Green Living

Feng Shui Friday – How to efficiently fight mould

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We’ve had a bit of a damp, wet streak here in Sydney. With dampness comes mould. Most people still use bleach as their go-to solution to counteract mould growing. Read on to find out how to fight mould naturally and why bleach is the worst thing you can use.

Mould is a type of fungus. It starts growing where it is damp, and it doesn’t need any light to survive. Once the mould is established, it actually doesn’t need any other moisture than what is naturally found in air to keep growing. So drying out an area that has been affected by mould is not an effective cure at all.

Fungi and their spores are abundant in air, on surfaces, in house dust and water, so the question is not where they are but whether they are growing. In a normal household mould is most commonly found in the kitchen and wet room areas as well as outside and in floor and roof cavities.

One of the first symptoms of being affected by mould is fatigue that is not improved by rest. Some other typical symptoms/health effects of mould are: recurring colds or flus that take a long time to get over, asthma, bronchitis, nasal congestion, runny nose, eye/nose/throat irritation, fever, skin rashes, headaches and allergies. If you have any of these symptoms for a prolonged time, it might be a good idea to check if you have extensive mould growing somewhere in your home. Most often mould that is causing severe reactions like these is hidden under your floors or in the roof cavity of your home, you won’t normally get that bad from the stuff that might be growing in your bathroom or laundry.

It’s very important to make sure that you have sufficient ventilation in your kitchen, bathroom and laundry as air humidity levels above 70% increases the risk of developing mould. With sufficient airflow you can reduce the risk of mould growing dramatically.

Something to be aware of around mould, apart from its adverse effects on our health, is that once a person becomes sensitive to mould it is often for life and for all types of mould, which is why it’s so important to avoid mould in any home or office to being with.

So mould can grow from any source of water. For this reason it is very important to have sufficient and working ventilation in your wet rooms and you kitchen as well. As a rule of thumb if any steam or smell of food is still present 10 minutes after showering or cooking, your ventilation is not adequate.

Most people use bleach to fight mould, or a commercial cleaning product containing bleach. This is what our parents did, and this is what we’re shown on TV etc. in clever marketing campaigns from the companies selling cleaning products. What no-one really talks about is this interesting little fact: bleach is a source of food for mould! So while cleaning products containing bleach will make it look like the mould is gone (as it has now been bleached and therefore you can’t see it anymore), the mould is still there and it’s growing, happily feeding from the bleach. So bleach is not only not good for your health, it is also creates a source of food for the mould! I know I go on about this a little, and there is really no reason what so ever to use bleach in the cleaning of your home. It’s toxic and it does nothing for you.

Use a naturally effective method to clean mould from your home instead.

Below is a recommendation on how to clean mould from the Mycologia website:

  • Protect yourself by putting on a respirator and gloves. (Note: In a normal home I don’t think respirator is necessary, unless you are over-sensitive to mould or going into the roof or floor cavities).
  • Vacuum the affected area with a HEPA vacuum (see Vacuum cleaner section below) to remove the mould spores.
  • Wipe clean the affected area using microfiber cloths with vinegar (80% vinegar, 20% water) or methylated spirits solution (70% methylated spirits, 30% water). NOTE: only use naturally fermented white vinegar as cheap imitation vinegar made from acetic acid is not effective.
  • Use a two-bucket system – one bucket with vinegar solution and the other with clean water (or rinse under running tap). Do not put the dirty cloth back in the vinegar solution – wash in the clean water bucket first. This avoids cross contamination.

 

The Mycologia website has a lot of great information on Mould and is a good starting point if you think you are affected by mould in your home or office.

Educate and protect yourself properly from mould. It’s worth the effort.

Take care,
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Mould

Mould – it’s not very nice…

 

Feng Shui, Personal Power

Feng Shui Friday – Use the “power position”

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In Feng Shui we talk about something called the “power position”. This is a place in a room that gives you control, it lends authority to your presence and you will feel comfortable and safe there. It’s easy to identify this spot in any room if you follow a couple simple guide lines. And then if you make sure you are actually in the “power position” you will feel different about spending time in that space, be more creative, more relaxed and in the flow of things. It’s especially beneficial to work or sleep in this position as you are in control, feeling protected and at peace. Both sleep and work will flow more easily when you do.

