Walking Paths of Beauty
by Karen Abler Carrasco
It’s an excellent time to “Watch Your Step!” as we gallop into this Year of the Wood Horse, with the heady winds of personal and social transformation whirling all around us. We may have some daring new choices to make along our life’s path, or we may realize that we need some refinement or even a major redirecting of an old path. So it is a perfect time to look at the pathways to our homes’ front doors, where the main “mouth of ch’i” opens to welcome opportunity, abundance and love from far and near.
In Essential Feng Shui(r), we observe and listen closely for the metaphors speaking through the forms and structures that surround us. For example, is the path to your front door easy to find, wide enough to swing your arms, well-lit and safe by day or night, and beautified in some way? If so, this pathway brings grounded support for your life’s journey and any fresh experiences you may be considering.
On the other hand, does this path represent a “rough and rocky road,” an “uphill climb” or a “slippery slope?” If it is too narrow, or lined with prickly bushes or overgrown shrubs, it may be representing a life journey that is difficult, isolating or full of thorny problems and overwhelming work. Often a front entry offers only a cramped squeeze beside a driveway full of cars along a bland and neglected cement walk to a rarely used front door. Such a path symbolizes subservience to the all-important automobile door of the prominent garage. Sometimes there is no “people path” to a front door at all, which delivers the message “go around (or through the garage), this house does not welcome you.”
Over time our sense of belonging and ease of living erodes when there is either no clear path, or a neglected one, to our main entrances. Let’s get back on “Easy Street” with a lovely, clear and well-defined front pathway into our welcoming homes. Here are some suggestions for specific pathway improvements:
If your front entrance requires a walk along a driveway to get to the door, create a “people path” that is located and sized for a more comfortable stroll to the front door, away from the cars. If your front door is actually not visible from the front, or is very recessed on the property, entice visitors, and vital ch’i, to travel the distance, drawn by the sound of trickling water near the door, the notes of wind chimes, or the sight of bright movement with wind catchers and other decorations along the path. If your path is steep, either up or down to the door, create level “landing pads” along the way which allow rest, a sense of stable ground, and a view of something beautiful as a reward for the climb like seating, statuary, strikingly formed plants, lighting, or a grouping of brightly colored potted plants.
Enhance your home’s paths with safety, comfort and beauty and you will reassure the psyche, soothe the weary spirit, and delight the senses with creative inspiration. Your fortunes and outlook on life’s journey ahead will be vastly affected for the better. Pathway-dedicated phrases from the Navajo Blessingway come to mind–”Beauty before me, Beauty behind me, Beauty all around me. May we walk in Beauty.” And, in this extraordinary year of rapid change and new growth, may we all create safe footing on a more joyous, and ever more sacred journey into Love, Light and Laughter!
Photo: cococurtainstudio.com
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Happy Valentine’s Time!
One of the everyday ways we can express the love we feel for our homes is to call them by their true names… Here, WSFS teacher Becky Iott shares her experience of naming her home sweet home…
I invite you to share the name of your home with me and those around you. It breathes new life into your abode every time you do. My new home was immediately forthcoming with her name: Earth Haven.
Living In Love,
Terah Kathryn Collins
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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Melinda Smith – WSFS Alumni, Author and Illuminary
Melinda Smith, WSFS Graduate, Author and Illuminary, was featured in the Charlotte Home and Garden Magazine, Spring 2013 issue. Congratulations, Melinda!
She started Balance & Harmony 360², Inc. in 2003 with a mission to empower and educate individuals who are ready to transform their environments and lives based on focus, intention, and balance; changing the way people dream, plan, and do! Melinda has been helping organizations and individuals grow into excellence for over 18 years. She is one of the first in the nation to be a Certified Professional Organizer, and she is also a graduate of the Western School of Feng Shui™.
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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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Home Sweet Sacred Home
I have spent the past 2 weeks in Northern California in WSFS teacher Karen Abler Carrasco’s home – a place I’ve visited before and have always loved. Karen lives in a wonderful vintage farmhouse she calls Rosie, who is like a “big mother hen protecting her chicks” (Karen’s son David’s description). Rosie is painted a soft buttery yellow with lovely red doors and lots of windows. Her garden is a series of outdoor rooms, offering shady and sunny places to enjoy the many flowers, vegetables, and trees Karen has planted, as well as the pond she and David built together. It is truly a Home Sweet Home.
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