Six Feng Shui Steps to a Healthy, Wealthy Office

Imagine entering your office every day and saying, "It feels great in here!" Wouldn't it be wonderful to feel inspired and ready to tackle whatever is on your plate for the day?

As the economy continues to limp along, it's more important than ever for your office to keep you feeling enthusiastic, energized and productive.

Feng Shui can help you create a workspace that supports the important work you do, making your office a place where success happens. Here are six practical Feng Shui tips for creating a workspace that supports you so much that you actually enjoy being there.

Where Is Your Office?

The office is super-important in Feng Shui because of its role in creating and maintaining your financial well-being, and thereby your family's health and welfare. Everything from the position of your desk to the artwork and color on the walls plays a role.

Your office is anyplace where business or professional activities take place. This includes everything from your home office to your workspace in a corporation. Even the spot in your home where you "only" pay the bills is considered an office because of its stake in your family's financial health.

If you're on the road a lot, the space you use to conduct business - a hotel room, for instance - is your office. In every case it's within your power to control and enhance your office space.

Let's look at the Six Feng Shui factors that matter most to a wealthy, healthy office:

1. A clutter-free space. A clutter-free office welcomes in positive "chi" energy, bringing good financial health along with it. Whatever it takes, in small doses or large, create an office where it's easy to move around, work, think, and be creative. You'll pay yourself dividends when you do.

2. The Command position. The importance of the Command Position cannot be overstated: taking control of your space will put you in control of your success. Position your desk to face the door, but not directly across from it to give yourself the widest possible view. If this isn't possible use a mirror to reflect the doorway behind you.

3. Balance Yin and Yang. Offices need a greater proportion of Yang (masculine) energy, and less of Yin (feminine). Create an atmosphere of calm productivity by making sure your lighting is good, that you can wake yourself up with a music player of some kind, and that the colors are lively (but not jarring). At the same time, comfortable Yin energy helps you relax and work happily for long stretches.

4. Apply the bagua to your workspace or desk. The bagua is an energy map of your space that help you create great flow in your space. Using the bagua map gives you an opportunity to focus on and enhance your reputation, your important business relationships, your income and so much more. Feel free to email me if you have questions about the bagua in your office, or would like to receive a copy of one.

5. Identify the business you're in. Whether you're in a "cube," a corner office or at a desk at home, identifying the reason for working in your office inspires and motivates you and reminds you of why you go to the trouble of making a living! Put up a big sign with your logo, post your mission statement, hang pictures of successes you've had. It's a small but powerful engine that will keep you going.

6. Balance the elements. "Five Elements balance" is important in Feng Shui for making sure you feel inspired yet grounded, focused yet flexible. Balance is easy and beautiful to create: a strong vigorous plant for Wood; good lighting, awards, photos for Fire; square shapes or earth-colored elements for Earth; round shapes, metal picture frames for Metal; and black elements (like a black file cabinet) or irregular shapes for Water.

Your office needs to support you in ways both visible and invisible. Thinking consciously about it, and taking some time to implement these Six Feng Shui Steps, will pay off in ways that benefit you and everyone in your financial circle.

Autor: Ann Bingley Gallops Ann Bingley Gallops
Level: Basic PLUS
Now more than ever, you need to live and work in an environment that works for you, not against you. Open Spaces Feng Shui offers ... ...

Did you know that good Feng Shui can attract the comfort, balance and energy you need to be truly productive and successful?

I invite you to subscribe to my free monthly newsletter to get great Feng Shui tips that attract success into your life.

NYC Feng Shui consultant Ann Bingley Gallops offers in-depth Feng Shui consultations as well as inspiring seminars and workshops that transform your life by transforming your space.

Learn more from the free resources available at OpenSpacesFengShui.com and find out about Ann's unique approach to this ancient art: Feng Shui with an MBA!

Added: August 31, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui and Stress Relief - Does Your Living Space Add to Your Stress?

If you are serious about stress relief, then you have to look at your living space and see whether it adds to, or relieves the level of stress in your life.

So what exactly is 'Feng Shui'?

Feng shui is simply about changing the way energy flows around your living space. It is the ancient Chinese 'art of placement' and deals with the relation of objects and other elements to each other.

For most of us, we cannot rebuild our homes, but we can apply some simple feng shui beginner's principles and have fun doing it!

I use these feng shui tips regularly when I feel a "heavy energy" around me and need to force a shift and lighten the spirit! It might sound involved if it is new to you, but even a simple change of furniture, mirror placement, plant arrangement or introducing a new colour can have very positive results...

And, anyway, it is said that "a change is as good as a holiday"...

If your home doesn't display the template that you desire, try my feng shui tips for simple and fun ways to change the template. Do it and watch your life change!

Start with these 5 Feng Shui beginners tips to create templates that can positively influence your life ...

1. Create More Abundance

Start by creating the feeling of luxury in your living space. Use your creativity! Buy inexpensive things like richly coloured fabric. Include a few items that appeal to your sense of self-indulgence. Start with one room - maybe your bedroom. Drape your bed with the rich fabric. Add lots of pillows.
Display pictures or photos that portray abundance to you. Create a 'treasure map' to hang on the wall. A treasure map is a collection of photographs or magazine cuttings that you have put together to convey the image of what you want to manifest... A vision board. Place the 'treasure map' where you can see it and it will soak into your subconscious mind.

2. Create More Love In Your Life

Look to see what symbolises love to you and then fill your home with that. If the color pink reminds you of love - paint a pink wall in your bedroom. Put pink flowers in your lounge. If hearts remind you of love, put heart shaped pillows on your bed. Lots of them!

3. Generate More Creativity in Your Life

Creativity comes from being able to see "ordinary" in a different way. Look at a basket and see a lampshade. Take things that are being discarded and see what you can do with them. Take what someone throws away and make a thing of beauty out of it. You can use your home as a canvas for your creativity without spending a lot of money... Paint on fabric, paper a wall with torn paper bags layered over each other. String a length of Christmas tree lights in a dried branch and use as decoration, Frame family photos in pieces of wood off-cuts.

Be creative in your home, and you will find that you have begun to create a template of creativity in your life.

4. Create More Peace in Your Life

To create more peace in your life fill your home with the energy and feeling of peace. Paint a room blue. Replace reds and oranges with blues and pastel colors. Get rid of any object that you don't like or anything that makes you feel irritated You DON'T have to display it just because your granny gave it to you! Play soothing music. Dedicate your house crystals to peace. Have pots of ferns in your home. Invest in an aquarium with slow-moving, graceful fish. Create an indoor waterfall so that you can listen to the sound of water flowing. Display photos and paintings of peaceful nature scenes. Soften sharp corners by draping with soft fabric. Spray lavender aroma throughout your house periodically.When your home looks and feels like a sanctuary of peace, peace will fill your heart.

5. Create More Passion in Your Life

My feng shui tips for this may seem obvious... Purple velvet curtains, luxurious pink towels, candles everywhere, overlong curtains folding onto themselves as they lay on the floor, an assortment of pillows everywhere, a mix and match of colors and fabrics. Place bowels of flowers wherever you feel. Toss your shoes over your shoulders when you take them off. Throw a paisley shawl over the sofa. Put a burgundy scarf over the lampshade. Put an oversized nude painting, slightly askew, as the central focus in your living room. Spray flower essence throughout your home. Play your favourite romantic music.

Maybe the energy in your home is too precise and confined for passion to enter and feel comfortable? Rearrange things. Create a template of passion and form will follow.

Of course, passion means different things to different people. Find out what it means to you and make a BIG show of it. It can be really fun!

Start with a small change in any area of your living space and notice the change in how you feel. Feng Shui is real stress relief for you and your home.

Want to 'Feng Shui' your bedroom?

Autor: Margo Bastos

Have a look at http://www.diy-stress-relief.com/feng-shui-bedroom-tips.html for a simple 'how-to'.

Margo Bastos is passionate about holistic healing and natural stress-free living. Her abiding interest, continuing personal research and every-day philosophy is in alternative mind, body and spiritual modalities.
She has a real estate business in South Africa and her formal qualifications include a MA in Jewish Studies from the University of Cape Town. Together with Alan Mounter, a practising holistic therapist, she has a website dealing with natural remedies for managing the negative effects of stress. Visit at http://www.diy-stress-relief.com

Added: August 30, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Macro Feng Shui Versus Micro Feng Shui

When it comes to apartment buildings, they are often more complicated to analyze than a house. The house generally has one family inside or an extended family and the whole house is viewed as one unit, having one orientation. Then, each room can be micro-managed as a smaller version of the house whole house. As an example, if we discover that the northeast section of someone's house happens to be very positive in their particular house, then the northeast section of each room in that house would have a small dose of that good quality. Simple and straightforward.

