New Year Intentions

I really look forward to New Year’s Day. Every year about now I start to focus my attention on the day in preparation for a new year. It isn’t just about a fresh beginning, although that’s part of it. But truthfully, it’s about the actual day itself because my husband and I started a tradition years ago that we find nothing short of magical.

Feng Shui is all about intention. Someone can implement a change in their space to help it support their current life. Additionally, Feng Shui can also help someone support what they want to create in the future. And that’s what my husband and I do. Every New Year’s Day morning, we sit down and create our future. First, we look at the goals we wrote down last year and assess what we did with them. Then we make a list of new ones for next year. We make goals for ourselves individually as well as goals as a couple. We consider the financial parts of our life together, spiritual aspects, physical changes for the house, exercise plans, career steps, and recreation/travel ideas. Sometimes we’re collaborating on these topics and sometimes we’re putting our own plans together.

One of the most interesting parts of this ritual is reading what we wanted to accomplish a year ago. There’s no rule that says we can’t refer to our list throughout the year, but it seems like we don’t. So when we look at them again on New Year’s Day, we’re often surprised at how many of our goals were reached even though we had consciously forgotten about them. This is a good confirmation for the power of the written word. Writing an intention on a piece of paper, even if not referenced regularly, can still bring about change. Some of the items on last year’s list never got done. We may move them onto this year’s list or decide they weren’t all that important. Some other accomplishments may have happened that never made it to the list----a bonus, I say.

The years when we were into all the house projects around here, we would each write a letter to the house asking for guidance. One year we each got the same answer about whether to build on a sunroom—a definite “no” from the house. We opted for a deck and have never looked back on that decision. Even without specific remodeling projects, I find it helpful to check in with our home. It’s amazing what door gets open when you begin a clean page in the journal with “Dear Home.....” We’ve gotten some great ideas and insights from having done this letter-writing exercise.

We also throw the I-Ching coins for each of us individually and for us as a couple. We may even draw an angel card. My husband works with the Shustah cards which often become part of our routine. It may feel right to simply journal about the highlights or memorable parts of the past year for a bit of time.

All of this doesn’t take us more than two, maybe two-and-a-half, hours. It’s not much time considering we’re making an outline for the next 365 days. Yet it’s long enough for us to focus and discover our intentions for the next year of our lives. So, if you’re interested in giving this a try, get yourself a notebook or a journal and create your own ritual, create your own goals. Xin Nian Kuai Le as the Chinese say. May this New Year bless us all with good health, happiness and success.

Elements of Feng Shui

My husband and I just returned from five days in Mexico. Every year we try to make this a ritual—get away before the holidays. We come back refreshed and ready for celebration. I love Mexico so much because it truly takes me out of my element. Whenever I describe these trips, I find myself using that term a lot: “I’m getting out of my element,” “The trip brings a different element to my life,” “The experience takes me out of my element.” And although it may sound uncomfortable to do this or something I would typically want to avoid, there are times when I ache for it.

I had a realization one idyllic day during our vacation while sipping a pina colada, with my toes in the sand and the roar of the ocean in my ears----conditions perfect for an intellectual epiphany. It all had to do with my use of the word “element.” As anyone who has studied Feng Shui knows, one of its underpinnings is the cosmological structure called the 5 Elements. Based on constellations, directions, and the deeply-rooted agricultural tendency of ancient China, the Elements provide insight into the universal flow. There are 5 of these elements (fire, earth, metal, water and wood). Some people relate to one element or another in very intense ways while finding the other elements not to their liking at all. The goal is to have a representation of all five in your life in some way----through your environment (hence Feng Shui), through the foods you eat, through your own personality projections, through the clothes you wear, etc.

Like Lisa, who described the typical metal personality in her earlier blog, I also carry an exuberant amount of this energy. Frankly, I do not know how to be unorganized, even when I’d like to be. Perhaps I’m a little compulsive but I list things I have to do during the day, projects that I’d like to complete within the next two months, phone calls to make during the week, groceries we need for supper, Christmas gifts to buy, articles to write, you get the idea. I am desperately uncomfortable if I think I may have dropped the ball somewhere. This is metal at its highest, not necessarily its finest. So I surprise myself when I get to Mexico and don’t even want to figure out the currency.