So how do you get there?

The “power position” is really quite simple to identify. There are two key aspects that you need to focus on:

  1. Have your back against a solid wall (or the bed head of your bed in case of a bedroom)
  2. Make sure you can see the door clearly from where you are and that you’re not in straight alignment with the door

That’s it! Seems too simple? Well, give it a go and notice the difference it makes!

When you’re going for a job interview for example, often times they are conducted in a meeting room of some sort. If you’re lucky, the person interviewing you will show you to the room, open the door and ask you to step inside. If they do, you want to go for the diagonally far away corner from the door and sit down. This way you are in the “power position” of that room, and this will have an impact on how your potential new employer views you. I promise.

Feel Good Group - Meeting room Power Position

The far corner diagonally across from the door in a meeting room is the “power position”.

 

 

Imagine that you work in an open plan office, and for whatever reason, your team is moving floors. Make sure you get there first and stake a claim on a desk in a “power position” if you can. This can be tricky with open plan, and often these desks or workstations are found at the end of a cluster of desks, up against a wall. If you have to sit with your back to the room, place a small mirror next to your computer screen. That way you can see what is going on behind your back and you will feel a lot more comfortable.

Feel Good Group - Open plan office Power Position

Often the “power position” is at the end of a cluster of desks in an open plan office.

 

 

Make sure you follow these criteria when furnishing your bedroom at home too. Put your bed head against a solid wall, make sure you can see the door to the room when in bed, and notice the difference.

Feel Good Group - Bed Power Position

This bed is in the “power position”.

 

 

You can walk around any room and feel your way to the “power position” if you are uncertain. There will be a spot in that room where things just feel right, where you relax a little and feel more comfortable. That’s where you want to be spending your time.

So get out there, identify your “power positions” at home and at work. Let me know how you go, I’d love to hear about it.

Happy Feng Shui Friday,
Sara

 

 

Feng Shui

Feng Shui Friday – Why Space Clearing rocks!

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Space Clearing, or creating sacred space as some call it, is an awesome tool. It’s a way to get any space back into balance. It’s a way to create a fresh start. It’s a way to let go of what has been and move on. You can say that Space Clearing is a process by which you balance your energetic and physical environment to support you on all levels.

There are many different ways to perform Space Clearing. Some use mainly their hands to stir up and shift energy. Others use sage, fire, salt, incense, essential oils or sprays, tibetan bells, singing bowls… The list of tools that work goes on and on. Then we have various techniques, rituals and ceremonies that you can use. All of them can be highly effective when used correctly.

The important thing when you decide to do a Space Clearing is that you use tools and actions that you like and that resonate with you. Space Clearing is all about connecting in with the energy and shifting it. You also need to be able to energetically protect yourself so that you don’t “pick up” the energy you have just released, but rather can be a guide for it and release it and let it go.

When it comes to what tools and rituals work the best, I’m of the opinion that the person performing the Space Clearing is the most important of them all. If you’re doing it yourself, you need to be in a calm, balanced and connected state of mind. You need to feel strong, confident, grounded and “in the flow”. You will know if you’re in that zone or not! If you have a professional come in and support you with the process, you have to feel really comfortable with them as a person and trust in their abilities.

As I said, Space Clearing is a wonderful tool to be used in many different situations. Whenever you feel stuck in your life or that you have lost the flow, a Space Clearing ceremony can help you get things moving again. I personally like to use Space Clearing when moving into a new home or office, after an illness, on a yearly basis as an “energetic spring clean” and whenever else I feel it’s needed. Particularly when moving in to a new place I find Space Clearing very beneficial. It will help you get rid of any energetic “left overs” from previous occupants and events that have taken place in that space and leave you with a fresh start.

Living in a place that is Space Cleared regularly provides the ability for the body and soul to recharge and heal, contributes to emotional balance and enhances free movement of energy on all levels.

So why is Space Clearing important?

Well, this is what I believe: Everything that ever happens in a building gets recorded in the walls, floor, ceiling, objects and even the people and animals in that space. Whenever there is a repetitive pattern happening (like a couple arguing in the kitchen for example) that energetic vibration gets deeply imprinted and therefore creates more of the same. Sometimes these imprints are so strong in the environment that new residents in a home find that they always argue in the kitchen, whereas before they never did. They have picked up on an energetic imprint from the people living there before them. The best way to break out of a habit like that is to Space Clear and then consciously choose different actions and reactions.