But what about an apartment building with any number of occupants? Does the chi (energy) have an intelligence to understand that these tenants are not related to each other? Should the apartment building be viewed as one giant house, where everybody inside is just occupying a room that happens to be their individual apartment? Or should each apartment be viewed as its own universe, with its own distinct orientation? These are the kinds of questions that feng shui practitioners have different opinions about. The distinctions in the analysis can include whether or not the apartment building has one big main lobby or entrance that everyone uses or in the case of certain condos and townhouses, where each person has their own separate entrance from outside. And would a common parking garage matter?

I have always taken the approach, where I make a mental note of where someone is within a building (the big picture) and then I help the client micro-manage their own apartment, with its own unique orientation, especially since this is all the client has control over. Feedback from clients confirms that often similar types of people will occupy the same building. Creative types might be an example. Perhaps you are a chef and the person who lives above you is a kitchen designer!

It is valid to note where someone's individual apartment is within a building. If I can use the metaphor that the building is like a state or country and the individual apartments are like cities or towns. You will have the greatest potential to succeed and be healthy and happy if you are in the cleanest and most prosperous city, as opposed to the most polluted or poverty-stricken town. Over and over again, I have clients confirm for me that the people who occupy the best part of a building are doing better than those in the worst parts of the building. If I discover that my client is in a bad part of the building with no practical or affordable way to move, I try to see if they can make better use of the best parts of their individual space.

Autor: Kartar Diamond

No place is too small or too large to evaluate according to Feng Shui principles. Visit Feng Shui Master Kartar Diamond on the web at http://www.FengShuiSolutions.net

Kartar has books, workbooks, e-books and telesminars to avail yourself of in the pursuit of learning authentic classical Feng Shui.

Kartar is also available worldwide for consultations, including her long distance report which serves people far and wide who cannot afford to have Kartar come to their location in person.

You can also find Kartar Diamond on Facebook and her Twitter name is FengShuiRx

Added: August 28, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui and the Locked Phase

What is a Locked Phase? Some schools of feng shui call it "the Imprisoned Star" and in Master Sang's school we refer to it as a "locked" phase....It is a cycle that every house must go through at some time or another. Just like a certain time frame in a woman's life, when she must go through menopause, the Locked Phase of a house will be a time frame when the negative aspects of a house are more likely to influence the occupants. If a house type is already prone to accidents, illness, or arguments--then the Locked phase will make it worse.

HOW LONG DOES THE "LOCK" LAST?

The longest Locked Phase will last for twenty years. There are also annual locks that repeat every nine years. And there are even monthly locked phases, but most practitioners do not concern themselves or their clients with a negative phase of such short duration. But an example of a monthly lock might be experienced as a "bad month." Perhaps in that month there could be illness or a decrease in income.

WHAT ARE ALL THE EFFECTS OF A LOCKED PHASE?

If a house is in a "People Lock" it could make a challenging marriage worse, it could make it difficult to get pregnant, or intensify any particular problem associated with health or relationships. If a house is in a "Money Lock," then the income of the occupants could decrease mildly to significantly or contribute to any type of career-related aggravations.

Sometimes a house can be "locked" for money and for people at the same time or in consecutive years. As an example, a house which faces West and built in the 1950's was in its 20-year Money Lock from 1984-2003 and on top of it, in 1997 that same house was also in a one-year People Lock.

WHAT ARE THE REMEDIES FOR THE LOCKED PHASES?

Whether a house is locked for money or for people and whether it is in a 20-year lock or just a one-year lock, the remedy is the same: the occupants must be able to HEAR and SEE circulating water. Indoor and outdoor water falls can be quite effective in reducing the effects of the locked phase.

You should not rule out buying a house in a one-year lock because it will be over in 12 months or less!

A house that is just beginning or in the middle of a 20-year lock may not be the best choice just because of the duration of the lock.

Theoretically, placing water fountains or aquariums anywhere in the house where you can see and hear them will "unlock" the lock; however, there are going to be some locations for water that will be better than others based on the energy patterns of each area of your house.

When does a house enter the twenty year lock? It is different for each house type.

Some will enter a twenty-year lock shortly after being built, while other house types may not experience a 20-year lock for 40 or more years after it is built. A house has a major cycle that spans 180 years and at some point in those 180 years, there will be a 20-year money lock and a 20-year people lock.

A house or building which has voluminous waterfalls, pools, or aquariums may not experience the locked phase at all.

A house right on the beach with the sight and sound of water as a constant part of the living experience, may not experience a locked phase either.

The Locked Phase is specific to the house. The occupants do not cause the locked phase.

The Money Locked Phase will easily explain why a business may prosper for a number of years and then experience struggles during the locked time frame.

The People Locked Phase for a business can contribute to employees not getting along and/or a high turnover of workers and lack of loyalty or a workplace plagued with gossip.

The locked phase can be understood as an additional layer to the basic feng shui of the house, which complicates it unless remedied.

Autor: Kartar Diamond

Would you like to know if your house or business is in a Locked Phase? This is just one of many details included in a classical Feng Shui analysis. Kartar Diamond is available world-wide for consulting and addressing your concerns.

You can also learn how to determine when a Locked Phase will occur by reading Kartar's first book, Feng Shui for Skeptics or her third book, The Feng Shui Continuum. Kartar is the author of four books and two e-books and she makes a point of putting information and real case study experience into her books that are not found elsewhere in any other books on the subject.

You can find Kartar Diamond on Facebook as well as http://www.FengShuiSolutions.net and follow Kartar on Twitter under the name of FengShuiRx

Added: August 27, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Ground Breaking and Feng Shui

We have an expression in our own Western culture: "ground-breaking." It refers to something momentous, brand new, significant, and capable of changing the way we think, behave, respond, or create in the future. A "ground breaking" scientific discovery can lead to the cure of a specific disease and forever alter scientific research thereafter.

A "ground breaking" musical performance or artistic achievement can lead the way for variations on a new trend or open doors for like-minded people who needed such a catalyst or leader to precede them.

In a more literal sense, we still use the words "ground breaking" to refer to the beginning of a construction project. The day we "break ground" is the day the first shovel or tractor comes in to move the earth. So, how did the literal action of moving dirt take on the metaphorical connotation of important change? This is actually a major feng shui concept at its core. Both primitive and evolved cultures have historically tracked the seasons and the climate, created calendars, established farming schedules according to the cycles of the moon and we have basically looked to nature for the timing of many important activities and rites of passage. The power of the earth, combined with the timing of nature is understood naturally by people of all backgrounds.

Buildings are an extension of the earth and literally made of earthen materials, such as stone and concrete. We have made our homes in caves and we have built tall virtual mountains called "skyscrapers." Even the biblical saying "from dust to dust" reminds people of our connection with the earth.

When the rays of sun hit the ground (or the concrete foundation of a house being built), it establishes a connection between earth and sky (heaven.) Feng Shui practitioners like to quote Sir Winston Churchill, who said, "We shape our buildings and then they shape us."

The timing of when we alter or move the earth can have an enduring affect on the people who inhabit that area or that structure for many years to come. This is why so many people refer to the Chinese Almanac and feng shui calculations for the best time to begin a construction as well as when to specifically avoid the beginning of a construction.

Like other popular expressions, such as "going with the flow" or "setting the tone," the words "ground-breaking" have their origin steeped in metaphysical awareness.

This year, 2009, the directions of northeast and southwest are both tugging at each other and are considered precarious directions for building or remodeling. Some of my clients are building new houses this year which are sitting in the northeast or southwest. (The expression "sitting" means the back of the building.) Since the back of the building is the "spine" and partly the essence of the building, I have advised each client to proceed cautiously and we have even gotten into the details of what months and days are better than others to begin the project.

Autor: Kartar Diamond

Kartar Diamond is the author of four trade paperback books on Feng Shui and an e-book titled "Feng Shui Tips for for Realtors" available for download on her website, http://www.FengShuiSolutions.net
Another e-book, "Feng Shui Tips for Architects" will be available in August 2009.

Diamond has been a traditionally trained practitioner since 1992 and she has had thousands of clients.
You can find Kartar Diamond on Facebook as well as Twitter under the name FengShuiRx

Added: August 26, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui Kitchen Facts Myths

Along with all the other rooms in the house, there has certainly been a lot written about what kind of Feng Shui impact the kitchen has on its occupants. Many myths abound and I have had clients needlessly worry about features in their kitchens, some of which will be addressed in this issue.

Firstly, the residential kitchen is not normally looked upon as the most important room in a house. In fact, with the way we live today, fewer people actually cook on a daily basis. There may even be an ironic parallel between how high-tech and ostentatious a kitchen is, with how little cooking actually take place.

And yet it is one of the more important rooms in the house which could make or break a real estate deal. Here are some of the more popular kitchen myths: (READ: not true)

A mirror behind a stove brings prosperity: I have walked into kitchens where clients had propped up make-ups mirrors behind their stove burners or had placed one large mirror propped up or against the wall because they had heard that this brings in more money. Aside from the fact that grease and food will splatter onto the mirror and look bad, I don't recommend this practice. This notion has something to do with creating the illusion that the more food you are cooking, the wealthier you are. Nice concept, but not very effective. In fact, if you really want to be spiritually rich, it would probably be better to pack an extra lunch each day and then give it away to the first homeless person you see each day.

