Find a Mentor to Advance Your Career and Increase Your Income

Do you always get the help you need, when you need it? Do co-workers jump in at the 11th hour to make sure you meet that important deadline? Do influential people offer advice that can help you advance in your career? Do you have wise people in your life who are helping you in your spiritual development? What does your social network (both online and in real life) look like -- is it filled with people who can help you achieve your own financial, personal or spiritual goals?

If you answered all these questions with a resounding “Yes!”, you can stop reading and continue on your path to fulfillment. If not (and I'm guessing you answered “sometimes” to most of them), you can use Feng Shui to attract more helpful people and mentors into your life.

Why Seek Out Mentors?
The quantity and quality of mentors we have in our lives will greatly impact the wealth we can earn in our career. A working mother who knows she can find good child care will have better focus, leading to greater success at work. An intern with a supportive supervisor will advance quickly in his chosen career. A husband with a wife who encourages him in his business (or vice versa) will do well.

It Begins with the Bagua
We can increase our wealth by enhancing the helpful people/travel (chyan) section of the bagua. You can apply these tips to your home's overall floor plan, your office, or a single room.

The chyan position of the bagua corresponds with the element of metal. If your kitchen is located in the chyan position of your home, hang those stainless steel pots and pans proudly from the walls or ceiling.

If your living room is situated in this segment of the bagua, introduce metal windchimes, a mirror, brass lamps, or shiny trophies representing your achievements. Photos of your favorite people, family and friends -- or people you would like to have as mentors -- in metal picture frames will activate this corner of your living room, office or study, too. Since gray is the color associated with metal, black and white pictures work best.

Since fire “melts” metal, avoid the color red or anything associated with fire (including a fireplace) in this segment of your home or office.

Focus on Travel
If your business involves travel -- or if you'd like to travel more -- you can also store your luggage in this section of your home or office. In addition to photos of helpful people, you can add postcards of your favorite places, vacation souvenirs, and anything that reminds you of traveling.

One woman, planning a trip to France, placed a metal replica of the Eiffel tower in the “helpful people” corner of her desk. She's packing her bags for her getaway now.

Invite Helpful People into Your Home
Once you've activated the helpful people segment of your home or office, you'll find that help comes to you when you need it. However, don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it, even if you have to pay for it.

Consider hiring a maid. Coming home to a clean house will lift your energy, so you can focus on your career and pursuing your passion. All the best managers learn how to delegate tasks -- paying an extra $30 to $50 a week to have a sparkling clean home where the chi flows freely is a wise investment.

To Find a Mentor, Be a Mentor
After you've used Feng Shui to strengthen the helpful people section of your home, you may feel more inclined to help others, as well. Look for opportunities to support others in their career, to help family and friends, and reach out as a mentor yourself.

This combination of the “mundane” and the “transcendental” will yield the best results when it comes to attracting helpful people into your life. 

Need additional assistance? Take a look at these options.

Best Colors For Your Career

Are you following your passion with a career you love? The adage, “Do what you love and the money will follow rings very true.” However, if you are positive you love your career -- whether you are an entrepreneur or working for someone else -- but still haven't achieved the success you would like, you may be dressing for the wrong calling.

In Feng Shui, certain colors fit certain career paths best. If you match your career to the bagua color wheel, where different colors correspond with different elements and sections of a space, you can activate your personal chi for greater career success.

Here are a few examples of common careers and the colors people in these industries should wear to promote success.

Banker/Investor - One key to this job is helping people feel secure when they entrust you with their money. The color blue is comforting and confidence-inspiring. Because the wealth area of the bagua sits between wood and fire (blue/green and red, respectively), pink, red, blue, green and purple are all auspicious accent colors.

College professor - Black or dark brown promote an air of seriousness. Be careful, though, not to stock your wardrobe with entirely drab colors. Brighten your outfit with lively complimentary colors or you may risk depression. Red encourages rationality and lively thinking in your students and is a good counterpart to more somber colors.

Health care worker - Hospitals have it right when they dress doctors and nurses in light shades of blue and green. These colors encourage hopefulness while inspiring confidence. White is also good to encourage -- and exude -- an air of cleanliness, while red accents symbolize a warm heart and good bedside manner.

Real Estate Agent - White will encourage your speaking ability while also letting the home “speak for itself,” creating the proverbial blank slate so you don't distract from the house's interior decorating. Red will bring out rationality in your buyers, while pink will warm up your customers. Also, if you haven't had a chance to meet your prospective buyers or sellers or have a number of appointments scheduled for the day, employing multicolored clothing can help any salesperson achieve their objective and will do the same for real estate professionals.

School teacher - Green, blue and pink inspires confidence and “warms up” students. Red will encourage rational thinking. In contrast to college professors, who want a serious, attentive class, primary school teachers who wear dark, somber colors may find it hard to excite young students about the subject matter.

