Recently, another new connection seems to be happening, and I wanted to see if I could see if there are other people out there that could validate this anecdotal-type connection. I have been seeing a possible connection between my clients anti-depressant-taking and the genre of TV shows they prefer.My clients with depression are also the ones that prefer crime shows and heavy dramas over sitcoms or other wish-fulfillment or contest-type shows.

So, I thought I’d put it out there and see if anyone would like to comment and add any anecdotal stories that might further show a connection or not. Do you or someone you know seem to follow this pattern? On the other hand, do you prefer to NOT view these shows (or find them too disturbing to watch) and AREN’T on Anti-depressants?

Any help would be most appreciated. If I see more of a pattern with this, I will be able to help not only my clients, but the students that I train to become professional feng shui and healthy-home consultants.

I would highly recommend, if you have the resources, to hire a feng shui consultant (hopefully one that is very comfortable with the design process like an architect, landscape architect or interior designer) to help you navigate the rebuilding process with the best feng shui outcome. But if that isn’t in the cards, consider these ideas below:

1. Place the names of your insurance agents and companies, government agencies, designers, contractors, employers, family members, and feng shui consultants – or anyone else that you need help from – in your helpful people box. Even if you are staying in temporary housing and no longer have your old box, remember, you can simply wrap the names in aluminum foil or anything metal. If you want to write notes to them like “Thank you ________ for being so helpful to me while I rebuild my home and life back.” so much the better.

2. Do a ground blessing on the land before rebuilding. Make up whatever ritual you want to, or use a traditional one. I’d recommend the “Exterior Ch’i Adjustment” if I were choosing a traditional feng shui ritual.

3. During re-construction, consider:
∙ Spray painting the sub flooring with the bagua color pattern before you lay down the final floor materials.

∙ If you have the chance – redesign the home to make the building shape complete – no “missing pieces.”

∙ Create a winding path to the front door and make the door visible and easy to find from the street.

∙ Create flat ceilings overhead – at least in the bedrooms if possible (and no exposed beams if possible.)

∙ Avoid placing ceiling fans directly over where you spend a lot of time (especially the bed.)

∙ Design the bedroom such that you can get your bed up against a solid wall and not in line with the bedroom door…and preferably place the bedrooms in the back half of the house.

∙ Spray paint a circle of red around the hole where the toilet goes before it is set. Then you will not ever need to counterbalance it later!

∙ If you had mirrors up against walls to keep noisy neighbors away, etc, try placing them between the studs if you have the chance to get them inside there! You can place mirrors inside the walls wherever you need to – like if you want to push the toilet away from a bedroom space or a kitchen, etc. Or if your bedroom has to be over the garage, you can place the mirror under the flooring between floor joists facing down to push the garage energy away from the bedroom, etc.

∙ Consider healthy home and sustainable building advice when rebuilding. Now’s your chance to get a lot of design mistakes remedied – take advantage of it! Put the laundry room on an outside wall, seal the slab floors that were wicking up moisture into the house, choose flooring that is not toxic like synthetic wall-to-wall carpet, properly vent the gas stove, etc.

Reframe this as a “fresh start” or a “new chance to get it right,” and it will be a lot less painful to rebuild. Looking back with regret is not a powerful or resourceful state. “A conviction to create the healthiest home for you now” is much more powerful during this time.

One more thing. If you can not get over your grief, or fear, or sadness, or any other unhelpful emotional state, give me a call and I’ll be happy to help you work through (actually eliminate) these states. This kind of thinking is exactly why I designed a program called the “Feng Shui Your Mindset” Program.

Good luck and be well.

There are many ways to counterbalance a toilet so vital energy does not escape by being flushed away from a feng shui standpoint. Here are some ways using traditional cures:

1. Run a line of red (anything red will do) around the outgoing pipe with intentions of not allowing any vital energy from being flushed away.

The problem with this fix is that sometimes it is hard to disguise the red. So, let me give you some alternatives to this:

2. Place a mirror face up on top of the toilet tank with intentions of deflecting vital chi back up instead of allowing it to be pulled down and flushed away. The mirror can be sitting there alone, or something decorative can even be sitting on it. Another alternative is to open the tank lid and place the mirror on the bottom of the tank inside (under water) with intentions of deflecting the water energy upwards, and not allowing vital chi to “go down the drain.” I’d recommend at least a 4″ diameter one, or use multiple smaller ones if that does not fit inside or on top of your tank easily.

