Author Archive

The year 2010 begins on February 14 and will be represented by the tiger—-a metal tiger to be specific.  The tiger naturally holds wood energy based on the concept of the traveling stars (Chinese zodiac); the year according to the Taoist calendar is a metal one.  Without going into the details of the Chinese 5 Elements, let me point out that when metal and wood try to team up, metal has a definite advantage.  Metal represents a weapon such as a sword or gun and the tiger represents the fresh wood of springtime—-no match for a metal weapon.  This is a combination that is definitely in conflict.

Based on this, 2010 will not be a peaceful one, according to Raymond Lo, international Feng Shui master.  Although we will see some economic recovery from the turbulence of 2009, there will be more international disagreements, more clashing and more fighting.  The metal energy is a destructive weapon.  Since most of us aren’t in a position to actively intervene in these world-wide affairs to facilitate peace, my best advice is to try to influence your immediate world, bringing peace to the planet in your own home.  Here are some ways to maximize your luck next year, to minimize the challenges, and to bring about some global peace as well:

1.  Bless your home.  Your home is your part of the planet that you can impact and inspire.  Take a few moments to appreciate and honor it by walking through with a candle, incense, or just your heart-felt intentions.  Heal your own internal wars.

2.  Deal with your clutter. You know where it lurks—-get rid of it.  It does not create peace in your space.

3.  Do good deeds.  Do one good deed a day to offset the global turbulence.

4.  Put a pig in a blanket.  According to Chinese zodiac tradition, the tiger and the pig are best friends.  In order to keep the tiger on your side and to diminish the negative influences of what could be a challenging year, carry a picture or a small figurine of a pig who will intercede on your behalf (blanket optional).

5.  Line up 5 friends.  Think of five people—dead or alive, real or legendary, human or deity—who would be your friends in time of need.  Get them lined up in your mind before you actually need them so that you take the time to carefully and thoughtfully make your selection.  Then, when a crisis hits, you’ll be prepared.  You can call on them either literally or in an energetic way.

No matter what animal sign you may be in the Chinese zodiac system, following any or all of the above suggestions will help you navigate through any difficulties you may encounter.

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Feng Shui Preparations for 2010

The concept of the triad or the trinity has existed over immeasurable time and throughout nearly every belief system.  Most religions as well as cosmological constructs subscribe to the importance of the number three.  From the three little pigs, to the three bears, to the three Magi, the number three has had a universal and timeless importance that rivals all other numbers.

The Chinese also implement the component of three; they propose that the Universe is comprised of three interlocking layers.  These layers or aspects are known as the three treasures or gifts and are referred to as heaven, earth, and humanity.  In other terms they may more commonly be called “mind, spirit, body: or “mind, breath, body.”

The first treasure is heaven and represents the cosmic energy of the earth as well as the spiritual aspect of a person.  Earth represents the shape of the land,m the position of the rivers, and the influence of mountains on our quality of life, but also the form and circumstances of the kind of dwelling we have.  The humanity energy represents the social and personal components a person has inherited.  According to Chinese belief, all three treasures must be considered in order to attain over-all balance.

In a serendipitous way, my path crossed with two other women and, carried by the energy of three-ness, we effortlessly put together a collaborative project:  The Three Treasures:  Expanding Awareness life mastery program.  Pychic and author Kathryn Harwig and founder of Move As One Julie Delene and I set our intentions to explore and integrate the aspects of the three treasures not only in ourselves but in a program to help others. 

The Three Treasures:  Expanding Awareness program begins in February 2010 and supports and monitors your growth and exploration until October.  Three conferences, monthly assignments, articles and teleconferences will help you gain a better understanding of your vision, the actions you want to take, and the steps needed to change your life. The program will expand your awareness from within, enabling you to move as one in mind, spirit, and body.  It may be time for you to uncover your own unburied treasures.  For more information, go to www.threetreasuresprogram.com.   A free teleseminar on the Three Treasures will take place on Monday, November 23rd, 6:30 to 7:30 CST.  Register at carole@carolehyder.com.

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Finding Your Treasures: A New Program

I am writing another book—who is more surprised than I?  Nevertheless, it is slowly creating itself in a way that is entirely different from past experience with my other two books. It has taken me in directions I wouldn’t have gone.  The working title is House Alive but it may also be Conversations with your House  or some kind of combination of those two ideas.  It is a Feng Shui book in the broad sense; I consider a book that goes beyond Feng Shui (Beyond Feng Shui may also be in the title). 