That afore-mentioned day, with pina colada in hand, I realized that I truly move out of my metal element and drink (no pun intended) in the other elements instead. The fire is present in the heat and sun; the water----well, there is no mistaking the ocean; the earth—toes in sand, remember?; and wood is represented by the abundance of palm trees and flowering plants. But metal? None to be found. There is nothing in Mexico to support all my metalness, not one aspect, nada. And I love that.

I spent five days in no-metalville. No schedule, no lists, no pressure, no expectations. I did see people in Mexico, even on the beach, have some bad metal moments. I saw a guy have a meltdown when his cervesa took about ten minutes to get to him at his beach palapa. I witnessed someone yelling about a taxi not showing up instantly. And I saw plenty of impatient metal people waiting for the elevator. All I could think was: next time, leave home without it, people.

Truthfully, I have to admit it would drive me crazy to live metal-less indefinitely. But for a few days, leaving it behind was a relief. I’m back home now watching my element kick back in. I’m not disappointed about this for I was never expecting a full-out metamorphosis. However, I had the opportunity to change the way I did life and to immerse into a different reality. It wasn’t that hard, despite my edgy metal. In fact, it was elementary.

Feng Shui Ole!

Tomorrow my husband and I are leaving for Mexico for five days. We try to work this in every winter. We anticipate the trip for weeks prior to leaving, relish each and every minute while we’re there, and return renewed and invigorated. I have a friend who berates us for not spending more time down there. If you’re going to spend the money to go, why not stay longer, she preaches. I always have to reassure her we’re just fine doing it the way we want. I’m taking four books, three magazines and my Chinese to study-----as you can see, no tromping around ancient ruins for me. It always astounds me that we can both put the brakes on so quickly—no transition time required. We get there and drop.

The other piece that is so fascinating to watch is that we both adapt to the environment in ways we’d never do here in Minnesota. We eat hot spicey food, which would normally never agree with my system. We drink sometimes two margueritas a day (or pina coladas, depending on our mood) with no side effects. We read for hours on end with no pangs of guilt. Neither one of us could do any of this here without some ramifications.

I also wear things there that I would never wear here. In fact, I kind of have my Mexico wardrobe now----flamboyant, colorful, flowing items. My wardrobe color of choice (black) just doesn’t work in the land of endless sunshine and beaches. My husband wears a big floppy hat. He wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing here at home.

Adapting to one’s surroundings is what it’s all about. That time-worn Feng Shui phrase “Your space reflects your life” couldn’t be more true than when we land in Mexico. We take on a whole new routine, a new look, and new patterns. I often wonder if we lived there permanently whether we’d revert back to our Minnesota ways of doing life. I think not. Mexico holds a strong cultural energy to which we adapt. While in Mexico we let ourselves be open to the natural flow of the land, without a schedule or any expectations. We let ourselves live the “wind and water” of the place, as well as the beach and cerveza.

Political Feng Shui

It’s almost a year until the presidential elections and I’m already sick of the political scene. I’m tired of thinking about how much money is being spent on ads for these people when our health system is in dire need of financial resurrection. I’m tired of hearing about the tweak someone’s platform took when a candidate used different wording to describe their stand on Iraq. I reach for the remote when I have to hear again how the polls are doing. It’s a year away, people.

However, the thing that rankles me the most is when these intelligent, brilliant (okay, that might be a stretch), savvy individuals resort to standing in front of national television and spend their time, my time, and everyone’s time running down their opponents. Rather than explain their own positions on our world, clarify their proposed policies, explain their strategies if elected, they belittle their opponents, and, I feel, themselves in the process. Who taught them this was a good approach? Now it’s such a standard tactic that if one person doesn’t get on this accusatory band-wagon, they’re left in the dust.

Well, this is the world of politics, as disgusting as it is. What has really saddened me is that this strategy is now permeating the world of Feng Shui. Just this week two situations occurred which nearly brought me to tears. One was an article forwarded to me which was published in the Finance and Commerce magazine/journal, an obviously local publication here in Minnesota. During the course of the article, a practitioner from the compass school of Feng Shui discussed her observations about the IDS building in relation to City Center, two major buildings in downtown Minneapolis----one which has struggled from its beginning and the other which seems to be thriving. She didn’t explain if she was hired to do this or whether this was simply a way for her to express her views. Nonetheless, some valid and interesting points were made about these two buildings and how they affected one another. However, for some reason unknown to me, the practitioner was compelled to take a jab at the western version of Feng Shui (aka Black Sect, the other main school of Feng Shui) that is currently so popular in the States. She readily offered her “disdain” for this form of “psychobabble” and “nonsense.” I didn’t see any value that was gained in making derogatory remarks about the school and those of us who practice this form of Feng Shui. I re-read her comments which I originally thought were well-founded and insightful and, quite honestly, dismissed them. A knee-jerk reaction, I grant you.