Another really cool ting about Space Clearing is that you can use it as both a cure and an enhancement. So even if you think the energy in your home is awesome, you can still Space Clear with the intention of supporting a new project (for example) and this will lend new, fresh energy to that project and propel you further forward, as you are in energetic alignment.

Space Clearing supports you in getting rid of unwanted energies or feelings in a space, as well as bringing in new, positive energies and emotions that you want to have in your life. It’s a very powerful tool and I feel that what it does is like creating magic!

Next week I’ll be giving you a simple Space Clearing ritual to do at home for general cleansing purposes. In saying that, it’s important to note that clearing clutter is the very fist step to start your Space Clearing. Clutter holds on to energy and keeps you stuck in the past. For the best Space Clearing results I recommend starting with a really good “Spring clean” of your home, so that you and your home is ready to let go of the past and bring in fresh, new energies.

Why not start clearing clutter this week so that you’re ready for the Space Clearing next week? Please share what you’re going to do…

Here’s to awesome energy for everyone!

Happy Feng Shui Friday,
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Space Clearing Tools

Tibetan singing bowls and Sage, great tools for Space Clearing.

 

Feng Shui, Green Living

Feng Shui Friday – Clean Green

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Modern day cleaning products are a major health hazard. Most people don’t realise this. We’re so sold on the belief that germs are bad for us, germs are what make us sick. Did you know, that if your immune system didn’t have to deal with germs on a regular basis, you could fall and scrape your knee and die from that tiny scrape wound? All because your immune system hasn’t been exercised properly by dealing with some germs now and then!

Any conventional cleaning products that you use to kill the germs in your home will contain toxic substances and they leave a film of very unhealthy chemicals on the surface where you use them. In my opinion, these chemicals are even worse for your health and wellbeing than the germs you were getting rid of to begin with!

Imagine you’re using Pino Cleen to wipe down your kitchen bench. Next thing you make your kids’ lunch sandwiches on that same surface you just wiped. Guess where the chemicals from the Pino Cleen end up? Yup, that’s right, in the sandwich. So commercial cleaning products really make no sense, at least not to me.

Add to that the fact that cleaning products are not governed by any regulatory body at all, and manufacturers do not need to disclose their contents (Benis 2009). This means that by using conventional cleaning products at home you can be spreading an unknown number of health hazardous chemicals in your indoor environment, and you don’t even know what they are or what effect they may have on you. If you don’t know what’s in each separate product, there is no way of telling the compounded effect of these products used in your home. You could be mixing up a cocktail of unhealthiness in the effort of “cleaning”.

One of the most common house hold cleaners used in Australia today is bleach. According to Bijlsma (2010) bleach gives off toxic fumes which irritate the eyes, lungs, nose, throat and skin and may even cause burns and death. She continues to explain that when mixed with acidic cleaning products bleach may form chloramine gas which is lethal. I would recommend everyone to avoid using bleach at all costs due to this.

And it doesn’t stop there. As I mentioned, most (if not all) conventional cleaning products contain toxic substances. Some of these substances can leach through the container in which the product is stored and contaminate the indoor air, even if the container is stored in a cupboard (Benis 2009). So you don’t even have to actively use these products for them to be able to get into your indoor air and pollute your home environment. You only need to have them in a cupboard.

So what can you do? Luckily, there are some great, healthy and environmentally friendly alternatives to use for cleaning your home. The below is all I use in my home, and it works a treat. It’s sparkling clean, smells fresh (not that chemical smell from the perfumes in the conventional stuff) and healthy!

1. Microfiber cloths
Use damp for dusting. Keep separate ones for toilet and kitchen. Rinse in hot water after every use.

2. White vinegar
For decalcification and cleaning of toilet bowl. Mix with Baking Soda for cleaning of drains, add to hot water to clean hard floors. Can also be used as rinse aid in your dishwasher. Ensure you only use naturally fermented white vinegar as cheap imitation vinegar made from acetic acid is not effective. White vinegar will also kill mould.

