"What’s going on in your house is going on in your life."

If you understand this concept, you get one of the most basic premises of feng shui. The poor guy doesn’t live in a castle and the king doesn’t live in a cardboard box. The living environment tells a BIG story.

As a feng shui consultant, it gets pretty easy to "read" a person just by taking a look at their home. If there’s clutter, there’s ignored issues like guilt. If there’s uncleanliness, there’s some level of unworthiness. If there’s ten million feng shui cures in one corner, there’s doubt. If there are a lot of skeletons, skulls, etc., there’s a tendency for addiction or unhealthy habits.

The good news is that just being aware of the issue is a great first step. Because once you become aware and then commit to yourself to finding a change (that is if you indeed want to change) then you’ve got providence — AKA energy or chi — working on your behalf. And once the ball is rolling, it gets easier and easier to make the shift.

So, if you can walk through your home with brand new feng shui eyes, you’ll be able to see it - and create a plan of action. That’s what I hoped to accomplish with Move Your Stuff. If you are having trouble doing this basic "sight-seeing" task, or even if you’ve got a funky space that you have no idea what’s wrong with it, try taking pictures of your spaces and looking at them to try to see what your home is saying....quite often, disassociating from the real space is all you need to be able to see it objectively.

I heard someone who has had a lot of financial hardships and health challenges lately say "I do not yet know the fruits of this pain." I thought - Wow! What a great ability to stay conscious in the midst of it all! I aspire to stay so consistently centered. Even though I’ve been on this path of clarity for years now, I often still find myself freaking out — buying into the drama du jour. And then, when the fruits arrive, and its so obvious how it was "a must" as a life lesson, I wonder why I wasted all my energy "fighting it." I know that eventually, I do reap the fruits — why do I lose trust?

Anyway, I thought I’d share this in hopes that if you find yourself in any challenging situations this upcoming year that you remember it. I feel it can be quite a powerful and comforting affirmation when "in the middle of one of life’s storms." I know I’m going to place this sentence in with my meditation CDs so its handy.

Dear Karen,

The new photo of yourself is beautiful! Some day I will take your course & become a Certified Feng Shui Consultant. In the meantime, your book is my Bible. I have so many "Success Stories" I really don't know where to begin. The most recent is the mirror facing my neighbors house to get rid of a dozen cats they kept outside. The cats hung out on my property, kept me up at night screeching, (mating), and most of all "P U". They're all gone now. I get to hear the birds singing again! Thanks for sharing your Feng Shui knowledge with everyone. I look forward to reading you monthly chronicle.

Love,

Lillian Azzara

(And if you’ve got relationship success stories to share, please send them in soon so they can be added to our February newsletter - just in time for Valentine’s day!!)

ORANGE COUNTY, CA