How “Travel & Helpful People” Can Help You Succeed

On Feng Shui’s Bagua energy map, the Travel & Helpful People area seems to puzzle people the most.

You may well ask, “Why are these different ideas grouped together in one area, and what’s in it for me?”

Despite its odd name, this area is actually one of the most important on the Bagua because it’s all about making essential life connections.

Without “Travel” you can’t connect with “Helpful People.”

If you’re looking to make great things happen, there’s a good chance you’ll need Helpful People to succeed.

And it’s generally necessary to go out in the world to meet those people, as well as those who need your help and support.

So if it’s time to bring some new people into your life, energize and enhance this area (the inside right corner of your space).

Place items here that evoke the people and outcomes you desire: those who have helped you or whom you have helped; the kind of support you are seeking; places you’ve enjoyed or look forward to visiting.

I’ve seen great things happen — for myself and my clients — when attention is lavished upon this all-important area.

What kinds of enhancements might work best to energize your Travel & Helpful People area?

Nine Feng Shui Tips For Tough Times

When times are tough, Feng Shui provides a unique and powerful kind of support that isn’t offered in any other place. 

It helps you set up an environment where you feel safe and secure, and guides you to create a positive and comfortable place to live or work when you’re feeling challenged or anxious. 

Feng Shui’s Bagua Energy Map identifies and addresses nine of the most important parts of your life: Wealth, Family, Career and so on.

After you map your space using the Bagua, use this information to give yourself support and energy where you need it. 

This is one of the ways that Feng Shui enhances your life by enhancing your space.

Download the Bagua map here, and discover nine ways to boost your serenity, confidence and sense of abundance. 

Start Here
To begin, align the map so the entry to the space lines up with the bottom of the map where it says “Entry Quadrant.”  You always enter your space through the  “Travel & Helpful People,” “Career,” or “Knowledge & Self-Cultivation” area.

Starting with “New Beginnings” on the left side of the map, here are nine ways to enhance your space with Feng Shui when times are tough.  Give each one careful consideration and use those that apply best to your personal situation.

1. New Beginnings:  If you feel stuck and want a fresh start, the perfect symbol to place in this part of the Bagua is a healthy, vigorous plant with an upright growth habit.  (If you’re not a “plant person,” see my recent post about plant alternatives) No spiky (ouch!) plants, please!

2. Wealth & Abundance:  In Feng Shui the source of Wealth is Gratitude.  Place something here that symbolizes prosperity to you and for which you feel truly grateful. 

This may be something with monetary value, something personally meaningful (such as a photo of your family), or anything that reminds you of how much you have to be grateful for.

3. Fame & Reputation: How do you wish to “shine your light” in the world?  Place something here that symbolizes that idea: it could be as simple as a bright light or beautiful candle.  Whatever it is, be sure to invest it with positive energy.

4. Love & Marriage: This area is about loving your partner (if you have one) as well as loving yourself.   It’s associated with the Earth element, which represents the nurturing, physical side of life. 

Make yourself comfortable, create a cozy spot for yourself, and set yourself up to feel nourished in every way.

5. Children & Projects: This area is about having confidence in the future. It’s the ideal place for representing your hopes with a vision board or other symbol of optimism.

6. Travel & Helpful People: This area of the Bagua also means “synchronicity,” the amazing and wonderful coincidences that change your life for the better.   Place a photo or piece of art here that honors the people who have made a difference in your life.

7. Career:  The element of Water corresponds to the Career area, representing your life’s journey.  Water also symbolizes cash flow in Feng Shui, so watery artwork or water feature is ideal for this area.

8. Knowledge & Self-Cultivation:  Make time to keep learning and growing so you’re ready for the changes ahead.  Symbols of calmness and inner growth — books, a serene piece of artwork, something to meditate on — are perfect here.

9. Center: The Center of the Bagua, representing vitality and health, brings everything together.  A clear and open Center helps keep all the other areas connected and in balance.  

The Center is where Yin & Yang come together, bringing your entire space into harmony.

Given the special challenges in today’s world, it’s important to consider how every area of the Bagua may be influencing your life, for better or worse. 

So take a deep breath, use your imagination, and put Feng Shui to work to enhance your life in nine different ways. 

Five Things That Make Feng Shui Special

“What makes Feng Shui special?”

This question came up at an event I attended recently entitled “Feng Shui: Is It All In The Mind?”

The hall at the Rubin Museum of Art was packed with folks who wanted to hear about how Feng Shui actually works, or as neuro-sociologist John Zeisel put it, what makes it special.

Why have people been using Feng Shui for thousands of years as a guide to setting up their homes and businesses?

Why do we turn to Feng Shui as opposed to other disciplines like interior design, ergonomics, or evidence-based design, that are trying to achieve the same ends?  Why does it work?

The answer could not be arrived at in one short evening, but it occurred to me that you may be asking these questions, too.  

So here are five ideas that begin may begin to answer them, with links to more information about some of the specifics.  I invite you to add to the conversation by sharing your ideas in the Comments.

1. Feng Shui is unique because it asks you to view your space as an honest reflection of yourself and makes specific recommendations for adjustments that improve the energy of your space and your life.

2. Good Feng Shui helps you achieve your goals and aspirations by setting up a space that nourishes and supports you in ways both tangible and intangible.