3. Baking Soda or Bicarbonate of Soda
For stains, to clean toilet bowl, to shine up appliances.

4. Borax
Use for carpet cleaning, to make your own dishwashing powder, with hot water to clean hard floors.

5. Eucalyptus oil
Smells great and is a disinfectant and antiseptic too. Great for cleaning the bathroom and hard floor surfaces.

So there you have it. No need to use those nasty chemicals in your home any more. There are alternatives that are better for you, your family and the environment.

Please feel free to share what you use to clean green at home. I’d love to know!

Happy Feng Shui Friday,
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Clean Green!

Avoid commercial cleaning products and instead – Clean Green!

Sources:
Benis, K. 2009, Air Pollution – Cleaning Products, (DVD), Australian College of Environmental Studies, Melbourne. 
Bijlsma, N. 2010, Healthy Home Healthy Family, Joshua Books, Buddina Australia

 

 

Feng Shui

Feng Shui Friday – 7 Top Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

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I’ve come across quite a few people lately who have problems sleeping. A good night’s sleep is very important for your body as this is the time for healing and regeneration. Not only is it important for your brain and your general wellbeing. Sleep is vital to all your cells and organs so that they get to do what they need to do. They need to have time to “clean up” after the day that you have had and get your body ready and in shape for the next day.

If you are not sleeping, not only are you waking up tired, you are also not allowing your body to go through all these processes that it needs to function at its best. The easiest to spot result of bad sleep, too little sleep or interrupted sleep is of course tiredness. There are other “side effects” of too little sleep as well, such as loss of concentration, memory loss, stress, and in the long run – illness. You can become sick due to the lack of sleep.

Using Feng Shui principles in your bedroom can help eliminate some of the most common reasons for insomnia or “bad sleep”. If you at least create a supportive environment to begin with, you’re much more likely to get a good night’s sleep then not. There are of course mental and psychological reasons for lack of sleep as well. Sometimes you can have a shift in these by changing your environment, and sometimes more help is needed. The below gives you a starting point to look at.

1. Room temperature
This is a pretty obvious one really. If your room is too hot or too cold, you won’t sleep well. In summer, try opening your windows, put a quiet fan in your bedroom or put the aircon on if you have one. In winter, use warm blankets, a hot water bottle or crank up the radiators if you have them. Do what you can to create a temperature in your bedroom that is pleasing to you.

2. Mirrors
Mirrors in the bedroom are not recommended in Feng Shui. I have had several clients telling me that they sleep like babies after doing nothing more than covering up the mirrors in their bedroom. Why is that? According to ancient Feng Shui your soul leaves the body when you go to sleep and if it sees itself in a mirror can get scared and therefore disturb your sleep. My more modern take on it is that we have a part of our brain that many like to refer to as the “animal or reptile brain”. This part never sleeps as it is in charge of our survival. It constantly keeps track of your surroundings and is not “clever” enough to distinguish between live movement from something coming at you, or the movement of you in a mirror while in bed.

Banish mirrors from your bedroom, or cover them up at night so that you cannot see yourself in one while lying in bed.

3. Clutter
Keep your bedroom free of clutter at all costs. Clutter draws on your attention and if you try to sleep in a room filled with stuff, there just is no peace. We have some form of energetic attachment to everything we own. Even if we’re not consciously aware of all our stuff, we’re connected to it and some part of us is keeping track of it. Clutter weighs on your mind and it creates stale, stagnant and at the same time stressful energy wherever it is found. Clutter in the bedroom is a big reason that many don’t sleep well. And no, you cannot hide the stuff under the bed or in the closet!

4. “Busy work”
Don’t keep your work computer or laptop in the bedroom over night. Don’t charge your mobile phone next to your bed. Don’t leave a pile of work related documents on your bedside table. I even don’t recommend having bookshelves in the bedroom as books have an active energy about them as they all tell a story of some sort. Keep any form of “busy work” out of the bedroom as this type of active energy is not beneficial for a good night’s sleep.

5. Restful colours
I recommend that you use colours that you find peaceful and restful in the bedroom. Often times different shades of blue and green work well for a bedroom, as well as beiges and browns. Stay away from bright red as this is a very active colour and most often it has an energy heightening effect on the room it’s in.

