up that need to be resolved before you can complete it. This is what can turn a simple item on your to-do list into a nightmare.
This is when you’re not in the flow. You have something to do, but it doesn’t feel right to do it. Rather than paying attention to that, you force yourself to do it. It seems unthinkable that, when faced with things that you need to do that you could, instead do something that feels good to you at the time, such as take a nap or go for a walk. If you did that you’d never get anything accomplished, right?
Actually that’s not right. I too resisted this idea at first. If I had a list of things that needed to be done today, but I didn’t feel like doing any of them, I would force myself to do them. With the result that a list of things I planned to do today might end up taking me the whole week because of delays and difficulties, distractions and obstacles. What I have learned to do (and I warn you, this is not easy) is to only do something when it feels right to do it. So, for example, if I have to write an article for a publication and it’s due, say on Thursday. I will have it on my list at the beginning of the week and I might plan to write it on Monday. But on Monday, when I sit down to write it, I can’t think of what to write. I really don’t feel like writing it then. I can force myself to write it and it may take me the whole day. I wouldn’t feel good about it, I would feel frustrated with the amount of time and effort put into it and I probably wouldn’t feel good about the end result.
If I pay attention to how I feel though and honor that, I wouldn’t try to write the article on Monday. Each day I would check in with myself to see if it felt right to do the article yet. And I wouldn’t attempt it until I felt ready. This is the scary part, because I might not feel ready until Thursday morning. But here’s the difference. When I sit down to write the article on Thursday morning, it will simply flow. It will probably take me about 10 minutes to write. I will be happy with the result and I’ll get lots of positive feedback from it.
This is exactly what happens to me all the time. The more I pay attention to when it feels right to do something and when it doesn’t, the more in the flow I feel. That’s when things come effortlessly. Of course, our minds say that’s ridiculous. We have to be logical and structured, we can’t just do things when we feel like it.
But I encourage you to give it a try. Do it with small things at first and just see what a difference it makes. I have had times when I’ve had a whole list of things to do that when I look at it feels totally overwhelming. When I ‘check in’ with myself to see what I need to do first to get this list of things accomplished, I may get the feeling that I need to do something completely unrelated to anything on the list. Usually it will be something like go for a walk, or clean the kitchen, or tidy the papers in my office. Of course, my mind screams “are you crazy, how can you go for a walk when you have this list of things you need to do?” If I listen to my mind I will tackle the list and I will not be in the flow – that’s when it may take me the whole week to accomplish what’s on the list, and none of it will feel good.
When I pay attention to what I feel and do it, I find that I return to the list with completely different energy. In this way, the things on the list simply get done and I may easily breeze through everything on there in one day, instead of forcing the issue and taking much longer. I’ll feel good about what I’ve accomplished. My energy will be strong – I’m in the flow.
You can apply this not only to things on your to-do list than need to be accomplished, but with everything. Pay attention to how you feel about different people and situations. If something doesn’t feel good – it isn’t good for you at that time. If you force it, you will not be in the flow and you’ll experience struggle.
It’s all about energy and being aware of your energy and what you need in each moment to feel good. That’s when you’re in the flow. Next time you are in the flow, pay attention to exactly what’s happening. And then resolve to create more flow in your life. Unless of course you prefer the struggle!
Have you taken the 30-Day Wealth Attraction Challenge yet? See how you can attract more abundance into your life – go to www.FengShuiSuccess.com/challenge.htm
Tags: Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Feng Shui Life, Feng Shui Success, Life Balance
I was recently interviewed by Kim Caldwell for her Think Fit Radio Show. Here is the link if you’d like to listen:
http://webtalkradio.net/2010/05/31/think-fit-%e2%80%93-enhance-your-relationships-with-feng-shui/
Linda
Last week I talked about ways to cultivate your inner Feng Shui. Things you could do for yourself to help you become (and stay) peaceful, calm and grounded. But as well as doing things that are good for you, it is important to be aware of the things that drain your energy and avoid or eliminate them when you can.
What drains your energy? We all have things that drain us, and it can be different for everyone. For example, many people are energized when they are in a large group of people, at a party or networking for instance. I know that when I have been in a situation like that, around a lot of people, I have to have a very quiet day the next day because being around the energy of lots of people can be overwhelming for me. If I did it every day (as I have done in the past) I would soon become burned out (as I have done in the past). So it’s all about knowing what nourishes you and what drains you.
During the Wealth Attraction Challenge that we’ve been doing since the beginning of May, one of the things that came up was identifying those people in your life who support and energize you and those people who drain you and who are not supportive. We had a lot of discussion around this issue because some of the very people who are not supportive and who drain your energy may feature very prominently in your life. They may be family members or close friends whom you’ve known for a long time. This, of course, can create a dilemma.
How do you limit your interactions with these people without feeling guilty about it? There’s no doubt about it, this is very difficult to do, but it is also essential to do it. You might think that you’re being selfish if you tell a family member or close friend that you don’t want to spend time with them. You’ll be afraid that they will think badly of you. Yet, you start to dread the times when you’ll be seeing or speaking to them. As they are talking to you, you can almost feel your energy draining away – it’s like your very life force is being sucked out of you, and in reality, it is.
The truth is, that by putting yourself and your needs first by limiting the time you spend with them, you are not being selfish at all. You are actually helping them as well, although it may not seem like it at the time. But how does it help them if you allow them to drain your energy? How does it help them if you dread spending time with them? Breaking away from them may in fact be the best thing you could do for them, because it may just cause them to look at themselves more closely and want to change. You then become a guiding light for them because as you change and grow, becoming more confident, successful and peaceful within yourself, they may just want that for themselves too.
The same applies to life situations that we stay in, even though they drain us and don’t feel right for us. Everything from relationships to jobs, to groups or boards we belong to. They may once have felt right, but now you know they no longer do, yet you can’t seem to break away. Or you may want to break away but the others involved persuade you that you should stay. If you stay when you know it’s not right it will drain you and you will feel miserable, and stuck.
The most important thing is to pay attention to how you feel when you’re around different people and situations. Trust yourself and focus on putting yourself first by knowing what is right for you – what works for you and what doesn’t. When you do this, as I said before, it can seem selfish on the surface. But in reality it’s just the opposite. It’s the best thing you can do for everyone concerned. You’ll not only be helping yourself, you’ll be helping others move forward.
As you start to do this it is crucial that, as well as disconnecting yourself from people and situations that drain you and do not support you, you actively seek out and spend time with those people and in those situations that do energize and support you. Being miserable, unhappy and having low energy doesn’t serve anyone. When you feel energized, supported and happy you serve everyone.
Tags: Feng Shui Balance, Feng Shui Home, Feng Shui Life, Feng Shui Success, Life Balance
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