Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ignite Your Passion



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Here are the 5 elements (wood, water, fire, metal, and earth) interacting, creating, and in balance with one another Tai Chi symbol feeding off of their energy and creating Yin and Yang. The key to achieving the balance is flow. When romance or money is lacking in a person's life, as a feng shui practitioner I look at the bedroom for answers.

The key is balanced, positive, flowing energy.

How can you tell if your bedroom needs a makeover? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is my bedroom cluttered or too sterile?
2. Do I feel relaxed when I'm home and in bed or do I have problems falling and staying asleep?
3. Is my bedroom too bright or too dark?
4. Does my partner act romantic towards me or is he/she distant and cold while in the bedroom?
5. Do I enjoy being in my bedroom alone and with my partner, or just by myself?

If negative feelings arose when you posed these questions to yourself, it's time to re-energize your bedroom. This is one step towards finding passion and purpose in all aspects of your life. 

Remember, you don't need a blow torch approach to induce a fire within.



A single match can start a fire ... which is You.

Nurture your passion and purpose at home and it will manifest out in the world.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

First Steps to Reclaiming Your Joy


Spring is here and that means new leavings and flowers all around us. Although we may feel the warmth of the sun on our bare skin again and see beauty from nature, we may not believe that we have reasons to feel joyous and abundant inside. Just as nature goes through a metamorphosis and rebirth every year, how can we experience a newness and freshness in our lives that brings lasting joy?

The answer will surprise you!

1. Express Gratitude: Recently one of my dearest high school friends asked me to become one of her gratitude sisters/partners. Once a week we would speak for 15 minutes expressing ONLY what we are grateful for. As I expounded on the power of this exercise, I realized that joy comes from appreciating all the good in our lives now.

2. Do Good Deeds: When you do a good deed without being asked, you feel good. You feel joy. Not because of a reward, but simply because you've connected with the good within you. Inevitably joy follows.

3. Let Gladness Ring: In NYC, I rarely see people smile on the street. Of course if you told the majority of people walking around that you would pay them $1,000,000 to smile, they would and it might just be genuine. But what if you felt like $1 MM on the inside? Would you not smile? Joy can be fleeting indeed, however as a baby can be quickly made to smile after crying, we too have the ability to feel joy just as easily. Remember to nurture the child within even if it means visiting FAO Schwartz and hugging a teddy bear or playing with a toy car.



I wish you much success on your joyous journey!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Conquering Your Fears Using Feng Shui


While studying and applying BTB Feng Shui principles to my life, I've learned to recognize when fear drives me to flee or fight. There are four action steps you can take to conquer your fears and achieve greater harmony and peace.

Step 1: Let go. When I  was a dancer, the #1 way to stretch further (even with sore, aching muscles that screamed "no") was to utilize my breath to push past all the pain. Mentally and physically you can use your intention and breath to relax your mind and body to achieve peace and stillness.

In Feng Shui we practice a Calming Heart Meditation to release, visualize, and allow a greater awareness so that our minds become more open and receptive to new opportunities and possibilities.

Step 2: Visualize: By having an active awareness of a belief that you can achieve what you want, you set your intention and place your order with the universe to deliver it. For anyone interacting with people, we must learn how to deal with people with different temperaments and emotional states.

In Feng Shui I'm reminded of the element, water. Bruce Lee once said, "be water my friend ... be water."

When we learn to flow like water through and around seeming obstacles (whether physical or emotional), we find a way to go unscathed through land mines and set backs.

Step 3: Work: Professor Lin Yun Rimpoche instructed us to work out our problems and let go. (I said to "let go" first because so many times we remember to "work out our own salvation," but forget to stop beating ourselves up.)

How many times have you caught holding your breath while thinking about your problems? 

Feng Shui reminds us that we can achieve greater harmony and balance by opening our mind and heart.

Step 4:  Empower your action. Declare and affirm within you that everything you do to better yourself and your work has positive results. Expect good results. Children do. Why can't we?

Enjoy the journey my friends!

Nancy Love