Photo from Last Year's Celebration

I had a Feng Shui exhibit table at the 2010 Chinese New Year Celebration at the Domes in Milwaukee, sponsored by the Milwaukee Chinese Community Center. My table was part of the Feng Shui exhibit in the Education Center.

I had a great time at the celebration, and as always when I exhibit, I learned a lot. It was great to share the Education Center with Chinese people who had a great knowledge of the history of Feng Shui, since it came to our country from China. Feng Shui has been practiced in China for thousands of years.

I knew there would be lots of kids at the celebration, so I set up a couple of rooms of doll furniture at my table, so that the kids could have fun rearranging the furniture and practicing Feng Shui. They all had a lot of fun with this.

As I suspected, kids are naturals at Feng Shui. This is because children are very intuitive. They have not yet suppressed the intuitive skills that we are all born with.

The room arrangements the kids came up with were great. There were so many different arrangements, all very creative. Almost all of them were impressive Feng-Shui-wise too. I wish I had thought to take pictures of them all. But as soon as one child was done, the next one would come along and create an entirely new arrangement.

There were a few mischievous boys who decided to demonstrate “bad” Feng Shui instead, putting all the books and plants in the fireplace and stacking the furniture up high on top of each other, so the rooms were completely unusable. But it was all in good fun, and the next kids set the rooms straight again with “good” Feng Shui.

It was enlightening to talk with the adults who came by my table too. A few comments saddened me, like the one lady who said that she got a book on Feng Shui and it told her to get rid of her house, so she got rid of the book instead. So now she did not want to hear anything about Feng Shui.

It is sad how much misinformation there is about Feng Shui. There is no need to sell your house if you have some problems with Feng Shui going on. There are always ways to fix your Feng Shui, with what are known as “cures”. Feng Shui is about creating a supportive environment for yourself in your home. It is not about throwing up your hands in despair!

It is amazing what effect a little thing that you do can have on your environment. You can easily transform even the most “hopeless” home into a great one if you have a clear intention and use your intuition, as well as whatever you may know about Feng Shui.

You do not have to be an “expert” in Feng Shui to transform your home for the better. You can certainly hire a Feng Shui consultant to come and take a look at your situation if you want, but if not, take the lead of the kids and use your intuition and your sense of what feels good to you.

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People usually consult a Feng Shui expert when they want some kind of change to happen in their life.

Maybe you feel stuck, or need help finding a relationship, or want to increase your financial prosperity, or maybe you are having trouble selling your house. Maybe you just want your home to feel more comfortable.

Whatever changes you want in your life, Feng Shui can help you.

Preparation: Floor Plan and Intentions

The first thing I ask of my Feng Shui clients is that they provide me with a blueprint or floor plan of their home. If you don’t already have a blueprint, just draw it out to scale as best you can.

The reason for this blueprint is that I will use it to lay out the Bagua (a Feng Shui map). The Bagua will tell us what areas of your home have the greatest influence on what areas of your life. It will also tell me some of the Feng Shui challenges your home may have. (Don’t worry, any challenges can be fixed with Feng Shui cures.)

I will also ask you what your intentions are for the consultation – what changes you want in your life, your challenges, and so on.

The Consultation

I will then come to your home to do the Feng Shui consultation.

If you do not live in Southeastern Wisconsin, I can do a remote consultation by phone. In this case, you will have to take videos or still pictures of your home so that I can see it. I would need photos and/or video of each room, as well as the exterior. Or, I can travel to your location, but you would need to pay for my travel time, expenses and lodging if you are not in my local area.

The Feng Shui consultation is totally private. Just like a doctor or therapist, I will not reveal your personal details or anything that comes up in the consultation to anyone else. (At times, Feng Shui consultants do use clients as examples in their books or other projects, but this is done only with the express permission of the client.)

I will tour your home with you and get a feeling for the energy in the home, any Feng Shui challenges, and think about the changes to suggest to you, for the changes you are looking for in your life.

I will then sit down with you and discuss the Bagua map of your home, my findings, and my suggestions for changes for you to make.

After the consultation, if you have questions about what was discussed, I am available by phone or email for follow-up questions.

The Red Envelope Tradition

Payment for the consultation needs to happen in a certain way to honor the Feng Shui traditions. By tradition, payment must be made in a new red envelope. This is given to the consultant at the end of the consultation.