Therapist/Psychologist - The best colors for this job may depend upon the patients you are meeting that day. White will help you maintain your own peace of mind in the presence of patients who may not be stable. Green will give you energy and enthusiasm. Black can give you an air of seriousness, but be careful -- too much black in your wardrobe will depress your chi, especially after listening to other people's problems all day. Multicolored clothing may work well for mentally unstable patients.

Graphic designers/writers/creative careers - Graphic designers work well when dressed in multi-colored clothing, or outfits of a single primary color -- except black or white, which don't promote creativity. Writers and editors can enhance their personal chi and creativity with multi-colored clothing, as well.

All-black outfits for people in creative professions, including publishing and advertising, may work on deadline weeks or days, when calm attentiveness is required. Red or green are great for brainstorming sessions, as they promote new ideas.

3 Ways to Add Life to Your Surroundings

 
You can use life forces to adjust the chi around you. A life force is anything with vitality -- plants, trees, or animals. Homes with pets often have free-moving chi, as the pets help circulate it. Pets can also activate a particular corner of a room if they make that their favorite dwelling place.

Pets aren't for everyone. There are lower maintenance ways to balance chi using life force -- even a computer screen saver that shows moving images of forests, oceans or animals works well to balance chi or activate a specific corner.

Here are three other ways you can activate the chi using life force energy.

Bonsai plants - Bonsai contain years of cultivated power, making them strong forms of life force. Before you buy a bonsai -- or if you are growing it yourself from a sapling -- make sure it is created and formed through cultivation and care, not torture. Don't bind your bonsai plant's branches with wire to make it grow a particular way. Instead, carefully trim its branches, forming your ideal design with time. Bonsai often represent new hope and, because of the power of their energy, can help sick people recover even better than regular plants or flowers.

Flowers - Flowers don't live long, but can beautify a space and add positive, uplifting energy instantly. Discard old flowers as soon as they begin showing signs of death and decay. Keep flowers fresh, and maintain the positive chi in the space by bringing in a new bouquet when you get rid of an older one.

Fish Tanks - Chinese restaurants often showcase fish tanks with brightly colored fish, optimally placed in the wealth corner of the business. Doctor and dentist offices also use fish tanks to relax patients. You can use this method in your home, apartment or office, as well, to encourage relaxation and wealth flowing toward you. Place the fish tank at eye level so that you and others can see it easily.

What Can I Expect During a Feng Shui Consultation?

If you're having problems related to your career, finances, romantic relationships or overall mood, a Feng Shui consultation might help. By altering your environment and surroundings under the watchful guidance of a professional, you'll be able to see positive changes take place in your life.

When a Black Sect Feng Shui consultant visits your home for a consultation, expect an interactive experience. Black Sect Feng Shui employs both transcendental (spiritual) and mundane (connected to everyday life) methods to improve the flow of chi (energy) through your home.

The Feng Shui Ba Gua in Your Home
Black Sect Feng Shui does not use a compass to determine the trigram positions or the direction in which to overlay the ba gua over a space. Instead, the Feng Shui consultant will determine the position by which chi enters your home (usually through a front door, but sometimes through another door), and lay the ba gua over the space with the front door in one of three front sectors of the ba gua.

He will also find the central palace (tai chi position) of your home, and assess the placement of important rooms (including the kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom) in relation to the central line and central palace.

After completing a site survey, in which he uses his knowledge of Feng Shui, observational skills, intuition and other techniques to assess the chi in the space, he will assess your Feng Shui needs in relation to your personal chi and the dynamics of your home.

Working with your Feng Shui Consultant
At the start of the consultation, the Feng Shui consultant will discuss with you the areas of your life you feel need help, where your priorities lie, and what your future goals are.

Be prepared to think -- and speak -- in depth about the areas of life covered by the eight Trigrams and the tai chi position (the central palace). You'll want to consider strong and weak areas of your life, and how your surroundings may affect these areas. It's a good idea to brainstorm your goals in regard to these eight areas. It may help to ask yourself the following questions:

- What role does money play in my life? Do I have enough? Do I spend it (or lose it) as quickly as it comes in? Is increasing my wealth a major goal right now?

- What are my goals in regard to children? Do I want to conceive right now? Do I desire better control as a parent?

- Do I feel creativity lacking in my life?

- What is my reputation at work and in my community? Is it important to me that I'm highly regarded amongst my peers?

- Am I stuck in my career or advancing quickly? What aspects of my business life would I like to improve?

- Am I looking to further my education or take part in career development? Is this a priority right now? How are my children doing in school?

- How is my love life and my relationship with my partner? Or am I seeking a romantic relationship?

- How are my relationships with others in general? Do people help me when I need it? Do my friendships have a fair amount of give and take?

- What is my overall health? Do I have any illnesses or ailments? Do I have a lot of energy everyday? Do I sleep well at night?  