The very next day another article came across my desk entitled “What You Should Know Before You Hire a Feng Shui Consultant.” This consultant, a compass student, left no doubt in anyone’s mind about her opinion of the western version. Yikes! I broke out in a cold sweat reading her comments and her experiences working with people who had had the great misfortune of hiring a Black Sect consultant. In between her valid suggestions about what and who to look for to make sure you get the help you want, she couldn’t keep from blasting away at a perspective different from her own. She could have easily made her point without the insults and jabs. Again, I couldn’t help but dismiss her 12-page diatribe in toto----the good with the bad.

Any one of us who work a lot, or even exclusively, in the realm of Black Sect Feng Shui could have responded to both articles, arguing each point, defending our own system, offering countless examples of how the allegations were not based on fact but rather on ignorance, and offering examples of how compass is “nonsense” as well. But what would have been the point of that? Besides, those of us in Black Sect don’t believe that at all. We know the two systems are different—neither one being better than the other. In September, I was part of a Feng Shui conference in New Jersey where the whole theme was about working together, no matter what school is our preference. It was a very empowering and successful undertaking. In all of my training in both the compass tradition and in Black Sect, my teachers were adamant about being non-critical of other schools, other teachers, other consultants.

Perhaps politics has entered the realm of Feng Shui. It doesn’t seem like a good move to me. The latter example mentioned above hit home pretty hard for me since this was a former student of mine. I know she didn’t learn that in the classes she attended here in Minneapolis. I ask what is gained from taking this approach? Perhaps these two people have been watching too many political debates?

In a perfect world, politicians would smile at one another, congratulate one another on their victories (and mean it), keep in mind the big picture (making the world a better place), and stop the critical comments. It goes without saying, Feng Shui practitioners would do the same. In my perfect world, I had hoped Feng Shui practitioners would help to lead the way to this new paradigm----maybe not yet.

Show Me the Money

I’ve been thinking about money a lot these days. Not because the holidays are here, not because I’m strapped, not because I just won the lottery. Most of this began because I have been facilitating a teleconference for a group of my graduates based on the book "Feng Shui and Money" by Eric Shaffert. His book is organized into nine sections with exercises, journaling topics and just plain soul-searching around the topic of money. We’re doing one of the nine sections each month.

I’ve always liked money and think I have a pretty good relationship with what it can do. I know people who have a love/hate thing going on with anything financial, or people who simply think it’s a very poor exchange mechanism and would rather do away with it entirely. I credit my mother for instilling in me a respect for money and for the value of spending wisely. She knew well the impact of the Depression so passed along the powerful lessons about saving and about delayed gratification.

As a result of the above mentioned teleconference, I have moved my relationship with money to new levels. One of the first issues that came up for me was that my husband and I have no wills. We travel a lot together and have never addressed the question about what if something happened to both of us...? Questions about what would happen to our money and our investments was right up there with what would happen to our three little kitties. We hired a lawyer. Writing a will isn’t an overnight task. We discussed all kinds of scenarios and some delicate questions, like how do we divide our assets equally between his side of the family and mine. Who should be in charge of disbursing it? Where does the money go and in what quantities? If I was truly going to take care of my money, I knew I had to protect it after I’m gone just as much as when I am here.

The other habit I re-initiated was spending only cash. I get cash at intervals during the month and then watch it leave my hands. If anything makes you mindful about spending, that will do it. I always watch with despair the television commercials for one of the credit cards where everyone is happily and efficiently moving through the store like a well-oiled clock making their purchases. Then one person shows up at the check-out with cash and everything comes to a screeching halt. Very embarrassed, the purchaser realizes their stupidity and pulls out the required credit card and everything gets back to its flow. I don’t let that deter me in the grocery line----I just get prepared. The money is in my hands before I even know the amount! I perhaps have offended a person or two behind me as I count out to the last penny in order to get the exact amount. But, I give them a big smile and move out of their way as quickly as I can.

