Where Energy Flows

Do you make an overall plan for the New Year? Most of us do.  Here is a simple guide for making plans that have great chances for success.

Your home acts as a mirror which reflects what is happening to you on an inner level. Whenever you make internal changes — or plan to, as in New Year Resolutions, it is a perfect time to scan your home and work environment to see how your home (or office) support those resolutions. 

Look to see if there is anything in your environment that might hold you back or sabotage your efforts to bring productive change in your life. You might find clutter, objects or photographs that have negative connotations, or energy blockages. Take steps to create a physical environment that matches where you want to go in life.

Add colors that are personally healing, forward looking and that support your progress. Use the bagua map to help you define and focus on goals. If improved diet or physical healing is your goal, start by checking the Health gua in your home. If abundance is your goal, check your Abundance gua. If finding your soul mate is your goal, check your Relationship gua and so on. 

Finally, to create plans for positive change that stick, write it down. When you write down goals and plans you act as witness to yourself. You can write it as a contract, as a commitment or as an affirmation. All of these steps will help you to create positive change and make lasting changes in your life.

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.

There are times when things (objects, projects) in our lives seem to fit the bill of clutter, but are hard to let go of. This is a time to be especially kind to yourself because there is usually a reason for holding on.

Sometimes, holding on to the past is a way of keeping the door open on a part of your life that is almost over. It is similar to being immersed in a book you really enjoy or strongly identify with. When the book ends, your experience of being a part of the story will end as well, and often there is a bit of reluctance to finish the story.

So, in your life, holding on to something may be needed in order to:

• give yourself permission to let go of a part of your identity that you’ve outgrown
• allow time to absorb changes in your life
• get closure on a part of your life that is over

So when is it clutter? It is individual. No one else can really tell you what clutter is. For me clutter is an awareness of the ‘mind chatter’ attached to the item in question. Examples of mind chatter are self-criticizing, admonishing, and energy-draining, unpleasant thoughts that do not feel good. If there is no mind chatter, it isn’t clutter.

If something you’ve been holding on to you begins to ‘talk back’, you will know that you are getting close to being ready to release it. When the time is right, you will be ready to come to completion – whether it is finishing the project or finally letting something go. Until then, trust your feelings!

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.

In the Medicine Wheel of the Native American tradition, Winter is the direction of North, which represents elders, wisdom, the intellect, insight, and solitude and the completion of cycles.

Sometimes we think of winter as the completion of a cycle. But is it? Athough it looks like nature slows down and stops, it doesn’t. Under the cover of leaves and snow, seeds are preparing to sprout. Buds begin to form on trees. Deep inside the earth excitement is building, excitement of the coming rebirth. That image of dying is just an illusion.

The process of dying is also a rebirth, and a glimpse into a world we, who are on this side of it, can only glimpse at. So it is with nature. Even as one cycle of nature ends, the next cycle is beginning. Magic is underway. This is why Winter is about wisdom, insights and solitude. It makes us think and contemplate. Is Winter the end of the cycle, or is it the beginning? Or are the two so irrevocably intertwined they are the same? In endings, there is also rebirth and beginnings. With each beginning, the ending is inevitable. Perhaps the lesson of Winter is really about the certainty of change. That there is no beginning or ending to life, but a constant change of form.

© Copyright  2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

Black is technically not a colour at all. Rather, it is the total absorption of light. From a feng shui perspective, the qualities of black are power and stillness. Black is associated with power, strength, authority, and independence. Stillness evokes quiet, introspection, the night, dreamtime, the unknown, mystery, self-protection, and to go unnoticed. Black is also associated with beginnings and endings: beginnings - we are born into the light; endings - death, a return to darkness.

From the bagua map perspective black is the color for the Career gua.  The element for the Career area is water, and the trigram means ‘deep water’.  If you have studied feng shui, you may know that Career does not mean only what you do as your job; rather it also refers to the soul-searching that happens when you contemplate your purpose in life. From my book on the bagua Odyssey of the Heart,

Deep water means to go very deeply inside on an inner journey to find the quintessential nature that is you. I believe that through this journey you can find your personal alchemy which gives you the opportunity to turn your life around.

So if black represents finding yourself and your true purpose in life, those qualities of black (power and stillness) are important. For example, do you use your power in a constructive way? There are two types of power, one having to do with the misuse of it and the other having to do with self mastery. The misuse of power (having power over someone) explains one of the cautions I have read on wearing black. It is said to ’express hidden aggressive impulses and causes one to absorb unfiltered energies from the world outside’.

Do the qualities of black help you become more centered or still inside, or does it protect you in some way — to ‘disappear’ or go unnoticed?

Using Black

Black should not be used in young children’s rooms, therapy rooms, or living rooms. 

I sometimes do a feng shui consultation for someone who wants a black and white bedroom scheme. I try to dissuade them because while it might look dramatic and mysterious in the night, by day it depresses the energy. Have you ever been in a night club or restaurant with a black or very dark color scheme by day? Were they places you wanted to linger in?

