Is Your Commute Hurting Your Career?

Feng Shui is about much more than the place we live. While our house or apartment, back yard and front yard, as well as our place of business, are all important factors in Feng Shui, the principles of Black Sect Feng Shui encompass our entire environment. This includes:

- the houses and buildings around us
- our street
- our neighborhood
- our commute to work, school, or anywhere we travel frequently

These external influences affect our success in life, as well as the way we feel everyday. If you lack energy, feel depressed and dread going to work (or coming home) it could be due to the environment you notice on the way.

Better Commute, Better Career Opportunities
Chances are, even if you don't notice your environment during your commute, it's affecting the tone of your work day. Pay attention to the scenery on your way to work. If the way is dry, dirty, or through run-down areas, can you find a different route? Passing through graveyards, or even dead vegetation, may cause you to subconsciously dwell on death -- your own or that of close friends. You may lose your drive to succeed.

If you encounter heavy traffic on your way to work, you may feel blocked, as if something is stopping you in your pursuit of greater wealth and recognition.

On the other hand, if your daily commute takes you past trees and healthy vegetation, or places of inspiration and growth -- such as schools, universities and prosperous businesses -- you'll arrive at work rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to shine.

What does your commute look like? How do you feel when you arrive at work? Could they be related?

How To Add Stability to Your Life with Heavy Objects

Do you often feel flighty, changing jobs or even careers frequently? When you go to bed at night, do you have an overwhelming fear your significant other may leave you?

Do you fear:
- being alone?
- job loss?
- unexpected moves or foreclosure?
- instability?
- negative change in your life?

Adding heavy objects -- or symbolically heavy objects such as a small Chinese inkpot with stones in the bottom, called a yu -- to a space can add stability to your life, marriage or finances.

We use heavy objects in black sect Feng Shui to:
- slow the flow of chi
- stabilize a specific situation (such as your career)
- help chi roll back up from a downward slope

Example: Placing boulders at the bottom of a hill on your property can direct the flow of chi back up the hill.

Using Heavy Objects Indoors in Feng Shui
Placing a paperweight or yu in the corner of your desk that represents the wealth corner will encourage steady income. A heavy object in your bedroom in the relationship corner can add a sense of stability to your marriage, providing your bed is already in the command position and has a solid, one-piece headboard.

Using Statues in Feng Shui
You can use statues indoors or out as heavy objects. In addition to have tangible weight, statues personify images, often of admirable beings or deities. A statue of Buddha or the Virgin Mary, depending on your religion, can be both emotionally uplifting and help raise the chi in an area with its spirituality. Placed in a particular trigram, it also stabilizes the chi in that space -- positively affecting that area of your life.

How to Use Wind Chimes in Feng Shui for Career Advancement and More

In Black Sect Feng Shui, we use wind chimes for a number of cures. The right sounds can effectively adjust the chi of a space, promoting positive attention and improving our mood. You can affect different areas of your life -- including your career and your reputation -- by hanging wind chimes in different rooms or different areas of the ba gua.

Additionally, wind chimes hung between a front door and a staircase, which may result in money rapidly leaving a home, can slow the flow of chi and improve your finances.

Any wind chimes you select to hang for a Feng Shui cure should:
- have metal tubes that produce a clean, sweet, clear sound
- use five tubes to represent the Five Elements
- be pleasing for you to look at and not out of place with your home's decor.

Let's look at how wind chimes can help you improve the different areas of your life, including your:
- Career
- Fame & Reputation
- Energy
- Income
- Wisdom
- Relationships

Fame: Wind chimes hung in the fame and recognition area of the ba gua can help enhance your reputation and promote career growth by calling attention to the gifts you have to offer the world.

Wisdom: Wind chimes hung in the wisdom and learning portion of the trigram (when you lay the ba gua over a single room or your whole house) can promote clear thinking and improve your intellect.