A sink placed right near a stove, or a refrigerator right near a stove, is bad Feng Shui: this is very intangible. And I would not argue with a kitchen designer about the most functional placement of appliances. The Feng Shui myth is that hot and cold (stove/refrigerator) should not be placed side by side because it would be a conflict of the yin-yang energies.

None of the authors who claim this is a problem have given information about what the measurable consequences are when stove and fridge are next to each other. Not worth worrying about.

When a person stands at a stove and cooks with their back to the entrance, this is seen as vulnerable or prone to accidents. I can see some truth to this, although I have never in all my years of practice heard a client blame a kitchen accident on their having their back to the entrance. (And since mothers supposedly "have eyes on the backs of their heads," this should be a mute point for a large percentage of the people who cook in the family kitchen.

Kitchen in the center of the house is bad luck: This seems to simply be a poor design and possibly more prone to a fire. It is more practical for a kitchen to be on the side of a house where there can be a window for direct escape of cooking odors, excessive heat or steam.

Bathrooms next to kitchens are bad Feng Shui: This concept is hinged on the notion that there could be a sanitation problem by having "elimination" energies in close proximity to a food prep location. Just remember that you can walk across a whole house with unwashed hands and end up in the kitchen also.

Some of my consistent findings, using traditional Feng Shui, is that when a kitchen ends up being in the most positive area of the house, the client often reports that this is in fact the favorite hang-out place for occupants as well as guests. Conversely, when a kitchen is located in a particularly accident-prone area of the house, there are more injuries and/or appliances break down a lot.

Another consistent finding: when the kitchen resides in the Northwest quadrant of the house (NW=metal and cooking produces fire), the result of fire symbolically melting metal can create a home where the children are unruly and do not listen to the father. (NW is associated with the father figure.) There is no physical explanation for this, but the feedback supports this association.

A commercial kitchen in a restaurant or catering company should be in a positive location within the building because the success of the business is based so much on the food.

Finally, we are all psychological and programmable beings. When people enter the house from the kitchen, there seems to be a universal agreement that the occupants will feel like eating whether they are hungry or not.

Autor: Kartar Diamond

Feng Shui Solutions, founded by Kartar Diamond, is dedicated to advancing the information about Feng Shui as a natural science. Author of four books and two e-books, so far, Diamond has taught introductory classes to over 10,000 students and has had over 4,000 clients as of 2009. She began her consulting firm in 1992, and has studied with a number of Feng Shui Masters, including Master Larry Sang of the American Feng Shui Institute. Kartar is one of his senior instructors and she also moderates the Institute's on-line Forum for on-line students.

You can find Kartar Diamond on Facebook and her Twitter name is FengShuiRx
You can also join Kartar's monthly e-newsletter and find out about her global services at http://www.FengShuiSolutions.net.

Added: August 24, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Survive and Thrive!

The following 7 steps will help you move your business from surviving to thriving. (I believe in these strategies so much that I am in the process of reworking my website and my marketing materials!)

Don't just survive, thrive!

Step 1 - Believe in yourself

"Whether you think you can or think you can't,
either way you are right."

~Henry Ford

The point is, you can only achieve what you believe you can achieve. So, the first step in thriving in these challenging times is to BELIEVE that you can!

Here are 3 easy tips you can use to begin to change your focus right now.

1. Know what you do best, what will produce the greatest reward, the greatest quality and quantity of business, then do what you must to get more time to do it!
   Knowing the best uses of your energy is much more important than trying harder or working longer. To get better results, you don't have to do anything essentially different from what you're already doing at the moment. You just have to do more of what you're already doing that works fantastically well - and STOP doing those things that don't improve the quality and quantity of your business.
   
2. Get proactive. What work do you have outstanding-right now? What's stopping you from completing it? Get organized, get focused and get busy! Contact that customer, write that outline, keep your eye on the big picture. Don't get sidetracked and let your day take charge of you. You are the master of your thoughts. Are they serving you?
   
3. Every day for the next 30 days, begin your workday by writing down everything that you love about what you do. Include all positive aspects of your job. (It's OK if you repeat things from day to day). Don't write or think about anything that isn't going the way you want it, write only about what's working and what it will be like as it continues to work and grow for you.
   

Step 2 - Evaluate your business costs

Do your costs outnumber your profits? Are you breaking even, making a profit or is your business running behind? Do you know?

To break even, for every dollar you spend on marketing, advertising, business materials, and all other expenses, you should make back what you spend. To make a profit, you need to make more than you spend.

The first step in this process is to evaluate all of your current expenses, from your fixed expenses to your variable expenses. Fixed expenses are those expenses that do not change from month to month, they are constant; things such as rent, equipment leases, utilities, salaries, etc. Variable expenses fluctuate from month to month. They include things such as shipping charges, phone bills, advertising, office supplies, etc.

Once you know your costs, take a look at what you charge for your services or products. Is this number realistic? Does what you charge allow you to comfortably pay for your costs and make a profit? If the answer is yes, the next question is to determine how much you need to sell to be successful.

Here's a simple 2-step formula to help you:

Service or product fee - cost of service or product = estimated profit

Estimated profit x number of services or products sold per month - monthly business expenses = Actual profit

This simple formula will help you determine whether or not the services you offer or the products you sell are priced correctly and if the amount of business you have allows you to achieve the level of success you desire.

Step 3 - Share the value your service or product provides

Clearly define the VALUE in your services or products. Assume nothing! No one knows the benefits more than you. Now is the time to make sure that all of your marketing efforts, materials, brochure, website, etc., clearly define the value. And remember, marketing is EVERY contact you or your company has with the public.

Next, add a little something special!

Incentivize your service or product to create excitement and demand! This can be as simple as offering a discount off your regular price, or offering a special bonus with every item or service sold. In this step you are seeking to add value to your existing products and services to entice future customers.

Step 4 - Reduce the amount of services or products you offer

Yes, you heard me correctly -- reduce the amount of services you offer. Now more than ever it's important to focus on what you're best at. To get the work you want, you have to have time. If you're busy doing the work you don't want or like, you won't have time for the work you do want. I know this is scary and I also know that it works. It's better to be an expert in a few things instead of a Jack-of-all-trades. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Step 5 - Expand your marketing efforts

This is not the time to cut back your marketing efforts; in fact, I encourage you to increase your efforts.

Review all of your marketing materials and rewrite them. Focus on the benefits you provide to your customers. They are far more interested in what you can do for them than they are in anything else you might tell them. (This is harder to do than you think it is, which is why it is so important.)

Step 6 - Become more visible

• Research complimentary businesses in your area, contact them to see if they'll allow you to leave your brochures at their place of business, so their customers can find out about you.
  
• Provide FREE lectures at your local bookstore, holistic health provider, Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Association, Board of Realty, Local Realty companies, Community College, etc. During these lectures, have a sign up sheet so all attending can be added to your mailing list for future events.
  
• Target advertising in areas your ideal client is most likely to be or read. (Targeted advertising is far more effective than trying to advertise everywhere.)
  
• Call all of your past clients, touch base to see how they're doing and ask if you can do anything to assist them.
  
• Offer a special mini-version of your services and send a flyer to everyone you know.
  
• Send out press releases to all newspapers in your marketing area. Let them know about your business, especially if you have a new product, service or new position.
  
• Join Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space and any other appropriate networking site.
  
• Regularly send your past clients and everyone on your mailing list an update. This can be a newsletter, an article, information you feel might be of interest to them, a special discount offer or just information about your services.
  
• Join your local business networking organizations. Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Association, business lead groups, etc.
  
• Join professional organizations in your field, The Interior Alignment Organization, The International Feng Shui Guild, etc.
  
• Start a business-networking group with businesses that attract the same customer base.
• If you have a website -
  
  • List your website in as many related directories as possible. Provide complimentary links when appropriate.
    
  • Submit your website to the major search engines every 3 months.
    
  • Incorporate keywords, page descriptions and page titles on every page of your website
    
  • Update your keywords every 6 months.
    
  • Incorporate your keywords into the text on your web pages.
    
  • Incorporate keyword links into your web pages as appropriate.
    
  • Simplify your web page layout, it should be easy to read and navigate. Use language your reader will understand -- you're writing for them, not for your peers.
    
  • Rewrite your web pages - remember - your customer wants to know what benefits you provide, in other words, what's in it for them.

Step 7 - Work together to co-create success and release FEAR

Worried about competition? Find ways to work together. It's much easier to move forward when you're looking forward. If you're worried about others, you're busy looking behind you, and it's impossible to see when you're going when you aren't watching.

These strategic steps, though simple, are incredibly powerful. When you focus on the big picture and take steps to create it, providence moves with you. If you're willing to make a commitment to yourself, your business and do the work, you'll not only survive, you'll thrive!

