How can I create more wealth?

Feng shui practitioners talk about this a lot, because it’s a very common question. However, looking at wealth in a superficial way is more of a fast food approach to feng shui, and it’s really much deeper. To feel true abundance, we need to move out of a poverty mindset and realize that there’s really nothing that you can lose. When we start to worry and grasp tightly to things that are impermanent, we don’t feel abundant.

There’s an area of the feng shui bagua map that’s related to wealth and abundance. It’s the purple area, and it’s called xun. This area is related to yin wood, which is like a big tree. If you think about a big tree in nature, it’s very giving and abundant. If you’ve ever had a tree on your property that bears fruit, you often have so much to share, because there's more fruit than one person or one family could ever consume or enjoy. It encourages generosity, and reminds us that it doesn’t really benefit us to hoard. When you realize that there’s nothing you can lose, you can really cultivate generosity and abundance.

There’s a Buddhist practice that you can try to cultivate generosity. Take an item in your home, and see how it feels to move it from one hand to the other. How does it feel to give? How does it feel to receive?

You can also go bigger, and think about what you can let go of. It doesn’t have to be money. To tie it back to feng shui, are there things in your home that you can let go of, and offer to someone else? Can you offer help? Words of kindness? Joy? How can you become more generous and create opportunities for generosity?

Another interesting way to be generous is to give people an opportunity to ask for help. You can ask someone to lend you an ear or to get you milk for your tea, and give them the opportunity to be generous. Even if they say no, it’s still an act of generosity. You’re being generous by giving someone the opportunity to be generous to you. Or, maybe you are giving them the opportunity to be generous to themselves by saying no.

There are so many really unique and interesting ways to cultivate generosity. Whether it’s moving something from one hand to the other, letting go of an item you’re holding onto tightly, or offering a bit of your time to someone else, I encourage you to explore this area of the feng shui bagua map. How can you be giving, like a big tree? Mother nature is always giving. How can you be in that flow?

by Anjie Cho