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Feng Shui Anyone?

Just for fun, I recently analyzed the layout of our tiny casita using a bagua map. Feng Shui practitioners use a bagua map similar to the one below to organize a home in a way that promotes the well-being of the residents. According to the bagua map, each section of your home has a symbolic meaning for a different aspect of your life. (Square 1 corresponds to the main entrance to your home.)


Because the casita we're currently renting is so small, some rooms have multiple meanings. For instance, our bedroom comprises three squares: Wealth, Fame, and Relationships. I find it rather amusing that, according to the bagua map, our wealth is located in the bedroom closet! Interestingly, though, the Study/Knowledge/Meditation square corresponds the area where we keep our computer desk; and right next to that is a loveseat, where I prefer to meditate. The Creativity square corresponds to the area where I keep my craft supplies. Our kitchen is located in the Family square, which makes sense because that's where we make our meals together. It gave me a chuckle to learn that we keep our dog's food and water bowls in the Helpful Friends/Travel Guides area, for Sasha is definitely a wonderful friend and travel companion. The laundry area falls into the Health square, which I suppose makes sense because clean clothing and linens are essential to good health.

While I don't necessarily believe that Feng Shui is an exact science, I did find some eerie truths after analyzing our home using the bagua map. For instance, I learned that decluttering certain areas of our home might help us with the issues in the corresponding square. So now I plan to declutter the area around the entrance to our home to see if it helps us gain clarity on our Career/Life Path issues.

Unfortunately, the small size of my house won't allow me to employ the principles of Feng Shui exactly; so, as long as we continue living here, I'll never know whether Feng Shui really works for me. Nevertheless, this turned out to be a rather fun and fascinating exercise.

Practicing Positive Thinking

"You consciously deny every negative thought that comes into your mind and substitute a positive one for it. Do not make a big isssue of the denial. A negative though repressed is harmful. Merely toss it out, instead; then substitute a positive thought in its place. For 'I can't do that, it's too difficult,' think 'That's untrue, of course I can do it, and I'll be successful.' This might not sound as sensible as it really is, but try it. You will discover that it works. That's the important thing--it works!"

"Start every day with the statement that you are a brilliant, stimulating mind living in a healthy, normally functioning body. Let no negative reaction deny this as the day goes forward, and occasionally repeat the statement."

From Confessions of a Psychic by Susy Smith

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Did you know that Easter egg dyes are made of synthetic materials derived from petroleum products? I don't know about you, but I don't relish the idea of unnatural ingredients in or on my food, even if the FDA claims they're safe.

You can make your own safe Easter egg dyes from plant-based ingredients. The plant world offers up a rainbow of colors. I feel better using natural Easter egg dyes such as these:

Red

Red onion skins, use a lot (boil with eggs)

Pomegranate juice

Orange

Yellow onion skins (boil with eggs)

Yellow

Lemon or orange peel (boil with eggs)

Carrot tops (boil with eggs)

Celery seed (boil with eggs)

Ground cumin (boil with eggs)

Ground turmeric (boil with eggs)

Yellow Brown

Dill seeds (boil with eggs)

Brown

Strong coffee

Instant coffee

Black walnut shells (boil with eggs)

Yellow Green

Bright green apple peels (boil with eggs)

Green

Spinach leaves (boil with eggs)

Blue

Canned blueberries and their juice

Red cabbage leaves (boil with eggs)Purple grape juice

Violet Blue

Violet blossoms

Red onion skins, less amount than you need to make red (boil with eggs)

Lavender

Diluted purple grape juice

Violet blossoms plus squeeze of lemon (boil with eggs)

Pink

Beets, fresh or canned

Cranberries or cranberry juice

Raspberries

Red grape juice

From www.care2.com

"The Secret"

For months now, I've been hearing about this mysterious book called The Secret, which supposedly contains a heretofore unrevealed formula for prosperity. A friend of mine read the book and immediately began to put it into practice. In fact, she believed in its precepts so much that she threw all common sense aside. Daily, she envisioned herself living in a custom-built, million dollar home in one of the best neighborhoods in the city. Despite the fact that neither she nor her husband were employed at the time, they placed an order for their dream home. Then they watched construction begin and visualized moving in to their new home and furnishing it in grand style. As time went on and with no job prospects in sight, it became evident that their dream home was just that...a dream. Eventually, they had to pull out of the deal and, as a result, they lost their $10,000 deposit. So much for The Secret.

