Achieve A Balance - Feng Shui All The Way

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese belief that involves studying natural and the built environments. The arrangements of these objects affect the yin and the yang, as well as the energy of a room. Feng Shui has developed into many different versions based on religion, geography, symbolism and culture. One commonality of all Feng Shui practitioners, Of course, is the belief in energy. Different schools of Feng Shui have progressed into seven different forms.

1. The Compass School

The first school of thought is the Compass school. The compass school uses 8 trigrams of the I-Ching. These 8 trigrams are known collectively as Pa Kua, that is based on the eight main directions of a compass. Each of these directions is associated with a specific chi. A southern direction, for example, is vibrant energy and is associated with the middle of the summer.

2. Eight Mansion School

Another school is the Eight Mansion School, also known as the Eight House Feng Shui. This school of thought is based on the individual number of a person. The number of the man living in the home is used to bring harmony and balance to the home. Furthermore, people using this system have both lucky and unlucky numbers, with the west numbers being 2, 6, 7, and 8 and the east numbers being 1, 3, 4, and 9.

3. Form School

The Form school of thought is based on the landscapes shape and uses four symbolic animals. These animals are used to identify the type of landscape. The Form school is easy to use along with the Compass school to increase chi both in and out of the home.

4. Black Hat Sect

The Black Hat Sect is another school of thought. The Black Hat Sect used a fixed entry point for determination of the life areas. It is similar in philosophy to the Compass school, but the areas are different. In addition, the Black Hat Sect mixes psychology, Buddhism and basic design principles, as well.

5. Nine Star Key School

Another school is the Nine Star Key School. This form used stars to help identify lucky and unlucky days. Using complicated math formulas, this school can pinpoint when a person will get married and the astrological sign of the person to be married to. This form is very inflexible and is based purely on science. The Nine Star Key will also tell the practitioner what house he lives in and makes suggestions on how to live based on the house.

6. Flying Star School

The Flying Star philosophy is the most common Asian form of Feng Shui and is based on astrology and numerology. This form is difficult to understand and to learn. It, too, is based on mathematical principals and is used to determine a persons fate.

7. Four Pillars School

The final school of thought is the Four Pillars. This form is not very common and is based on astrology according to the persons date of birth, right down to the minutes. This form is also used to determine a persons fate.

8. The Five Elements

After determining that school of thought is best for an individual, it is important to also understand each element. These five elements are: Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood. The elements are capable of destroying each others energies and forming a continual cycle. Through the use of these elements, balance and harmony can be created in a home. If these elements are used incorrectly, Of course, the energy can be destroyed or lessened.

Each of the five elements is also associated with a color, direction, and number.

Earth (Brown/Beige) - 2,5,8 - Southwest

Fire (Red/Purple) ?? 9 - South

Water (Blue/Black) ?? 1 - North

Metal (Grey/Reflective) - 6,7 - West

Wood (Green) - 3,4 - East

Each of these elements has both a destructive and a productive cycle and must be used carefully.

The productive cycle uses the following pattern:

Water ?? Wood ?? Fire ?? Earth ?? Metal

Water feed feeds Wood for it to grow. Wood then feeds Fire and produces Earth. Earth, in turn created Metal. Metal holds water and, thus, continues the cycle. To keep this cycle flowing, bring into the room the elements before and after the main element

The destructive cycle reduces energy and can be used in a room where one element needs to be lessened. It follows this pattern:

Water ?? Fire ?? Metal ?? Wood ?? Earth

Water puts out Fire and Fire melts Metal. Metal cuts Wood down and Wood clogs Earth, while Earth muddies Water.

9. Using Feng Shui

Every room needs to be balanced with each of the five elements. Some elements can be heavier than others due to size; chair might score as three counts of an element while a throw pillow only counts as one.

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Feng Shui - Create Prosperity at the Office by Clearing the Clutter

The essence of Feng Shui revolves around using positive energy, or Chi, to enhance your surroundings. Serenity, prosperity, and wealth follow the occupants of homes and offices with Chi.

Your office should be a pleasant, un-cluttered, well-lit, and inspiring space. The most important thing you can do to increase the flow of chi is to get rid of the piles of clutter throughout the office. If your desk has piles of papers, boxes, files, and post-it notes taped to the computer, chi will get stuck. Your creativity and decision-making skills will be blocked. If your office is orderly and un-cluttered, you will think more clearly and make decisions more easily.

Here are some tips to clear the clutter in your office:
1. Piles of boxes and papers on the floor immediately slows the flow of chi, so get rid of all the piles for a smooth flow.
2. Go through all the piles on your desk. Sort them into your files. Use stacking baskets, file cabinets, and rolling files to keep things organized.
3. Go through your desk drawers. Throw out old pens, old notes, loose paperclips and rubber bands. Buy a desk organizer to keep things organized into compartments.
4. File cabinets and bookshelves can get overloaded with old papers, out-dated manuals, old magazines, and piles of old paper and envelops. These things all create negative energy.
5. Your computer also needs to be cleaned up. Delete old e-mails, back-up files onto a CD and store in a CD tower. Clean up your temp files and Internet cache on a regular basis.

Clearing the clutter will not happen overnight. Give yourself one or two weeks to get your office in order. Try to chip away at it a little each day. Tackle one task at a time. Before you know it wealth and prosperity will be heading your way. Check out this Feng Shui website for more information http//www.168fengshui.com/

Reprinted with permission from Jean Hanson, Virtual Assistant (Copyright 2002, Jean Hanson, VA Office Solution, http://www.vaofficesolution.com). To subscribe to Jean's free newsletter, Office Solutions, visit her website.