Linda Varone | Nurturing Spaces Feng Shui

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3 Tips for Powerful Feng Shui Intentions: Intention is Faith plus Action

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“The attempt must be made; the outcome is irrelevant. Right action is a pale material reflection of the divine, but reflection it is, nonetheless. Define your goal and exert reason to accomplish it by virtuous action; success or failure is secondary..” – Iain Pears, The Dream of Scipio

 Feng Shui without intention is just moving stuff around.

Arranging things is important to enhancing and balancing the chi energy in your home or workspace. But to get the best results you must add an intention.

What is an intention? A wish, a dream, a goal, a prayer? It is all of these. But to make your intention come true you must include action to make your goal happen. No passive wishing. You must add your own energy into the mix. With your intention, think of the steps you need to take to make your dream come true. And then start doing them.

Postcard handwritten intention poem
Intentions are faith plus action plus letting go. Writing down your intention is one step.

 
 

If you want to meet your Prince or Princess Charming, you are not going to find him or her sitting at home. (Unless you have a crush on your UPS person.)

  • Get out and meet people,
  • Get involved in organizations,
  • Do things you enjoy.

I can’t think of a better romance attraction magnet than enjoying yourself.

If your intention is about business or career success:

  • What steps do you need to take to make it happen?
  • What do you need to learn?
  • Who do you need to meet?

Get out there make your dream come true, then you will bump into Good Luck.

I teach my clients a beautiful intention ritual to help them clarify their goals, the steps toward that goal and how to offer this to God/The Universe.

The essence of this ritual is:

  • Have faith in your intention,
  • Be active in making it happen – use your energy to create more energy
  • Let go of the outcome – this is easier said than done, but important

Do your best.  Live and act in the moment. Trust that what you need will come to you.

And be mindful of your blessings with gratitude. Read this post about The Seed of Happiness.

If you want help visualizing the changes and blessing you want, here is a post about a powerful way to use Vision Boards.

If you want a Feng Shui consultation to improve the energy in your home or workspace,  improve the energy in your life, and activate your intentions, please contact me at 781-643-8697.

photo by julie jordan scott

Feng Shui, Light and Human Consciousness

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“The energy of human consciousness may share an affinity with light that we do not yet understand. Turning  toward that light, we might find it the source of all our inspiration and creativity.” – Tarthang Tulku, Knowledge of Freedom

I came upon this quote years ago. I confess I don’t completely understand it, but is has inspired some thoughts on how light applies to Feng Shui.  

sun rising behind clouds with rays of light shining outward
Light and human consciousness
  • The sun is the primal fire of our solar system.
  • Fire is the element of Fame and Reputation of the Feng Shui ba-gua – being in the spotlight.
  • Yin and Yang: dark and light. We would not know what light is if we did not have the dark.
  • In northern China the Feng Shui for entrances to ancient homes were oriented to face south. This provided heat and light to the interior of the house from the sun.
  • Navaho hogans (homes) are oriented with the door facing the east, so they can greet the morning sun with prayers.
  • Ancient Chinese sages and Feng Shui practitioners knew that sunlight was a form of energy.
  • Modern physicists have demonstrated that light is sub-atomic photonic energy.
  • Light is a metaphor for seeing reality clearly and moving beyond illusions and confusion.
  • Eco-psychologists note the importance of connection with nature, sunlight and fresh air by calling it “Vitamin G”.

How do you make the most of light and chi in your home and in your life?

  • Do you have a special outdoors place for relaxation and reflection?
  • Do you have beautiful window views of nature and make the most of them with an inviting chair nearby?
  • Do you bring nature indoors with plants in your home and/or workplace?
  • Do you have appropriate lighting for nighttime and overcast days?

There is something nourishing – just as chi energy is nourishing – about sunlight. Maybe someday science will identify it. In the meantime connect to the energy of sunlight and nature every day.

How do you experience the nourishing energy of light? Share in the comment box below.

Photo by Sean MacEntee

Feng Shui Lighting: Going Green Shouldn’t Leave You Looking Green

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The right compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) can make the difference between a warm, welcoming room and a home that looks like a cheap discount store.  A number of my green conscious clients complain their CFL’s make a stark unattractive light. They miss the warmth of incandescent (Edison) light bulbs. (I admit that I exaggerated a little – no one looks green, but the wrong CFL’s will make you look a bit pale and sickly.)

compact fluroescnet light bulb
The right compact fluorescent light bulb makes your home or workplace warm and welcoming

The remedy to this is “warm white” or “soft white” CFL’s with a color temperature between 2700 K to 3000 K, which approximates the warm light of 2400K incandescent light bulbs.

