Change Your Thinking, Change Your Surroundings, Change Your Life (Part One!)

Feng Shui isn’t just about your stuff or how you place your stuff in your environment. Feng Shui begins with an awareness of what energizes and uplifts you and what depletes you. If it feels good, it’s good Feng Shui. If it feels bad, it’s bad Feng Shui. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? It’s always better to be around or focus on what feels good or energizes you than it is to be around something that drains and depletes you. We are profoundly affected by the environments we inhabit. Our home is literally a reflection of who we are - symbolically, our inner world is mirrored and reflected in our outer world. And if we change our thoughts, and our surroundings we can improve the quality of our lives! Take a look around you; what does your home say about you - the person that lives there? Does your home reflect how you see yourself? Does it reflect care, comfort, confidence, and success? Feng Shui is about connecting to your inner awareness by aligning your thoughts, your actions and your environment with your intention. The first steps in this part of the process are; gaining an awareness of what your intention is, what your intention will achieve and what you really want.

1. What is your intention? This is a critical first step. To achieve it, you have to define it. To give thought to what you want to do, what you enjoy doing, what nurtures you, is a powerful process. When we know what we want, and we set our intention, it is far easier to achieve our desires. When we don’t take the time to consider what we truly want, we can find ourselves unhappy, unfulfilled and unmotivated.
2. Why do you want this? This question is tougher than it sounds. When you reflect on your answer, step into the benefit you’ll receive; what you get from your intention. This step will help you clarify and refine your intention so that it resonates with who you are at the core of your being. When you start this step, it’s easy to keep your answer on the surface; for example, you may think: I want more money, or I want to make enough to do what I want to do. These aren’t bad answers, but they aren’t the full answer. If you take the time to look deeper, I think you'll find that money isn't the goal, it's the vehicle to the goal. Ask yourself what the money provides or gets you. You might find that your answer changes to something like: freedom or creative opportunity. Each of these moves past a focus on money alone to the personal benefit you get from money.
3. If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be? If there was nothing holding you back, what would you want to do? Once you determine this, ask yourself what you need to change and do in order to achieve it. I believe that we can achieve whatever we desire, if we believe we can and if we’re willing to do the necessary work. To see it, you have to believe it. Does your answer to this question support your intention? If not, review your earlier answers and refine them if needed. The answer to this question captures the heart of who you are – being in alignment with who you are ensures that you’re not only successful, you’re also satisfied. When we begin to ask ourselves questions like this, we begin to change the way we think about ourselves and what’s important to us. When we’re clear about our intention and what we desire, it becomes much easier to recognize opportunities when they present themselves to us. "Every experience you have is a good experience… you just have to look for it." In part two of this article series, we’ll explore 3 powerful ways to change your environment to support your new way of thinking. When our living spaces support our desires, we can create change that not only lasts, we also achieve a sense of balance and harmony in our lives.