Career: If you lack energy, even after waking up from a full night's sleep, and have already ensured your bed is in the command position of the room, hang wind chimes in the center of your bedroom. This can help fight depression and give you the energy to pursue your goals.

Relationships with others: A view of your stove from the front door creates dangerous chi that could provoke fights, arguments, accidents and also negatively affect your family's health. Place wind chimes at the front door or over the stove -- or anywhere between the door and the stove -- to counteract these negative affects.

As you can see, since all areas of our lives are tied together, hanging wind chimes in certain areas of your home can enhance your career, fame, reputation, relationships with others, and even increase your income.

Other Sounds to Adjust the Chi in Your Home: You can also introduce other sounds into your home to adjust the chi.
- Bells
- Singing
- Playing music (different types according to your mood)
- Whistling
- Hosting friends for a karaoke party enlivens a 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.

The 3 Most Important Feng Shui Areas of a Home or Apartment

In Feng Shui, as in life, certain factors or areas must take priority over others. In Feng Shui, the three most important areas of a home or apartment are:

- the main door
- the kitchen
- the bedroom

If positive energy (chi) collects outside and flows into these spaces, you’ll bring money and opportunities into your life. If these areas are affected by a lack of chi or negative chi, any other positive changes you make won’t have as much of an impact.

This article explores basic ways you can use Feng Shui for these three areas.

Feng Shui your Front Door
The front door represents the way life comes to us -- our opportunities and possibilities. It represents the yang dimension of experience. It is important to have a good main door and entrance to allow money, wealth and opportunities to come into your space and life. If the chi or life energy is not able to get into your house to circulate freely, it won’t matter much what’s going on in other areas within the space.

The main door is the chi mouth of the house. Make sure nothing is repelling, expelling or blocking the chi from entering the house. Additionally, make sure no objects that exude Sha chi (killing chi) point to the front door. This may include a corner of a building from across the street, a t-intersection, an item blocking the door or directly in line with the front door. The question to ask yourself regarding these items is, how far is it from your property.

To evaluate your entrance:

- Stand at the front door and look out. Verify that no trees, lampposts, mailboxes, pillars, planters or other items sit in direct line of the door. These items can impact your ability to take advantage of incoming chi and may negatively impact the health of your household.

- Stand outside your front door and look in. This area directly in front of the property is the Bright Hall (Ming Tang). Chi settles here and collects before the residents receive it. Make sure the chi can collect and circulate. Avoid placing anything here that repels, squeezes or blocks the chi from entering the space. You can learn more about how to Feng Shui your entrance here. 

Feng Shui your Kitchen
The kitchen – specifically, the stove – represents our source of food and our ability to gain food through our work and careers. The stove has a great deal to do with our public life, our career, the recognition we receive, and our ability to manifest our goals and dreams. As a result, make sure the top of your stove is clean and all of the burners are working correctly. Use your stove regularly, even if just to boil water for tea. And try to use all of the burners rather than just your favorite burner. 

If there is poor chi in the kitchen, this could result in career issues, money difficulties and bad health. Take a moment to look at the distance between your stove and sink – if there is a gap of less than two feet between the two, this can create a clash of elements between fire and water.

Feng Shui your Bedroom
We spend one-third of our lives in the bedroom. It’s a space to heal, rejuvenate and relax, improving our health and vitally. Our bed is energetically connected to each of us. Sleep is a yin condition -- that the bed shelters, comforts and enables us to truly rest illustrates its great importance.

When evaluating this space look not only at how the Chi is entering the room, but evaluate where your bed is located in relation to the incoming chi and place the bed in a command position.

Your bedroom should be square or rectangular; this represents stability and makes the room suitable for sleeping. Avoid rooms that are round, L-shaped, triangular, or other odd shapes, as they do not allow a balanced flow of chi. Learn more about how to turn your bedroom into a peaceful sanctuary.