6. Bed placement
Place your bed with the bed head up against a solid wall where you can see the door to the room, if at all possible. If you don’t have a solid wall, a window will do, as long as you have thick curtains or drapes covering the window at night. Don’t place the bed head against a wall shared with a bathroom as this has a draining effect on your body. Make sure you are not sleeping on the other side of the wall from your meter box as this radiates a strong electro magnetic field that is very unhealthy for your body. Don’t lie with your feet in direct alignment with the door to the room. And if you have to put your bed in that position, close the door at night.

7. Atmosphere
Make sure you feel at peace and relaxed when in your bedroom. Make the room all about sleeping and nothing else if you can. Have only a few ornaments and pictures in here that represent peacefulness, happiness and rest to you. Furnish and decorate the room so that it feels like a sanctuary to you.

These are the most important things that spring to mind. How you feel when entering your bedroom will tell you a lot about the quality of sleep you might get in there. Take some time, sit on your bed and “listen in” to the room. Does it feel quiet? Peaceful? Maybe even a little dark? In that case, my guess is you will sleep well in this room.

If the room feels noisy, stressful and too light, chances are it’s got a too active type of energy for a good night’s sleep. Looking at the 7 steps above might help you change that. If I were to recommend you to start with only one thing, it would be to cover up any mirrors you have in your bedroom. That alone has helped many of my clients to get a good night’s sleep.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about your bedroom and how to make the most of it. I’d love to help as I know how important a good night’s sleep really is.

Feel free to share any changes you will make to your bedroom after reading this. You might inspire and help someone else!

Good night!
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Bedroom Collage

A collage of peaceful, restful bedrooms.

 

Personal Power

Feng Shui Friday – Get out of your way!

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As I was sitting down to write today’s blog I hit a wall. I had no idea what to write about. At all. I was contemplating not writing anything and just let it be. And then something happened. My beloved cat Rufus jumped onto my desk with his favourite toy, demanding my attention to go play with him. I figured I had nothing better to do, so I did.

Rufus loved it and I loved it. I was present with him. I wasn’t worrying about the blog. In fact, being in that space of play was really fun.

And now here I am, back at the computer with an idea for this blog. All I had to do was get out of my own way a little!

Energetically I can support myself and what I want to or need to get done, or I can work against myself and make it a struggle. Today I just learned again that it’s ok to take a break. That pushing through is not always the best way forward. That when I leave a situation where I feel stuck and do something that I find enjoyable, energy starts to flow again.

You are an energetic being, resonating at a certain frequency at a certain time. This frequency can either be aligned with what you’re doing, or not. If it’s not, you struggle, you feel stuck, you push and push and nothing happens. You do not move. When your energetic frequency is in alignment, things are easy. You go from one clarity to another and the things that you want come to you easily. I’m sure most of you know what I’m talking about here.

It’s the same with your home. The energy in there can either be supportive of what you want to create, or not. You can have a bedroom that is set up for rest, recuperation and peaceful sleep. Or you can have a bedroom that is keeping you awake at night. There might be a mess, lots of clutter, work papers, computers and maybe even a TV bringing active energy into this space of rest. Knowing what you want to create in a room and supporting those kinds of energy is like creating magic. You have the power to choose and change.

So what can you do when you’re stuck? Anything that works for you really. Maybe take a walk, do a 5 minute meditation, clean out one of your desk drawers (cleaning brings in lots of fresh energy), make a cup of tea, play with the kids/cat/dog. Do something that you really enjoy. That’s the key. Something that will put a smile on your face. When you’re happy, you’re in alignment, always. And from that space, you can create.

What will you create today?
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Rufus

This is Rufus, helping me leave work for a while to re-align my energy.

 

Personal Power

Feng Shui Friday – Here’s to new beginnings!

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Are you one of those people who make great new years resolutions every year, only to find that you feel overwhelmed and stop doing them after a few days? You know you want something really bad and you set off with the best intentions, only to find that all of a sudden you just stopped doing it? And then you probably start beating yourself around the head over it too?

Well, you already know this… You’ve been setting yourself up to fail!

I’ve taken a new approach to goal setting this year and I feel totally different. I feel inspired, I feel harmonious and I trust that these things that I want will come to fruition in a way that is beneficial to me, everyone around me, my environment and the planet. And I am willing to take action, I’m willing to change.