3. Hang a large wind chime the same as the crystal. I prefer the crystals I speak of next because they are more visually discreet, but either one will do.

4. Hang a crystal above the toilet or in the center of the bathroom ceiling with intentions of dispersing the energy before it has the capacity to congregate over the toilet and get flushed away. Any round, multi-faceted crystal will do (I’m not talking about a natural stone here, but instead, a leaded glass crystal.) I’d recommend a minimum of a 30 mm one.

This cure is especially helpful if you do not have a traditional tank.

Hope that helps!

It’s so simple of a concept, yet so many people miss the mark. According to feng shui principles, (and what I also think is common sense,) the easier it is for people to bring opportunities to your front door, the more you’ll have. So, how do you think THIS person is availing them selves to life’s opportunities? I feel like that one cactus is actually kind of “flipping me off!” Don’t get me wrong, as a landscape architect, I can appreciate a good punctuating “specimen”, but, well, we in the design world would probably be preaching “less is more” to this client.

So, if I had to bring this person the publisher’s clearing house prize, I’ll have to maneuver through that? No thanks. I think we’ll move on to the next house thank you very much.

When I see this type of “home/front door protection” going on, there is usually someone inside that, however conscious or unconscious, feels like they need protecting. Usually a “who done ‘em wrong” kind of scenario…like maybe they were left for another, robbed, or victimized in the past.

There are many ways to protect yourself without killing off all opportunities. You can get your furniture in “the armchair position.” You can use rituals and protection symbols. You can even use other landscape design features like fences and gates to make the home feel more protected, but I would not recommend placing potentially harmful items along the trail that someone would use from the street to the front door.

I wanted to interview her to see if we could figure out if she had any thoughts as to why she kicked cancer out of her life and here’s what she said:

#1. I VIGOROUSLY EXERCISED while undergoing chemo. I think this was different because most of the people at that time were just crawling home to be sick or something. I THOUGHT, the more of this chemo I can get, the better it will make me. I DECIDED that the more I exercised, the more the chemo would go to every cell in my body to find and eliminate the cancer. I went straight from chemo treatments to the gym. I walked the treadmill and I PICTURED “pac-men” chemo eating up “the bad guys” just like the video game (you get the idea of the era when she had cancer from the pac-men reference, right?).

#2. I ATE CABBAGE right and left. I also still to this day eat cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower all the time. This comes from my Russian heritage. I steam, then shred, then freeze cauliflower, which I get out and sprinkle on just about everything, like Parmesan cheese. I eat broccoli a lot as well. But I especially use a ton of cabbage in whatever I cook. I chop it up finely and put it in my tuna salad for crunch. I put it in meatballs and meatloaf (which makes it extra moist by the way!) I eat cabbage on salads, in soups and on tacos, you name it.

We do know that the cruciferous veggies are super cancer-fighting foods, so she looks like this decision to “do what her ancestors did” might be a very wise choice from a food energy standpoint.

Now, from an energetic point of view, let’s review this. Many people would say “Do not subject yourself to toxic chemo as it does as much harm as good” and I might actually be one of those people. But I submit to you, perhaps YOUR BELIEFS may be the deciding factor on whether it is harmful or helpful — at least, if you would consider what people like cellular biologist Bruce Lipton and best-selling author Gregg Braden say. They, and many of their contemporaries teach that what you perceive and believe are probably the MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS as to how your body will react. So, given my friend’s thought and beliefs, that chemo could have only eaten away the cancer and not left its usual (other people’s thoughts) repercussions.

Another thought/belief she has is that “One of the luckiest things I ever heard was ‘It has spread everywhere.’ Because if it wasn’t for that discovery being made in the surgery I was in, with what they were going to do to me, I would not have use of my legs to this day.” This thought KEEPS HER GRATEFUL each and every time she thinks of her disease — which could be why she has, for decades now, gotten a clean bill of health each yearly scan.