Handling cash in American money is one thing, but handling cash in another country is a different experience. When I get Chinese yuan or Mexican pesos in my hands, it is nothing more than play money to me. I know I’m not alone in this idea. I hear people say it all the time as they buy something they may not need or particularly like----"This isn’t real money; it doesn’t matter." They even hand a wad of money to the clerk and say something like "Take what you need!" The danger of course is that such a serious disconnect to money, foreign or not, can send someone home with a lot less money but also a lot of stuff they’re not particularly wild about. I have to constantly remind myself that it’s just as real as American dollars and to keep my diligent spending habits in place.

Years ago I went on a five-day mini-vacation with a friend who I knew was strapped for money. Nevertheless, all the while we were strolling through shops or at market places, her credit card was working over time. Her justification was "I’m on vacation!" I often wondered what she said when all those credit card bills started showing up—and how her husband handled it who had so carefully been managing her carefree spending ways. Once she got out of a familiar venue, money reverted back to its original meaning for her----something to spend, spend, spend. Nothing I could say would dissuade her from buying a very unattractive, not to mention unflattering, Hawaiian shirt----she just had to have it. I had to borrow her some cash the last couple days of our trip because she had spent all of hers, and ATM’s were not available in those days. So her spending not only influenced her trip but mine as well. By the way, she only paid me back part of what she owed me, only after I asked her about it. I know she didn’t intentionally forget, but the realm of money is so disconnected from her reality that it just never came up again.

Last evening, Tom and I went to dinner with a friend. When she got change for her share of the dinner, she pulled out the bills she had in her wallet, integrated the change in such a way that all the bills were facing the same way and were in ascending order. I remarked on her automatic behavior. It was so automatic she was unaware she had done that and was also unaware there was anything unusual about it. In light of our teleconference discussions about money being energy, I saw at once the connection in how she treated her money and how she lived her life----owns her own house, has a good job, travels, goes to graduate school, just completed a huge remodeling project in her kitchen. That small habit spoke volumes to me.

Still, when I’m working with clients, the issue that always comes up as something they’re dissatisfied with or something they want to elicit some changes from is money. It’s clear many people have a difficult time relating to money. A lot of Feng Shui adjustments have evolved over the centuries around wealth and money, so this craving is not a new phenomenon. One last fall-out from the Feng Shui and money teleconference is that over Thanksgiving I approached my side of the family and suggested we not exchange presents this year. They all agreed and we decided that we’re going to take the money we would ordinarily spend and donate to a family my sister knows who sorely needs some financial help. Right now we all feel warm and fuzzy about that. What remains to be seen is how we’ll feel on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when there are no presents to open. Dissatisfied? impoverished? a little sad and nostalgic? My hope is that we’ll be overjoyed with how we’ve used our money in a positive way, avoided the shopping frenzy, and shared the blessings.

Missing Maureen

Three years ago this morning my beautiful niece passed away. In 2004 it was the day before Thanksgiving. We had pizza that year on Thanksgiving Day sitting around my nephew’s dining room table. Understandably noone was in the mood to cook a traditional dinner. Life goes on even though we didn’t think it would, even though we really didn’t want it to. My 93-year-old mother opted out----a few weeks after Maureen died, she also chose to make her departure. My sister and I were the walking wounded for a while.

After this much time to ponder such an enormous event in our family, I have slowly discovered something. I knew this piece of information intellectually but I have now gotten glimpses of it in the core of my heart—and that is there is a definite existence on higher level of life. Naturally I was taught about “life after death” as a Catholic----it was framed in the context of heaven, purgatory, and of course hell. I now know there is something beyond all this.

This came about because, shortly after Maureen died, my sister’s life began to change. Well, of course, it would naturally after such a loss, but I mean in a good way. Not just good, but fabulous. Not just fabulous, but miraculous. It was odd, because as she was grieving, great things started to come her way. She became recognized in the community newspapers in many ways for her charitable work. She was asked to speak at the high school’s Homecoming celebration—the first time a woman has been bestowed this honor. She made some lovely changes in her home (with a little help from her Feng Shui sister, of course) and she began entertaining. She had some travel opportunities. An incredible financial windfall was dropped in her lap. And most recently she won $500 in a local drawing. It’s like she became charmed, in a bittersweet way. I asked her what she thought was going on. She said “It’s Maureen.”

