Where Energy Flows

I usually try to be as green as possible. I recycle, re-use, reduce, compost, and buy chemical free and organic products as much as I can.

There are quite a few parts of my life when I am not as green as I could be though. For instance:
• I use Charmin toilet paper. It is not recycled, it is chemically treated, it is not good for the environment in any way…but it’s good for me. The recycled toilet paper, that I have come across, is very scratchy.
• I shop at Old Navy and Target. I know these clothes are not made from organic cotton, and synthetic dyes are probably used too. But, the clothes are adorable and affordable.
• I drive, and kind of like, my car. Now, I did buy carbon credits for the use of my car for one year, and I think it was less than $60, but I know I should walk and bike more.
• I use chemical laden spider killer sometimes. I am getting better at letting the little spiders live and hang out it corners, but once they get big and scary – they die if I see them in the house.
• I’m a sucker for a nice Porterhouse steak – medium – with mashed potatoes and Caesar salad - mmm. I should be vegetarian or vegan, or at least buy grass fed beef. But, I can’t find it anywhere – and those mail order places are too expensive.
• I use bleach on occasion to clean my sink. It is the only thing I can find that really gets rid of the coffee and tea stains on the stainless sink.
• I still get paper magazines. I know that it would be greener of me to read everything online, saving trees. Yet, there is something so nice about being outside, or away from the computer screen for a while, and leisurely reading a nice magazine.
• I am unwilling to invest $35,000 in a solar roof to save $25 a month on electricity.

So, what does this say about me? It means I’m not getting as many green leaves on Facebook as I might want, and I know I should be better in certain areas. Or maybe it means, I do what I can. Maybe it means, who I am is enough.

This is a tricky subject, because I don’t want to encourage you to throw everything away and not worry about the environment. I want you to do what you can – to try – but to be comfortable with the changes and find your own balance.

I have some slight obsessive tendencies in my personality – and so do all the other women in my family. When I first discovered Feng Shui, I took my book and made all the suggestions it said in every part of my house, and then waited for things to change. When I first discovered Green Cleaning, I was a regular mad scientist with my funnels and mixers and vinegars. This is who I am – I really get into things. Can you relate?

I am really okay with some of my non-green ways…even though I truly believe in living as lightly and sustainable as possible. This time, I am working on being less obsessive and more me. And, I’m starting to kind of like this me - the recycling, green cleaning, composting, spider killing, porterhouse eating, soft toilet paper loving Feng Shui lady!

What are your green habits and secret non-green indulgences? Let’s share!

You never know when there is a new brand of soft, recycled toilet paper that isn’t toooo expensive.

© Elise Rebmann, 2008. All rights reserved.

I have two tall beeswax candles in my bedroom which is also in the Health area of my home. They are a lovely golden color, they give off positive ions, and they smell ever so slightly sweet.

They are really bugging me and I need to take them down.

But I haven’t.

You see, I am leaving them there because they:
1. fill up an empty wall well
2. are the perfect Health enhancer (Earth color and Fire that supports Earth Energy)
3. were really expensive
4. give off positive ions

They are bugging me because I convinced myself I needed them, and that once I had them I would feel good. So these poor, innocent candles now represent stuff that I think I need in order to make myself feel better. Stuff isn’t the answer of course. The answer is learning how to feel better without buying anything. This isn’t all that easily done – it takes lots of practice, time, patience, and love.

I am worth it though gosh darn-it!

The candles stay for now. I do like the way they smell. I also like how you have to work at shaping beeswax candles as they burn. You have to keep pushing down the wax, yet without causing an overflow.

I find this extremely symbolic of inner strength and health. You have to keep at it, pay attention and stay in the flow. Just remember not to push too hard and too fast because you might cause an overflow.

© Copyright Elise Rebmann, 2008. All rights reserved.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to stand in your own personal power.  We, as a society, are concerned about appearing conceited and/or selfish.  We hesitate to step on toes and worry about hurting other’s feelings.  Yet, sometimes we must stand up and be strong for the universe to help.

Case in point – I have had a long, painful, mysterious illness this year.  For the first 3 months, I was dealing with an over-worked primary care physician and an extremely difficult specialist.  The specialist made me feel like I was really bothering him when I was explaining my symptoms.  He interrupted me, he stopped me from speaking, he was a general pain in the behind to deal with.  Of course, he had no idea what was wrong and sent me away several times with a “let’s see if it gets better on its own” diagnosis.  When I called and told him my symptoms had returned, he said my blood work was back to normal so I shouldn’t be ill.  At first, I was looking at this as an opportunity to stand up to him – and tell him how he was making me feel.  I asked around and generally heard that he is an excellent doctor with a poor bedside manner.  So, I thought, I can handle him – I do need a good doctor.  The last straw involved me being very sick again and him chastising me for missing an appointment when I had asked his staff to re-schedule me if I needed to be seen again.   It was extremely frustrating and I had enough.

