Feng Shui Tips for Your Kitchen

Feng Shui (say "fung shway") associates the kitchen with both health and prosperity. Couple this perspective with the role of the kitchen as "the heart of the home," and you can see that any feng shui problems in this room can have a significant impact on your family. Here are some quick tips for improving the feng shui of this important area of the home.

• Good housekeeping is good feng shui! Keep your kitchen shiny and clean for the best possible energy. A cluttered, dirty kitchen will have stagnant, dirty energy, which interferes with your ability to cook and enjoy healthy, nourishing food. When you are poorly nourished, your ability to work hard and earn a good income will suffer.
• Hidden clutter counts. An excess of stored food in the pantry or freezer can become clutter if it far exceeds a reasonable amount for your family. Old, stale food has old, stale energy, even if the expiration date is still months (or even years) away. Clean out your food cupboards and refrigerator regularly.

• Good nutrition is also good feng shui, so try to add more healthy, organic foods to your diet, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Start thinking of junk food as clutter that you are putting into your body, and maybe you'll be able to resist that next cookie or donut.
• A stove that is not in good working order implies a problem with financial resources. If any part of the stove (burners, oven light, fan, etc.) does not work, get it fixed as soon as possible.
• An unused stove implies untapped resources or ignored opportunities. Even if all you do is boil water for tea, rotate which burner you set the kettle on so that all of them get regular use! And use the oven, too, from time to time, instead of always relying on the microwave.
• If you stand facing the wall while you cook, this leaves your back exposed, a position that is considered weak in feng shui. Hang a mirror on the wall over the stove so that you can see what's going on behind you while you cook.

• Hanging a mirror so it reflects the stove burners visually doubles the number of burners. This symbolizes doubling of your income; more good food = better health and strength = ability to earn a good income.
• Fire and water fight each other, so the placement of the stove and sink is important. If they are directly opposite each other, this can lead to arguments and conflict within the family. Fix this by placing something green between them, such as a green rug on the floor or a living plant on a table in the center of the room. (A sink and stove that are side by side also weaken the energy of the kitchen. Again, place something green between them.)
• The stove is symbolic of wealth, so it is important to keep its fire energy strong. Wood feeds fire, so plants or plant imagery (or again, the color green) are all good to have around and near the stove.
• Fresh flowers bring beautiful uplifting energy to the kitchen. Place a bowl of fruit, a vase of flowers, or a living plant on your kitchen table, windowsill, or wherever the layout of your kitchen allows. (In feng shui, dried flowers have no life energy in them, so they are not recommended. If real plants are impossible, you can use very lifelike fake ones, but the effect will not be as strong.)
• Since nine is a feng shui power number, and oranges symbolize good luck, you can bring good luck energy into the kitchen by placing nine of the biggest, roundest, most perfectly orange oranges you can find in a bowl in the center of the room, on top of the stove (yes, you can move them while you are cooking!), or in the far left corner of the room. Always keep some oranges on hand, so each time you take one from the bowl you can add another to keep the total number at nine. Be sure to use the older oranges first, so none of them rot or dry out; if it's not good to eat, it's not good feng shui!

When your kitchen is clean, bright, and welcoming, the heart of your home is filled with good feng shui. The care and attention you give to enhancing this important area of the home creates a powerful, positive energy that supports the health and prosperity of your family.

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BEFORE You Feng Shui - Things you MUST know before a Feng Shui Consultation

Feng Shui is a Healing art. It is meant to inspire, transform, help and assist out clients to achieve their goals. I don?t believe it was ever intended to instill fear, make people uncomfortable in their own homes or worry about changes they make. And yet, that is exactly what I have been seeing lately.

A case in point: On a recent visit to a client I was dismayed to enter a beautiful condo unit and find complete and utter lack of attention to the home. By lack of attention, it had clearly not been cleaned in a very long time as the grime was built up on everything; the entire unit was cluttered with things lining both the furniture and couches. The kitchen went unused and it was almost impossible to step into the bedroom due to the clothes and debris all over the floor. Something had gone horribly wrong and we cleared off a space on the floor to sit and discuss her life and issues.

She was an intelligent, beautiful accomplished person who had previously been both a model and a singer in a band and was now on disability due to a recent accident. She told me that several years ago she still hadn?t found the right partner and had called a Feng Shui consultant for some help and advice on her relationship issues. The consultant pointed out problem after problem with the layout of her home, with her bathroom, with the direction of the front door----the list goes on. In short, she was told by the consultant to move, that this previously lovely condo would never support her nor would she ever have good luck while she lived there.

Flash forward to today and my visit. She had given up she said; what was the point? She did not have the money to move and truly believed there was nothing she could do to help enhance her life. Powerful and absolutely devastating words from someone she went to for advice and inspiration. Now her mindset was and had been misery. She no longer had friends over, certainly had not even opened herself up to the possibility of a relationship and was having a series of misfortunate ?accidents.? She had given up on her home and her life.

