Feng Shui Tips for Downsizing
After a lifetime of growing up and collecting things, there comes a time when we are faced with shrinking. Overwhelmed by homework? How do you decide what stays and what goes? It is best to adopt a system and work with a pattern. Feng Shui comes to the rescue with several of these systems. One is the energy pattern of the five elements, also called the five dynamics, water, wood, fire, land and metal.
• As you contemplate your approach, let your ideas germinate in a crystal bowl of clear water.
• Next, try a fountain and use the energy of the flowing water to make your next move.
• Use wood energy plants to help with decision making and flexibility. Plants that grow up are better than drooping plants. Flowering plants or flower bouquets symbolize the blossoming of future achievements.
• If a lot of unwanted stuff builds up, you can visualize a bonfire and watch it all go up in flames. Celebrate with a toast to minimalism! Since the energy of fire brings joy and charisma, wear a red t-shirt, light a candle, and work under bright light to illuminate your project and your mental acuity.
• The energy of the earth will help to stabilize the emotions that explode with the objects loaded with memory. Donations are nurturing and community oriented. Selling collectibles at garage or real estate sales are neighborhood events and bring people together.
• Metal is the final, consolidating and contractive energy. The metal will help you focus and take pride in your downsizing efforts by closing the chapter on excess and lightening the load of possessions. Create your own protocol and stick to your organizational principles.
Still overwhelmed? Try additional patterns. Feng Shui recommends involving all the senses:
• For visual satisfaction, create to-do lists that you can check off as you go. Use colored notepads or markers.
• Play uplifting music and listen to your favorite songs. You could sing while you sort through your old CDs or audio tapes.
• For olfactory stimulation, essential oils have a wide range of beneficial fragrances; try rosemary to clear the mind, wild orange or other citrus oils to boost your energy level, lemon for cleansing, eucalyptus for deep breathing, geranium for decision-making, and many others for multiple benefits.
• Your taste buds will be awakened if you put a drop of peppermint oil in a glass of water.
• Your sense of touch is a useful sorting tool if you touch each item and wonder, do I need it? I love it? Is it a yes, a no or a maybe?
File drawers and boxes with papers are the most difficult and time consuming to sort and organize. We like to work with categories and find the feng shui bagua helpful in establishing separate units for what belongs. The eight or nine units of the bagua will accommodate everything from family and community to business and financial records. If you plan to write an autobiography, keep all related materials in the legacy category. Important cards and letters can be grouped together and kept in a relationship box. Label boxes carefully on the outside to see the contents at a glance. Arrange them in a bagua pattern with immediate “Now” as the most accessible squares and “Future” in the far corner. Your brain will reward you with easy access and readily available memory pattern.