Autor: Laurie Bornstein Laurie Bornstein
Level: Basic PLUS
Laurie is the founder of Harmony Life, LLC, a firm specializing in Interior Alignment practitioner training,Holistic Design and mentoring for women entrepreneurs. She is an ... ...

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, "The Feng Shui Marketing Queen" is the author and creator of 'Simple Feng Shui Series', her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

Added: August 23, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

10 Great Feng Shui Tips For Your Business Or Home Office to Bring Harmony Wealth

Most of us spend a lot of time in office for work. Regardless of whether it is in your employer's office or your home office, the office environment can at times be very challenging. Relationship with your colleagues or business partners is a very important factor to unpleasant office politics.

While you are working hard and smart to be a better employee and making yourself more valued at the workplace you should enlist the help of Feng Shui to enhance your career success. Feng shui is about balancing the chi or energy around your surroundings. By balancing the energy in your environment, your own energy will be in harmony, and you will draw to you, people and opportunities that reflect this balance.

Here are 10 great feng shui tips to help create harmony at the workplace and to make your career advancement smooth sailing:

1. Good Support Behind The Back Of Your Sitting Position

The most important feng shui tips in the office is to make sure that you are seated with a good support behind your back. It is extremely important that your back faces a wall or some solid surface. You must never sit with your back facing a door or windows as this makes you vulnerable to "backstabbing" and "betrayals" in the office. If the back of your sitting position is a window, it is very inauspicious as it represents a lack of support. Close the windows behind you or hang a painting of mountains behind your back to provide you with good support.

2. Clearing The Clutter In Your Office

Clutter like unfinished projects, unused papers, unresolved works, disorganized office stationery and files are extremely bad feng shui to you. Your career will become a mess and you stand no chance of any career advancements. Clutter is like emotional constipation - it bogs you down. By clearing your clutter and arranging your office desk nicely, you create space for new things and your energy and creativity will increase.

3. Choose Your Office Desk In Your Success Position

Place your desk in your success position. Your success position will bring you great success and awesome career advancement in your career. You can know your success position by calculating your KUA number (or Star Number). Our feng shui website teaches you on how to calculate your person KUA number and how to apply feng shui in your work and career to bring great income luck and success. In addition, the ideal placement for your computer and desk is in a position that allows you to see the door of your office. If this is not possible, you can restore good Feng Shui by placing a small mirror on your desk that gives you a clear view of the door.

4. Place A Healthy Small Potted Plant On Your Desk

A plant will bring life into your workspace and will also absorb toxins in the air. My recommendation is to place a Money Plant on your office desk to attract career luck and income luck. The money plant can also help you ward off office politics and unpleasant things in your working environment. A plant on your table is also able to boost you creativity. Research has shown that you will be happier when there is greenery on your table.

5. Avoid Sitting Directly Facing Someone Else

Do try to avoid sitting at a work desk that is directly facing someone else at your opposite. This is bad feng shui as if you are seated in a position where you constantly face another person, there will certainly be accumulation of bad and confrontational Chi enery between the both of you. Consequently, this will definitely lead to conflicts and unpleasant arguments.

6. Do Not Sit Under A Strong Exposed Beam

You will be working under great pressure if there is a structural beam or bright light above where you are working. The bright beam or light will make you irritable and do your work impulsively. One good way to overcome the situation is to renovate the ceiling so that it is flat.

7. Separate Your Workspace In Your Bedroom

Feng shui do not recommend having a workspace in your bedroom as the bedroom is a place of rest. If you must have your workspace in your bedroom, try to partition it off with a screen. You can place a curtain or a screen to separate your work desk with your bed. In feng shui, work and sleep are two conflicting energies: Work is very yang and sleep is very yin, hence both must not mix together. In addition, a relaxing sleep will enhance your work productivity.

8. Display Crystals At Your Work Desk

In feng shui, crystals are great tool to absorb negative energies at work. If you want to avoid office politics and to make sure your career is smooth-sailing, you should display small crystal balls on your desk to ensure that everything goes smoothly at work.

9. Use Only One Door In Your Office

Do use only one door in your office, if there are more, keep them closed. This is because you only want your wealth and money luck to come to you in the only door and will not escape from other doors. Use only one door in your office if you don't want your money to escape.

10. Carry A Jade Cicada With You

If you want to block off any office politics in the office, buy a jade cicada and carry it in your bags or hide it under your files and documents so that it would not be seen. Jade Cicada is a powerful feng shui tool to help you avoid confrontations and conflicts in the office. It is also able to bring good luck to your working environment.

Autor: Swanton Mah

Swanton Mah is a freelance Feng Shui consultant who uses the wisdom of Feng Shui to bring great health, wealth and love to anyone who wants to improve their lives. Along with his love partner, Lizzie Mah, they own and operate 101FengShuiTips.com. By tapping on the wisdom of Feng Shui, we hope that you can have the unlimited power to receive and give love and create the happiness and joy that most of us wish to pursue.

For more information on Feng Shui tips and guide on home living and arrangements and how to learn and apply Feng Shui yourself, go to: http://www.101fengshuitips.com

We genuine hope something inside this website brings every visitor the good fortune they each want.

Added: August 21, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Surroundings, Change Your Life - Part I

Feng Shui isn't just about your stuff or how you place your stuff in your environment. Feng Shui begins with an awareness of what energizes and uplifts you and what depletes you. If it feels good, it's good Feng Shui. If it feels bad, it's bad Feng Shui. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? It's always better to be around or focus on what feels good or energizes you than it is to be around something that drains and depletes you.

We are profoundly affected by the environments we inhabit. Our home is literally a reflection of who we are - symbolically, our inner world is mirrored and reflected in our outer world. And if we change our thoughts, and our surroundings we can improve the quality of our lives!

Take a look around you; what does your home say about you - the person that lives there? Does your home reflect how you see yourself? Does it reflect care, comfort, confidence, and success?

Feng Shui is about connecting to your inner awareness by aligning your thoughts, your actions and your environment with your intention. The first steps in this part of the process are; gaining an awareness of what your intention is, what your intention will achieve and what you really want.

1. What is your intention? This is a critical first step. To achieve it, you have to define it. To give thought to what you want to do, what you enjoy doing, what nurtures you, is a powerful process. When we know what we want, and we set our intention, it is far easier to achieve our desires. When we don't take the time to consider what we truly want, we can find ourselves unhappy, unfulfilled and unmotivated.
2. Why do you want this? This question is tougher than it sounds. When you reflect on your answer, step into the benefit you'll receive; what you get from your intention. This step will help you clarify and refine your intention so that it resonates with who you are at the core of your being. When you start this step, it's easy to keep your answer on the surface; for example, you may think: I want more money, or I want to make enough to do what I want to do. These aren't bad answers, but they aren't the full answer. If you take the time to look deeper, I think you'll find that money isn't the goal, it's the vehicle to the goal. Ask yourself what the money provides or gets you. You might find that your answer changes to something like: freedom or creative opportunity. Each of these moves past a focus on money alone to the personal benefit you get from money.
3. If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be? If there was nothing holding you back, what would you want to do? Once you determine this, ask yourself what you need to change and do in order to achieve it. I believe that we can achieve whatever we desire, if we believe we can and if we're willing to do the necessary work. To see it, you have to believe it. Does your answer to this question support your intention? If not, review your earlier answers and refine them if needed. The answer to this question captures the heart of who you are - being in alignment with who you are ensures that you're not only successful, you're also satisfied.

When we begin to ask ourselves questions like this, we begin to change the way we think about ourselves and what's important to us. When we're clear about our intention and what we desire, it becomes much easier to recognize opportunities when they present themselves to us.

"Every experience you have is a good experience...You just have to look for it."

Autor: Laurie Bornstein Laurie Bornstein
Level: Basic PLUS
Laurie is the founder of Harmony Life, LLC, a firm specializing in Interior Alignment practitioner training,Holistic Design and mentoring for women entrepreneurs. She is an ... ...

In the next article we'll explore 3 powerful ways to change your environment to support your new way of thinking. When our living spaces support our desires, we can create change that not only lasts, we also achieve a sense of balance and harmony in our lives.

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, "The Feng Shui Marketing Queen" is the author and creator of 'Simple Feng Shui Series', her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

Added: August 20, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Surroundings, Change Your Life - Part II

Take a moment right now to picture yourself thriving in your career - imagine the complete experience - the power you feel as a success, your creative ability, how productive you are, and how much others appreciate you. Feels good, doesn't it?

When our living spaces support our desires, we can create change that not only lasts, but also helps us achieve a sense of balance and harmony in our lives. Think of the inside of your house as your spirit or personality and the outside as your bone structure. The shell of the house is the introduction to who we are. The inside is where we express ourselves.