As a result of my years of being a Feng Shui consultant, I share with the reader the phenomenon of slowly realizing I was speaking directly to the house, not to the client, in many of my appointments.  I also began getting messages from the walls that took me in an otherwise unknown direction while working with a client.  I attribute this form of communication to the fact that I am so connected to my own home that other spaces took that as an invitation to speak to me as well.  It has been a rich and rewarding experience and one which I encourage everyone to foster.

In this new book I provide a series of exercises that people can do to connect with their own home.  So I now share one of the exercises not only for helping you get insights  about and from your own home, but also for my own feedback as I move forward with this project. This particular exercise is called “Capturing Your Home.”  Enjoy.

Photographing your home on a regular basis will help you “see” it again and, in turn, maximize your connection with the place you call home.  You will look at your place with a new perspective and will be aware when anything starts to change. By taking pictures of your house, you’re not only tracking the cycle of time as it affects your space  but you’re also becoming a witness to the life that it expresses in such subtle and charming ways that you would not capture by simply looking at it with your own eyes.  Within the framework of a photo, details become important and obvious.

Here is a simple way for your to capture your own home:

1.  Go outside on a day when the weather is cooperative.  Stand out a ways from the front of your home and take as many photos of your house as you feel necessary.  Move in gradually, taking more shots as you go.  Eventually, you will be right in front of your front door. 

2.  Assess the photographs and decide which one best represents your home.  It may be a close-up of the front door or it may be one that includes the door and part of the house, or it may be the netire palce.  Select the one that says “home” to you.

3.  Put it in a frame or stand it up somewhere obvious.  This starts an engagement process, which may involve simply looking at the photograph from time to time without much of any conscious communication.  Eventually, you may find yourself more actively connecting and engaging.

4.  When some time has passed, maybe even a whole season, go back outside to the exact spot of the first photo and take another one.  Replace the first photo with the new one or get another frame so both can be displayed.  You are now starting a conversation with your home with a past and present image.  You get to see how it feels to relate to it under different circumstances.

5.  Repeat Step #4 as needed, but no less than a total of four times.

It is important to keep the same angle and distance on these photos so that you aren’t distracted by different information.  If you decide to display many versions of your home over the course of time, I urge you to be careful so that this project doesn’t turn into a form of clutter.  Be selective as you acquire more and more photographs. 

As these images find a place in your home, they will also find a place in your heart and you will look at them as if you were looking at a dear friend—-which is what this is all about.

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Capturing Your Home

This week I had a phone call from a woman wondering how she could determine whether she should move or not.  She had lived in her house over 20 years—through her first crumby marriage and was now living there with her second husband.  Virginia had been talking about moving for the last five years, but then they’d remodel something or buy new furniture for a particular area so she felt obligated to stay and wouldn’t bring the matter up.  Nevertheless, something still wasn’t right for her.  She was thinking a Feng Shui appointment might help.

As we talked, she explained that the issue was that she couldn’t explain why exactly she wanted to move or where she wanted to go, either to herself or to her husband.  She just knew she didn’t want to stay there anymore.  Her second husband continuously pointed out that the house was almost paid for, was close to work for both of them, and probably wouldn’t sell very quickly.  Furthermore, she didn’t have a plan for where she wanted to go.  Logically it made sense for them to stay.

During the course of the conversation, Virginia shared that she had inexplicably removed all the clutter from the basement and attic.  She was now going through closets, cupboards, and cabinets getting rid of stuff.  In another unexplained action, she painted all the walls with neutral colors, eliminating some of the personal choices she had made years prior.  I pointed out to her that she was apparently getting ready for an exit whether she knew it or not.  Any Feng Shui consultant would tell her to do exactly that —-de-clutter—when planning a move.  It helps “lift the anchor” in order to sail onto the next adventure.  Plus by removing any personal touches, such as color, she is in effect removing herself.  It became apparent to me that Virginia was exhibiting typical behavior of someone moving out of their home.

When she told me her key to the door suddenly didn’t work one day, I pointed out to her that even her own house was trying to get her out!  Virginia saw the irony in all this and realized that the decision to move had probably been made years before but she was psychologically just catching up.  She didn’t need a Feng Shui appointment to help her make a decision about moving, she needed one to help integrate her decision.

