Welcome to all the new newsletter recipients! We've got a lot of you this month! And for all of you who have enjoyed my work for a while - I thank you! It's because of you that I can live my passion of helping people in such a wonderful way. Well, this month I have a mixed bag of information I wanted to share so let's get started!

I know several people who got new computer stuff over the holidays which made me think of the de-cluttering process of computers. I wanted to share a list of places that you can recycle computer parts so they don't end up in the dump. The dump in your environment from a global level, so it is affecting us at some level whether we know it or not. Computer parts have a lot of toxic stuff in them - mercury for one. If that stuff gets in our water no one is happy. The fish don't like it and neither do we! So, the more we can keep these things in the hands of those who know how to handle them, the better.

Apple products - Go to: Apple Recycling

Dell products - Go to: Dell Recycling

Gateway products - Go to: Gateway Recycling

HP products - Go to: HP Recycling

IBM products - Go to: IBM Recycling

Hope it's helpful!

Question: I'm still committed to my new year's resolution of weight loss and things are going OK. Is there anything I can do to further support my weight loss efforts from a feng shui standpoint?

Answer: My assistant Mary is doing a feng shui experiment with weight loss, so I asked her if it was OK to share what she's doing with you and everyone who gets the newsletter.

Mary told me that since she's moved into her new home almost 4 years ago, she had gained 40 pounds. I asked her what's different between her old house and the current one and she said it is a lot bigger and had a lot more storage space. Well, ...HAD more storage space. She said when she moved in, she didn't have enough stuff to put in all the drawers in the kitchen and all the closets in the other rooms. Now, she laments, all the kitchen drawers are full of junk, and the closets are packed as well. She confessed that whenever she wanted to clean off the kitchen countertops, she just opened up a drawer and pushed everything in it.

We made up a strategy for her feng shui weight loss program and put it into gear (she hangs around me a lot so she had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done!) I asked her to start de-cluttering in the kitchen first for two reasons. First, her kitchen is in the relationship gua (far back right-hand area) which holds the energy of the female head of the home, and because the kitchen is a highly important area with regard to how external energy (food ) turns into internal energy in the body. The dining room and breakfast nook are naturally adjacent to her kitchen and naturally connected to this food energy thing, so we considered them as important as the kitchen. (Dining rooms are linked to stomach energies if you were to assign an organ to each room. The Kitchen is the liver and the dining room is the stomach. Oh yea, and for those of you who are thinking - Hey! Where's the "male head of the house's" spot - that's the helpful people gua.) From her floor plan standpoint, those three areas take up about 1/4 of the first floor of her house.

If you know me, you know I'm thinking about my ol' saying "what's going on in your home is going on in your life." So, we decided that her recently acquired "junk in her trunk" equals the junk in the junk drawers of her relationship gua kitchen!

Since the beginning of the year she has been cleaning one drawer and one pantry shelf at a time. She really feels how that cluttered kitchen was weighing on her both literally and mentally. So far, she has pitched, gave away and recycled about 10 big garbage bags full and she's not about to quit!

What we found interesting was that so far she has lost 9 pounds...which is almost 1/4 of the weight she wanted to lose (1/4 of the weight gone and 1/4 of the house uncluttered.) Mary said she is more mindful of what she is eating but she is not "on a diet," and that she is taking walks more often in the neighborhood - but that's about all that has changed besides the de-cluttering effort.

She has now dedicated a drawer for each of her kids and one for her husband so now, anything she finds around the house that is not where it belongs, she just places it in their respective drawer and they now know where to look if anything is missing.

So, we're going to track Mary's progress as she de-clutters the rest of the house and see what kind of difference it's going to make on her weight and overall life. If you want to do the same, perhaps we'll gather all our evidence in the end and prove once and for all that junk in the drawers equals "Junk in the trunk" on our bodies! Send us an e-mail with "junk in the trunk" in the subject line and we'll tally up the results and let you know in a few months how things are shaping up so chart your progress!