It was as if God were holding my hand.

I found myself sitting in my primary care doctor’s office telling the nurse I refused to go back to him and I needed a different referral to a different doctor.  They were hesitant, but obliged.  I made an appointment – I was seen – I had more tests – and finally…a correct diagnosis.  I was sent to a more specialized specialist…probably the best in the country for the procedure I needed….and within 2 weeks I was recovering from the first of 3 surgeries.  I had my final follow-up visit yesterday where I was given a 99.9% chance of never having any trouble like this again.  I feel great – I am healed!

I had to stand up and say no.  I had to be worth it…and once I told the universe I was worth it…..I was put on the perfect path.

On the Bagua, Inner Knowing and Health are close together….like they are holding hands.  It is so important for us to know ourselves, trust our guts, and stand in our power.  While it isn’t always easy to balance our fears and our strengths, my experience has been that guidance is there when you reach for it.  Yet you must raise your hand up, if you want God to hold it.

© Elise Rebman, 2008. All rights reserved.

As I was contemplating beauty, I remembered the Navajo prayer about “walking the way of beauty”. 

At the heart of the Navajo Way is the concept of harmony; seeing the natural state of the universe as having harmony, balance and equilibrium.  This concept is often translated as ‘Beauty’ in English.  The Navaho believe that well-being comes from being in harmony – being in right relationship, knowing yourself, knowing your purpose, following your heart and living in harmony with yourself, your culture and your surroundings.

Healing, wholeness and joy come when we are fully walking in this beautiful balance.  When things are out of alignment, when illness or problems arise, there is an underlying disharmony that must be put right. 

Interior Alignment shares this philosophy and I have collected many versions of this lovely prayer, which is used as a chant in healing ceremonies.  I share two here with you:

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again

It has become beauty again

In Beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With Beauty may I walk.
With Beauty before me, may I walk.
With Beauty behind me, may I walk.
With Beauty above me, may I walk.
With Beauty below me, may I walk.
With Beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
lively , may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
living again, may I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.
It is finished in Beauty.

 

May you walk in harmony and may your life be filled with beauty.

Copyright 2008, Deb Swingholm. All rights reserved.

As a teacher and practitioner of Interior Alignment^TM, Interior Alignment Website I often use a technique called Synchro-Alignment with my clients. Synchro-Alignment is a guided meditation process that guides one to quiet the active mind and enter a deep state of relaxation. When the mind is quiet, such as the theta brain wave state, an individual has better access to deep inner knowing. The purpose of doing Synchro-Alignment with a client (which is uniquely associated with Interior Alignment^TM) is to become aware of what is best in a specific situation. Here’s an example of my own experience.

I had a colleague perform a Synchro-Alignment for me. The purpose was to meet the spirit of our home. In going through the process, I discovered the front entrance to our home was metaphorically hidden. I had to struggle to find an opening to get in, and once I did, the whole house was wide open.

I was very struck by this experience for a couple of reasons. One, the home we live in has a small and narrow foyer. Our guests have to enter in a single file until arriving in the living room. Then the space opens up. The other thing that struck me is that I had a tendency to be guarded. (And I still do in certain situations.)

The light bulb went off! If I had a tendency to be guarded, then of course I’d have a difficult time finding the metaphorical opening to our home. And, yes, I would be “attracted” to a home with a narrow entrance. The next step then became very obvious to me. It was critically important that I open up the foyer visually which I did with mirrors and lightening. And it was very important that I paid attention to my tendency to be guarded. As I have experienced, being guarded disconnects me in ways that I find unpleasant. And this awareness was a huge shift for me.

So, the point of sharing this story is to encourage you to find ways to enter the theta brain wave state and uncover the hidden gems in your unconscious. Entering this state can be achieved by listening to music designed for such a purpose like Tom Kenyon’s pieces. Tom Kenyon’s Music Entering this state can also be achieved by breathing very deeply with eyes closed. The information obtained in this way goes beyond the thinking mind which often blocks access to “real” issues. Give it a whirl and see what happens!

© Catherine Hilker, All Rights Reserved.

 ”The loss of my mare is not necessarily a bad thing. All will be shown for its true worth in time.” ~ from The Old Man of the Steppes Finds a Horse, Chinese teaching story

As a feng shui and space clearing practitioner and teacher I know I have touched many people’s lives, but it is not something I am comfortable talking about. This is at times difficult because many feng shui books are written from a ’success story’ point of view, and people love to hear success stories. They are fun and bring a sense of hope and wonder into the world. But I don’t focus on success stories  because the nature of energy is that we do not know what the final outcome will be. In my studies with Denise Linn, she shared an ancient teaching story about an old Chinese man and his horses. You may have heard it. The moral is “it isn’t good, it isn’t bad: we do not know the whole story.” Eckhart Tolle also shared a version of this story in The New Earth Webinar series.