“Bright white” CFL’s have a color temperature of 3500 K. These are best for situations where you need bright light – such as craft work. Please note that CFL’s labeled “sunlight” or “daylight” are cool white fluorescent and only suitable for precision work areas.

Unfortunately light bulb manufacturers do not offer color temperature or Kelvin information on their packaging. You will either have to trust the “warm white” or “soft white” labels or go online and double check the color temperature ratings of specific bulbs.  Sparsam™ CFL’s (available only at IKEA stores) provide the warm light of incandescent bulbs.

Hint: I find that I need more wattage than the conversion factor listed on the label. If you want to get 75 watts of illumination you will do better with an 18 watt CFL than a 15 Watt CFL. 

Update: Warm Lighting is Now Widely Available – If You Know What to Look For

Light bulb manufacturers have listened to consumers and warm CFL bulbs are easy to find.

The newer LED light bulbs are more energy efficient than CFLs, and after years of development can be found in a warm formulation. (Unaltered, LED bulbs have a distinctly cool blue light.)

Standard light bulb information label.
Standard lightbulb information label.

Light bulbs now have standardized information labels similar to nutrition labels. These list: lux, lumens and lifespan. There is also a horizontal scale line that tells you how warm or cool the bulbs light is, in degrees Kelvin. You want to choose light bulbs where the arrow on the scale is near the left end of the scale – 2700 degrees Kelvin.This is the warm CFL or LED you want to buy.

Another hint: CFL’s contain mercury, so dispose of them at special recycling places, or see if your retailer will accept them for safe disposal.

Take a look around your home and see if you have lighting in the right places and if your light bulbs give you the warmth that makes your space inviting, relaxing and user-friendly.

Feng Shui Cures: 3 Factors for Success & the Myth of the One Best Cure

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Sometimes people ask me “what Feng Shui cure should I use in my – romance area?, – wealth area?, – career area?” The short answer is there is no short answer.   Some Feng Shui books make very specific recommendations; I call this “cookie-cutter Feng Shui”.  In the best Feng Shui one cure does not fit all situations.

 Three factors determine the best Feng Shui cures for you: 

Starbucks Japan
Starbucks Japan: A caffeinated place for caffeinated people?
  1. The energy of the space or room,
  2. The energy of the cure,
  3. The energy of the people or person using the room.

1. The Energy of the Space

 Some rooms feel “calm”, some feel “upbeat”, some feel “chaotic”, and some feel “heavy.” Calm rooms are usually uncluttered and well-organized with simple decoration. Upbeat rooms are also well-organized and are abundant with decoration. “Chaotic” rooms are frequently cluttered and disorganized. “Heavy” rooms are usually crowded with unused/unloved things.

Start with de-cluttering if the room needs it. The best Feng Shui cures in the world are less effective in a cluttered or disorganized space. Then decide if you want to create a calm or energized room depending on what you want to do in that space. A bedroom should be calmer than a family room. A home office is usually calmer than a creative studio space.

2. The Energy of the Cure 

starbucks amsterdam
Starbucks Amsterdam - Quieter space for quieter people

Some Feng Shui books tell you to use a specific cure for a particular part of the ba-gua or compass direction. This is not wrong, but is overly literal and limiting.  An unlit purple candle in the Wealth area (correct Ba-Gua color) has less energy than a healthy plant or a crystal in a sunlit window in that same Wealth area.

Chi is energy. You want to use cures that have their own energy: light, color, sound, movement and living things that bring their energy into the room. Personal mementos that remind you of the people, places and events that you love most work as cures by lifting your own energy, consciously or unconsciously.

3. The Energy of the People who use the Space – and What They Plan to Do There.

One way you can figure out your personal energy level is to note what kind of coffee shop you like to hang out in. Do you like to enjoy your latte in a café with a pulsing sound system and a lot of background noise? Or do you gravitate to a coffee shop with softer music and lighting and acoustics that dampen background noise?

Some people are very high-energy, others are mellow.  Match the energy of the space to the energy of the person.

A quiet room may be experienced by a high-energy person as boring and they will become restless, while a quieter person will feel comfortable. A room with lots of stimulation (light, colors, sound, and movement) will be a great match for a high-energy person, but will be overwhelming and fatiguing for a quieter person causing them to “shut-down.”

When you are seeking to balance the energy of someone, individualized fine-tuning is necessary to create rooms to help your personal energizer bunny chill out, or motivate and activate your laid-back introvert.

Choose one of the Nine Cures which is the right fit for you and your space.  Tune into your intuition to guide you. Try out a cure and see how the room and you feel. If it is not quite right, try another cure.

The bottom line: there is no one “right” cure. What may work for your best friend or the author of a book may not be the best solution for you and your space.

What kind of space works best for you?

Japan photo by Kengo Kuma and Associates. Amsterdam photo by Rien Meulma