Feng Shui this weekend
August 31, 2008
It is the last day of August, and we have felt the chill of Fall for at least a week now. Too soon for the Northwest where rains fall for about nine months steady. I notice lights are out -- one in the hallway where three should be lit; three out in the kitchen where eight spotlights should shine. I find a hidden cache of spotlights, and swiftly change the four dark ones, leaving all the lights on when I am done. It is too dark. It is still summer. I want the heat. I want the light. I discover a book on one of my bookshelves I'd forgotten about -- it is FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. It is Sunday. Why not.
Usually when I read a Feng Shui book, I feel very discouraged. When I check my home against a feng shui book's recommendations, I come close to flunking. And, yet, when I held a small fund-raiser at my home for Itafari a couple of weeks ago, at least one of the guests remarked how at home she felt, embraced, I think she put it, when she walked inside.
I've lived in this house about half my life, and -- except for a few kids' birthday parties -- I didn't have a party for adults until four years ago. And, then I wouldn't do it until a friend who knows a lot about hospitality promised to be there with me every step of the way. Another errant quirk I have had to heal. Another odd consequence of actions taken by my mother and stepfather. We had parties in our house all the time when I was growing up. Adult parties. Drunken parties. Often violent parties.
"What if it happens again?" the small child voice inside would whisper, putting the nix on any such idea.
"Why would I want to chance replicating that?" my adult voice would translate.
Plants would die in that house where I grew up.
It took years before I would buy any plants for my own home. They live! There's a beautiful green-leafed plant in a bright red pot -- a gift from a friend from a cutting that has survived several generations in her family. "Imagine that!" I tell the little girl voice inside. And there's a tall green plant at the end of the hall, sharing a pot with an avocado plant that accidentally grew when I put a pit in there. Transcending the trauma.
Put plants near your electronic equipment, says FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. Author Simon Brown says plants can make your home more yang. Every room should have at least two plants.
This book is beautiful. It feels good and inviting. On every page colorful, bold images impart key information -- Letting Go, which breezily instructs how to handle clutter; Mirrors, which you should not place facing the front door; Adding Excitement, you can choose candles or spotlights for two different moods. I'm Yang, it seems.
There's even a Feng Shui astrology. I look up my birthdate and find my three colors -- purple, black and pink. Ironically, the same three colors I love to wear. My favorites. So I am convinced enough. There's no way I can transform my home this weekend, but I will light my candles, declutter my desk, and surround my computer monitor with gorgeous green plants.
And they will live.
It is the last day of August, and we have felt the chill of Fall for at least a week now. Too soon for the Northwest where rains fall for about nine months steady. I notice lights are out -- one in the hallway where three should be lit; three out in the kitchen where eight spotlights should shine. I find a hidden cache of spotlights, and swiftly change the four dark ones, leaving all the lights on when I am done. It is too dark. It is still summer. I want the heat. I want the light. I discover a book on one of my bookshelves I'd forgotten about -- it is FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. It is Sunday. Why not.
Usually when I read a Feng Shui book, I feel very discouraged. When I check my home against a feng shui book's recommendations, I come close to flunking. And, yet, when I held a small fund-raiser at my home for Itafari a couple of weeks ago, at least one of the guests remarked how at home she felt, embraced, I think she put it, when she walked inside.
I've lived in this house about half my life, and -- except for a few kids' birthday parties -- I didn't have a party for adults until four years ago. And, then I wouldn't do it until a friend who knows a lot about hospitality promised to be there with me every step of the way. Another errant quirk I have had to heal. Another odd consequence of actions taken by my mother and stepfather. We had parties in our house all the time when I was growing up. Adult parties. Drunken parties. Often violent parties.
"What if it happens again?" the small child voice inside would whisper, putting the nix on any such idea.
"Why would I want to chance replicating that?" my adult voice would translate.
Plants would die in that house where I grew up.
It took years before I would buy any plants for my own home. They live! There's a beautiful green-leafed plant in a bright red pot -- a gift from a friend from a cutting that has survived several generations in her family. "Imagine that!" I tell the little girl voice inside. And there's a tall green plant at the end of the hall, sharing a pot with an avocado plant that accidentally grew when I put a pit in there. Transcending the trauma.
Put plants near your electronic equipment, says FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND. Author Simon Brown says plants can make your home more yang. Every room should have at least two plants.
This book is beautiful. It feels good and inviting. On every page colorful, bold images impart key information -- Letting Go, which breezily instructs how to handle clutter; Mirrors, which you should not place facing the front door; Adding Excitement, you can choose candles or spotlights for two different moods. I'm Yang, it seems.
There's even a Feng Shui astrology. I look up my birthdate and find my three colors -- purple, black and pink. Ironically, the same three colors I love to wear. My favorites. So I am convinced enough. There's no way I can transform my home this weekend, but I will light my candles, declutter my desk, and surround my computer monitor with gorgeous green plants.
And they will live.
Labels: FENG SHUI IN A WEEKEND, Itafari, party, plants, Simon Brown, transcending the trauma
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 8:31 PM
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