Similarly, long term wearing of black, head to toe - almost like a uniform - is not recommended from an energetic perspective, but then too, there are colour/fashion experts who tell us that a lot of us just do not look good in black! Some wear black because it doesn’t show the dirt, but personally I find the opposite is true and my black clothing seems to need cleaning after each wearing. But there are times when it is useful:

• If there is a time in your life when you need self-protection or to go unnoticed
• When you are feeling extreme exhaustion
• To quiet an over-active mind.

© Copyright 2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

Where does your clutter live? Under your bed? In the attic? The Basement?

According to feng shui principles, the places where clutter takes root is meaningful but we are often not aware of what that meaning is. The following examples do not have to be true all the time of course, but something definitely worth thinking about as you clear your clutter.

Attic: Represents things hanging over your head, goals or dreams beyond your reach.

Bathroom: Plumbing is related to the emotions. Repressed emotions: feeling blocked, holding on to the past, people or events. Excessive emotions: weepy, verbal diarrhea or ranting.

Bedroom: Needing a great deal of privacy, hiding yourself or some aspect of your life from the world, being out of touch with your emotions or your inner self.

Basement: Suppressed emotions, unconscious beliefs, thoughts, patterns of behaviour, lack of foundation or roots in your life.

Cupboards: Upper cupboards, same for attic. Lower cupboards, same for basement.

Dining room: Feeling unnourished, un-nurtured, not taking care of your health, or lacking a sense of community in your life.

Kitchen: not fully allowing abundance, the harvest — what you have been working towards, into your life.

Living Room: difficult or absent relationships, feeling unconnected from loved ones and your community.

Under: (bed, cabinets, cupboards, etc.) Feeling bogged down.

© Copyright 2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

Last week I wrote an article “Five Elements and the Wizard of Oz.” The next morning, I opened my e-mail to find a note from June, the editor at Self Healing Expressions. She asked if I had any articles for this month’s newsletter. I wrote back and said, “of course! Is there a theme?” The reply: Lessons from Oz. I wrote back and said, “You aren’t going to believe this, but yesterday I wrote a piece on Oz!”

The idea for the five-element piece linked to Oz had been percolating in my subconscious for quite a few years. I keep a folder of article ideas and it was in there — not much more than a title. But the timing — why I opened that folder and clicked on that file on that day? That is a wonderful mystery. Call it chance, or coincidence, or synchronicity…I call it the law of attraction.

Very simply, a vibration was sent out (June’s intention to center this month’s newsletter around Oz) and I received it. I wrote the article very quickly; it seemed to flow from me and I felt very aligned and confident. You might like to see the finished article on the Self Healing Expressions newsletter website. Mike, the web designer, added fun sound effects from The Wizard of Oz. Click on the link to read the interactive version of The Five Elements and the Wizard of Oz.

Much of Interior Alignment™ is about the law of attraction. Some would say it is all about the law of attraction because behind all that we do as practitioners and teachers is Intention. Intention is simply this: what do you want in your life? Then, we as Interior Alignment™ practitioners and teachers give you examples of how you can create a conducive environment, one which is in alignment with your intention. When you are sending out a vibration which matches your intention, you have created the first important step in the law of attraction and drawing to you what you desire.

© Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007.  All rights resserved.

There are a few colours in the spectrum that are stimulating and relaxing at the same time. Green is one of them and purple is the other: from the lightest lilac and lavender, to sweet violet and plums, vivacious magenta, and the deep earthy shades of wine, burgundy and eggplant.

There are a few symbols connected with purple, namely wealth, spirituality and power. The connection with wealth is because obtaining purple dye from natural sources is costly and difficult. Historically only those in high positions could afford it, such as royalty and the head of religious orders (for example the Pope of the Catholic religion.) These are of course, positions of power in society.

In feng shui, purple is one of the colours, along with blue and red that represents abundance and prosperity. Although I believe originally purple signified material wealth, the association it has with spirituality and insight can mean the inner wealth that comes from spiritual growth. Purple represents the crown chakra which connects us to our higher source and life path on earth. It is associated with psychic awareness and intuition and can be used to lift you into a higher spiritual plane.

Some of the uses of purple are:

• It is relaxing and at the same time mentally uplifting
• Stimulates creativity and motivation
• Balances the right and left brain (yin and yang)
• Opens consciousness of the higher planes of existence
• Can be used for inner purification and protection
• To assist in going on an inner journey for spiritual growth

However, purple can be…

• depressing in large doses or over large areas
• not a good colour to wear if you are feeling oversensitive and vulnerable.

In the Home: A lot depends on the shade but generally purple is a yin colour and best used for areas that have quiet or restful activities. As well, some shades of purple such as deep violet, eggplant or royal purple can feel cold and stark, and the message this gives out could be ‘unapproachable or ‘keep back’ both of which would tend to put distance between people. For this reason it is not a good colour to use in areas that you want to be highly social, so I wouldn’t recommend it for the family room, living room, dining room or kitchen.

However some shades such as lavender, lilac and magenta are warmer in tone and in home decorating I recommend these lighter shades; keep the deeper shades of purple as accents. Green also works very well as an accent for purple.

Purple is a great colour choice for bedrooms and the shade of lavender (and also the herb or essential oil) is useful for people who have insomnia. The lighter shades of purple are also suitable for a meditation or healing room.

Copyright ©2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.