There is an organization near me that offers an assortment of low-cost classes to the community. The courses range from the typical (How to Scam Proof Your Life and Basic Bridge) to the less expected (How to Flee the Country and Intro to Pig Roasting).
My mom was coming for a visit and I was looking for mother-daughter entertainment. It was February in Denver, so options were a bit limited. I browsed the weekend’s available classes. Medicare 101 seemed like a bit of a downer. Dad would probably have questions if we signed up for How to Flirt, and neither of us had an immediate need for Traveler’s Polish. Then I saw a class that had something to do with Western and Chinese Feng Shui Home Arranging Techniques to Attract the Life You Want.
It seemed alright enough.
I signed us up.
On the morning of the class, with Styrofoam cups of coffee and taquitos in hand, Mom and I pulled up to where the class was being held on the campus of an old military base. We walked into what was likely the former mess hall and/or the site of the Boot Camp Talent Show. The instructor came over and cheerfully gave us our workbooks in a three-ring binder. Moments later she jumped into the class content. She began by telling us her success stories—sleep issues resolved when unsettling paintings were taken out of a bedroom, lost loves reunited when photos and other items were moved to a specific area of a room, and enormous raises occurring seemingly out of nowhere with the addition of a handful of common household items to particular areas of the home.
Mom and I perked up.
The instructor explained how energy moves through your home in a particular way and that different areas in your home represent different areas of your life (such as money, love, or health). If you can improve the different areas of your home that represent these different life areas, then energy will flow more freely and easily to them—and guess what happens next?
Money, love, health, etc. will flow more freely and easily to you!
The instructor told us there are nine life areas that Feng Shui supports: money; love; reputation; health; family; children and creativity; wisdom and knowledge; career; helpful people and travel. The location of these life areas is found using what is called a Bagua Map. (I just call it a “Room Map” because dear Lord we have enough to remember in life already, don’t we?) Once the life area is located, items are then added to and removed from them to attract what you want in that aspect of your life.
There are two different Bagua Maps: Chinese and Western. The Chinese Bagua Map is an octagon and requires a compass. The Western Bagua Map, the one we would be using, was a square and does not, thank God in heaven, require directional skills.
The instructor taught us that this all works super smoothly if 1) your house is a perfect square, so it allows the map to align precisely to the footprint of your home and 2) the primary entrance to your home falls in the dead center of it. If this is not the case (which is not the case for just about everyone) then there is a load of rules about what to do and not to do. All of which seemed completely graspable if you quadruple majored in architecture, landscape design, geometry, and the patience of Mother Teresa.
Which I didn’t.
Still, I was intrigued. I mean, Could I really just move some things around my house and by doing so, get all the things I wanted in my life?
With my class binder and a pile of books I purchased in hopes of helping me understand the contents of the binder, I attempted to move a few things around my house. Every time, however, I ran into the same problem—the rules twisted my brain. To exacerbate the issue, even if I could find the life area I wanted help with, determining what to add or remove in it required sorting through tomes and personal anecdotes and bad jokes—all of which were intended to add depth and perspective, but were in the end just, ahem, clutter.
I made a spreadsheet with the nine life areas and what to add and remove in each area. That evolved into some rough but user-friendly cards/cheat sheets with less mind-bending instructions, which evolved into the book proposal you are reading today. My user-friendly approach to Feng Shui quickly proved to be successful.
Days after I rearranged my home and office to attract a better job and more money, I went out to dinner and ran into an old work friend who told me she had been meaning to get in touch—she had the perfect job for me. A few months later I had that job, no commute, and a 30 percent raise.
I was so enthused that I started doing my version of Feng Shui for friends and family. When people were in a tough spot, instead of taking them out to dinner and drinks, I would go to their houses and start moving a few things here and there in the area of their home that represented the part of their life that happened to be not so incredible at that moment.
Without fail, my friends would call me days or weeks later and tell me about the jobs or projects or checks or bonuses that arrived out of the blue… about the hot piece of something they met in the cereal aisle and are now excitedly planning their third date with…about the peace that had come over their family they never thought possible… about how life just felt more fulfilling, easier, happier, and finally, under control.
Want happier, easier, more fulfilling and under control in your life. Buy Lazy Luck: Get Love, Money and Happiness with Feng Shui (The Super Easy Way).