It would be tough for me to NOT have the belief that all the scans she has had over the years would not be accumulating detrimental radiation….but that is NOT HER BELIEF! so, it seems to not be affecting her.

So, in summation, I am writing this to show there is a power in thoughts and beliefs (the docs still can’t find anything else!) The invisible is as powerful, if not MORE POWERFUL than the seen forces (like arranging your furniture let’s say.) This is the “yin half” of the cure. There is the yang part – the physical change in the environment, and then there is the visualization/belief/daydream/intention part. Her feng shui cure for cancer appeared to be her beliefs that the chemo could and would cure it, and her “maintenance” plan of eating cruciferous veggies.

With all that said, I think about Steve Jobs and his seeming conviction about using alternative treatments, and how it did not work out for him.(Did the doctors implant a stronger belief and he bought it at some level?) I then think about my father, who right before he was wheeled into typical bypass surgery, voiced his disbelief in the whole process, only to have a fatal outcome. (His outcome was exactly what he believed it would be.) It is hard to say for sure, but if I had to choose a treatment, I guess I would for sure pay attention to what I truly felt/believed about the treatment, rather than blindly follow a protocol that I didn’t DECIDE WOULD WORK.

In the meantime, I’m grateful for my friendship with my dynamic friend, and I’m grateful that I have a chance to witness the miracle (according to the medical model) of her powerful thoughts and beliefs….all as I chomp on a cabbage-filled salad.

I know many people who have read my book
think it takes a lot of big stuff to add to your home to have good feng shui, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t! One of the nine traditional cures in feng shui are “symbols”…so words can make powerful feng shui cures.

Here are a couple of small items in my home that happen to mention the word “Miracle” on them. I, for some reason, am attracted to that word lately, and voila!— two gifts show up that have it written right on them! (I pay special attention when repeated patterns and items and words show up in my clients homes as well as mine!) I really like the one that states “Be realistic – expect a miracle” – so I placed it in the helpful people gua of my desk (you can kind of see it is between my helpful people box and a little angel symbol,) so I can see it all day long.

So, where’s your favorite hang out spot in your home? “Enhance it with your favorite “personal mantras!”

The Bagua Map

First, get yourself in order to receive this job by enhancing Skills and Knowledge gua, which is the front, left-hand part of your home office, bedroom, or the entire house (this area, of course, is found based upon you entering through the room or front door respectively.)

Add something made from earth element, like a bowl of stones or dirt or sand, or you could even use a picture of a mountain, to symbolize earth and groundedness.

If you want to take it a step further, use this gua to pump up your research about the job or companies that are offering jobs. Place any collateral material, or anything associated with the specific company you are looking towards for employment in this part of the home or room as well with intentions of “being wise” about this company.
The second area to work with is the Fame and Reputation gua, which is the part of the bagua that is located in the center back part of the room or home. Enhance this area by making sure there is enough light or “fire element” there. Even an unlit candle can hold the potential for you “being seen in the best light” if you give it that intention. Reds and hot colors may also help add fiery energies to this space.

The third spot to work on is in the Helpful People and Travel gua, which is the front, right-hand part of the room or home. This zone runs well with metal element, so anything made from metal or metallic-colored is helpful here. And of course, if you know me or have read my book, you know that I’ll also suggest employing the “helpful people box.” Write down on paper a note that says something like, “Thank you for the perfect job for me now…” I’d suggest writing whatever details that make this job the most compelling and juicy-sounding to you. Perhaps write something like, “Thank you for my new job that allows me to be completely creative, has me interacting with fun peers and associates, and gives me the financial rewards that make me feel free in all areas of my life!” Make it specific to you and your job, but be sure to include how you feel in that job or setting.

Armed with this triple-whammy cure, you are now ready to get out there and watch what opportunities show up! My advice is to be open…you never know the path that the universal energies will take to get you to your dream career, but if you stay in a state of excited-ness and openness, you’ll attract it more quickly than if you stay in fear or a continued sense of entitlement or some other negative-running emotion.