Here is a story that illustrates this point. I often work with people who want to have a new romantic relationship in her life. This is a story about Sally. When I did a feng shui consultation for her, I saw that she had her desk set up in the relationship bagua area of her home (therefore on an energetic level, her relationship was with her work.) We moved the desk a few feet away into the reputation area, set up a beautiful altar dedicated to love and romance in the relationship area, as well as making several other enhancements and in addition to the manifesting work she was already doing.

A week later Sally called me very excited and happy because the energy shift happened almost immediately: not one, but several men were suddenly interested in seeing her and she had been going out on dates. It was an exciting and heady time for her, and she wanted to give me (and the feng shui) credit. It is tempting: It feels good to be thanked and to feel I have personally done something that has brought happiness, but in the back of my mind I heard those words “it isn’t good, it isn’t bad, you do not know the whole story.”

I didn’t hear from Sally for awhile but when she finally got in touch with me, it was to tell me she had began a serious relationship with one man, but some problems were coming up: the types of issues that often have to be worked through when two people begin to merge their separate lives together. Questions about roles and boundaries, and personal space. And now her gratitude for me has cooled because suddenly she has new and serious problems that she didn’t have before. As a feng shui practitioner, am I responsible for the problems? No, no more than I am responsible for the success, which is to say that my role is to help bring a change in the energy. No matter how strong my intention that the change be for the highest good of the client, I know only a small part of the story. The work may have brought up relationship issues that were there before, waiting for the opportunity to be healed. And I don’t know anything about the story and energy of other people involved in the story.

In my role as a feng shui practitioner, I don’t know how it is going to turn out, as none of us ever do. What I know is that each action we take changes life for another person — often many people. This is what feng shui teaches us: that everything in our universe is made up of constantly changing energy fields which have a type of consciousness (different levels depending on what it is.) We are a part of everything and everything we do touches and affect everything else. What happens is far too complex with so many levels and variables that it is clear that labelling is a problem. From where we stand there is such limited information available to us. All that we do simply is; not good and not bad.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

I always thought MTV’s series Newlyweds was on of the best shows on television. Don’t stop reading – hear me out. Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson had it all…money, fame, youth and beauty. What else is there – that’s what we all want right? They should have been the happiest people in the world. Yet, they were achingly and very obviously miserable. 

I was initially attracted to Feng Shui for the abundance ideas. I, like many others, felt if I only had more money all my problems would be gone. I saw a show about Donald Trump’s Feng Shui lady arranging his buildings and thought that maybe there was really something here. Could I really arrange my furniture and hide money and hang chimes to increase my income? Is Feng Shui some powerful secret force that will make all my problems go away? Now, this was happening before The Apprentice was out, and had I seen this show or known anything about Trump, I probably would have realized that The Donald isn’t the happiest guy either, but nonetheless…I wanted to see what it was all about.

So – I got some books and tried some of their ideas. I hid money in my jeans drawer, which was in the abundance area of our home. I bought plum blossoms and placed them in the front entrance. I put a red placemat with natural quartz crystals on top of my microwave, which was in Relationships. I also painted out sunroom Fire Engine Red – in Relationships again. I painted out bedroom green – Abundance. Then, I waited patiently to watch all of our problems disappear.

Guess What?  Our problems didn’t disappear.  Surprised? 

However, I did see big results. I managed to attract a whole bunch of money into our life…but not in a good way. We lost several relatives and I was involved in a very serious accident…both of which ended with us getting a lot of money. While I am okay, and it felt great to pay off credit cards….I found I kept spending it and spending it until it was gone. This taught me a valuable lesson about using things to make me happy. Yes, we live in a capitalist economy; so societal messages do lean towards equating consumption with happiness. Commercials are powerful, and they can drive these messages into our subconscious without our awareness. It is understandable that many of us think money is the answer. Yet, there is so much more to life than money.

I simply think this is a realization we all have to come to in our own way and our own time. I feel, the wonderful thing about Feng Shui, is that even if you try and use it just for material gain, many times you will start to grow in unexpected and positive ways. In the end, it is about balance. Feng Shui shows us how vital balance is to a happy life. While abundance is part of it…it is indeed, only a part. Remember Nick & Jessica, find your own path, trust in your journey, and everything is going to be just fine.

© Elise Rebmann, 2008. All rights reserved.