A friend recently loaned me a DVD of the film version of The Secret, so I finally got to watch it and find out what all the brouhaha was about. To say that I found the film disappointing would be an understatement. Oh, don't get me wrong...the production was very professionally done. The source of my disgust was the emphasis on materialism that pervaded the entire film. The basic premise is that we can attract anything we want simply by asking, believing, and then receiving. A series of vignettes showed people who had acquired large sums of money, expensive cars, and multimillion dollar homes just by putting The Secret's simple principles into practice. According to The Secret, all that's required to receive money and things is to ask, receive, and believe. Follow those three steps and the Universe will deliver. This sounds just a wee bit trite to me. And where is God in all this?

Perhaps the greatest irony was the film's reporting that the some of the greatest minds in history knew The Secret. It mentioned Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Winston Churchill, to name a few. Now I don't claim to have studied much about the other men, but I do know for sure that Ralph Waldo Emerson shunned materialism and focused on developing virtue, which I believe is the real secret. This world would be a better place if more people embraced Emerson instead of getting excited about The Secret, which in my mind is yet another "get rich quick" scam wrapped in slick marketing.

No More Toxic Fabric Softeners

So many people equate clean laundry with a clean smell. But it's not necessary to use toxic fabric softeners to make your clothes smell clean. Yes, that's right, fabric softeners can be toxic! According to the book Home Enlightenment by Annie B. Bond, "...the chemical analysis of the airborne emissions of five mainstream fabric softeners revealed that the fabric softeners emitted many toxic chemicals, many of which cause acute respiratory tract irritation and inflammation." So, if you have asthma, perhaps your laundry products are to blame.

As someone with multiple chemical sensitivities, I am careful to avoid products that contain artificial fragrances. I have found several ways to "sweeten" my laundry without using fabric softeners. For some reason, probably because they are derived from natural sources, natural essential oils do not bother me. So, sometimes I sprinkle our clothes with pure French lavender essential oil. (You have to be careful to spot test fabrics when in doubt, so that clothes do not get stained.) The essential oil of lavender leaves our clothing smelling fresh for quite some time, and also imparts a lovely smell to the drawers where the clothing is stored. Another very simple way to sweeten your laundry is to let it dry outdoors in the open air. The sun can fade colors quickly so you have to be careful. On the other hand, because the sun can make whites whiter, it can work to your advantage, too.

Besides imparting a fragrance, fabric softeners are formulated to fight static cling. All-natural fabrics such as cotton, linen, rayon, and flax don't require fabric softeners because they don't develop static cling in the first place. Over time, it would be wise to replace your wardrobe with all-natural fabrics. In the interim, you can switch to a "green" fabric softener, which is made of vegetable-based surfactants, salt, and all natural fragrances. For your health, I urge you to avoid mainstream fabric softeners altogether.

Downsizing by Decluttering

My husband and I are currently renting a 500 square foot casita (Southwestern cottage), which is much too small for two adults and a 90-pound German Shepherd. We also maintain a large storage unit a few miles away. The latter enables us to keep a minimal amount of furniture, kitchenware, clothing, etc. in the house at any given time. Because our casita is so limited in space, clutter is a constant battle. The worst clutter spots are our kitchen table (where the mail always seems to end up), my sewing table, the kitchen and bathroom countertops, and the bedroom closet.

I recently read somewhere that there is a connection between clutter and weight, and I can see why this might be true. Whenever my house gets cluttered with "stuff," it makes me feel weighed down and depressed. On the other hand, when everything is sorted out and put away, I feel lighter and happier.

Putting things away is not the easiest thing in the world when your house has almost no storage space. Since there are no shelves (except for a small linen closet), books tend to pile up everywhere. Since there is no room for my filing cabinet, papers tend to end up in piles all over the place. In some instances, space is available but it cannot be efficiently used. For example, the GE Spacemaker (compact washer/dryer combination) vibrates so hard during the spin cycle that it's impossible to keep any laundry products on top of the dryer. Consequently, they end up on the floor in the narrow hallway outside the tiny laundry closet. Kitchen cabinet space is extremely limited also; two of the cabinets, plus the shelf space on top of the cabinets, are inaccessible without a ladder.

Since we will inevitably be renting this place for another six months to a year, I am committed to decluttering once and for all. I'm not sure how much more downsizing we can do in the house, but I intend to find out. I plan to begin by sorting out any clothing that has not been worn during the past year. Those items will be removed to the storage unit or donated. Similarly, any books that have been read will be returned to storage or sold. These tasks should keep me busy for the next few days. Then, I will tackle reorganization.