The red envelope shows respect for the knowledge given, and also protects both the consultant and the client from any loss of chi (energy) that could happen as a result of the consultation.

Traditionally, Chinese red envelopes were used. These are decorated envelopes that you can find in an Asian store or online. But any new red envelope will do; it doesn’t have to be a Chinese envelope. You can find red envelopes for sale at office supply stores. If you can’t find an envelope, you can make one out of red paper.

For remote consultations, you would make payment by PayPal, but I still would need a red envelope to honor the Feng Shui tradition. In this case, you would pay the fee amount by PayPal and then mail me a red envelope with a token amount of coins or small bills. Any amount is fine, but it should be a multiple of 9. Nine is a powerful number in Feng Shui and signifies completion. If the red envelope is too small to be sent by mail, you can enclose it in another envelope to mail it. Do not send large amounts of cash by mail! A small amount is just as powerful.

Fee Schedule

Here are my current fees:

Consultation for a Home (Remote or Local): $180
Consultation for a Business: Depends on the size of the facility. Please contact me.

Contact Me To Schedule a Consultation

Please use the form below to contact me regarding a consultation. (You do not need to fill in the “website” field.) If you would like me to call you, include your phone number in your message. Thanks!

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2010 Chinese New Year Celebration

Believe it or not, before I found out about Feng Shui, I was a terrible clutterholic. So I know what you are going through. I can help you to do what I did and overcome your clutter problem. I am now so neat and organized, I surprise myself. I can help you get there too!

Contact Me About Clutter Clearing

Please use the form below to contact me about helping you with clearing your clutter. (You do not need to fill in the “website” field.) If you would like me to call you, include your phone number in your message. Thanks!

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Everyone has lots of thoughts in their head. They come and go. The goals in your head are vague and constantly changing as new thoughts pop into your head. How do you expect to make any progress when you have a moving target? You might even forget about your goal completely, as new priorities crowd into your mind.

You may have heard that what you think about is what becomes real. Thoughts become things. The Law of Attraction at work. But remember, for thoughts to become reality, they have to be focused and repeated over and over. Why not make it easier for yourself? I’m going to tell you how.

You need to move your goals from the world of thought into the physical world. You can do this in many ways, but here are three tried and true ways to go about making your goals concrete:

1. Write Your Goals Down

   Writing down your goals gives them a solid form. Just the act of putting them down on paper will imprint them more firmly in your mind and keep them from getting lost among all the other thousands of your thoughts. Even if you never refer to the paper on which you wrote them down, you will be much more likely to achieve them!

   And if you study your written goals and even formulate a plan to accomplish them, you are well on your way.

2. Make a Vision Board

   You might have seen vision boards that people have made. You can make one of poster board or whatever flat surface you want. Then just find pictures of some of your goals. You can get these pictures from magazines, print them out from the internet, use your own photos or drawings, or whatever. Just use your creativity and come up with a collage of images that represents your ideal life in the future. Paste them on to the board and hang it up where you will see it often.

   A vision board is great because it takes you into your ideal future every time you look at it. It activates your emotions, an important aspect of realizing your goals. Again, you are making your goals concrete by representing them in the physical world, in this case by images instead of written words.


Photo by Sharona Gott

Example of a Vision Board

3. Place a Symbolic Object in Your Home

   Now we are getting into Feng Shui. One of the important practices in Feng Shui is to adjust the energy in your home to support your goals and intentions. One way to do this is to place something that is symbolic of what you want. For example, if you want money, you could actually place a few coins in a special place, or if you want a relationship, you could hang a picture of two people or a pair of anything, really. Feng Shui relies a lot on symbols, so whatever symbolizes your goal will work for you.

   Not only will you be reminded of your goal every time you see the object you have placed, but Feng Shui also works on an energy level to send your wishes out into the greater world.

Actually, all three of these methods are related, or you could say, they are even the same on an energy level. You are doing something on the physical level to represent your goals. You are changing the energy surrounding this goal – you are sending it out into the world. You are allowing your subconscious to work on the goal, and at the same time, you are announcing your goal to the world outside of your head, and thus you are taking the first step to setting your goal in motion.

In fact, here is the surprising part – if you do any of the above, you have already accompished the hardest part of achieving the goal. You have planted the seed, and it can start to grow.

Try it now:

Take one goal of yours and make it concrete, either in one of the three ways above, or in another way of your choosing. Another way to do it would be to leave a comment below, stating your goal.