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A Feng Shui Decision from the Heart

With so much cocnern about the flu these days, more and more people are staying home and eating at home in an effort to avoid being infected.  In answer to a question about whether Feng Shui can help, I offer the following five preventative suggestions.

1)  Get rid of clutter int he bedroom.  Clutter can be distracting and it can be a carrier for dust and mold.  Furthermore, it can prevent you from sleeping well.  When sleep-deprived, your immune system is compromised and is much more susceptible to getting sick. 

2) Remove all mirrors from the bedroom to create a safe and contained space.  Mirrors activate an areas, so like clutter, they can disturb your sleep.  The bedroom should feel protective and quiet.  Even removing mirrors temporarily will help during this critical phase.

3) Make sure the kitchen counters have a healthy and inviting look.  Again, remove clutter or anything you don’t use.  Replace with bowls of fruit or live, healthy flowers.  The kitchen should nurture the soul, so avoid making the kitchen feel austere and sterile.

4) Eat at a table to maximize your health benefits.  Avoid eating in front of the television, in bed, or at the desk.  You always want to keep track of how much you’re eating as well as the quality of food.  This is how you’ll help yourself stay healthy and strong.

5) Because this is a time when people are staying inside their homes, it is also approriate to find a moment each day to stay inside yourself.  Whether listening to music, writing in a journal, meditating or praying, this quiet time can be a de-stressor as well as a time to set priorities in terms of staying healthy.

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Staying Healthy Using Feng Shui Principles

A week ago I had the privilege of visiting a local labyrinth master who has created numerous labyrinths on her property.  Anyone who knows the basic concept behind them knows that walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for walking through life.  We set a goal and then walk in a circuitous path, twisting and turning, until we reach it (or the center in the case of the labyrinth).  Much like real life, when trying to reach the goal we often can’t see where we’re going, we seem to be going in the opposite direction we think we should be heading, and we have to trust that we’ll eventually get there. 

In the labyrinthian world, when we do reach our goal (the center) we’re encouraged to take a moment and bask in the satisfaction of having gotten there.   But this is where real life and labyrinths differ:  when walking a labyrinth, the center is only the half-way mark .  Just because we’ve arrived at our so-called destination, this is not the end.  We must turn around and go back out the way we came in, re-tracing our steps through the twists and turns. 

What is the point of this return trip?  It seems meaningless since we’ve reached our “goal.”  But it’s obvious there’s no direct route out of the labyrinth—-we must walk the same circuitous route back to the beginning.  I’m assuming labyrinth protocol would frown on jumping over the paths to shorten the experience.  Perhaps there’s more to reaching a goal than just getting it?  Maybe, as we’re ambling back out from the center, we have some time to reflect on our accomplishments, or even to give thanks for having hit the target.  We might be able to ponder on the rich tutorial around intentions and fulfillment.

What a meaningful life-lesson those labyrinths have to teach us.  In our real-life world, we set an intention, pursue the path to its realization, and then move on to the next intention.  We try to blast through as many of those as we can, assuming that the more we get done during our life, the more success we can claim.  The labyrinths say otherwise, however.  They say we must carry that goal in our hearts back to where we began our dream.

The potency behind Feng Shui is built on the platform of intention as well.  This is what sets us apart from interior designers and organizers, architects and stagers.  As a Feng Shui consultant, I advise people to search deep with regard to their intentions and I make suggestions on how they can set up their space to reflect this corresponding goal.  Do I talk to them about what to do after their intention kicks in?  Do I make any suggestions for honoring the process from intention to reality?  If I use the labyrinth as my model, it’s time I put a new twist to the program.

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Intention Through Labyrinthian Eyes

Anyone who has read about the history of Feng Shui knows that it all began thousands of years ago as a method for determining where to bury the dead. It was important to the Chinese that their dead ancestors be honored and worshipped not only as a sign of respect, but also because those who were deceased would, in turn, bless the relatives who were still living. The Chinese don’t practice this kind of Feng Shui anymore and, frankly, our culture never did. Yet a few weeks ago one of my past clients contacted me to determine whether her grave site would be in good Feng Shui alignment. She had some concerns and wanted reassurance. How appropriate to return to the roots of where it all began.