And finally, if you have trouble controlling those negative emotions and poor attitudes, set up a time with me to do a “feng shui your mindset” consultation - as it may be this very energetic sequence of staying in an unresourceful state that is keeping you unemployed or underemployed:

…could be the best money you ever spent! I wonder if it is a write-off if you do it specifically for a new job…

Yes, once you get your home set up to support the things in life that you want, all kinds of things can change rapidly…sometimes, it can be quite a bumpy ride! For example, I have seen people get laid off the very next day after applying feng shui cures for a dream job…and I have seen relationship breakups happen right after “bring me the perfect relationship” changes were made…AND, I have seen numerous appliances and household fixtures break or die right after using feng shui…but to call these bad is probably not accurate from a feng shui perspective.

Getting laid off right after making feng shui adjustments usually means that the path is cleared, and the dream new job is now available to come to you. Same goes for the relationship if you asked for “the perfect relationship for me now” as one of your feng shui wishes. And as for the appliances and household stuff (plumbing, electrical, door handles, etc.), I usually paint this picture for my clients to help them understand: “It is like the feng shui energies are breaking the weak energetic links in your strong feng shui chain now, so once you fix them, the new, stronger energies can now arrive and HOLD in your home…which then, will be able to support your new intentions.”…make sense?

So, is it really “bad,” when the very thing that you asked for is going to be in your life way sooner because you went through a little “bad” bumpy patch?? Only you can decide!

1. Employ the “helpful people box.” Place the name of the person you are interviewing with, the company name, and anyone else you can think of that needs to be helpful with regard to you getting this job on paper (try red to activate it) and place it in a metal box with a lid or a metallic envelope, and then place that box or metallic envelope in the front right-hand part of your home or your desk space with the intention of everyone on that list helping you in this endeavor.

2. Start a “fake-it-till-you-make-it diary.” Write down each day how your day goes now that you are employed with this company – diary-style…”For example, “today, I got up excited to get into work today because all of the work I do there is so exciting and rewarding! I literally say to myself all the time “I’m so lucky to have this awesome job!” It feels great to be in such a good position to be so helpful… – whatever you want to say here… Write every day, just like you would write a diary…you might want to do this fake diary cure as if you are talking about your ultimate DRAEM JOB instead of the one you are interviewing for, in case there is a better fit out there for you. (This employs trust – if you do not get this current job, you gotta keep writing as that better on is finding its way to you!)

3. Wear something blue if you do a face to face interview as it denotes “trust-worthiness.”

4. Wear something red (can even be and probably is preferable to be hidden) to give you a little extra “power” during the interview.

5. Peel 9 orange pieces of peel off of an orange and place those bits in your pocket with intentions of clearing any negativity off of you during this interview.

6. Have a neat, clean, and big-enough-to do-the-job desk space built and ready to go at home. Even if you are not going to use it for this job, it will energetically say “I’ve got the time and space to handle this job.”  If you are living in a Starbucks off of a laptop and can’t figure out why you do not have full time PERMANENT employment, consider that your desk space is saying “you are temporary” for you.

7. Be on time, be prepared, and know how to interview – everyone always expects feng shui to be oddball, but the mundane every-day stuff IS important to your feng shui too!

If you have not:

1. used it yet
2. figured out how to use it
3. installed it
4. decided that you even like it

then, you may have just picked up a “cling-on!” That’s right – we’ve got trouble my friend, right here in your city! That starts with T and that rhymes with C and that stands for CLUTTER!

And if it is still taking up space (also known as opportunities in the feng shui world) in your house, feng shui rules would say that you’ve just picked up some guilt! Boo! Who needs that?

Shed that off-colored sweater, that cheap all-in-one tool that has broken already, that icky-looking bottle of apricot wine, and  that holiday chip and dip tray only useful once a year NOW to avoid an opportunity “pinch” later on.

Every thing that is added to your house that was not countered by removing something of equal size MUST aid you in life – or else it is going to stop something else that can be helpful from showing up in that space.

If you’ve been reading my work for some time now, you know that I hold a yearly, “guilt-free zone”  re-gifting party, where my friends bring whatever they need to dump for some merry ol’ swapping. It is the funniest party of the year that I throw!

I invite you to:

1. not let guilt run your home and life
2. not allow others to slow down your energy
3. not keep stuff and make it hard to “shed the weight” in life
4. have a good time with friends releasing/swapping stuff that is not useful to you.

I’d love to hear from you if you throw a re-gifter so be sure to comment!