Then notice what happens. I would love to hear your results.

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“I Decided I Would Learn To Smile”
2010 Chinese New Year Celebration

I totally agree that ritual is important for entrepreneurs as well as everyone else. Humans are made to want rituals in their lives. In my study of Feng Shui, I have learned some rituals that really help me. Other rituals come from my religion, and some I have created on my own.

I am sure we all create our own rituals. What are some of yours?

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Well, today she told me this story. When Evelyn was a teenager, she was standing in line at the movie theater with her sisters. A couple of ladies walked by, and one of them remarked to the other about what pretty hair Evelyn had. Then, as they passed Evelyn and the lady got a look at Evelyn’s face, she said “Too bad she has such a homely face”.

Evelyn heard that remark, and she remembers it now, all these years later. In fact, she has told me this story several times. It really made an impression on her.

But the important part is what Evelyn told me next. She said, “Right away, I decided that I would learn to smile”.

So instead of being devastated by the lady’s unkind remark, Evelyn decided that it did not have to define her. Instead, she would define herself as the girl with the great smile.

Isn’t that a wonderful story? Today you can tell that Evelyn has smiled a lot in her life. She has smile lines around her mouth and smile wrinkles around her eyes. She still smiles a lot, and she looks lovely. Everyone loves her. She must be friends with half the people in town.

Remember this, next time something in life seems bad or unfair to you. You can always turn it around into a positive in some way. You can always “learn to smile.”

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My Feng Shui teacher and mentor, Carole Hyder, has posted a wonderful video of some Feng Shui gardens in China, on YouTube. She took the photos in the video on one of her trips to China a couple of years ago.

I found it really interesting to see the different perspective that the Chinese people have on their gardens. It is also great to see some photos of the country where Feng Shui originated.

Enjoy the video!

(This post was originally posted on my FengShuiCrazy.org blog.)

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How To Arrange Your Bedroom For Good Feng Shui

Feng Shui for the Bedroom

What is the best Feng Shui bedroom layout? And what other things should you consider when decorating your bedroom?

This photo illustrates some good things for Feng Shui in the bedroom, as well as a few things that are not so good Feng Shui.

The most important thing in your bedroom is the placement of the bed itself, and it looks like this room has done it right, assuming that you are looking into the room from the door. The bed should be in a “power position”, that is, you should be able to see the door from the bed, but the bed should not be too close to the door. On the wall opposite the door is ideal, but the bed should not be directly in line with the door.

The reason is that you want to feel secure in your bed, so you want to be able to see if someone comes in the door. But you don’t want to be directly in a straight line with the door, because in China, this is considered the “death position” – your feet are pointing right out the door, so you can be carried right out when you die.

Don’t worry if you have to place your bed in an unfortunate position. There are always Feng Shui “cures” that can be done to fix bad Feng Shui. However, what I have described is the ideal bedroom layout, and that is what the room in the photo has.

Another good thing the photo room has going for it is that it has two end tables and each one has a lamp. This is very important, especially if you have a partner or are trying to attract a partner. Two end tables and lamps mean that the two partners are equal, or, if you don’t yet have a partner, it gives off energy that will attract a partner. If possible, the end tables and lamps should be very similar or identical.

The room also gives off a nice peaceful energy. It is not cluttered, and the bed looks inviting. This is important in a bedroom, because you need a peaceful energy to be able to sleep well. Clutter in the bedroom is very bad and will disturb your sleep on an energy level, even if you don’t realize it.

The bed has a headboard, which is good for Feng Shui. However, I would replace the wrought iron headboard and footboard with a solid one. You want a solid headboard to give you a feeling of security. One other thing I would do to this room is to remove the bag that is hanging on the footboard. It does not seem to belong there, so it gives a little twinge of unsettledness.

The bedroom is one of the most important rooms for Feng Shui. You spend one third of your life in bed, and a restful sleep is important for your general energy level. The bedroom is also an important area for relationships. For these reasons, you should try to make sure your bedroom has a good layout, the bed is in a good position, and your bedroom is calm and uncluttered.

(This post was originally posted on my FengShuiCrazy.org blog.)

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Feng Shui Princples Literally Came True!
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Here is a table for finding out which animal you are. Just find your birthday in the table, and you will see your corresponding animal sign. The third column is the element for the year.

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