How To Use Feng Shui To Prepare For A Job Interview

Are you looking for a new job? Would you like to know the secrets to set yourself apart from other job candidates during the interview? If you follow some of the basic tenets of Feng Shui, you can give yourself an advantage during your next job interview.

Choose the Right Colors
The colors you wear can impact the success of your interview, and green or blue are viewed most favorably by potential employers. These colors represent growth, potential and possibilities.  

Avoid wearing all black or all white as these colors can represent limited hope or possibilities. Try to avoid wearing bright red or other aggressive colors that may signal argumentativeness or hint that you may cause difficulties in a place of business.  

Before the Interview

Arrive early and spend a few minutes outside the building centering yourself in silence. Collect your thoughts and just pay attention to your breath. This moment of silence will allow you to be more grounded within the interview process and more present in the moment, able to answer questions more easily. Take nine deep breaths prior to the interview where you can visualize breathing in white light, natural light, sun light that burns up all of your negative thoughts, feelings and emotions then converts into black smoke that you release upon exhale.


If you have the option, position yourself in the command position during the interview. The command position:
-    Gives you sight of the door, without putting you directly in line with the door;
-    Does not put your back to the door;
-    Is not directly behind the door.  

Sitting in the command position puts you in a more secure and stable state, so you’ll feel more in control during the interview process and be able to answer more clearly.

During the Interview

During the interview process, consider the energy you’re sending out to your employer carefully. Think about expanding your aura into the room to bring calmness, confidence and sincerity to the space. This helps all those around you. Those interviewing you will sense a well-grounded, positive energy emanating from you.

Pay attention to your body language. Be aware of what you’re feeling inside, as you may be communicating your emotions on the outside, as well. Many people, when they get nervous, make a washing machine – side-to-side – motion or fidget and move around in their chair. These movements convey nervous energy and a lack of confidence.

Attempt to mimic, at times, the body language of your interviewer. Anthony Robbins refers to this as mirroring others to build rapport and likeability. 


Post-Interview Follow-up

After you have completed the interview, keep the chi of moving water, which represents prosperity, flowing for you by sending a note or email to those who interviewed you. Thank them for their time and add any other information that may be relevant to the conversation. In these times of e-mail communications, a handwritten message on professional-looking stationery or a note card will stand out.

Of course, always take the basic steps of preparing for a job interview. Practice the answers to common questions in the mirror and learn about the company where you applied for a job. If you are well-prepared for an interview and well-qualified for the position, following these Feng Shui tips before, during and after the interview process will give you the advantage over other candidates.


  


Feng Shui Your Office to Advance Your Career and Make More Money

In hard economic times, you need every advantage to advance in your career. But did you know that something as simple as the location of your desk and the placement of your office within the building could send you on the fast track to greater success and more money?

Feng Shui does not provide a "one size fits all" solution. It depends on a variety of factors, including how the chi, or energy, circulates within the entire space. Are you comfortable or surrounded by clutter? Do you look forward to coming to work in the morning, or do you dread sitting at your desk for eight hours (or more) a day?

These Feng Shui tips will help you create an environment in which you can feel productive, happy and successful.

1. Place yourself in a command position.
Your desk should be in the "command position." You should have a view of the room and the door without being in direct line of the door or a main walkway. Sitting in front of a door puts you in the center of rushing chi, which can adversely affect your career - you may get fired or want to quit.

It's just as bad to sit with your back to the door, where you may feel as if you are under attack by your co-workers. If you can't move your desk but are facing a wall, place a mirror on the wall, desk or on your computer monitor so you'll be able to see behind you. This puts you in a command position, where you can see what is coming at you-both literally and figuratively-in your career. It also prevents your co-workers from "stabbing you in the back."

Ideally, you should be able to walk around both sides of the desk. This encourages the chi to flow freely around the room. If one side of your desk is blocked or pushed up against a wall, it can impact your income, as well as your relationships with co-workers, customers and prospects.