Mary’s husband’s family had a large plot that held ancestors dating back to the Civil War. Her husband was buried among them and she technically had a place next to him. When we met early one morning at the cemetery, I pointed out to her some very positive Feng Shui land-form features: the family grave site was half-way up a hill; a slight slope in front of the site led down to a winding road; and when the trees were less lush, a lake was visible just beyond the road. The site itself subscribed to some very positive principles.

Since the Chinese believed the dead continued to possess vital ch’i even after death, I made compass calculations using Mary’s birth date. Obviously because Mary was still alive, I didn’t have any death information which would ordinarily have been factored in. I determined which direction her head would be pointing once she was buried. In addition to the fortunate topographical features, Mary’s head would be pointing toward one of her favorable directions.

Furthermore, planted just beyond the position of her head, some tall and healthy shrubs would give added protection. Combined with being next to her husband and added confirmation from dowsing rods, the Feng Shui of the site was hard to beat. I daresay Mary is already resting in peace about her place of final repose.

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Dead and Alive: Feng Shui Comes Full Circle

Someone contacted me with a question about building a floating home and asked whether this was “good” Feng Shui or not, since fast-moving water would be flowing around the house at all times. Before answering, I might add this same question would apply to those who live on house-boats.  This would also apply to those people who build out over the water with their home on stilts, so they’re not actually ON water but are hovering over it.

Let’s start with a simple answer:  no.  Being surrounded by all the damp yin energy of the water can elicit illness, insecurity, and overwhelm.  Water is a receptive medium so, in doing its job, it takes away energy.  Obviously this could be to the detriment of the people living on it.  This doesn’t apply if people occasionally live on their boat or occasionally stay at their weekend home which is dangling over a river.  In the short term, there probably won’t be any negative issues.

However, I was asked about a permanent home, one where they intend to live all the time.  My answer is to proceed with caution.  That said, there typically aren’t simple answers to questions in Feng Shui.  For instance, my dentist lives on a house boat and positively loves it.  He has been living on it for about five years and has learned how to adapt to the sea-leg syndrome when he gets off each morning to go drill teeth.  Furthermore, he finds the gentle rocking of the boat comforting and soothing.  Let me say, though, he is a man whose ch’i is strong and focused, he has a great attitude, travels, is seldom sick.  He works out, he has a hilarious sense of humor, and everybody loves him.  A man like that can handle living on a boat.

The issue with living on/over water becomes critical when someone vulnerable decides to take on the challenge.  In many cases, a person won’t know they’re vulnerable until they get there and then after a period of time becomes afflicted with arthritis or lung issues or something else.  The situation has a potential for bringing up issues that wouldn’t normally appear in more stable conditions. 

Not only is the over-abundance of water a detriment, but a person lacks a basic connection to earth and to a solid foundation if they’re living on water. There’s not enough stability. Yes, they may work somewhere “on land” all day, but it’s the sleeping thing, the dream-time thing, the balance thing that gets disturbed at night.  For the record, I’m totally aware that Frank Lloyd Wright built a house over water, but he also ignored plenty of other Feng Shui principles along the way.

Although I pride myself on all my experience, the years of wisdom I bring to clients, along with solid foundational training, clients often decide to do what they want anyway.  In that case, for my dear questioner, if you still want to proceed with your plans to build a house on the water, please see that you have four stones or rocks from the nearby land and place them in the four corners of the house—-inside the walls would be best, otherwise, sitting in the corners after you’ve moved in will suffice.  Then, be sure to keep your ch’i up and your anxiety down.

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Living on Water – Floating Feng Shui Facts

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Carole’s Blog is coming to Twitter!

The bedroom is the most influential room in the house in Feng Shui terms.  It can impact your health, your energy level, your outlook on life.  So it’s critcally important to surround yourself with items that support you in a positive way.  What you hang on your bedroom walls emits a message whether you know it or not.

1.  The bedrom should be a room of relaxation and rest.  Having action pictures on the wall or items of aggression sets up a potential problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2.  You don’t want to have pictures of people or children you know in the bedroom.  This room should be off-limnits to people other than those who sleep in the room.

 

 

3.  Pictures of single people can emphasize a single status, which could be sending the wrong message if that’s not how you want your life to play out, especially, if the images are not very uplifting.

 

 

4.  The bedroom should be filled with restful images to create a restful life.

 

 5.  Likewise, having images of pairs of things or pictures of non-identifiable people who are in love can help your partnership dreams come true.

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What’s Hanging on YOUR Bedroom Wall?