I recently had the pleasure of having Feng Shui expert Rosline Deleu review my home. I’d love to share a little of the experience with you.
What is Feng Shui?
“(Feng Shui) is the art of placement and arrangement of buildings, furniture and rooms in the most beneficial way to create maximum harmony and balance within one’s environment”.
Roseline Deleu
My initial thoughts
I’m a bit of a fence-sitter when it comes to these things. In my job, I know energy and air flow is important. I naturally make suggestions to my clients which opens up the room. I know clutter has a feeling aka ‘yin energy’. It saps your energy. Yet I still have a level of skepticism of how Feng Shui works, particularly to the nth degree. In saying that, I also know there’s many things I can’t explain. So I was keen to give Feng Shui a whirl.
To be honest, I was really nervous about the consultation. What will she think about my house? Will she comment that I’m too messy? Too cluttered? That she expected more from a Professional Organiser? Will she judge me because my Feng Shui is awful?
I dreaded letting her in the door, spending time madly cleaned before she arrived.
I realised this is how my clients feel when I come to visit. They mention the dread. The panic. The shame. This in itself was a priceless experience for me. It reminded me of the fears my clients face and the trust they must have to let me in the door.
Meeting Roseline
Roseline arrives. Such a small, delicate lady, with a big smile and open heart. So much energy that as she stepped through the door – BAM – the power to my house literally went out. GASP! What could that mean?
Change is a-comin’…
Once we got into it, I was really excited about the changes I could make to the house. Some suggestions cemented what I already knew. They also inspired my husband to do stuff I’d been saying for weeks, months or years that we needed to do. That in itself was priceless.
One suggestion that was an “of course I should do that, der!” moment for me was when she said that we should work on our entryway. We should make the area leading to the front door welcoming, tidy, ordered… I found this rather amusing, as, if you recall, I blogged last month about decluttering your entryways and front garden. I realised that I hadn’t really looked at mine with fresh eyes. Our potted plants were crowding the front door. We had trees that needed trimming… and our mailbox was on a lean. I even had a chipped wall decoration, cobwebs and wasp nests that needed removing. “Great”, I thought. “Of course I should fix that stuff up”. My husband madly scribbled down our homework.
We then moved inside. Again, I felt a bit like I was one of my clients. We talked about items in our home and what we thought of them. Did we like them? What did they mean to us? How did they make us feel? These questions I use with clients every day. It suddenly seemed so obvious as I told Roseline that I hated something, thought it was ugly, or knew it had to go… Why hadn’t I parted with it sooner?
I said (as I say to my clients), “you’re giving me permission to let go of something or make changes to things that I had hesitated about in the past. Thank you!”.
We purged many knick knacks and paintings this way. We shifted other stuff around the house.
Applying Organising to Feng Shui
As a declutterer, some suggestions I struggled with from an organisational or practical perspective. For instance, the laundry basket in the corner of the bedroom is a sign of stagnation. Rosaline suggested we move it to the laundry. I’ve resisted this as my husband already suffers from the ‘floordrobe‘ syndrome and I figured if the basket wasn’t there, it would only get worse. Hey, I might even join in the ‘floordrobe’ pile up! Surely the ‘floordrobe’ would be worse than the orderly basket? Wouldn’t it be stagnation to the extreme? The professional organiser in me won out on this and the laundry basket stays. I did wonder why it didn’t represent stagnation in the laundry. A question I’ll be sure to ask Roseline.
Only the Beginning to our Feng Shui Changes
What I’ve mentioned thus far is just the tip of the iceberg of all of the things discussed on the day. The consultation was refreshing and we have made a lot of the suggested changes. We have many more we can do. The changes made to the entryway makes me feel less ‘choked’. Like I’ve dropped some shackles. The picture we hung in our bedroom really makes my heart sing… and those tastes of what my clients say they feel? Like I said, priceless.
I also got a taste of the good stuff my clients say they’ve gotten out of my sessions. Like excitement about the changes that will come. Inspiration to follow up on the suggestions that I know will make my life different… dusted with that feeling of standing on the precipice. I felt gratitude for the ‘fresh eye’, feedback and tips. I felt free from ‘stuff’ that was holding me back from living the life I want to lead.
We learnt lots. Now, it’s a waiting game. Will other things change because of the adjustments we made? Will there be subtle shifts in relationships, career and health because of all of this? I’ll let you know.
My Feng Shui Tips
Before I sign off though, I’d like to share some concrete Feng Shui tips with you.
- Clean up around your front door, drive way and letter box. Trim plants, removed clutter, review if anything is broken, dying or chipped. You should be able to see the front door from your driveway and vice versa.
- Declutter both items and furniture in your home. Excess anything in your home is altering the energy flow in your space (Loved this of course being a declutterer by trade. Call me if you need some help with this).
- Review all knick-knacks. Remove any that no longer speak to you. Remove those that have negative feelings associated with them, e.g. guilt, bad memories, associations with people you don’t like etc.
- Review artworks and consider what they represent, particularly for relationships with those in your home. I know there is MUCH more to this area, but that was my ‘take away’ point. For example, we had a painting of two birds facing away from each other in our bedroom. She mentioned this was a representation of our relationship. It’s been replaced with an artistic shot from our wedding where we’re smooching.
- Use a round faceted crystal to give power boosts to zones in your home for up to 9 days at a time. Read about zones aka the magic square here (the lower articles on the page).
- Book in with Roseline, if Feng Shui interests you, to get detailed Feng Shui advice.
- Check out my post featured on Roseline’s page written six months from my consultation with her.
I’d love to hear if you’ve done Feng Shui in your home. Do you have some tips? Did you notice any changes from what you did?
