Mavis Coyle, my Mentor in life, is quite a believer in feng shui (for those of you who are blissfully ignorant of this Chinese art and practice, it is a system of arranging one's living or working space in such a way as to maximize the flow of beneficial "chi", or energy).
She gave me a book to read, which is the same book that Barbara Pike gave me a few months before she died, and is also a book which I got from Amazon.com a year or so ago and conveniently lost. I told Mavis that her copy was the third copy of this book, "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life" which had passed through my hands. Here it is, for those of you who may be interested:
"See?" Mavis said, and nodded her head in that way she does, sort of signifying that something has great meaning - a meaning which is generally lost on me. In this case, the great meaning was that I was supposed to be reading this book and applying its wisdom in my life, in my kitchen, in my apartment, wherever.
Now, I will be frank. I am not a big feng shui believer. But then, I'm also not the world's tidiest person, so the anti-cluttering principles of feng shui tend to go against my nature. I don't mind putting a red windchime up in my prosperity corner, but I'm not exactly convinced that a lotto jackpot will come of it, either.
Barbara Pike was a huge believer in feng shui - her entire apartment was filled with feng shui "remedies" of one sort or another - hanging crystals, windchimes, and large cut-outs of various colors, which were supposed to direct the energy vibrations of those colors around her apartment. I thought it was a little bit kooky, but what the hell, I'm game to try anything at least once.
Anyway, part of my house-cleaning and re-arranging has had to do with "unclogging" the "helpful people" portion of my "bagua". In other words, I have to clean out my junk room. Of course, I have known for some time that I need to clean out my junk room, but the carrot of having more helpful people in my life if I do so is sort of encouraging.
I am also cleaning out and fixing up my bedroom. This is partially for the purpose of attracting a mate. Mavis suggested putting a red satin brassiere under the mattress of my bed. She felt that this would attract a lot of sexy "menergy". I'm still thinking about that.
Have any of you out there had any kind of experience with this feng shui stuff? Has it worked for you, or is it just a lot of hot chi?
Be tidy, be energized, be cool.
Byrd in LA
Posted by wahzoh at April 24, 2008 11:30 AMIf feng shui works, my house could obviously use it. Let me know how it goes.
As far as the red satin brassiere attracting a mate, I believe the best place to put it is on your chest.
Posted by: Michele at April 24, 2008 01:13 PMDid she seriously say MENERGY? That reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs
It's from College Humor, so consider yourself warned if you get extremely offended by that kind of thing.
Posted by: PaleAndNerdy at April 24, 2008 02:11 PMHey Byrd,
Well, about 10 years ago my friend did a feng shui
(reading, scan...not sure what you'd call it) on my store and the result great. I continue to use
her suggestions. For example, at the checkout counter one can sometimes feel pinned to the back wall by customers. We've put up photos of all of our pets (and customers' pets) behind us. This gives us the reflection back of all those "awww, how cute" reactions. Makes for less stress and
more friendly interactions. The kids like it too.
I put a coaster with duck "wife and husband" beside our computer (the scene of most of our
disharmony) and Bob and I created harmony...got
a second PC.
As for the red brassiere...my own feeling is that
is a very specific type of energy. I found making a list helped me narrow down the time I spent on
second dates...not that my calendar was always booked. But I could spend my time doing other things once I found that the guy didn't match
at least 9 out of 10 on the list. I've kept this
list and it still makes me laugh. For example,
"No crazy ex's or children" was number 6.
I'm not going to pooh-pooh feng shui. It's really being very clear in our intentions. And this part of it
is consistent with Buddhism, IMO. I don't have lots of wind chimes, etc. Just use it to think
about my own intentions. Go for it, Patty