Curating Spaces for Joy

Guest User July 28, 2021

Today I wanted to talk about curating spaces for joy. I’ve been thinking about this because we recently renovated our home, and there are some special areas I created in our home that really bring me joy.

Joy is related to the Completion area of the feng shui bagua, also called Dui in Chinese. This area is also connected to children and the metal element. If you’re not familiar with the bagua, it’s a sort of map that can be laid over a home, room, or lot, with different areas corresponding to different areas of life.

In the Dui area of our recently renovated home, I have a beautiful shelf that I’m really excited about. I’m using the shelf to display my tea ceremony items, including the different seasonal items I’m using at the moment. For me, tea ceremony feels really joyful, so I’m looking forward to curating my shelf as the seasons change.

I encourage you to consider creating special areas of your home with things that bring you joy! What are the objects or practices that are joyful for you? How can you invite those things into your home?

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: Complete Your Unfinished Projects with Feng Shui

Guest User May 9, 2021

I realized I’ve started a ton of things and projects, but I don’t finish them so easily. Do you have any suggestions?

This is a very common challenge! It’s easy to get excited about new projects, and then lose interest. If this rings true for you, you might have a lot of wood element energy. Wood element people tend to start a lot of projects, and not finish them. (You can read more about the five elements here.)

One way to work on finishing projects is to activate the completion area of the feng shui bagua. This area is called Dui in Chinese, and it’s related to children, the metal element, the color white, and completing things. To find Dui position, stand at your front door looking in, and imagine a three-by-three grid laid over your space. The middle right section is Dui, or the completion area. Here are a few ways to activate this gua:

Add a new, healthy plant. You could even look for one with white flowers or foliage since white is the color associated with Dui.
Decorate this area of your home with white accents. You could paint a wall or piece of furniture white, or you can choose something small like a planter or throw pillow.
Ring a bell to activate the metal element.
Invite more metal element qualities into your life by wearing more white clothing.

Another way to make sure things get finished is to get help from other people. If you have a business and are having a hard time finishing work-related projects, consider hiring people who are really good at finishing things — maybe people who have a lot of metal element in them. If you want to finish household projects, could you hire someone to help you? Could you ask your partner or kids to lend a hand?

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Happy New Year from Holistic Spaces!

Anjie Cho December 31, 2014

WOW, I seriously cannot believe how fast this year went. I am glad that the year of the Horse is coming to an end…it was great but very fast and busy. Just like a horse, the energy came galloping in and it is finally slowing down a bit now. I love that I can celebrate New Year's twice each year. First for the western calendar on January 1st, then for the Lunar Chinese New Year (more on that in the next few weeks!)

The January 1st new year is what most of us are familiar with here in the west. Traditionally, we make a list of “new years resolutions." Some may argue that resolutions are not effective, as many fail to make it past a couple of weeks. But it doesn’t have to be that way! I believe the new year is a great time to set an intention and stick to it. I’ll even give you some feng shui tips to provide support.

If you take a look at the feng shui bagua map to the left, please take note of the green and white boxes, New Beginnings and Completion. These areas of the bagua relate to how you start and end projects, tasks and even your New Year's resolutions in your life. Some of us have a challenging time with starting and ending our New Year's list, so activating these areas in your bedroom can give you that extra help you need.

How do you activate your New Beginnings and Completion areas? First, make sure you can locate the areas correctly in your bedroom. Stand in the doorway of your bedroom and face inside. The middle left is New Beginnings; the middle right area is Completion. See here for more info on the feng shui bagua map. (Note: if your bedroom is not square or rectangular, this is more complicated, and you’ll need special guidance.)

Once you’ve located the correct areas, you can take a piece of red paper with your list of resolutions and place it in the New Beginnings area. This will help you to start taking action on your resolutions. Then take another red paper and write a corresponding list of where you will be, or how you will feel, after you’ve achieved these resolutions. This will support your ability to reach the completion for each item. Keep your list to only three things. Select only the most important things, but not necessarily the easiest!

What is on my list?