It seems every day she sits in Maureen’s room for a few minutes and asks for strength and guidance. Then goes on about her day. As it turns out, this King Midas touch began almost instantly after Maureen left. First, in small ways. Then in bigger ways. Now, everyone is noticing. She is rather embarrassed by all the attention coming her way, admitting she’s even afraid to buy a lottery ticket because she’s pretty sure she might win. No one begrudges her change in fate. It’s a pretty known fact in my hometown that she deserves every good thing that comes her way. But why now? After her husband died twenty-five years ago, she struggled to raise her little kids by herself, worked sometimes two jobs, paid her bills on time, held her head high. Why not then?

I believe it comes down to the fact that she has asked for the help she needs, which is not something she did very often and wasn’t able to do even after the death of her husband. This time she didn’t ask me or her son for help, she asked her daughter who had died. She stretched past the concept of heaven or hell and reached to someone she knew. She put forth an intention with all of her heart, with what was left of her heart, and asked. She reached into the transcendental for answers and guidance that couldn’t be answered from here and came back with palpable results.

Does she consider this praying, I asked? She assured me she didn’t think of it as prayer. It’s simply a mother reaching out to her daughter, heart-to-heart. It’s simply one soul putting forth a heart-felt request in the hopes another soul will hear and respond. How is this any different than someone asking for a better job? an easier relationship? a chance to heal? Perhaps the difference lies in the word “heart-felt”----feeling with the heart and having the heart accept the feeling. Maybe we just don’t reach far enough with the request.

We still miss Maureen, especially around this time of year. Not only because she left us at Thanksgiving, but also because she loved the holidays. Yet I see now that she really isn’t far away at all. I need only reach out.

"FUN SHUI" NEEDS A WARDROBE MAKEOVER

I’ve been watching the HGTV show "Fun Shui" for a few weeks now (Friday nights at 8:30 CST) and want to preface my comments by saying I really do think the show is doing a good job. There are some good teachable moments and some clever ideas. Watching a place transform makes for good viewing and I think they’re pretty spot on.

Now, however, I think it’s time to bring in a wardrobe coach. What is it with those clothes Stefanie the consultant wears? Is she going to a ball-game? running errands? Does she only have that one pair of jeans? I’m waiting for the show that has her wearing a baseball cap. This is a professional appointment, people. Come on, dress her accordingly. I’ve met this woman----she doesn’t dress like this otherwise, that I could tell. I’ve seen her in a very attractive two-piece suit, or a pair of dress slacks with a sweater. She’s a mature woman who should no longer be dolled up in tops appropriate for an 18-year-old, with a pair of stone-washed jeans and those boots. She never takes those boots off even when painting walls. Wouldn’t it be nice if we saw her remove those things at the front door so she could respectfully walk through the space without danger of scuffing up the wood floors?

I guess my beef is that I’ve seen how hard some of us have worked to get people to take Feng Shui and Feng Shui consultants seriously. If I showed up in something like that, I’d be apologizing all over myself to the client explaining how my house had burned down and this was all I was wearing when I ran out of the burning building. What would it hurt to make her a bit more age appropriate?

My other wardrobe gripe has to do with editing. I think they’re trying to make it look like this whole make-over thing took one day since everyone is wearing the same outfit in the beginning and then at the end. But in-between everyone wears different clothes. This doesn’t take an Oliver Stone to know that sequential integrity is important. I get that they would change clothes when they’re involved in the "hands on" parts where we see them happily pushing paint rollers around. But then to bring them back in the original outfits to end the program? Who dropped the wardrobe ball here? On more than one show Stefanie announces that she’s going to take her client shopping. The next shot in the story shows her and her client in the store in different clothes and different hair-dos. Maybe I’ve made a mistaken assumption that they’re shopping in the city in which the client lives. Maybe they’re traveling to another city, or country for that matter. Then they would, of course, have to change clothes after traveling so far. However, it’s unsettling when they return to the house and they’re all back in their original outfits. When did they have time to launder those clothes? Since they’re traveling to destinations unknown to do the shopping, couldn’t they have made a little side-trip and bought something new to wear when they came home? Look, here’s the new headboard we found in Italy, and isn’t this a cute jacket I bought there as well?

