Q&A Sunday: What Do Doors Represent in Feng Shui?

Guest User December 6, 2020

What do doors represent in feng shui?

In feng shui, doors represent the mouth of people in the home. Squeaky, stuck, or problematic doors may represent challenges in communication. This is especially true for the entry door, as this sets the mood for your experience of the home. The main door of the home sets the tone for your whole life experience, in a way. Your front door is how you connect to the world.

If you have a squeaky or crying door, it sets the tone for negativity every time you walk into your home. We’re conditioned to zone out and not notice a lot of what’s happening in our home, including what our door sounds like, but take a moment to pay attention to your front door. If it squeaks or gets stuck, this can represent blocks or difficulties in communication, so it’s a good idea to make sure everything is working properly and make any necessary repairs.

Finally, make sure you can open all the doors a full 90 degrees or more - this means no clutter behind the doors. I used to see that a lot: people often have so much stuff that they start hanging lots of things on the backs of doors until they can’t open all the way. Doors govern how qi comes into your space . If they can’t open fully, you’re cutting off some of the energy that could otherwise enter your space. That means that you’re only allowing in a small percentage of possible opportunities into your life. Think about it: if you have to modify the way you walk into the room, you’re not creating free and easy movement for you or for the energy in your home.

If you do have clutter behind your doors, though, don’t beat yourself up over it. There might be a reason you weren’t yet ready to receive all the opportunities. Maybe you were in preparation. Now that you know, you can decide for yourself if you would like to open up room for more opportunities to come in simply by removing anything that may be preventing you from opening your door all the way.

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Stress Less with These Colors

Anjie Cho December 2, 2020

Photo by Dayvison de Oliveira Silva on Pexels

Feeling stressed? Get this: Your decorating color scheme can help you keep the chaos of your to-do list in check and the weight of the world off your shoulders. In BTB feng shui, colors are one of the simplest ways to shift the energy of a space.

Set aside some time to grab a paint brush and coat your walls with a soothing, stress-busting hue of calm from the following list:

Cool Blues

Is there anything more relaxing than gazing up at a clear, blue sky, other than, perhaps, watching rippling blue water? It’s no wonder blue tops the list of stress-free color palettes. Take your pick from soft, watery shades to muted blue-gray hues for a tranquil, peaceful, and calm environment. In feng shui, blues also relate to the wood element.

Go Green

Evoking the tranquility of nature, green can relax the body and the mind. Stick with muted, natural shades in green-beige tones and muted yellow-green. You want to select colors found in nature, as supposed to the louder, bolder, brighter hues. Complement this wall color with décor made of natural materials. In feng shui, greens also relate to the wood element.

Think Pink

Although you’ll want to avoid its more saturated, bold cousin “red,” peaceful pink can promote balance. Look for pale dusty hues while avoiding the hot-pink and bubblegum shades. Not ready to commit to a room full of pink walls? Use it as an accent color in a room with neutral walls. Pinks also relate to the feng shui bagua map area of relationships and partnership, it's very yin and feminine.

Peaceful Purple

Looking for strength, peace and wisdom? Decorate with violet to introduce balance and relaxation. Finding the right shade of purple is key. Stay away from shades with too much black to avoid a cold feel. On the other hand, deep, rich purples can be stimulating. Select a purple like lavender for the best results. Purples also relate to the feng shui bagua map area of abundance and wealth.

Shades of Grey

Not only is grey the trending neutral, it’s also soothing. This versatile, calm color is the perfect canvas to build upon. Paint your room grey and use the other tonal families on this list for your accent pieces. In the feng shui bagua map, greys relate to the area of benefactors and helpful people, it's a related to the elements of metal and water.

Don’t get warm

Shades of red, yellow and orange are wonderful, energizing colors; and as such, they're not the first choice for stress-busting rest and relaxation. Red, as an example, is stimulating. It’s the color we associate with passion. If you’re looking for a pick-me-up and an energy boost, red is your go-to color. If peace is on your agenda, however, it’s best to leave it out.

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: Inviting Wealth with Feng Shui

Guest User November 29, 2020

How can I create more wealth?

Feng shui practitioners talk about this a lot, because it’s a very common question. However, looking at wealth in a superficial way is more of a fast food approach to feng shui, and it’s really much deeper. To feel true abundance, we need to move out of a poverty mindset and realize that there’s really nothing that you can lose. When we start to worry and grasp tightly to things that are impermanent, we don’t feel abundant.

There’s an area of the feng shui bagua map that’s related to wealth and abundance. It’s the purple area, and it’s called xun. This area is related to yin wood, which is like a big tree. If you think about a big tree in nature, it’s very giving and abundant. If you’ve ever had a tree on your property that bears fruit, you often have so much to share, because there's more fruit than one person or one family could ever consume or enjoy. It encourages generosity, and reminds us that it doesn’t really benefit us to hoard. When you realize that there’s nothing you can lose, you can really cultivate generosity and abundance.

There’s a Buddhist practice that you can try to cultivate generosity. Take an item in your home, and see how it feels to move it from one hand to the other. How does it feel to give? How does it feel to receive?

You can also go bigger, and think about what you can let go of. It doesn’t have to be money. To tie it back to feng shui, are there things in your home that you can let go of, and offer to someone else? Can you offer help? Words of kindness? Joy? How can you become more generous and create opportunities for generosity?

Another interesting way to be generous is to give people an opportunity to ask for help. You can ask someone to lend you an ear or to get you milk for your tea, and give them the opportunity to be generous. Even if they say no, it’s still an act of generosity. You’re being generous by giving someone the opportunity to be generous to you. Or, maybe you are giving them the opportunity to be generous to themselves by saying no.

There are so many really unique and interesting ways to cultivate generosity. Whether it’s moving something from one hand to the other, letting go of an item you’re holding onto tightly, or offering a bit of your time to someone else, I encourage you to explore this area of the feng shui bagua map. How can you be giving, like a big tree? Mother nature is always giving. How can you be in that flow?

by Anjie Cho