Lost and Found
By Karen Abler-Carrasco, WSFS Instructor
“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making new discoveries.” — A. A. Milne, from Winnie the Pooh
Or as Calvin, of the Calvin and Hobbes comic series says, “There’s treasure EVERYWHERE!” And haven’t we all had those delightful moments when we reach into the pocket of last year’s winter coat and find a stash of money, or those long-lost earrings.
My own home is a comfy blend of tidy and disordered, so I get the best of both worlds–reassuringly Known and the strange Unknown, side by side. And residing in the mystery of the Unknown are all of the leprechauns and fairies that steal and relocate my things. Those imps, what a teasing dance they lead me in sometimes– “now, where are those car keys?….I set them RIGHT HERE last night.”
Read MoreEssential Stories: From Clutter to Cherry Blossoms
Hello WSFS!
I am still struggling with keeping my dining table clutter free. I keep piling stuff up here. My mother’s table has piles and my brother’s table has piles. What’s going on here? I appreciate Terah’s comments during the webinar on the psychological aspects associated with clutter and I will investigate this further. It’s apparent that it’s going to take more inquiry as well as discipline.
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Let it Shine
By Becky Iott, WSFS Instructor
When I don’t know what to do next for my home, I clean something. It’s fun and it’s free! Clean. Polish. Organize. Tidy up. A little mundane, huh? A little dull.
But then everything shines.
Except there are exceptions.
Sometimes when I am invited into someone’s home as a Feng Shui consultant, I walk into an almost unbelievable spotlessness, a clean so clean, a tidy so widy that I am speechless. And a Feng Shui consultant can’t stay speechless for long.
“What a beautiful home you have,” I say. “I wish my home were as clean.”
She is crestfallen. “It’s a mess. I wish it could be cleaner.”
“Does your family help with the work?”
“Oh, no,” she says. Translation: They would not do a good enough job.
“How much time do you spend cleaning every week?”
“Not much.” Clearly, every possible moment.
Later in the consultation I may ask the client if she knows her life purpose and she always does. The clarity of her cleanliness often reflects a clear mind.
“How much time did you devote to your life purpose this week?”
Now she is speechless. Because she hasn’t spent any time on it. Not that week, not in many weeks.
If your life purpose, your reason to be on this planet at this time, is to create a very high standard of cleanliness in your home—and I know people for whom this is true—do not let me or anyone else interfere with it.
But if you have something else important to do in this lovely lifetime, and you’re not devoting time and energy to it, reduce cleaning time by 25% NOW.
Enlist everyone you live with to do their fair share. Clean first whatever needs to be clean and organized for you to devote one hour a week to your life purpose, then two hours a week, then three, more if you can.
With good Feng Shui, everything shines, everyone shines, and so does your life purpose. Let it shine!
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Ideas for Creative Holiday Gifts
by Kac Young PhD, ND, DCH
We recycle, we buy fresh, we shop locally, but what else might we do to unburden our planet from the excess of holiday gift-giving? This year we have the opportunity to get really creative! If you use the guidelines in my Five E’s to shape your shopping list this year, you’ll help to curtail the buildup of trash. When you think about unnecessary waste remember that more than 8,000 tons of wrapping paper are used each Holiday season – the equivalent of approximately 50,000 trees. Americans throw out 38,000 miles of ribbon each year.[1] But, we can conserve our resources by purchasing wisely and thoughtfully.
The Five E’s
When you think about buying gifts for family and loved ones, keep in mind that less is very often more. Here are five categories to keep in mind:
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Illuminary: Cheryl Grace and Feng Shui Simply
After years of working as a feng shui practitioner and teaching Feng Shui Design at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, I began to connect to feng shui at a soul level, discovering how feng shui can keep my life on course by bringing what is most important to the forefront. The result of my exploration into the rich wisdom and inner work of feng shui is now presented in a book I’ve just written called Feng Shui Simply: Change Your Life from the Inside Out, published by Hay House. I found that by successfully restoring and balancing energy in every aspect of one’s life, it empowers people to achieve what they might not otherwise be capable of while at the same time revealing one’s true life purpose and lasting legacy.
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Essential Feng Shui to Go
A: Yes! Ideally, road trips and vacations of all kinds are opportunities to “vacate” our own personal paradises and experience other versions of paradise. When planning your vacation, give some serious thought to your preferences.
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