To create surroundings that support you and your desires, you have to move in emotionally, not just physically. As you review each of the stages I'm recommending, try to actually envision your space in your imagination; personalize my recommendations in your imagination and then implement them.

Step 1 - Front Door for Fortune

You've heard me mention the importance of front doors before and I'm going to mention it again. The front entrance of your home is the doorway of opportunity. This is your welcoming committee to the world, the threshold of all good things. When you look at this space, ask yourself what you can do to encourage prosperity, abundance, and serenity in your life right now. Pay attention to the ideas that come up for you. One of the first steps is to make sure the area is clean, well lit and beautiful! (This goes for your office doorway as well).

If you desire career opportunities, consider installing a water fountain or water feature near your front door (or the entry to your office), to attract and circulate abundant opportunities around you.

Utilize color to enhance your desire or goal.

• Red calls attention and uplifts opportunities and prosperity.
• Green represents wealth, health and nature.
• Gold represents prosperity.
• Black represents career.

If you live in an apartment or condo and can't change your front entrance, then enhance your entry or foyer. This is the passage from the outer world into your inner world. Focus on creating an atmosphere that welcomes you, inspires you and encourages what you desire. Add a vibrant plant, fresh flowers, a table for your keys, a fountain, a light, etc., there are many things you can do to enhance this space - what is important is that you create a space that welcomes you and speaks to you of abundance. (After all we want our career to be an experience of abundance!)

Step 2 - Desk for Success

Your desk is the heart of your office. How you position it is vital to the success you experience.

• Make sure that you have it positioned in such a way that you have a solid wall behind you.
• Open space in front of you- so that you have full view of the entire office or room
• Do not place the desk in the direct path of the doorway.

This is known as the command position. In this position you have complete control over the office and the work you do. The placement of your desk is critical to the success and prosperity you enjoy in your professional life. If your desk is turned away from the door, facing a wall, your vision is literally blocked - so are your future opportunities!

Your desk shape is also important. Square, rectangular or curving desks are ideal. An "L" shaped desk (which is very common now that we all use computers), is less desirable. This shape is viewed as incomplete. To complete an "L" shaped desk, imagine where the fourth corner would be, and then place something there to symbolically complete the space. Often a plant or floor lamp works well.

The size of your desk should be appropriate to the space it's in and the work you do. A large oversized desk that cramps the space in an office is not desirable, nor is a small desk if it's too small for the job. Think of it as the Goldilocks desk. You don't want it to be too big, you don't want it to be too small, you want it to be just right!

Keep your desk clear of clutter and well organized, this way you'll be inspired when you enter your office, not drained or discouraged. In fact, a cluttered, messy desk indicates a pattern of postponed decisions - why? Because we tend to avoid it and in so doing we also avoid the work we have to do.

Step 3 - The Future is Now

Look back over your answers from last month's article. If your goals and desires included improving your prosperity and abundance, pay attention to this step.

If your goal includes getting a specific job, being promoted or improving your financial situation, enhance the area of your office associated with Career. his is the center front section of your office space; often this is where the door is located.

Utilize the colors white or black, incorporate a fountain or something that represents water. (A small black tortoise, a picture depicting water, a glass sculpture, a mirror, etc.)

If your goal includes improving your reputation, or becoming well known, center your enhancements in the Illumination and Reputation center of your office. This is located in the back middle section of the office, as you stand in the entry. It is directly opposite the Career area. Incorporate the color red, and/or items that represent fire (candles, light fixtures, etc.), or are triangular in shape.

If your goal is mainly to acquire money, improve cash flow, or to gain better control of finances, focus your enhancements in the back left section of your office. This is the Abundance center. Incorporate the colors red or purple, add items that speak to you of luxury, abundance and wealth. This could be a lovely piece of art, a picture, fresh flowers, or a vibrant plant. A wonderful enhancement I personally have had great success with, is to place a vibrant, healthy plant in the back left corner of my office, with a lovely mirror on the wall behind it to multiply the beauty and abundance the plant represents. Before making any enhancements in this area, it is important that you clear up any unresolved money issues you currently have. Balance your checkbook, pay your bills, etc., then make your changes.

Bonus Step - Create a Good First Impression

Everything you do markets who you are and what you do. Your first impression also determines if you're worth the fee you're charging.

How do you present yourself to those around you? Family? Friends? Colleagues? Does the way you dress give the impression you desire? Does it represent who you are and what you do? Does your hair and make-up project success? If you consider yourself a professional, take the time and effort to look like one. Is your normal expression a slight smile or frown? Decide how you want people to see you and then create the necessary changes to support your desire.

Autor: Laurie Bornstein Laurie Bornstein
Level: Basic PLUS
Laurie is the founder of Harmony Life, LLC, a firm specializing in Interior Alignment practitioner training,Holistic Design and mentoring for women entrepreneurs. She is an ... ...

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, "The Feng Shui Marketing Queen" is the author and creator of 'Feng Shui Lifestyle', her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

Added: August 18, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui's Gone Green!

In this world of change, doing what we can to help the environment is not just a good idea, or as Martha Stewart would say, "a good thing", it's the only thing. We are all stewards of this wonderful world we live in; making choices that support sustainability, recyclability, and minimal use of our resources is a great thing!

When I began my design practice over 15 years ago, there were very few options available. If you wanted low VOC paint, it had to be special ordered (and maybe even mixed by hand!), and it came with a hefty price tag. If you wanted an alternative to oil based stains or finishes, what was available was inconsistent at best, disappointing and a do-over at worst.

Cleaning products? You could get them by special order but they didn't clean very well. Now, every major company has green cleaning choices for you, and you can find them in just about every grocery store! If you wanted organic clothing you had to say good-bye to those lovely high fashion pumps and hello to Birkenstock, or hello to somewhat shapeless clothing.

If you wanted organic food, you had to either grow it yourself or you had to be fortunate enough to live in an area that supported it. (California comes to mind!)

Today we have options and choices in each of these areas that doesn't compromise our sense of style, our sense of taste or our sense of self. Today we can be who we are and embrace a way of living that is more supportive and beneficial for our health and well being as well as the health and well being of the planet.

I'd like to share some of the many items, products and choices I've found that help make my life easier and my world greener. Enjoy!

Paint

All major paint companies now have low VOC paints, so finding one you like is easy. One of my favorite paint companies is Benjamin Moore. A few years ago they introduced a fantastic new line called Aura. Not only is this a low VOC line, but you aren't limited to the Aura colors, they can match any one of thousands of their other colors! This year, they introduced a brand new no VOC line called Natura and it's available in any color! This is an incredible advancement in paint technology and it's great quality paint at an affordable price!

Stain

Zar offers a broad range of waterborne stains and finishes.
AFM offers a broad range of waterborne stain colors and finishes

Caulk and other household repair products

Titebond makes great tub & tile caulk, painter's caulk & kitchen & bath sealant.
AFM makes sealants for tile, concrete and floors

Cabinets

Breathe Easy; this company makes low VOC cabinets. They are the perfect choice for your custom kitchen or bath.

Cleaning Products

I personally like Bon Ami for scrubbing jobs (bathtubs, toilet, etc.)
Dishwasher detergent - the best I've found so far is Ecover, I like the tabs.
Dish soap - lots of choices, from Seventh Generation to many old, tried and true brands that have embraced green tenants, this is one of the easiest items to find.
Meyer Cleaning products clean well and use natural essential oils for a fresh scent (I love the lemon verbena!)
Shaklee products have been clean and green for ages. Effective and cost efficient.

Cleaning products are the easiest change to make. There are so many companies and products to choose from in this category, you won't have any trouble finding something you like at a reasonable price. It's no longer necessary to have these products mailed to you; it's as easy as going to your favorite discount store or the grocery store!

Lighting

CFL or compact fluorescent light bulbs are easy to find, last a long time and use very little energy compared to standard incandescent bulbs or halogen bulbs. You can get them in just about any size (used to be one huge size!), and they now have 'instant on' - perfect for those outdoor light fixtures!

LED or light-emitting diode bulbs are the newest addition in our choices for low energy use alternative bulbs. LED bulbs provide multidirectional light and are non-flickering, so for those of you that don't like CFL bulbs, this is the bulb for you!

Smart Power Strips - these are amazing. Smart power strips look exactly like surge protectors, and while they offer surge protection what they also give you is the ability to shut down the electrical energy drain that all plugged in appliances, TV's, computers, etc., have when they are off! It's true, everything plugged in constantly uses power - even when it's off! These new smart strips have an on/off switch so that you can simply flip the switch to off and everything plugged into the power strip is shut down, no electrical current. This is perfect to use at night and when you leave home for extended periods of time (work, vacation, etc.) A good one to try is Bits ltd Power Strips. (This company also makes energy monitors so you can see how energy efficient your appliances are.)

Clothing

You can find bamboo fiber, organic cotton and wool sweaters, tops and pants through many catalogs, at specialty shops and, of course, online.