I used to set well defined goals with smaller, achievable stepping stones along the way. I’d make my goals really clear so that I knew whether I reached them or not. I would set a time frame to them, set up some form of tracking system and off I would go. The way I used to set goals is often referred to as SMART goals: your goals should be Specific – Measurable – Attainable – Realistic – Timely.

Well, if you’re anything like me, that formula doesn’t work. And you know what, I don’t know why exactly, and it just didn’t do it for me.

When I looked at the goals I set myself using this formula, all I would feel was stress and pressure. And tell you what, I very rarely achieved them either. Even though I might have followed my plan to the T, at the end of the specified time, I still hadn’t reached my goal.

Looking at what I set out to do, I would instantly start asking myself questions like: Is this really what I want? Should it be more/less/different in any way? Can I do it in this time frame? What’s realistic and achievable? How do others do this? I don’t know anything about how to do this, so how can I ever get there? etc. etc.

The negative self-talk would take over and looking back at it now, I think that is definitely one of the major reasons that ruined the whole thing for me.

Only now that I have done it differently did I realise I was never inspired by those goals. I never really trusted that I wanted it in the first place, or that I could get there. I was setting them from a mind-frame of lack, coming from what I didn’t have and therefore focussing already on the negative. I was looking at where I wanted to be and setting all the little stepping stones only confirmed to me how far off the mark I was. Not once did I look at all the things I already did great and focussed on creating more of that.

I also never worked with getting rid of thoughts, actions, old beliefs etc. that was contradictory to what I wanted to achieve and I never looked at how I could remove these obstacles before beginning my journey.

I set daily and weekly actions that I thought would take me closer to the goal and I followed through, I did do all those things I thought would create my desired outcome. Still, at the end of the set time frame, I was not where I wanted to be.

Since then I have come across some different ways of setting goals that were new to me. There are a few common denominators between all of these.

Firstly, they are all about connecting with myself and setting goals that stem from the inside of me, not coming from what looks good from the outside. This might seem glaringly obvious and this is hopefully what other people using the SMART goal formula are doing. I never did. I just kind of randomly picked a goal that looked good, applied the SMART formula to it and set off to not achieve that goal! I never took the time to really look inside to find out what I truly wanted.

Secondly, they look at what is currently standing in my way of already having these things that I desire. Is it the way I look at myself and my abilities? Is it that I actually lack a skill set that I need? Do I have old limiting beliefs around this area that I need to get rid of? Do I need to change behaviours and habits? And then they all use different ways of clearing these obstacles that I have identified before I get to work on the actual goal.

Thirdly, they leave room to move in the way that the goal is formulated. In this type of goal setting it’s ok to use words like “around”, “more than” and “less than”, and simply what I have previously deemed as fluffy terms, such as “abundance” and “happiness”. So there is an inbuilt trust in these goal setting ways that leaves room to improve on the result I have wished for. There is a trust that there is room for the universe/god/my subconscious (whatever you want to call it) to attract to me situations, people and results that I could not imagine at the time I set the goal in the first place.

Let’s look at an example:

  • SMART goal: I attract new business to the value of $2000 every week from 1 January 2013.
  • New goal: I have a successful business where I make enough money each week to sustain my desired lifestyle.

I don’t know about you, and they feel totally different to me.

The second one leaves a lot of “wriggle room”. What is successful? The way I see a successful business today might be a lot more limited and smaller than what my real potential of running a successful business is. So I’m leaving room for development of the concept, I’m leaving room for the universe/god/my subconscious to bring me opportunities that I could not think up for myself. The same goes for “my desired lifestyle”. This concept will change and develop over time and I think it’s really important to not set a limit to what my lifestyle could look like by what I imagine as possible in this moment.

Does that make sense? Well, it does to me. And I’m so glad I’ve discovered this, for lack of a better word, “softer” way of setting goals. It’s about going inside, it’s about looking at what would screw me over if I didn’t address it, addressing that and then setting a goal that leaves room for a better result than I can imagine at the time of setting the goal.

If you feel so inclined, have a look at the goals you set yourself for 2013 and re-word them as per above, and see which one you feel more inspired by. Then work with that one.

Here’s to new beginnings and to you reaching your goals this year, in whichever way that serves you best!

Happy Feng Shui Friday,
Sara

Feel Good Group - Here's to new beginnings in 2013!