2. Get you and your career unstuck.
When many people approach me about feeling stuck in their career, one of the first areas I look at is under the desk. Make sure you don't have anything, including books, shoes, a wastebasket or computer tower blocking your leg room. You should have plenty of space for your feet, without having to do a break dancing move just to sit down. Anything that inhibits your leg room could make you feel stuck in your job.

Likewise, clutter, heavy bookshelves or weighty pictures on the wall above your head can cause anxiety and pressure. The downward pressure these create may even give you headaches.

3. Open the door to opportunity.
Your door, if you have one, should open a full 90 degrees so be careful how much you put behind the door. Nothing should block a person from walking into the space. A clear doorway welcomes wealth energies into your work space and allows you to take better advantage of new opportunities.

4. Add life energy to your space.
You can apply the Bagua map, a tool used by many Feng Shui consultants to illustrate how different sections of a space correspond to different aspects of life, to your desk. For instance, the back left corner of your desk represents wealth and abundance. The back right corner represents relationships. What do you currently have located in the corners of your desk?

But even without any knowledge of the eight sectors of the Bagua, you can easily add life energy to your desk in the form of bamboo or a money tree plant. This can improve relationships in the office and amongst co-workers, as well as attracting wealth and good fortune to you.

5. Trust your instincts
When your minor adjustments are done, look around your office and consider your feelings. Are you more comfortable? Does the space seem to flow? Do any items create stress when you look at them or does your office create a calm, yet energized, feeling for you and others who enter? Do you feel productive or stagnant?

Does this help? Do these suggestions give you some ideas on how to improve your own office? I'd love to know if you have any other advice to add.

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5 Ways Of Dealing With Depression Without Drugs

Feng Shui can be used to help alleviate depression and feelings of being "stuck," which are so common in today's society. Often, an individual just needs a gentle nudge to return to his correct path, where he can be his true self.

I should know; I've battled feelings of depression and low energy. A combination of Feng Shui, proper nutrition, exercise, meditation and re-connecting with nature alleviated my depression and placed me on a path toward fulfillment.

My career has soared. I have a stronger drive for achievement and activity and I am truly grateful and happy. As a result, I've been fortunate to help many others welcome energy, drive and the feelings of joy and gratitude back into their lives. That is my true path.

1. Feng Shui Your Space: A Feng Shui consultation may be the first step in getting "unstuck." A Feng Shui consultant can recommend ways to shift the energy of a person and space, creating amazing transformations.

When I perform a Feng Shui consultation for a client who is feeling stuck or depressed, I pay close attention to the entrance of the space. The entrance should not be blocked, which prevents energy or chi from entering the area.

I'll also take a look at the work environment, specifically under a person's desk. That part of the office should be clean, clear and permit plenty of leg room.

I often introduce life energy into a space. You can do this in your home or office by adding living plants, fresh flowers, raw fruit or moving water.

There are also specific Feng Shui cures and remedies you can employ. For instance, you can use Feng Shui Wind Chimes To Help With Depression.

2. Reconnect With Nature: It's easy to lose your connection with nature and, for many people, this leads to depression.

Don't you feel rejuvenated after spending a day at the beach or a few hours hiking in the mountains? Try to make nature a small part of your life every day. Spend more time outdoors walking, hiking, cycling or simply sitting in the park appreciating the environment.

3. Diet & Nutrition: Chronic fatigue is an indication that the body's "batteries" have run down. Resistance drops and illness or disease may strike.

Often, fatigue is caused by a critical deficiency of active enzymes in the diet and an overabundance of "dead" foods: processed, preserved and over-cooked foods, eaten in incompatible combinations.

Many fad diets literally starve cells of nutrition and energy and permit toxic wastes to accumulate in the tissues. This prevents the body from generating and directing energy for work or play, since all available energy must be used to keep the body alive.

According to The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity, denatured, processed, preserved, canned and cooked foods should compose less than 50 percent of the daily diet. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains to give your body the energy it needs and combat chronic fatigue.