'Green' towels, rugs and drapery fabrics are now available in most of the major mail order catalogs, at the major home accessory stores and at major department stores. When you see products like these at such a diversity of retailers, you know that organic based fabric, accessories and home goods have gone mainstream.

Food

Have you ever heard the phrase, "you are what you eat?" I choose to buy food items whose ingredients are as pure as possible. (If I can't say it, pronounce it or don't know what it is, I simply vote no!) And I am happy to say that you now can find organically grown food at every major grocery and specialty grocery store!

Making sustainable or green choices is more than a popular trend; it's about making choices that help you live a healthier lifestyle. To help you in your creation of a healthier lifestyle (let's face it, we can all do better), I am including 3 Feng Shui tips for Healthy Living.

What has Feng Shui got to do with Green, sustainable lifestyles? The principles of Feng Shui are all about living in harmony with our environment and keeping a balance in all things. Sound familiar? Feng Shui has been green all along!

Feng Shui Tips for Healthy Living

1. Take a daily walk - even if you can only manage 10 minutes, that's enough to get you on the path to wellness.
2. Eat regular meals. Take your time while eating.- enjoy the process! Eat only what you love.
3. Take regular breaks, every day. Sitting or working non-stop doesn't make you more productive; it makes you more fatigued.

Get up, get out of the office and BREATHE!

I think I'll go for a walk now! How about you?

Autor: Laurie Bornstein Laurie Bornstein
Level: Basic PLUS
Laurie is the founder of Harmony Life, LLC, a firm specializing in Interior Alignment practitioner training,Holistic Design and mentoring for women entrepreneurs. She is an ... ...

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, "The Feng Shui Marketing Queen" is the author and creator of 'Feng Shui Lifestyle', her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

Added: August 17, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

The REAL Secrets to True Feng Shui EXPOSED!

We as westerners LOVE rules. We live by rules, create rules, and slather ourselves with rules at every opportunity. If rules were tangible objects, we would roll in piles of them at every opportunity. We like information to be packaged neatly, delivered in measurable doses. Just like a diet and it's rigid rules, this type of approach rarely ever gives the benefits it promises. Yet somehow we keep following rule after rule wherever we can find one, hoping this time perhaps things will turn out differently. (We'll do anything to keep from asking our inner-selves the real truth).

But unfortunately Feng Shui is the opposite of this. Feng Shui has no rules. And that can drive most western minds a bit batty. "But wait!" you might say. "What about the bagua? What about elements? What about all that I read in the books? What about the tips you send us in your newsletter?" And to this I would say, these all are lovely things, helpful things, guidelines if you will... but by themselves they are NOT Feng Shui. Rules only create fear, the sense of right and wrong, and a human sort of rigidity that is limited and dull.

If you're scratching your head right now trying to follow these sentences, you're not alone. But try this on for size:

How might it be possible for a rule, a book, or a rigid solution be available for the unique, magical, once-in-a-lifetime-experience that is Y-O-U? That's right. You. You and all your amazingly perfect, unique, never-before-seen mixture of beliefs, experiences, DNA and circumstances. All of these things make up cute, lil' ol' you. Someone the earth has never witnessed before, and never will witness again. No one ever has been, or ever will be like you. The same goes for your home. Of all the millions and billions on the planet, your home is unlike any other. It's unique, and will never exist again. When you combine your uniqueness, and that of your homes, you get one whammy of specialness! And this unique mixture requires a unique healing approach.

Learning about Feng Shui is wonderful. Understanding elements is important. Using the bagua can be amazing. But after learning it all, the true key to understanding Feng Shui is to throw it all away. To wipe the mind clean of all that it's learned so that it can see your space fresh this unique home that has never existed before. Like a truly brilliant painter, they may start by learning techniques, color combinations, design, theory, composition and form. But in order to create artwork that can bring a man to tears, those images must flow from the brush as if they were channeling the divine.

If anyone approaches true energetic Feng Shui solely from their mind, or approaches a Feng Shui transformation with "a plan", their results will be limited and blossoming out of fear & limitation. I recently read an article stating that peach was "dangerous" - yes, dangerous! Yet blanket statements like this can never be true. True knowing comes from the unknown. It comes from asking God, intuition, or the mysterious, expansive Universe for the true answers...and learning how to stay out of your own way to hear its thoughts. If rules worked, then we would all eat the same food, live in the same sort of houses, all love the same color, have the same job, and wear the same clothes. There would be no variety, because we would live by "the rules". We would all paint our wealth corners pretty purple, and that would be that.

If this makes no sense, no worries. But I will assure you, your goal on this planet is not to obtain more information or gain more rules. We are here to undo and un-know and un-learn EVERYTHING. Our true test, and the hardest one, is to merge back to the place where we started like a child, when everything was alive, new, connected, and loving. Put down the Feng Shui books, the rules you've learned and all that you know. Walk into your home today as if you'd never seen it before. Open your eyes. Open your heart. Empty your mind. Then tell me what you see... And even more importantly, tell me what you FEEL.

HOMEWORK: from this clear, empty, neutral stance, feel how your body and emotions react to your home. Stand in every doorway, sit in every single chair, walk through every room, touch every object. Do you light up or do you contract? And what actions will you take from this new wisdom about your space? ... no rules, no regulations, no guidelines...only fun, fun, FUN!

Copyright (c) 2009 Stephanie McWilliams

Autor: Stephanie J. McWilliams

Stephanie McWilliams is the host of HGTV's "Fun Shui" - the very first Feng Shui TV show. Stephanie is also a successful coach and health counselor, helping people powerfully transform their lives with her cutting-edge approach of healing body, mind and environment. Visit her website to get loads of fun, F*R*E*E goodies! Plus get a free membership into her "Change Your Chi" Network and her one-of-a-kind "My Cup of Chi" newsletter. Visit her website today: http://www.EvolvingArts.com

Added: August 15, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui and Fine Art Help to Create Good Fortune

Do Fine Art, Feng Shui and Good Fortune have anything in common besides the letter F? Absolutely, they are all about creating energy in your surroundings; energy that can make you happy or sad, be uplifting or depressing and be supportive or obstructive. They are also about providing much needed good luck or good fortune energy as long as you've placed your artwork in the correct area of your home or office.

In the case of artwork, "one size doesn't fit all." Artwork, whether originals, prints or posters, needs to fit your personality, be an appropriate size for your home or office and needs to properly energize the specific areas of your home or office in which you've placed it.

When buying art as a collector your prime consideration is the investment and the return on the investment at some time in the future. But when buying art for your home or office, besides liking the artwork, it is important to know what type of energy the art will provide you. Will it be the best energy for prosperity and abundance?

Good Fortune Begins at your Front Door

No matter what school of Feng Shui you follow, all teachings would agree that good fortune begins at your front door. If your front door is not clutter-free and accessible to new energy entering it doesn't matter what you do on the inside of your house or office. Fresh new positive energy needs to enter before it can help you generate good fortune.

Begin your "good luck" journey by carefully looking at your entrance. Remove all clutter, collectibles, dead plants and broken items; they cause stagnant unhealthy or unlucky energy. Prune plantings for maximum visibility and energy movement. Then place brightly colored plantings or potted flowers around the entrance to lead new energy right up to your door and encouraging it to enter. The colors that work best here are high drama colors such as hot pink, brunt bright orange, red, yellow and even white if it is against a dark background such as the leaves of larger plants.

A welcome sign, flag or plaque further energizes the front entry. You should repeat the colors of your plantings in this type of decorative artwork to further energize this area. The pineapple is a great symbol for this area and often thought of as welcoming and bringing abundance. Because it is on the outside of your space, this automatically becomes your first piece of energy artwork.

Artwork that Energizes Good Fortune

Once you have cleared the path for new energy to enter, there are some basic principles you can use to choose artwork which will meet your specific needs and energize your desired life goals and objectives, especially that of good fortune and abundance.

First: locate the south area of your living room and/or office. If you are in an office setting, find this area for your office space only, not the entire building or common space shared by others. Based on the Compass School of Feng Shui, the good fortune or good luck area of a home or office is always in the south.

Second: completely remove all clutter in the south area. It is important to not only remove all clutter in this area but to keep it uncluttered. When this area is cluttered what you will receive is more clutter and stagnant energy instead of good fortune. Also, make sure your wall in this area is not filled with a collection of lots of little things, the color blue, any water element or earthen pottery ware. They all tend to neutralize or destroy good fortune energy.

Third: use red in your artwork. The color red is great for energizing good fortune as are the element of fire and the shape of a triangle or pyramid. Whether you are a Fine Art Aficionado and scour art fairs and antique galleries or your budget prefers a great poster is not important. What is important are the color and the energy symbolism of the artwork you place in the south area of your home and/or office. Some examples of good fortune energy artwork are:
A bright red sunrise with upward rays of light filtering through
A volcano erupting, bursting forth strength and energy
A pyramid of red apples or a basket full of red apples
A mostly green forest framed in red
An abundant bowl filled with mostly red fruit
A field of red poppies

If your space allows for only some tabletop items try a tall red decorative vase or sculpture, a glass vase filled with red silk flowers or a tall red candle. If you use a candle, be sure to light it at least once to release the fire energy.