Here’s to new beginnings in 2013!

Feng Shui, Personal Power

22/12/2012 – The World did not end yesterday… or did it?

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2012 has been a big year with lots of challenges from a Feng Shui perspective. The different elements according to Chinese astrology has not been in harmony this year and there has been a lot of change happening in the world. There are other theories, such as the Mayan calendar, setting 21 December 2012 as an important date in the history of the Earth. Some say we moved into a new galactic era yesterday. Others say the ascension of human kind sped up. Some were expecting the Earth to actually cease existing. Others again claim that yesterday was just another day.

You can believe what you want around all of that.

Me, personally, I hope the world did end yesterday. The world that I see around me has got to change. I know it, I can feel it, we are bigger than this. This is not how we want it to be. We don’t want kids to die of obesity in their teens because they have no real food to eat. We don’t want other kids to die of famine because they have no food at all to eat. We don’t want our oceans to be so polluted that species after species die. We don’t want the last of the tigers in the wild to be extinct. We don’t want war. I really don’t think that that’s what we want. And still, this is where we’ve been. Hopefully up until yesterday.

What if yesterday was the end of the world? What if 21 December 2012 was the day when we turned a corner? When we woke up to ourselves and what we’re doing? What would that be like? What if today was the day we started with a clean slate?

I’ve been thinking that what matters now is this: we’re still here! And in my opinion we have an obligation to live our lives to the fullest. That’s nothing new really, that was the case before 21/12/2012 as well. What if now something has magically changed though, and all of that which you didn’t believe you could have before, now you know you can? What would you do? What would you dream and hope for? What would you create?

I believe that’s why we are all here anyway. To live our dreams. To experience, explore and expand. To learn, to grow, to keep looking and to have fun. To live the life of our dreams. To have a life bigger, better and more fantastic than we dared dream of at one stage or another. To continue our journey, being curious. To grow, to expand and to do good for the world and everyone living in it, including plants and animals.

We have a chance to make a difference, in a good way. To make sure that the world is a better place because we were in it. To do something lovely for others, and to do something that matters to us.

Go out there, live your dream, be the best you that you can be. Think big, dream bigger and expect miracles to happen.

My dream is a world where we look after each other. Where we love, honour and respect other human beings, as well as the animals, the plants and the Earth. We have an opportunity now to chose differently. To look at yesterday as a line in the sand. A line that we will never go back across again. A line that defines new values on Earth, new ways of looking at things. A world where we care. A world where we work together to set things right. To grow and eat healthy food. To clean up our waters. To save endangered animals and plants and to make sure this magnificent planet we can call home keeps on living and breathing.

I hope the world ended yesterday. I hope the world where greed, anger and separation ruled is no more. Dead, disappeared, gone – never to be heard form again. And I hope that we are born again. With new values, with new ways of looking at ourselves and our planet and that we strive to find a way to live together in harmony with all that is.

With love,
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Line in sand

I hope we drew a line in the sand yesterday…

 

Feng Shui, Personal Power

Feng Shui Friday – Inside Out or Outside In?

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When you want to reach a new goal in your life, or you want to create change, do something different, experience something new… Where do you start? What is the best way to bring about what you want?

Do you start with your own thoughts and actions and from that find a supportive environment to bring about what you desire? Or do you put yourself in a supportive environment first, and from that start developing new thoughts, actions and habits?

Does change occur from the Inside Out or from Outside and In?

The way I see it, Feng Shui is an outer representation of your internal world. What you think, how you feel and your beliefs are represented in your surroundings. The energetic vibration you have within you will resonate with objects and places in your surroundings and you will feel drawn to, and at home with, energies at the same level as those within you. So in some ways, where you live is an external representation of your internal world. Something is drawing you to this home at this moment.

This creates great opportunities to learn from your current home. If you are financially challenged where you live, how do you feel about money on the inside? What are your thoughts and associations with wealth? If you don’t feel supported at work, or in your relationships, did you know that your home can be a catalyst for change in those areas?

For the best possible results using Feng Shui in your home, you also need to support these changes within you. This might mean you need to look at your beliefs around relationships and communication if you want to create a change in those areas, as well as making Feng Shui adjustments in corresponding sections of your home. It’s a little bit “chicken and egg-syndrome”. What comes first? The internal shift, or the external? I believe that it works both ways, and one can be a catalyst for the other. If you feel stuck in one area, create outer change to support yourself in moving forward. If you’re doing great and aligning your thoughts and actions, but not getting the results you want or expect, align your home with your goals and see your results increase.

