Celebrate the Return of the Sun and Fire Up Your Reputation!

The spring equinox has returned us to days of more sunlight than darkness of night. This increase in the hours of sunlight warms up our weather and brings the onset of spring growth. You can take greater advantage of the most powerful object in our solar system - our star - our sun - by checking all your sources of fire energy and making sure they are shining brightly.
Check to be sure your outdoor lights are working, especially your front porch but also all of your landscape and security lights. Then check all your indoor light fixtures. If you have mixed bulb types in one fixture (i.e., ceiling fan with a clear 25 watt chandelier bulb, a 60 watt frosted bulb, and a fluorescent spiral bulb in each socket) change them all to one type.
Get rid of all fluorescent spiral bulbs. Yeah, I know, the government wants you to use them to save money. The problem is that they flicker. They flicker so fast you think you see a steady stream of light, but you don't. Go with incandescent - the light is stronger, you'll be able to see more, and there is no sense of "on again, off again" attached to your personal light. [By the way, you can't just throw those fluorescent bulbs away. They have poisonous mercury vapor inside them and they must be properly discarded at your local disposal center.]

If you have any electronics that you are not using, sell them, donate them, or give them away. They too must be properly disposed of. Old computers, monitors, VHS players, televisions, or microwaves that you've got stacked in your living space are dimming the light of your reputation. Use them or get rid of them.
Clear the clutter from your computer, blackberry, cell phone, and all other personal digital assistants. Get your favorite VHS files burned to DVD and get rid of those old video tapes.
If your fireplace or barbeque haven't been cleaned for the spring, now's the time to get after that chore. If it's your barbeque you're going to work on, I have two words to make that cleaning chore easier: oven cleaner! Barbeque at least once a week, the more the better! At the very least, roast a marshmallow or two over a firepit. Staring into the flames and sharing stories is so much better than silent zombie time in front of a television.
Add plants and flowers with fiery colors, shapes, or thorns to your back center of your property. Great fame enhancing plants include red-tipped photinia, red-flowering crepe myrtles, lorapetalum, bougainvillea, knock-out roses, sego palms, yucca, ferns, red hibiscus, pyracantha, iris, and lilies.
Add rope lights, Japanese lante
s, strings of lights, or any other lighting treatments to your back yard and you'll draw an instant party every time you turn them on.
Play with your dogs, cats, and/or children in the back yard. All living creatures add fire energy. Get as hot and sweaty as you can. Then play in the sprinkler to cool down.
Eat the sun! Eat as many fresh fruits and veggies each day as you can possibly work into your meals. Start your morning with fresh fruit - not in a plastic cup, not in juice, not in a can. Just the way God made it. You can wash it off and cut it up if you like, but try to eat the skin if it's at all possible. I've taken to using fresh spinach instead of lettuce on my sandwiches. Of course I also have fresh sliced tomatoes on those sandwiches, munch baby carrots and celery sticks alongside, and have olives, pickles, or hot peppers depending on my mood. Get creative with your salads. My latest craze is adding blueberries and mango, but I'm fond of throwing in raw cauliflower, walnuts, and kalamata olives to liven up a bowl of the green stuff. Try to eat every color of the rainbow every day. Black beans count as blue, as do black grapes and black berries. Eggplant only counts if you make sure to eat the skin that has the color.
Fire energy is all about vision: how you see the world and how the world sees you. It is very important that you can see what is coming at you through both space and time. Keep front bushes trimmed to no higher than 4 feet tall and keep tree canopies lifted to no less than 8 feet off the ground. Get your eyes examined and keep your glasses (and windows) clean. Make sure you can see what's coming: your reputation and maybe even your life will depend upon it.