one unique item

A few months ago I was completing a feng shui consultation for a really interesting couple.  Their home was filled with wonderful items, each carefully chosen, and they had a very distinct style of designing their home.  Near the end of the consultation, I walked into another room to find an odd object, suspended by a string which was very different than the rest of their home and I had to ask, “What IS that?!”  Both clients laughed and said that they had received this object as a gift (it turned out to be a clay mosquito) and were told that every home should have one “unique” item in it, but they had no idea where to put it.  My recommendation for this couple was to place it in the creativity area of their home which would be a reminder to have fun, be creative and step outside their comfort zone every once in a while.

Since that day, I have often thought about that mosquito and have seen a number of interior designers recently endorsing this same philosophy (designer Jeffrey Alan Marks placed a canoe on a ceiling in one home) and I realized that I too, have a “unique” item in my home.  I received a gift from my aunt, a piece of pottery that neither she, nor I, nor any of our guests have been able to figure out what it is and I love it.  Every time I use it – it’s multi-purpose if you have no clue what it is, after all – I am challenged once again to figure out what it is really meant for.  If nothing else, it’s a definite conversation piece!  What is unique about your home?

Note:  permission was granted from my clients to share their mosquito story with you.

Energy

Animals have the innate ability to sense energy.  They can sense storms approaching and seek safety well in advance of the first visible sign of the weather change.  Over time, humans have become less in tune to that gift, but we still do possess it.  We can enter into a home and immediately feel comfortable, inspired, relaxed or otherwise.  Feng shui is the study of that energy and consultants focus on using the knowledge and predictable patterns of energy to create harmony and balance in your space. 

Ideally, you want the energy in your home to move slowly through every room, hallway and corner, much like a meandering stream… not a rushing river, nor a stagnant pond.  Using that same analogy then, having clutter in your space has similar effects as a beaver dam to a river.  It’s presence stagnates energy in your space;  it results in limiting your possibilities for new and wonderful opportunities and it is the first thing a feng shui consultant will consider during a consultation.   Now, is my home completely clutter free all the time?  Of course not - but, when I begin to feel overwhelmed and things are not going as I want them to, I take another objective look at my space and start to declutter and reorganize, even if it's just one kitchen drawer or a hall closet.  Author Karen Kingston wrote:  “Being clear of clutter is one of the greatest aids I know to manifesting the life you want, and it is absolutely essential if you truly want to know joy and happiness in your life.  When you experience joy, it is a feeling of great energy flowing through your body and this cannot happen if your channels are clogged.” 

One more thing:  one of the residual effects of keeping clutter is a feeling of being completely overwhelmed.  Begin clutter clearing as I do, with one drawer or one closet, and move on from there.  If you are still struggling with this task, consider hiring a professional organizer!  The benefits will be well worth the money spent.  If you live in the Lakeland Area of Alberta, contact professional organizer, Kathleen Boland http://www.kathleenboland.com/ or check out her blog An Organized Life which is on my blogroll.  You will be amazed with the long-lasting results!

making room

I am continually telling friends, family and strangers that they need to follow their dreams and “do what they love”.  For me, doing what I love means designing homes, my own and yours, using feng shui principles.  In addition though, I love to cook.  My grandmother and I used to bake together when I was young and she gave me my first cookbook when I was in school.  The recipes were easy, they were fabulous and seemed to be endless options to choose from within the same book.  Twenty plus years later, I had collected almost two hundred cookbooks by that same author.  I purchased a beautiful bookshelf and displayed them all, in the creativity area of my home.  I was so proud of my collection and I am to this day, but I started noticing that these were not the books that I was going to, for recipes anymore.  I found that I wanted to expand my cooking repertoire and challenge myself beyond those easy, fabulous recipes contained in my collection.  I wanted to try eating “clean” (see Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean books if you’re interested, at http://www.eatcleandiet.com/) and I wanted to challenge myself to reproduce authentic meals from various different cultures and expose my children to the same.  So, I decided to create that in my life.

I went back to my beautiful bookshelf and removed my collection, leaving behind a few favourites, including the first one I received.  I have stopped collecting those same books now, though I admit I still find it difficult to pass by a new one without purchasing it.  I still love cookbooks and I read them as if they were novels (I’m much more like my grandmother than I ever had realized).  I have begun choosing books that challenge me and allow me to think outside the box and I am once again finding endless options that are exciting to me, just as I did years ago.  The moral of this story about my cookbook obsession is this:  by holding onto the past, we often have difficulty moving to the place where we want to be.  Think about what it is that you keep and why.  If it still serves you, keep it and cherish it.  Put it in a place of honour and leave it there.  If ever there comes a day where it no longer represents where you want to be, find a new and wonderful home for it and make room in your life for something new.

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”  “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh.  “What do you say, Piglet?”  “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.  Pooh nodded thoughtfully,  “It’s the same thing,” he said. 

A.A. Milne