Fine art plays an important role in the field of Feng Shui. If improperly placed or placed in a cluttered area, it can hinder you in achieving your longer term objectives. When properly placed, it serves to energize through color and shape specific areas of your home and office to help you achieve your desired objective of increasing both your good luck and abundance.

Pat Heydlauff, all rights reserved 2009

Autor: Pat Heydlauff Pat Heydlauff
Level: Platinum
Pat Heydlauff, president of Energy Design, helps people eliminate chaos and stress at home and within oneself. As a consultant and speaker, Pat uses color, ... ...

Pat Heydlauff, president of Energy Design, helps people eliminate chaos and stress at home and within oneself. As a consultant and speaker, Pat uses color, design and organization principles to transform clients' lives. Her proven methods remove clutter and disorder, while enhancing personal growth, improved relationships, prosperity, and joy. Her new book, "Feng Shui: So Easy a Child Can Do It," provides changes that lead to personal success and abundance. For information on her consulting, speaking and artwork, visit: http://www.Energy-by-Design.com or call: 561-799-3443.

Added: August 13, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

6 More Simple Feng Shui Beginners Tips For You

Here are 6 more simple Feng Shui beginners tips for you to use...

Decide what you want to attract into your life and arrange your living space accordingly...

What is your current home template?

Examine the template you have created for yourself in your home. Does it add to your stress or does it bring stress relief? What overall energy does your home project? Does your home project the template that you want for yourself? Are you happy about the messages that your home displays?

1. Create More Fun and Happiness in Your Life If you feel depressed or heavy in your soul, try opening up your environment to light in every way. Open the curtains. Put candles everywhere. Try hanging gauzy fabric from the ceiling. Consider a bird for a pet! You will be amazed at the affect on your mood! One of my most effective feng shui tips is to use color. Happy colors! Use bright yellows and cheerful colors on your walls and in your home. Open the windows and let as much light in as possible. Put up a wind sock, colorful banners and a bird feeder. Put a whimsical sculpture in your living room. Paint one dining room chair with stripes and another with polka dots. Have fun, colorful, carefree household accessories and this will spill into your life.
2. Create More Simplicity in Your Life Get rid of absolutely everything you don't need or you don't love! Be ruthless. If you haven't used it in the last two years, get rid of it. If you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it. Clear your cupboards, clear your coffee table, clean your shelves. Revel in the bare simplicity of your home and your life will begin to be more simple too.
3. Release a Negative Past As with all feng shui tips, the idea is to do in the material that which you strive for in the mental and emotional. So, to release a negative past, release all objects in your home that carry the energy into your present life. The Zulus will burn clothes that someone wore when going through a difficult time to release the emotional residue left on the clothes. Some cultures will burn the clothes a woman was wearing when she gave birth so that she and the baby symbolically step into a new cycle. If there are objects in your home that have bad memories associated with them or that were given to you by someone you don't feel good about, get rid of them. (Or clean them thoroughly.) The objects in your home should make you feel happy! Otherwise negative associations will drag down the energy in your home. When you shop for or acquire new items for your home, be aware of how you feel when you shop for it as this will affect the energy of the item once it is in your home. Mindfulness is the key! Get rid of 'unhappy' objects and you will feel more free to step forward in your life.
4. Be Healthier in Your Life There are two areas to work with here. The first deals with the physical environment. Check EMF's in your home and eliminate as many as possible. Invest in an air-purification system. Drink purified water. Check for allergens and find ways to neutralize them. Another way to create a 'health' template is to create an environment that feels healthy and vibrant. Put healthy plants everywhere. Color the walls bright, clear colors instead of murky ones. Put up photos of healthy looking people. Completely clean your home and cleanse the energies. The more energy and vitality your home projects, the easier it is for you to stay healthy and well.
5. Be More Beautiful To feel more beautiful, create beauty around yourself. Take time to be still and be aware of what represents beauty to you. A bowl of pink roses. Sunlight streaming through the window. Your child. The sound of birds. The taste of your favourite fruit. Buy one perfectly beautiful sheet for your bed and every time you get into bed feel yourself being enveloped by this perfect sheet. Create an environment that feels beautiful to you. The more you perceive, see, feel, smell, hear beauty all around you, the more beautiful you will become.
6. Have More Adventure in Your Life Create an environment that says 'I step beyond personal boundaries. I am willing to go for it in life.' Be daring. Mix styles and textures. Put up photos of exotic places. Use your best stuff every day. If you want more excitement and adventure in your life then break loose. Take risks in your home environment and this creates a template for you to step into adventures in life.

Autor: Margo Bastos

Want to 'Feng shui' your bedroom? Have a look at http://www.diy-stress-relief.com/feng-shui-bedroom-tips.html for simple 'how-to' tips.

Margo Bastos is passionate about holistic healing and natural stress-free living. Her abiding interest, continuing personal research and every-day philosophy is in alternative mind, body and spiritual modalities.
She has a real estate business in South Africa and her formal qualifications include a MA in Jewish Studies from the University of Cape Town.
Together with Alan Mounter, a practising holistic therapist, she has a website dealing with natural remedies for managing the negative effects of stress. Visit at http://www.diy-stress-relief.com

Added: August 11, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui Basics Every Home Buyer Should Know

If you're looking for a new home there are some basic feng shui tips you'll want to keep in mind. This will make it easier for you to select a home that has good basic feng shui and works with your personal feng shui energy too.

1) Find a home that is on a square lot. This will create overall balance for the property and allow an even flow of both yin and yang energy.

2) The home should be centered on the lot rather than off to one side, too close to the front yard (leaving a much larger back yard) or too close to the back (leaving a much larger front yard). If the home has a bigger front yard than back yard bringing money into your household will be easy but hanging onto it will be difficult.

If the front yard is smaller than the backyard bringing money into your household will be hard but once you get it you will have an easier time saving it. Try to find a home where the front and back yards are equal in size.

3) There should be trees, another home or fence behind the house to hold the positive energy on your property and make it easier to hold on to your money.

4) Stand in the street and look at the front of the home. Any vegetation, buildings, telephone poles, flag poles, trees, etc. should be higher on the right side of the house than the left. If it is the other way around it can create legal problems and/or angry females in the home.

5) The ideal shape of a home is square, however it can be difficult to find a perfectly square home. If the home isn't square then you will at least want the home to have all of your 4 personal best directions (Success, Health, Relationships, Wisdom) because if any of these areas are partially or completely missing you will have more problems in these areas of your life.

Your personal best directions are different from general feng shui directions for Success, Health, Relationships and Wisdom. Your personal directions are specific to you and based on your birthday.

6) Ideally the front door should face the Success or Relationship direction of the bread winner in the family. If you are retired then finding a home where the front door faces any of your four best directions is fine.

7) Your master bedroom should be in one of your four best directions in the home. A simplified way to determine this is to draw a tic-tac-toe symbol over the floor plan of the house and see what direction the master bedroom is located in (N, S, E, W, SE, SW, NE or NW). If it's in one of your four best directions this will be good for you.

For a more detailed analysis you will also want to look at the Flying Stars on the home. This analysis can be done by a qualified classical Feng Shui consultant.

Autor: Chriss Barr

Chriss Barr is a Feng Shui and Dowsing Expert and the author of the #1 feng shui book '4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Love Life & Fatten Your Wallet' available thru Amazon here: http://www.MoreLoveAndMoney.com You can find out more about feng shui at http://www.PalmBeachFengShui.com

Added: August 10, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Classical Feng Shui - Buyer Beware - Clashing Energies Drain Your Finances

In a previous article I talked about how environmental energies could enhance prosperity or bring about misfortune. Just how much of an impact can they have? I recently did a Feng Shui consultation for a family who had called me because they were having financial difficulties. They sensed that the energies in their home were causing money woes.

After drawing up the natal chart of the home, calculating birthdates and analyzing planetary influences, I could clearly see that the home had tremendous money luck potential for the husband. So it puzzled me that since moving into this home 4 years back, the family had lost more than $2 million - a loss that had totally wiped out their cash and other assets. A loss of this magnitude (or any loss for that matter) will clearly be reflected in the environment. So I looked closer to find the source of the hidden energies at work.

As I walked the perimeter of my client's property, I suddenly discovered the problem: the roads surrounding the property. While the home itself showed tremendous money luck potential, these roads carried clashing energy that - without powerful Feng Shui cures - destroyed my client's ability to make and keep money while living in the house!

Energy clashes can take many forms and affect more than money. A while back, a friend of mine told me about a "cursed" house. In every family that had lived in the house, a female member of the family had died shortly after moving in. Upon examining the Feng Shui of the house, I discovered that powerful energies were at work. The way the house was positioned on the cul-de-sac created a clash of energies that created an incredibly harmful energetic environment for women. While karma takes us to a home where we are to live out our destiny, remember that we can use our Earth Luck - or Feng Shui and Vaastu - to help neutralize negative environments.

