Toilet lids – up or down?

I was at a birthday party recently and got introduced to a lovely couple. We started talking and of course they asked me what I do for a living (as you do when you talk to complete strangers) and when I told them I’m a Feng Shui consultant the wife looked at me with a big smile and said:

“So can you please tell him he needs to keep the toilet seat down?” and winked at me.

Now, I know exactly where she was coming from. I get this comment a lot. Mainly from women. Who have been married for a few years. And they talk about the actual toilet seat, not the lid. Funny that, right? But I digress.

On a serious note, what she was aiming at is this belief, or misunderstanding, or I might even call it superstition, that leaving the toilet lid up will “flush all your money down the drain”. And as a result, you will struggle financially in one way or another.

Now this party was supposed to be a fun occasion, a happy celebration of someone’s life, and still, for a split second, I considered launching into a 30 minute explanation of how it really works. On second thought, I just smiled and said in my most serious, expert voice:

“Yes, always keep the toilet lid closed or you will forever be in debt.”

Afterwards I could have kicked myself! I just should never had said that. Why? Because it is a major simplification and misunderstanding of what’s really going on here. And on top of that, it just isn’t true in most cases. Plus, instead of taking the opportunity to actually explain a bit about Feng Shui, I chose the easy way out and instead fed the misconception. So now, here’s a whole blog to rectify all of that.

So what’s the deal with the toilet lid then? Up or down, or doesn’t it really matter?

It does matter. And just not for your finances. The truth is that your bathrooms/toilets don’t always relate to your wealth at all. The area of life they relate to, and therefore have a draining effect on, has got to do with which compass direction they are located within.

So while it is sometimes true that leaving your toilet lid up can have a draining effect on your finances, in no way is this always the case. Sometimes it has a draining effect on your relationships, sometimes on your work, sometimes on your health… And sometimes it’s even good to leave the toilet lid up, so that an unsupportive energy can disappear out of your home! (This one relates to Flying Stars Feng Shui and is a bit complicated, so I won’t go into that right now).

Now, how do you know what’s going on in your home?

You can check out the compass directions of your home and figure out what area your toilets, bathrooms and laundries fall in. The person and area of life connected to that compass sector may end up feeling drained/worn out/low in energy due to the Qi being flushed out of your home via the waste water.

(Important side note: To fully know where your current wealth sector is located, you will need to have a professional Feng Shui consultant calculate your flying stars and locate the “noble” for the current time period, which in 2014 is 8).

And what do you actually do with the toilet lid then?

Keep it closed. Simple. Even if you don’t know what area of life is affected by the location of your bathroom, you can never go wrong with keeping the toilet lid closed. If there is an unsupportive energy there, it will be flushed out anyway when you use the toilet, sink, shower. If there is a supportive energy there, keeping the lid closed will counteract some of the constant drainage and maintain a bit more of that positive energetic vibration in your home.

So there you have it. When in doubt – lid closed. Easy. Sorry boys.

Hope this is helpful! If there are any other things Feng Shui you want to know more about, please let me know.

Cheers,
Sara