3.  Feng Shui employs uniquely effective tools with thousands of years of history including the Bagua, Five Elements theory, and the balance of Yin and Yang.

4.  Feng Shui offers practical techniques that adjust your movement path and the flow of energy in your space.  Concepts like Chi Energy and the Commanding Position make specific recommendations about the use of space and arrangement of rooms for maximum comfort, safety and security. 

5.  Feng Shui’s ancient, time-tested methods emerged from a need to set up environments that maximize safety, comfort and security.  Its original purpose was to help farmers orient their properties to take full advantage of sun, water and prevailing winds while assuring safety and security for themselves and their families.

Do you find Feng Shui useful? Do you have theories about how and why it works — why it’s “special?”

I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to write me directly by responding to this email, or leave a comment below.

The Bagua, Explained

This extended post provides you with a detailed review of one of Feng Shui’s essential tools, the Bagua.

An eight-sided energy map, the Bagua uses your space as a metaphor for your life, helping you bring the power of Intention to important things like your health, finances, and intimate relationships.

The Bagua is an ancient and profound instrument with almost limitless implications which I’m able to outline only briefly here (despite the length of this post!).

Use the map to identify the parts of your life that need a boost and place appropriate enhancements in those areas.

Attending to just one or two areas at a time will keep your Intentions clear and give your enhancements the best chance of success.

Follow along with the attached Bagua map, orienting it so the entry to your space aligns with one of the three areas at the bottom.

I invite you to leave your questions and ideas in the Comments. I’ll be happy to answer them in future blog posts.

The Bagua

Bagua Area: New Beginnings & Family
Represents your parents and ancestors; growth, strength, flexibility, vitality.
Element: Wood
Color: greens & blues
Shape: Vertical column
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Botanical prints, green items, plants.
– Things made of wood or that look like wood.
– Family photos (except in the Bedroom).
– Vertical items like floor lamps and columns.

Bagua Area: Wealth & Prosperity
Represents your abundance and prosperity as well as your sense of gratitude.
Color: purples and golds
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Items that symbolize prosperity to you.
– Things for which you feel truly grateful.

Bagua Area: Fame & Reputation
Represents your integrity and how you are known (and wish to be known) in the world.
Element: Fire
Color: Reds
Shape: Triangle
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Lighting, candles.
– Red items.
– Triangular shapes.
– Animal prints, leather items, photos of animals.

Bagua Area: Love and Marriage/Intimate Relationship
Represents your most important romantic relationship, your ability to nurture yourself and your lover, mother earth, devotion.
Color: Rosy Pink
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Pairs of things.
– Things symbolizing intimate relationships.
– Items that have the color pink in them.

Bagua Area: Children, Legacy and the Future
Represents your sense of joy, openness and discernment, as well as your ability to complete projects.
Element: Metal
Color: Whites & light pastels
Shapes: circles, spheres, arches, ovals
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Items that help you visualize the future: a vision board, for example.
– Things that symbolize the completion of important projects.
– Metal things.
– Rounded things – circular or oval items, archways.

Bagua Area: Travel & Helpful People
Represents getting out in the world to make things happen; your ability to get and give help, and to create synchronicities.
Color: greys & pastels
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Travel souvenirs, a globe or maps.
– Photos and artwork honoring people who have made a difference in your life.
– Symbols/photos of people you would like to come into your life.
– People in whose lives you have made a difference.

Bagua Area: Life Journey/Career
Represents the journey of life, including your career. The Water element also symbolizes cash flow.
Element: Water, both moving & still
Color: black, very dark colors
Shape: Sinuous
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Artwork about water, a water feature or fountain.
– Glass and mirrors.
– Sinuous textiles.
– Dark colors.

Bagua Area: Knowledge & Self-Cultivation
Represents the cultivation of knowledge, skill-building, contemplation. “A place where wisdom can develop.”
Color: dark colors: greens, blues
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Art symbolizing study, stillness, contemplation.
– Books, a place to read and study.
– A personal retreat.

Bagua Area: Center/Tai Chi
Represents your physical and emotional health. A clear, open Center helps keep all the other areas connected and in balance.
Element: Earth
Color: Yellows, earthtones
Shape: square
Good enhancements for this area include:
– Keep this area open if possible, helping Chi energy flow freely in your space.
– Square items.
– Earthenware and ceramics.

Don’t forget to leave your questions and ideas in the Comments!

Q. of the Week: How to Place the Bagua

This week’s question is a classic Feng Shui query:

Judy asks, “Should I apply the Bagua to the whole-house floor plan or each room?”

The Bagua map is completely scaleable, meaning it can be applied to everything from an entire home to individual rooms.

To analyze the Feng Shui of your space, begin by applying the map to your whole home to get an overview of your space.

Identify where individual rooms are located, what’s in the center of your home — the Health area — and discover which areas might be missing, extended or otherwise irregular.

Once you have this overview in mind, if you wish you may begin to apply the Bagua to individual rooms. It’s especially important to do this under two particular circumstances:

to enhance areas that are missing from the Bagua of your home, and

to enhance parts of your life that need special attention, in addition to the adjustments you are making based on the Bagua analysis of your entire home.

Does this answer your question? Please let me know!