Unlike the New Age "one size fits all" Feng Shui, authentic Feng Shui and Vaastu (Indian Feng Shui) combine principles of environmental science with complex mathematical formulas to analyze exactly how the powers of the land, time and space affect the fortunes of a home and its occupants. If negative events arise suddenly - or if a property has been home to a long history of misfortunes - there is absolutely an energetic conflict at work. While an expert analysis is needed to identify and neutralize the impact of environmental energies, here are some general tips for spotting situations where environmental influences are at play.

1. Did the previous occupants incur bankruptcy? If so, the situation may have been caused - or at least aggravated - by clashing energies. For example, near where I live there's a commercial property. In the last 5 years, all 4 businesses that have moved into that space have gone out of business in about a year. Yes, I know these are hard times for all businesses, especially small ones. But bad Feng Shui can sink a business even in good times. A while back, for instance, I went with some business people to look at a retail location that should have been a goldmine: great traffic patterns, upscale address, it had everything going for it except the energetic environment. The clash of energies at the location was monumental. After seeing the site and calculating the energetic forces at work, it was no surprise to learn that the former occupants of the site had failed to stay afloat.

2. Is there a repeated pattern of divorce, cancer, etc.? I recently examined a housing development where rows of townhomes were perpendicular to each other. In one particular row, I noticed that even though the homes face different directions and have different natal charts, the energetic forces swirling around them indicated marital discord. That flow of energy is like a magnet - attracting people who will indeed live out their karma to become divorced. Shortly after running this analysis, I spoke with someone who knew the families in that row of townhomes. I told her what the energy patterns indicated and she was amazed: it seems that in the past month, men in two different-facing homes had indeed left their wives.

So what does this mean for you?

For starters, never ever move into a home or business space without doing your homework on the history of the home and its occupants.

Second, it's very important to have a Classical Feng Shui or Vaastu expert look at the property before you commit to moving in. Just as a home inspection makes sure a home is structurally sound, a Feng Shui and Vaastu consultation makes sure your home is energetically sound. And choosing a location that naturally supports good fortune, protects you from misfortune and even alters an otherwise sad destiny is a million times easier than having to constantly put remedies in place to neutralize dangerous energetic patterns.

These "before you buy" consultations save so much money and misfortune down the road.

(c) 2009 Rupal Mehta Turner

Autor: Rupal Mehta Turner Rupal Mehta Turner
Level: Platinum
Rupal Turner is one of only a very few consultants worldwide certified in Classical Feng Shui and well-versed in the ancient science of Vaastu. Through ... ...

Feng Shui and Vaastu Expert Rupal Mehta Turner publishes "The Prosperity Report," a biweekly ezine that reveals Feng Shui and Vaastu secrets for a thriving business and personal life. If you're ready to improve your finances, health and relationships by using the forces in your environment, get your FR*EE tips now at http://www.ClassicalFengshui.com

Added: August 9, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

5 Ways to Improve Feng Shui When Starting a New Business

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese system of rules, concepts and principles which attempts to explain the impact on people's lives of the layout and design of their homes/businesses and the impact of the environment around them. The literal Chinese translation of feng shui is wind and water. The principles are still treated with some scepticism in the West but I think a very pertinent analogy can be drawn between acupuncture about which Westerners were similarly doubtful but which is now seen as a valid alternative medicine in its own right.

The first way in which you can improve your business is by considering its location. Basic no-nos for a business are location near a subway entrance, facing an oncoming road or at the end of a cul-de-sac or dead-end road. It is also considered bad luck to be situated near a place of religious worship, church, mosque etc as it is considered that religious buildings create a strong spiritual energy that can overtake the active chi needed to nourish business. The best principle to bear in mind is the mantra of estate agents location, location, location. Your new business should therefore be located where it is visible to a lot of people and not stuck in a backstreet.

A business's name also needs to be given careful consideration. You should avoid using words suggesting death or misfortune in a business's title. Ideally a business name should evoke a business's purpose, be easy to remember and have a nice rhythm to it. In today's age you must also have something that stands out from your competitors and is distinctive.

Moving on to practical matters you should pay attention to the entrance and in particular the entrance door. This is considered by the Chinese to be the business's mouth and therefore should be large enough that the business doesn't starve. It should be at least as large as its competitor across the road. It is also relevant that the entrance should be inviting to potential customers ie be set out in bold colours.

One of the most important things to bear in mind is the Wealth Corner. This is located in the southeastern corner of the business usually diagonally across from the main entrance. To try and enhance chi (positive energy) the Chinese usually adorn this area with symbols of prosperity, coins, a cash register etc. This area should ideally be kept clear of all clutter and well-lit. Another thing that the Chinese are very fond of doing and which you should definitely consider is putting a tank containing between 5 and 8 goldfish in the Wealth Corner. (Don't put 4 goldfish there - this number symbolizes death in China.)

Finally, as a lot of businesses nowadays are offices you also need to consider the very specific feng shui rules that relate to them. There are certain things that you should certainly avoid in an office situation such as having a light shining directly above your head or sitting at a desk with a window at your back. You should aim for an office environment with positive vibes ie light-filled, airy and as mentioned above an uncluttered money corner with lots of symbols of wealth.

In all aspects of feng shui always attempt to emphasize the positive. Good luck.

Autor: Richard Newbury
Added: August 7, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Feng Shui 101 For Beginners

The ancient art has many elements that are interesting to learn if you are interested. Many aspects can determine what type of person you are. The different elements to remember are:

1. Water- Promoting development and energy, water plays a crucial role in the 5 elements. Having a fountain is a way of promoting wealth, but too many times flushing your toilet or running your sink is symbolic of wasting wealth.

2. Wood- This element in the decorating art form promotes motivation and passion in your home. Having plants in your home is a good way of welcoming the motivating power of wood and help you focus on the tasks at hand.

3. Fire- Similar to wood in the representation of passion, fire is the most powerful element in the ancient art. With the incorporation of fire in your decoration, you can bring that spark back into a rough relationship and have more passion in places where it counts.

4. Metal- This part of the feng shui puzzle will help you promote attention. Is it needed to have attention brought to your home? Having attention brought into your home will make up for the many times which you cannot get anything done because of the lack of attention.

5. Earth- This is one of the most stable of elements in the cycle. Having a firm foundation in everything you do will get you to get things done. When you have that steadiness, you can better appreciate the need for the elements.

With the different elements, you can better organize you place of business, home or help out a friend. Feng Shui is very important if you are to find balance in your life.

This ying and yang feng is another way to help with relaxing you and bringing that inner calm in your life that we all need. When you have that inner peace within yourself, you feel like a better person.

Autor: Cynthia Parker

Cyndi Parker writes articles on various subjects, including Feng Shui. The ancient form of decorating has ways of placing your furniture a certain way. Find out how you can Expand Your Feng Shui at their Web site.

Added: August 5, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Benefits of Feng Shui For Your Review

We all have practiced or learned the different techniques of Feng Shui but have not truly seen any benefits of it. The ancient old art form of decorating and life scripting can be pretty hard to understand if you don't get the full benefit. The problem is, most people don't recognize the benefits when they do show up.

Has this happened to you? Is there a cure? Knowing what the benefits are and what the characteristics are is an easy step to recognizing the benefits when they come. These benefits are:

1. Promotes a healthier life- This benefit is first because it is the most important. Don't you think it is good to have a healthier life?

With this art form, you can get that healthier way of life when you have the basic teachings of the technique used in your home. Constant understanding will open your mind for wider topics.

2. Gives a state of calm- When you study feng shui you have the teachings from the greatest minds.

When you incorporate meditation with the different elements, you can get to a state of calm that will help you with other aspects in your life. We all have problems in our life. Finding the solution to those problems is the important part.

3. Makes your place shine- Not only does the decoration art form promote health, wealth, and energy, it also makes your living place look nice.

With the many colors you use for decorating and the many different decoration ideas, you can get a happier, healthier lifestyle in your household.

Feng shui is not for everyone. You need to be willing to make these changes; otherwise the chi that is harnessed in this ancient art will have nowhere to spread. Blocked chi is never a good thing to have in your body.

Whatever the course of action is, you need to ask yourself, "Can I be happier with a little bit more help?" The answer to this lies in with what you want out of life. When you have a plan in your life, you can accomplish a lot more than you expect.

There is a lot to learn when you study this mastered art form. Always keep your diligence and you will be able to have a stable life. We all can use a bit of stability in our lives.

Autor: Cynthia Parker

Cyndi Parker writes articles on various subjects including Feng Shui. The ancient form of decorating has ways of placing your furniture a certain way. Find out how you can Expand Your Feng Shui at their Web site.

Added: August 4, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/