Trying to change her mindset after so many years was a daunting task. I showed her all the good points in her home and gave her easy, inexpensive things she could do to change the energy, starting with cleaning up and getting rid of the clutter. I addressed each room with a positive point of view and if something wasn?t ?politically? Feng Shui correct, showed her simple things to change it.

Sadly, I have been seeing this more and more in my consultations. While I truly believe in the many methods to use Feng Shui, I am always mindful to do no harm. In someone?s home or in their Mind. Yet I am finding client after client who has been told their front door faced the ?wrong? direction, the steps in the center of the home would mean constant health issues and everything negative while only providing their clients with expensive methods such as renovations or telling them the house will never support them at all.

I visit Real Estate offices quite frequently to speak on Feng Shui and Home Staging and honestly there hasn?t been one I have been in that wanted to work with a Feng Shui Consultant. Why? For one thing, Feng Shui Consultants never seem to find the ?perfect? home for their client; sometimes it?s the numbers on the door, sometimes it a misplaced bathroom, sometimes there is a ?negative? space and a complete area of the house is missing. Feng Shui consultants, I am told, point out only negative issues.

I am grateful that I attended classes in Feng Shui by such a wide spectrum of the very best teachers and mentors in the field who were able to provide me with a variety of inexpensive and easy to implement ?cures? for all these problems. When we look at a space, we see it through what is called ?Feng Shui Eyes? but these eyes can be positive in nature and instead, show a person or family how the home will support them and how to ?fix? a missing piece, show them the positive aspects of the front door and how to look at Feng Shui through a positive perspective.

We were taught to be healers in every aspect of the word; we are often challenged ourselves with clients who are so hurt and worried about homes they have been told can?t be fixed, that will never support them that their lives have changed so dramatically in a downward spiral.

Look for a Feng Shui Consultant to inspire you, give you the positive, use the beautiful transcendental cures and blessings and simple and inexpensive methods to change your environment for a more beneficial flow of energy. We are, as the wonderful Pamela Laurance inspired in us every day, to be Mindful, to help, to heal, to transform.

Certainly, finding a consultant who has been well trained in a variety of methods and practices from a positive point of view won?t get you ?stuck? in believing you need expensive renovations or that it?s time to move. They are the ones that will be able to transform, to help and heal and inspire. The positive aspects you put into your thoughts are, ultimately, what will provide you with exactly what you are seeking in every area of your life.

Feng Shui Your Patio, Family Room or Office with Portable Waterfalls

In Chinese the words, feng shui, literally mean wind and water. For centuries the Chinese have used feng shui to advance the quality of life, since they have long observed that some environs are better than others. Feng shui in the present day has developed into a fine art used to improve fortune and happiness through the adjustment of layout and orientations of workplaces and houses and is gaining recognition in the West.

Bring flow into your existing career by adding a water feature near your home's front entrance. Whether or not you're currently working, an indoor waterfall with water flowing into the house, not out, will generate a torrent of opportunities for you. Placing pictures of moving water - such as oceans with rolling waves or tumbling Amazonian waterfalls - in that spot will achieve the same fabulous feng shui home decor objectives.

Water is symbolic of wealth. Having water near your home will influence you. Water that meanders and flows gently will give you a sense of flow in your life. Gently flowing clear water represents a consistent flow in your life - flow of chi and money. Along with prosperity, this sense of flow brings more relaxation, that "go with the flow" feeling. Remember that water is essential to our lives and our bodies are part water.

When correctly placed, a six-tiered waterfall is among the most powerful wealth enhancers in the garden and home. It should be placed in the southwest inwards direction to invite positive energies. The southwest is described as the place of indirect spirits or elements and water in this sector of the room or garden will harness a lot of wealth/luck. The waterfall's size must be in balance or proportionate to the garden or room and must not overwhelm it.

A waterfall should never be placed in bedrooms. The bedroom is a "yin" place and the waterfall will contradict this. Waterfalls and fountains are strongly recommended for commercial buildings, i.e. inside hotel lobbies and outside the building, especially in front. If you're placing a waterfall in your family room, make sure the room is big enough to accommodate the waterfall along with the regular furniture.

The ideal time to apply feng shui rules is when you're designing a new building: 1. Consider employing a feng shui advisor to assist you in understanding the rules 2. Look for a parcel of land that's flat and generally rectangular 3. Plan a home that's square or rectangular 4. Avoid sharp projections, and make the building regular in shape 5. Add an entrance hall to the floor plan 6. Floor-to-ceiling windows placed in bedrooms allow too much chi to escape, so avoid them 7. Choose smooth surfaces for interior walls 8. Design a curving walkway to your front door

Adam O'Connor is the owner of www.eventceilingdecor.com, which provides excellent free information on interior decor . Adam O'Connor is an expert in this industry and his website helps people find answers to questions such as, which indoor waterfalls are recommended commercial buildings, i.e. inside hotel lobbies.