Your Sudden Urge to Clean House Is Telling You Something

Guest User January 27, 2021

Anjie Cho was featured on Forge

Have you found yourself overtaken by a sudden urge to clean and reorganize every inch of your living space?

If the fresh-start feeling of the election results has you newly energized to change up your space, you’re not alone. At least according to Twitter, that mood is in the air.

If you’re stress-cleaning, you’re not alone there, either: Studies have linked “ritualized behaviors” like meticulous cleaning to periods of heightened anxiety. And, well, there’s been a fair bit of that going around lately.

So, where to begin?

Assess the stuff taking up your space

Reassess your environment, on a macro level, by looking at the objects within it. “The items we surround ourselves with carry weight,” says Anjie Cho, a New York City-based architect and feng shui practitioner. That doesn’t mean physical weight. Objects, Cho explains, are sometimes imbued with memory and purpose — a gift from an ex, or a 1,000-piece puzzle that you bought with the best intentions in March — that may no longer serve you or may be affecting your mental wellness in harmful ways.

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

Q&A Sunday: Kickstarting a New Beginning, Energetically and Spiritually

Anjie Cho January 24, 2021

My family and I are moving into a new home, and I am looking to start it on the right path. Our current home, in my feeling, has not brought good energy, and life here has been a bit tough spiritually. I am looking to restart our life in the right direction for my children and for my husband and I.

Yuliya O., Arlington, VA

Dear Yuliya:

Congratulations on your new home! And how wonderful that you want to restart on a positive path for your family. It was brave of you to leave a home that was not supportive energetically and spiritually. Working with my clients on their homes and work spaces, I know just how important it is to have environments that nurture and nourish you. It’s really quite essential. I want to share a quote I recently re-read that sums things up exactly!

“Implicit in an understanding of the mind-body connection is an assumption that physical places that set the mind at ease can contribute to well-being, and those that trouble the emotions might foster illness”

— Esther Sternberg, Healing Spaces

This is really the first step, to realize the mind-body-space connection! I think that already by leaving your home you have embarked on a new beginning. So kudos!

In addition, I wanted to share some feng shui tips for creating a new path for your life, at any time. You don’t need to move into a new home to use these tips. There is an area of the feng shui bagua map called New Beginnings, which is also related to family and spring. I think this is a wonderful area to activate to kick start your fresh beginning. You can place a new green house plant or a water feature in this area of your entire home.

A green plant promotes growth and kindness and adds more positive life energy. A water feature adds water that feeds wood, because this area of the bagua is wood. Water feeds wood and allows it to flourish and grow. Another bonus is that this area is related to family, so by working with the New Beginnings area you can also support harmony in your family.

We also have a slew of posts you can check out that give other feng shui tips for moving into a new home!

There are so many ways, big and small, to build a fresh, positive start in a new home with feng shui, from the way you arrange your furniture to the colors you use in each room and more. As always, the intention behind your adjustments and choices will be the most important part, and since you're already making such a big change to seek a new start for your family, I'd say you're already on the right track!

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.

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

Q&A Sunday: Auspicious Hours in Feng Shui

Anjie Cho January 17, 2021

is there a most auspicious time of day on Chinese New Year to open windows/doors for nine minutes? Or does time of day matter?

N L D., Lindale, TX

Hi! Thanks for your question!

Yes, there are more auspicious hours to perform feng shui adjustments. I think most of you are familiar with the Taoist concept of yin and yang, which is a philosophy that describes everything as a dance between two opposites. Some examples of yin and yang (in that order) are: dark and light, moon and sun, cold and hot, feminine and masculine, internal and external, passive and active and so on. Everything in our universe has both yin and yang; that’s why I say it’s a dance. The yin yang symbol represents this constantly moving relationship between the two opposites. Then the little dot of white in the black, and the little dot of black in the white…this means that with yin there is yang, and within yang there is yin. The darkness only exists in relationship to the light.

When we look at how a day progresses in time, there are hours that are more yin and hours that are more yang. 11am to 1pm are the most yang hours of the day and beneficial to activate and start new endeavors with a big push of energy. Similarly, the hours of 11pm to 1am are the most yin hours of the day and may be a more ideal time to unravel and/or clarify internal workings of the mind, or have a more subtle push forward (like a "slow and steady wins the race" type of attitude).

As you see, feng shui philosophy is layered and is interdependent on many Asian philosophies, which really makes it so rich and powerful. I hope this information helps you to apply some changes in your life in a more powerful way! Let us know if you made feng shui adjustments for the Chinese New Year and how they made you feel!

by Anjie Cho