While I’m on it, the producers also need to give Stefanie a few coaching sessions about hand gestures. She’s getting a little out of control with them. I’m waiting for the time when she pokes someone’s eye out with those fingers she points. I detected on a recent show one of the client’s ducking ever so slightly to avoid being whacked on the side of his head from her waving arms. This is easy to overcome (I should know) so hopefully they’ll get on this. Oh yes, one more thing----please don’t show her plopping herself on someone’s bed to drive home a point about an over-head shelf. She can just use those fingers to point at it.

Pet Perq in my Office

It was only a matter of time before I blogged about my cats. Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes know that I own, or rather am owned by, three little cherubs. Most of my adult life I’ve lived with cats, continuously astounded by their magnificence, their intelligence, and their indifference. My husband believes I have some kind of persecution complex to put up with their behavior sometimes, but I don’t care. I’m here to serve.

I will say each day I have a Feng Shui issue with one of my little felines. Her name is Mudra and she is the most "water-y" of the three----she doesn’t mingle with the other two, she prefers to eat by herself, and she’s not much for sitting on the back deck even on sunny days. She’s an indoor kitty all the way.

One of the places she takes over is my office chair. She curls up on the chair first thing in the morning, and at night she’ll often still be there. Of course, it presents a dilemma for me since I need to work at my desk. What dilemma? you may ask, echoing my husband’s own question. You move her off the chair—it’s that easy, he’ll tell me. This next part will fully disclose a flaw in my own character, but real, true cat-owners will totally understand: you don’t disturb a kitty. Oh no. The cat stays and I adjust.

In Feng Shui, you must have a comfortable, high-backed chair at your desk. One that supports you as you make decisions. One that rolls back and forth easily, has arms, and can be raised and lowered as needed. I hear myself say it countless times to clients and students. I say it adamantly even, with great emphasis, stressing the importance of sitting straight and feeling in control. The caveat, for those of you who still are not understanding the gist of my blog, is that this Feng Shui directive does not apply if you have cats. Here’s the new directive: if a cat is sitting in your office chair, you share the space with the cat, disturbing them as little as possible. Duh.

As I write this very blog, I am comfortably and easily perched on the front two inches of my chair, with my lovely cat Mudra sprawled behind.

She has agreed to move her large bushy tail to give me this space for which I’m grateful. Lest I forget she has so generously shared her space, she will from time to time push her little front paws into my back. Some people would think she was trying to shove me off the chair, but I know she’s offering me the support and confidence I need in life. When stalled for an idea, or struggling to know where to begin, I reach behind me and pet whatever part of her my hand finds. As though that isn’t reward enough, she will emit a soft purr to let me know she’s there and recognizes my efforts. What better Feng Shui can I have? Those high-backed chairs, those ergonomic monstrosities----they’re only for people who don’t have the privilege of sharing their space with the gift of a cat.

Equine Feng Shui

On Friday, my husband and I experienced a session of equine therapy. It was his birthday and through a convergence of various people, I had heard about a place called Acres for Life, about an hour north of the Minneapolis area. I thought it would be a fabulous experience for him to celebrate not only his birthday but also a new shift in his career. I was not prepared for how mind-blowing and enlightening it would be for both of us.

I have done a bit of horse-back riding over the years so, even though I knew going in I wouldn’t be riding these horses, I figured I’d be pretty comfortable with the whole idea. What surprised me was the paralyzing awe I felt once I got in the pasture. It was hard to know what came over me, but I felt I was in the presence of masters, everyone of them. On the outside they were slowly and steadily grazing, hardly noticing me standing there, yet I knew I was dealing with something other than my normal life.

After a couple of exercises to get comfortable with the horses, the therapists dragged out a bunch of poles, barrels, stools, rope, etc. Our assignment was to build our own little space within their space, using any or all of these tools. This was, to say the least, the ultimate Feng Shui conundrum. Rather than maintain a respectful distance while standing in their pasture, I had to make a "home" for myself, mark my territory in some presumptuous way. This was a blatant desecration of Feng Shui protocol that states you walk lightly in someone else’s place, leaving no footprints behind. But an assignment was an assignment and the therapists were waiting.
I began dragging things around laying them here and there, creating a semblance of walls. I left the front open so I didn’t seem too overtly rude and uninviting. I’m busy hauling and shoving poles around when a black horse is suddenly standing in my space. He came in through the "front door," magically appearing as though out of nowhere. He assessed what I was doing and began to re-arrange a few things, nudging some of my "walls" with his nose, lifting up one light-weight pole with his mouth to make sure I understood it didn’t belong there. We talked and laughed and, of course, I helped him move things where he wanted them. When it was all just right, he stood there for a bit, while we basked in the final results. The therapists were smiling from the sidelines, furiously writing things down on their clipboards. Then he slowly turned and meandered out through the front door.

