A Feng Shui Consultant's Self Consult - Annie Pane, East Coast Feng Shui
I touched everything. And I mean everything. Three times this year I touched all the stuff in my home. Just like I advise my clients.
The first time I touched everything, I did the middle floor where the living areas were. The second time, I did the middle and the top floor where the bedrooms were. And this last time, I did the middle, the top and the garage level, I did everything.
My home was a Feng Shui consultants dream...and nightmare...at the same time. I learned things about myself and about Feng Shui that I didn't know...or worse, realized I knew but didn't 'get it' in my body.
I learned that most of us, throughout our lives, have never lived or worked in an environment of total harmony. Our bodies do not know what total harmony feels like. And when you feel it...it's scary and comforting and emotional, and cleansing, and it strips away all pretense of who you thought you were. And more important, the affect your surroundings have on your body is subconscious, until you feel this harmony.
You become your surroundings. Literally. We all know that. If the fame and reputation area of your home is cluttered with dirty dishes, no appointments come in. If something's broken or the toilet's leaking in the wealth and prosperity area, there's a slow steady drain on your money. If the exercise equipment is still in the love and relationship area, then we're still working too hard at loving, rather than letting ourselves be loved.
I wanted to not only know 'who' my surroundings said I was, I wanted to make sure it said exactly who I wanted to become. So I touched it all. I made the decision of who I wanted to become with each thing I touched, kept or discarded. And Feng Shui changed my life...again.
I touched every knick knack. I touched every dish towel and potholder. Every book. Every half used container of makeup. I touched every piece of clothes I owned. And I gleaned. And gleaned. And gleaned. And I gleaned.
I touched my every possession with intent... and appreciation for it being in my life. And I touched...knowing that some of those things, perhaps most, would no longer remain with me. There were keepers. There were goers. And there were the guilt ridden 'hangers on' that needed to be either embraced or released. And that my friend was hard.
Everything in your life is there for a reason. And there are no mistakes. We know that. But during this process I realized just how much stuff was in my life that had no earthly meaning whatsoever. And, this stuff defined my life and who I was! and if I didn't know why it was in my life, then for what reason should it be there? I asked that question thousands of times...as I touched...everything.
I was on a mission. I wanted to create the kind of environment that was an example of what I preached and taught to my students and clients. I had to walk the talk. Big job. Not easy.
Facing what I was eventually to call a catharsis, I knew I had to keep on with this until it was finished, or I would fall back into the energetic pattern or my previous surroundings. The pattern of denial and being stuck at being someone I was no longer. The dye was cast. Feng Shui had again made me continue to push through self imposed limitations.
As I went through my possessions, one at a time, I kept only those things that made me feel good...or better. No matter what the cost, financially or emotionally, I dumped, sold, gave away, but somehow got rid of everything else that didn't belong in my New Life.
I prayed God would give me the strength to continue this process. It was like divorcing myself. Divorcing the me that I no longer wanted to have any part of...the me I didn't want to be anymore. I knew I now had the ability and the tools to become who I knew I could be. The real me. I had the key to the process.
Everything in your space talks to you. Everything. If you look around and really study something in your home, you will begin to feel what meaning that object has for you. If it's a good feeling...it's a keeper. If it's a bad feeling...it's not. If it's a hanger on it's really important! This is how you must look at the things and people in your life. Or you will live your life at the mercy of your environment or other people's wishes.
Stuff. You can keep it, get rid of it, or you can address the things that are hanger's on by setting them aside. Just separate them...and wait three days. At the end of three days your opinions will change about the possession...it will become a keeper or a goer. But it will no longer be 'hanging on' to you. And it won't be your own guilt or someone else, making decisions about your life.
You will know this in three days, because in three days you will be different. Your energy will have changed based on what you previously kept and what you previously threw away. And you will become clearer on how you feel about the item previously in question. Guaranteed.
Your energetic pattern, or your body's personal energy, is composed of what is constantly being said to you by your surroundings. This is the energetic pattern you take out into the world. It is this pattern, composed of the collective meanings of your surroundings, that defines how you see the world and how the world treats you.
If you change your energetic pattern by changing your surroundings, you change your presentation of who you are to the world. If you change your presentation of who you are to the world, the world will respond to you differently. The world only responds to you how you tell it to respond. You create it all.
Feng Shui becomes a tool to help you learn to 'live better in your own skin' and a tool used to get what you want out of life. It has a map that will not let you forget any arena of life. You are constantly creating who you are by how you live, what you have in your space, and the meanings you have attached to these things around you. You can live the life you choose, you can have the kind of life you want, but you have to take responsibility for creating it.
By using all the principles of Feng Shui, I was able to define who I wanted to become...for now. I created a new conscious definition of the me I wanted to be. No longer would my surroundings dictate in a haphazard way who I was.
I decided what everything meant in my home. And, I now know what everything says to me subconsciously and why. I gleaned my possessions so that what I already owned, defined who I was, and I added appropriate symbology to define who I wanted to become.
This is the real secret of Feng Shui. You decide who you are or who you want to become, and what you want. Then, with intent, you make your surroundings support that image and those desires. You are then well on your way to making it real. Your body interprets the meaning of your surroundings subconsciously, and you become what your surroundings represent.
It's like the books. I had thousands. But I only kept books that were representative of who I am now, or who I want to become. The novels went away. The old school books went away. The last of the trashy romances bit the dust. On my shelves now are books asking life's greatest questions, or those telling it's greatest secrets. I decided what I wanted to absorb from my book shelves, and that is all I kept.
I now know what harmony feels like. I can literally feel it. This feeling permeates my body. It is reinforced by my surroundings everyday. I created a new energy in my home and my body absorbs it sub-consciously. When I walk through my home I feel it.
I am different out in the world. And, I like how the world is responding to the new me. I am more relaxed, calmer, more focused, much more clear, and accepting. I love this place...and I love how it makes me feel.
But the truth be known, it wasn't easy. My body went into near shock after I finished this process. I felt a sense of calm I had never felt in my life. My old destructive energy pattern was truly broken. And that fact rattled me. All my life, I realized, I had lived in chaos. And now my surroundings no longer supported chaos. I was amazed. What a different feeling! My body felt lighter and I knew I was somehow different. But better.
I am in awe of how I react to events and situations and people in this new energetic skin. I am forging new ground, and becoming who I always said I wanted to be. Anger doesn't exist anymore, frustration is subsiding every day, and love or acceptance has taken on a whole new meaning in relating to the people in my life. Yes it is amazing. You decide, you do the work, and you become who you really want to be. What a concept!
So change your life, Feng Shui your space. Recognize that you can have whatever kind of life you want. You can create that life, one step and one day at a time, just like I have. Go ahead, start with the medicine cabinet!