So there is no one answer to the question I asked, it works both ways. I find this very reassuring. When I am stuck in a thought pattern that doesn’t serve me and what I want to create, I can bring about outer change in the corresponding areas of my home and without fail, I will experience a change in thoughts too. When I do things differently, my internal dialogue and the energetic vibration of my home will change. It’s all connected. After all, everything is energy vibrating a different frequencies. Make sure yours is resonating in sync with your dreams and goals.

Happy Feng Shui Friday!
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Change

Change ahead!

 

 

Feng Shui

Feng Shui Friday – “Good” and “Bad” energies

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Everything around us is made up of energy resonating at different frequencies. Your heart has a different vibration from your lungs. A tree has a different vibration from a rock. The ocean has a different vibration from a pond. One room in your home will have a different vibration from another.

Personally I don’t like using the terminology “good” and “bad” when it comes to energies. I know a lot of people do. I am a firm believer that when it comes to energy it just is. It doesn’t have a “good” or “bad” intention. It just is. However I do believe that there are energies that do good and energies that have the potential to do harm. The energies where you spend time can be either supportive or unsupportive of you and what you want to achieve in that space.

If an energy around you is resonating at the same frequency as say your kidneys, this energy has the potential to affect your kidneys. If the vibration is out of balance, guess what happens to your kidneys? And guess what happens the more time you spend in that energy field? This is one of the basic principles behind geomancy and many studies conducted on how the energies from within the earth affects the human body.

There is also more and more research being done on microwaves and radio waves and the effect these frequencies have on the human body. That’s a whole separate blog on its own!

Back to the subtle energies within your home.

When I do my Feng Shui consultations I often find that people sleep in a perfect home office or work out of a great bedroom. We tend to use the rooms in our homes as they are labelled on the floor plan, or according to size. The master bedroom has to be the biggest one, right? Sometimes I come across someone who is sleeping in the best bedroom from a Feng Shui perspective even if it doesn’t make sense from a floor plan point of view. Always when I ask them they will tell me: “It just feels better sleeping in here” or “I could never sleep in the master bedroom”, or words to that effect. These people are connected to the energies around them, often without even realising it.

Some people are more susceptive to the subtle energies around us than others. Take myself and my husband for example. He sleeps well wherever we are, whereas I will toss and turn or be woken up by the tiniest sound if I’m in an unbalanced bedroom. So there are definitely personal differences to take into consideration as well. Some people will be more affected by the energy around them than others.

Working with Feng Shui my job is to make sure all areas of a building are resonating in harmony. I do that by recommending what room to use for which purposes and also any smaller adjustments that will bring balance to that room. Creating balance can be as easy as using a specific colour or ornament, moving furniture or changing the way the room is used.

If you feel that a room in your home is “off” in some way, try using it for another purpose. Swap your office and bedroom around and see what happens. Move your couch, use a new colour scheme, add some fresh flowers. Small changes like that can have a dramatic effect.

If you are worried or suspect that your home is having a negative impact on you, or if you can feel that this is the case, get a professional in to help you. Don’t wait or think that “things will get better”. You can save yourself much headache and problems down the track by addressing the issue now.

I recommend using a qualified Feng Shui consultant as your first point of call. Check their credentials, ask what schools they are trained in and where they got their qualifications. Question them around geomancy and if this is something they are familiar with. Are they trained in modern Feng Shui, will they measure EMFs (electro magnetic fields) during the consultation?

You can find a list of qualified consultants via the different self-regulating Feng Shui associations found all over the world. In Australia we have the Association of Feng Shui Consultants and International Feng Shui Association – Australia Chapter who lists Feng Shui consultants with proper education and credentials to help you. I’m a member of the AFSC and in the process of applying for membership in the IFSA as well.

Let me know if I can help you find a consultant in your area or if you have any questions on where to start creating balance in your home.

Happy Feng Shui Friday!
Sara

 

Feel Good Group - Good and Bad energies

Batman vs The Joker – a well known battle between “good” and “bad”.