If I ever felt like dropping to my knees, it was at this point. The therapists came running over exuberant at the interaction; my husband had left his own little creation of space to join the experience. I was, of course, concerned I had upstaged his own birthday celebration. But, in that moment, watching my equine buddy amble away I knew I had to re-think the Feng Shui protocol about infringing on another’s space, I had to replay the moments of playful interaction, of moving my walls, of being in the moment. In five minutes, he touched on issues that were real for me. I was indeed in the presence of a master. And, as it turns out, my space had been blessed by magic----literally. One of the therapists revealed that the horse’s name was Magic.

Can You Hear Me Now?

It seems Motorola has requested a patent for a Feng Shui phone. Please. I know from my own experience that when something is coined "Feng Shui" it means the colors have a zen-white or peaceful pastel shade. Or it could (operative word) make you feel centered just being around it, or just simply holding it, or just looking at it. On the initial glance, however, it would seem Motorola has done some homework on what a Feng Shui enthusiast might want to know.

One of the first features mentioned is that it has a digital camera (uh, guys, many phones have this already), but the difference here is that it can determine color saturation leading us to better balance in an environment. I guess we can’t get there with the other camera phones. It is also equipped with a compass to determine directions along with some version of an otherwise valid and scientific meter that measures electromagnetic fields.

It also has a GPS receiver to locate where you are and then it will run that information through a network to determine if you’re standing with your Feng Shui cell phone near any airports, landfills or factories. It is also equipped with an AM/FM radio which, through transmission clarity, can determine how close you might be to power lines. Finally, it has a microphone to measure noise levels in the environment.

The phone owner (this does not take a licensed Feng Shui consultant as you can probably figure out) takes some pictures of the surrounding areas, points the phone toward the main wall and presses a button. A "Ch'i Map" is presented measuring positive ch’i, neutral ch’i, and negative ch’i. I was unable to determine how to interpret the results, but let’s hope there’s a manual. I also didn’t know what we were supposed to do about anything that falls in the negative ch’i column.

Although some valuable information might be spewed out, without Feng Shui training, most people aren’t going to know what to do. Unfortunately, here’s a sad example of the cookie-cutter approach to an art and science that requires careful considerations, individual assessments, and room to implement extenuating circumstances. Maybe the best action to take is not buy the phone in the first place.

"Fun Shui" television show

I’m pretty excited about the new HGTV "Fun Shui" show that has recently aired. It was a matter of time before it happened. It’s kind of cute and glitzy, but that’s what sells. I think the Feng Shui designer on the show (Stephanie McWilliams) does a good job explaining the changes and doing some educating along the way. She’s perky and hip to boot.

Tonight, however, I had a strong reaction to the program which I hadn’t noticed on prior shows or, if it had occurred, it wasn’t so blatant to me. As part of the explanation to this reaction, let me say that in the Feng Shui world, the client rules. Any good consultant would spend a good deal of time asking questions about the clients’ taste, their preferences, what colors they like, etc. Well, Stephanie has her client slather on some dramatic red paint on the living room walls. When the client expresses some concern that she isn’t sure she likes the color at all, she’s told "it’ll grow on you." Feng Shui Stephanie also hauled in an enormous piece of art which she unveiled for the first time in front of the client, assuring them they’ll love it. I thought the piece was God-awful. How come the clients didn’t get to choose? How come they had to adjust to Stephanie’s choices? Where does it say she knows best what belongs in their home? Bad Feng Shui.

I suppose it makes for good television. People do like to be told what to do. But, sadly, I think a huge piece of what Feng Shui is all about was terribly misconstrued. I’ll watch "Fun Shui" again next week in hopes Stephanie pulls in the reins a bit and guides the clients rather than pushes them.