Remember what I'm always saying, what's closest to you in your environment impacts your life the most. Well, on that note, what is closest to your food is affecting it a lot as well.

The state of your kitchen is the state of your health - and especially the state of your liver. And the liver is the main detoxifying organs in the body! So do your liver and your health a favor and clean that kitchen! Think about it. The food you eat which turns into your body is stored, cleaned and cooked in the kitchen. It is the place where the external energy of food is prepared for its journey into becoming energy that will serve your physical body. You don't want it to hang out in a dirty refrigerator or on crumb filled shelves in the pantry before it gets to be inside you, right? I hope I've painted a literal enough picture here to get you into gear!

1. De-clutter the refrigerator - wiping off all shelves and tossing out old condiments and foods.

2. Definitely clean the stove and all the pots and pans that you use to cook. Scrub the pan bottoms until they feel fresh and new! Now this fresh energy will be close to your food during its cooking time instead of old rust and stains.

3. Remove chemical cleaners from the kitchen. Hummm, chemicals and your body's fuel...not a good mix.

4. Clean out the junk drawers, silverware drawer, pantry, countertops, refrigerator top, floors, ceiling - oh heck, give it a top to bottom scrub to loosen up any stuck and "weighty" chi.

This month we decided to do a volume discount on all orders this month. So, if your order is over $50 you'll receive 10% off. Orders over $100 will receive a 20% discount. And all orders over $150 will receive 25% off! Go to: Product Specials We will manually reduce the charges on our end once you place the order so you won't see the discount at the time of ordering......(sorry, our e-commerce system is not that sophisticated!)

Oh, and since we have the new bedroom CD kit priced at $99.00, we're going to go ahead and give you 20% off of it this month, too.

And get ready! Next month - My Move Your Stuff - The Real Estate Edition CD set will be ready just in time for the spring real estate market! There will be a CD full of my tips for preparing properties to sell and a CD with tips if your buying!

I am ever fulfilled.

I am whole, well and vibrant.

I am safe.

I am good enough.

If you would like me to speak at your company conference, industry convention, or set up a workshop at a corporate retreat, feel free to contact me at karen@fengshuipalace.com to request a speaker's packet and to see if my schedule is open for your event.

St. Louis, MO, Dallas and Houston, TX, San Francisco, CA (Bay Area) - I am starting to make travel plans for the upcoming year. If you live in these cities and would like a consultation or would like to book me for a speaking engagement that you are involved with, please let me know by e-mailing my assistant at mary@fengshuipalace.com . We'll do our best to accommodate everyone!

Anaheim, CA

January 6, 13, 20 and February 3, 10, 17 and 24 - You asked for it so here it is! A seven week workshop!

I will be teaching a LEVEL 2 FENG SHUI WORKSHOP at the Learning Light in Anaheim, California. Contact them at (714) 533-2311 for additional information. Pre-requisite: You must have read my book before this class begins.

March 26, 2005 - Sign up early for this one. There are only 300 spots. Feng Shui Fest. Free gifts and entertainment. I will be speaking along with Professor Lin, Terah Kathryn Collins, Nate Batoon, Daniel David Kennedy, and ton of others! This is being held at the Learning Light in Anaheim, CA. Contact them at (714) 533-2311 for additional information. This one should be a great time and a lot of feng shui fun!

There will also be a feng shui retreat to follow, date and time to be determined.

Orange, CA

April 13, 2005 - From 7 to 9 PM, I will be speaking at the Cordelia Knott Center for Wellness in Orange, CA. A small donation to the Center will be requested at the door. Call (714) 619-3337 for additional information to reserve a spot!

Southern California (San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles Counties, CA) - If you live anywhere between San Diego and Santa Barbara, and from the Pacific Ocean to Indio and you would like a personal feng shui consultation, feel free to call and set up a time at (877)952-2482. The cost of the consultation is $200.00 per hour and the average consultation takes about 2 hours.

With intentions of being of service,

Karen

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