SUCCESS ARTICLE 1 Fengshui.pdf

Using Feng Shui to enhance success and prosperity Feng Shui (pronounced ‘Foong Shway’ not ‘Feng Shoe-ee’) is an ancient Chinese practice and literally translated means ‘wind water’. Simplistically, this implies ‘flow’, which refers to the manner in which the energies of different items or living things relates to one another. Feng Shui is the practical technique for manipulating ‘ch’i' (life energy) to improve prosperity, marriage prospects, career luck, family cohesion, the luck of one’s children, respect in the community, examination success and health. There are a number of people (Feng Shui Masters) who have made a career out of advising business people and other interested parties on how to use Feng Shui to maximise all aspects of their lives. It is possible, with some guidance from reputable books, for the layperson to make some headway in reducing the clutter in their lives; optimising the space they live or work in; and increasing positive aspects, by applying some basis Feng Shui principles. To demonstrate the benefits Feng Shui can have, one need look no further then some examples of large corporate organisations/facilities including: •

BA Headquarters in London

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Selected outlets of the Body Shop

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Hyatt Hotel, Singapore

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Cathay Pacific Airlines, Hong Kong

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Crédit Lyonnaise ( the French bank that uses Feng Shui to predict movements of Hong Hong’s Hang Seng stock market index)

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The original Budweiser brewery in Budvar, Czech Republic.

The confines of this article are too narrow to give a comprehensive overview of how to determine things like your KUA number and therefore your ‘auspicious’ (lucky) and ‘inauspicious’ (unlucky) directions. However, we will briefly discuss the basics of Feng Shui and how you can apply it to amplify your luck and success. In a nutshell, in order to be beneficial, ch’i needs to flow gently on a meandering course (straight line flow of energy is not desirable), then accumulate to produce abundance. The entrance of your home should have a clear space in front of it and inside be free of clutter. I’m not advocating that you remodel your home or even move to another home to create perfect Feng Shui; I’m simply saying you need to work sensibly with what you have and make change where feasible.

GOING GREEN Certain plants seem to be beneficial for attracting luck and success. These include the narcissus (shui hsien – ‘water immortal’, which is symbolic of luck), bamboo plants and the Jade or Money Plant. It’s important to remember that Feng Shui encourages one to keep plants with soft, fleshy, rounded leaves in the home. Blade-like or thorny plants should be avoided in the home as they represent ‘poison arrows’. Rather plant this type of plant in the garden. In the garden the best design is a natural-looking one with curved pathways and informal planting to encourage ch’i to flow slowly and accumulate. Straight pathways moving from one side of the garden to another are considered bad Feng Shui. Japanese lanterns are considered desirable.

Amongst the remedies and formulas for dispelling negative Feng Shui elements, the home aspiration for attracting wealth and prosperity is: •

Home location – South East

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Natural element – wood

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Colour of element – green

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Producing element – water.

You can therefore attract abundance by introducing wood elements into the home. This could include plants and wooden wind chimes. SYMBOLS OF PROSPERITY Most people have heard of or seen the three-legged money toad. This symbolic animal is believed to bring the owner wealth and prosperity and should be faced inwards in the home to keep the wealth inside. Likewise, the guardian lion (erroneously referred to as ‘Fu dog’) is reputed to provide protection for the home. Less commonly seen is the ‘Kirin’, a one-, two- or three-horned mythical beast with the body of a deer, tail of an ox and cloven feet. It also defends the home against evil when placed at entrance doors.

OTHER WEALTH MAGNETS Three Feng Shui coins (rounded with a square hole in the centre), strung together with a red ribbon or red string and hung on the inside of the entrance door are claimed to activate the essence of good fortune.

WHAT ABOUT MY PC? Because the PC is predominantly made from metal, it should preferably be placed on the west or northwest sector of your home on a separate table. Place it on the right-hand side of the table and try to have an item (such as a desk lamp) which is taller than the PC on the left-hand side of the table.

CONCLUSION In the book The K.I.S.S Guide to Feng Shui (DK Publishing, 2001), author Stephen Skinner says: “If everything is going all right and life is a breeze, then my suggestion to you is: don’t change your Feng Shui.” If it isn’t then try reading the aforementioned book, Lillian Too’s Easy-to-use Feng Shui (Collins & Brown, 1999) or a similar good reference book on Feng Shui.