Feng Shui allows us to harmonize, balance and increase the energy in homes and spaces, helping inhabitants achieve certain goals, such as prosperity, wealth, health, relationships, social status, studies, and many others, seeing that a home is the reflection of the people who live in it.
Summer is finally here!
This refreshing season, brimming with scents, sea, sun, beach, gardens, and holidays to enjoy.
This is the time of the year to reinvigorate and revitalize, recharging your batteries, ready to face another year.
And our homes are not an exception. They too, need this strengthening energy so their energy can be renewed. Our greatest ally is the sun.
It’s during Summertime that homes energize and recharge their batteries to the max, getting set for the Autumn and Winter months. This is why it’s so important to continue with the work we started in Spring, that is, airing your home every day in the morning and letting the sunshine in, tidying, organizing and getting our home rid of any clutter that have no usefulness whatsoever. Since we are in the Summer, Fire element, and which represents the pinnacle of this energy, it is important to energize your home as much as you can and the best way to do so is with moments of celebration, that is, moments of fun and joy with friends, making this energy resound through the house.
However, there are many homes that do not have the opportunity to re-establish themselves in this way, as this is the holiday period and the inhabitants may travel elsewhere during this season. As such, it is important to prepare your home well before heading off on holiday.
Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese art, studies the way in which energy flows in a space. If the energy flows freely, people tend to feel well and the environments become healthy, whereas if the energy doesn’t flow, it tends to stagnate, and problems of various types start to come up.
But how and when can we get the energy flowing? Always, but in Springtime the potential and results are even more visible.
Spring is the season of beginnings, where everything blossoms and bursts with energy. Plants tear through the soil and show their first buttons. An explosion of colour and life takes place, and a new period of growth starts to take shape. After a harsh Winter, it’s now time to revitalize our home and our body and this is the right moment for this expansion!
But, the question was, how do we get energy flowing? The answer is: releasing it! At this time, it’s out with the old and in with the new.
Individuals seek balance throughout their lives and in all circumstances, with the aim of being happy, feeling good on all levels and being healthy.
This balance so many speak of is simply the harmony between yin and yang.
Winter, the season that starts after December is yin and, as such, to be in balance with the season we need a yang diet, clothes, lifestyle, and environments.
At the same time, and to keep this balance, we cannot have our lifestyle and homes in excessive energy, or else we will feel out of balance with the season again. If we compare this with the life state of a plant, in Winter the seeds are getting ready for germinating. This is an inner process where the plant is withdrawn, harnessing and containing energy for its major development come Spring. At this time of the year, individuals should also undergo an internal withdrawal process, for introspection, where they define what they want and where they want to go so that in Springtime, just like that plant, they can head out in the direction of their dreams, goals and objectives.
In this way, to help out this process, we can change our home’s layout and decoration, making it cosier and setting up comfortable nooks that invited us to rest, read and meditate. Focusing the living room area on the fireplace or even “closing it off” as if it were a circle are things we can do.
Yet, as in everything else, we need balance, we must introduce some energy in the home, or else it will stagnate and not foster regeneration.
Accordingly, and just as what happens in all the other seasons of the year, we should continue to air our home and let the sunshine in, so the energy of the home is renewed and our body regenerated. It is fundamental that we boost the energy of our home and make it circulate this time of the year.
You can choose to set up the nooks referred to above in the parts where energy may be slower or even have a tendency to stagnate, or simply put there something that offers movement, such as plants, clocks or stronger and more active lighting.
Introducing warm colours to your decor, such as earthy tones, reds and oranges will bring the yang energy necessary for balance. Now that the cold is here, we think about the cosiness of our home, the sound of the fireplace or the smell of a freshly baked cake. Spending time with friends at home, around the fireplace, afternoons enjoying games with the family and having tea with friends, where laughter is heard all contribute to an excellent energizing of the environment, also helping to introduce more yang energy during winter.
Likewise, and speaking about balance again, our lifestyle needs to be in equilibrium, balancing moments of looking inwards and withdrawing with family gatherings and spending time with friends.
Our clothes should be made using natural and soft fabrics and the colours should alternate between earthy tones (yellow, orange, cream and brown) and strong colours (red, purple and lilac).
Diet is another essential aspect in this balance with the season. Heavier meals with meat, beans, chickpeas and nuts counterbalance the cold and damp Winter days.
As an end note – continue to enjoy being in touch with nature. Nowadays, most people spend their whole locked inside buildings with little or no contact with the sun and nature. These elements are so important for our health and well-being. Why not enjoy your mornings at the weekend to appreciate nature, to be outdoors? Make the most of this and reset your energy, balance and inner peace!
Publicado originalmente na revista Zen Energy