- What is my overall mood? Am I typically in good spirits?

Intention in Feng Shui
Since intention plays such a large role in Feng Shui, it's important to visualize the improvements you'd like to make in your life, and to know that the Feng Shui cures an expert implements will help you to realize these positive changes.

Learn more about working with a Feng Shui consultant to experience your full potential.

7 Feng Shui Tips To Increase Your Wealth With Moving Objects

They say March goes “in like a lion, out like a lamb.” Now is the perfect time to take advantage of those March winds by adding moving objects to your property to increase the flow of chi, help wealth flow toward you, and add a sense of “life and movement” to your property.

You can use several moving objects in different ways to increase the flow of chi on your property -- indoors or out.

Windsocks and Flags
Decorative windsocks and beautifully-colored flags help activate chi on your property. You can hang a flag that represents the rainbow spectrum, or to represent the Five Element Colors. Select your favorite flag to make a powerful statement. The United States flag is a wonderful symbol to hang in front of a place of business.

Windmills
Based on the ba gua, place the windmill in the trigram position that represents the area of your life you want to improve. For instance, placing a windmill in the wealth corner of your property will impact the flow of money. If the windmill's blades turn, money will flow toward you rapidly. On the other hand, if the blades don't turn, you'll hold on to the money you have. Indoors, you can use fans in the same way.

Fountains
Fountains are used in the wealth corner of the trigram inside or outside the home. They add the water element to a space -- balancing a fire element in a living room with a fireplace, for instance -- and attract money, peacefulness and harmony.
Exterior fountains should angle slightly toward your home or front door. They may also attract native birds, raising the chi of your property by attracting living things. Just make sure to keep the fountain clean.

Waterfalls and Ponds
Like fountains, waterfalls and ponds are powerful elements to attract money when placed in the wealth position on your property. The waterfall should flow toward your house. You can increase the waterfall's power if you position it to collect in a pond or pool that embraces your house. The re-cycling nature of a waterfall is a powerful symbol, after all, chi constantly circulates, being re-used and recycled.

Weather vanes
If your home is located at the intersection of two roads or experiences another problem due to draining Earth chi, weather vanes can cure this problem. Place them on the roof in a fixed position toward the area of the ba gua you wish to activate. Or attach a weather vane so that it can move and lift the chi of the entire space.

How to Feng Shui Your Cubicle for Career Success

Corporations don't necessarily design cubicles for success, unfortunately. Many cubicle-dwelling employees feel stuck, exposed, persecuted or unable to advance in their careers. But you can use Feng Shui to make yourself more comfortable in your cubicle and enhance your career success until you finally move into that corner office you desire.

Command position
Most cubicle layouts force the occupant to sit with his back to the cubicle entrance. You can place yourself in the command position, instead, by placing a mirror in front of you. This lets you see behind you, so you can see what's coming at you - in your life and your career.

Under your desk
Space is at a premium in cubicles, so people often use the area under their feet for storage. You may have your computer tower, a tangle of power cords and maybe even boxes, bags and an extra pair of shoes under your desk. Remove these items if possible, organize anything that's left. Can you store your personal belongings in a drawer, or leave them in your car?

At the very least, make sure the area directly below your feet is clear. You should be able to sit straight when you view your computer screen. Sitting an angle can cause numerous health issues.

What's overhead?
Make sure you don't have heavy items over your head. Many cubicles have built-in overhead shelves. Do not fill these shelves with books or other heavy items. If you do, you may feel downward pressure, like a literal weight on your shoulders. Items overhead can also lead to headaches. It is best not to have any items above your head at all.

Remove Piles of Papers
Piles of papers on your desk can mean you're not dealing with items you feel you should be. Unfinished business causes stress and anxiety. Every evening, clear your desk so that you come in each morning feeling refreshed and ready to start a new day.

Proper lighting
Make sure your desk and cubicle is well-lighted. The commercial says, "We'll leave the light on for you," symbolizing a feeling of friendliness and a welcoming atmosphere. This concept applies at work, too. Turn your light on to increase the energy of the space and invite co-workers to visit.

Life energy
Placing a plant in your cubicle enhances the life energy in the space. Consider a money tree plant, bamboo or jade. The plant should be healthy, green and alive, connecting you to nature.

Items of inspiration
Don't scatter documents, calendars and to-do lists around your cubicle. Keep these items carefully filed and organized, making room to add inspirational items to your desk. These can be photos, drawings, figurines-anything that brings you joy and inspires you.

Smell
You may not be permitted to burn a candle at your desk, but consider keeping peppermints in your drawer or a small citrus air freshener in your space. These scents awaken your spirit and give you an all-natural pick-me-up in the middle of the day.

Taste
Keep the chi flowing by placing a small jar of candy in your cubicle. It encourages others to stop by to say hello and grab a treat, increasing the flow of energy, wealth and happiness in your social circles.