Healthy and Green Living » Feng Shui & Organizing

Green Girl Desperately Seeking a Sanctuary

Lily Berthold-Bond — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:59 +0000

For the most part, summer break is lovely. There’s sun, old friends, great books, swimming, and warmth. However, what is not so fun is the fact that the break means four months without college friends. I now fully understand the appeal of going to a state school: Your new friends are easily road [...]

9 Basic Feng Shui Cures

Annie B. Bond — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:00:20 +0000

If you think long and hard about your home you will know and be able to identify which locations have �stuck� energy. Clutter tends to collect in such areas, and the light is often dim. They are usually places from which you have removed your attention. I have a couple of halls like this: although I travel them daily, they are forgotten. Forgotten, but they hold energy of neglect. Parts of myself?

Zen�s 7 Ruling Design Principles

Annie B. Bond — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:00:30 +0000

Zen�s seven ruling principles are guiding lights of design. Once you read them they make real sense for an authentic design plan for your home. Asymmetry (Fukinsei): Stiff, formal symmetry, suggesting frozen finality and artificial perfection, can be fatal to the imagination. Asymmetry lets us be loose and spontaneous�more human than godlike. It means we [...]

Have a Green Summer Closet

Annie B. Bond — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:00:29 +0000

It is that time of year again, swapping out the winter for the summer clothes. Why not take the opportunity to green up your closet using this Care2 guide of tips we�ve compiled over the years. Start off with a green closet redux quiz, and move on to learn how to replace moth balls, find [...]

The Feng Shui of Impermanence

Betsy Stang — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:00:11 +0000

Where I live, May is the time for the green to return to the mountains. Everywhere, almost simultaneously, there is a profusion of colors, birds and flowers. As the yellow flowers on the forsythia depart, the purple, pink and white lilacs emerge and perfume the air. The cherry, apple and peach blossoms delight the eye on [...]

13 Do’s and Taboos for the Feng Shui Office

Annie B. Bond — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:00:01 +0000

Being stuck in an office can be the pits, but learn about the 13 do's and taboos of feng shui office design and you can feel like you're working in nature.

Feng Shui of Abundance: Feed the Birds, Feed the Earth

Betsy Stang — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:51:45 +0000

In the roots of feng shui, there is a teaching: "If you want abundance feed the Earth, feed the birds." Birds are a symbol of wealth, strong chi, harmony and joy. They only come where there is food, life, and where there is enough to share.

Outside my late-winter window, the turkeys parade. The males are territorial, trying to impress a mate. The jays, cardinals, crows, squirrels and snowbirds feast on the grains by the rock. Near a statue of St. Francis and by a carved mantra of compassion, they all mingle with little fear.

Feng Shui Welcomes Spring

Betsy Stang — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:39:12 +0000

In feng shui, spring is associated with the East, new beginnings and the element of wood. The color is green. The Earth and her creatures awake from winter's slumber, ready to move forward with the energy of the ram, which is symbolized in Western astrology by Aries.

All over the Northern Hemisphere, the green growth is returning. In the more northern climes it is seen as a hint of buds on the trees and the crocus peeping from the leaf litter. In the South, the rains return to bring a profusion of growth which is, at times, visible overnight and the flowers start to shout out their colors. The days become longer and, with daylight savings time, there is a sense of having extra time in the evenings to walk and wander, a feeling of freedom and possibility infuses us. Lightning accelerates, charging the very air with potential.

Across the globe, every variety of bird gets their signal to start their vast migrations to spring breeding grounds. The bears and voles and insects start to stir from their winter slumber and emerge to search for food. (For those of you living in the country, it's time to fasten your garbage cans.)

The wood element is about growth, regeneration, creativity, expansion and new life. These images can be seen in our celebrations of Easter (the ducks and bunnies have little to do with religion) and the green shamrocks of St. Patrick's day.

New growth is heady and wonderful. Our creativity starts to soar. For those of us in snow belts, it is time to begin surveying the land and going out to connect with friends and new projects. The sun and breezes now feel delicious on our skin. Our pets also want to be outside in the world of birds and growth. Outside my window in Florida, I watch the redwing blackbirds and bluebirds as they dart about, deciding who will stay and who will travel north on the warm currents flowing from the south.

The forsythia have not yet popped but the wood is yellow with the life that is about to come forth, and a very pregnant groundhog lazily feasts on dropped bird seed, waiting for her young to be born. The Hibiscus bloom in profusion, with their amazing blooms of pink, red and white, and the jasmine and magnolia blossoms begin to unfurl and perfume the night air.

How Clutter Affects You

Annie B. Bond — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:00:25 +0000

Most people have no idea how much their clutter affects them. You may actually fondly believe yours to be an asset, or at least a potential asset, after it has been sorted through and organized. It is only when you start clearing it out that you will realize how much better you feel without it. Here are some effects to watch for:

Feng Shui of Patience: The Element of Earth

Betsy Stang — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:42:13 +0000

We embark on the year of the Earth Rat. Therefore it is important to understand the element of Earth. Earth is the Great Mother; her universal chant is MA. We are born of her, we live in her, we are composed of her, we return to her. Earth is the center, the foundation, the matrix.

In late winter water is the element of focus. It is sometimes frozen, it sometimes saturates the ground, and it often causes rivers to crest from snow melt runoff. In the mountains of New England, the water and earth mix to create mud season. In the western mountains, avalanches may come. The water gives the Earth what it needs to bloom.