Sun Ssu-mo, the Tang Dynasty Taoist physician who correctly diagnosed and cured the nutritional-deficiency disease beriberi 1,300 years ago, a full millennium before European doctors did in 1642, wrote in Precious Recipes: "A truly good physician first finds out the cause of illness, and having found that, he first tries to cure it by food. Only when food fails does he prescribe medication."

4. Proper Exercise:

"The Tao of nurturing life requires that one keep oneself as fluid and flexible as possible. One should not stay still for too long, nor should one exhaust oneself by trying to perform impossible tasks. One should learn how to exercise from nature by observing the fact that flower water never stagnates and a busy door with active hinges never rusts or rots. Why? Because they exercise themselves perpetually and are almost always moving." (Sun Ssu-mo - Precious Recipes)

In this passage, Sun Ssu-mo succinctly distills the essence of Taoist exercise principles. If we observe nature, we see that rhythmic movement is the foundation for cultivating essence and energy.

Balance and moderation are also key factors. How many times have you started a difficult or time-consuming exercise regime only to abandon it after a few weeks-or a few days? Start slowly so your early success will spark your drive to continue. In addition to structured exercise, look for ways to introduce more physical activity into your everyday life.

The Spring and Autumn Annals tells us: Essence and energy, body and breath, are indivisible: when the body does not move, essence cannot flow; when essence cannot flow, energy becomes stagnant.

Keep your essence moving like a mountain stream by practicing controlled deep breathing balanced with rhythmic physical movement. Body and breath will harmonize and vital energy will circulate to every organ and tissue in the body.

5. Meditation: Meditation purifies the mind and restores the spirit's primal powers by withdrawing all distracting thoughts and disturbing emotions from the mind. Meditation is to spirit what diet and nutrition are to essence - an indispensable tool for cultivating and conserving that treasure.

Emotions are regarded as major causes of disease in Chinese medicine. When unbridled by firm intent, they can cloud our minds and vandalize our precious reserves of essence and energy. To restore conscious awareness, one must empty the mind of all thoughts and pacify all emotions in the solitary silence and peaceful serenity of meditation.

In an article entitled "Mental Muscle" (Omni magazine, June 1992), Kathy Keeton writes:

"When the psychologists Charles Alexander of the Maharishi International University in Fairland, Iowa, and Ellen Langer of Harvard University, taught transcendental meditation (TM) to a group of octogenarians in eight Boston-area nursing homes, 100 percent of those who practiced meditation 20 minutes a day were still alive three years later, while 38 percent of their peers who did not meditate had passed on. This is reminiscent of legends of Himalayan yogis using similar techniques to live more than a hundred years...

Alexander is one of a growing body of scientists who believe that we can muster the power of our brains to stay healthy, to heal ourselves when we're sick, and, quite possibly, to extend our life expectancy."

Combining Feng Shui with proper nutrition, exercise, meditation and time to reconnect with nature will put you on the path to health, happiness, longevity, peace of mind, greater drive and ultimate success.

How many items listed above are you doing? Why not try adding a new one each week for the next few weeks? Please come back and share your results!

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Top 10 Reasons Why People Use Feng Shui

Ever thought about using Feng Shui to improve your current situation or certain areas of your life?

I reviewed over 3,000 of my clients and contacts on why they sought out help with Feng Shui and here is the top ten.

Top 10 Reasons Why People Seek Help With Feng Shui

   1. Increase money and overall wealth
   2. Find love
   3. Improve career
   4. Experience Peace & harmony
   5. Improve marriage or existing relationship
   6. Balance
   7. Help with creativity
   8. Feeling stuck in their life or with their current situation
   9. Improve family relations
  10. Improve work relationships

Are you experiencing any of these difficulties? Are there other areas of your life that you would like to seek help with using Feng Shui? How have you used Feng Shui in your life?