Valentine’s Day Feng Shui
Love is in the air… or is it?
Are you still looking for true love this Valentine’s Day?
If you have been looking and have yet to find “the one,” don’t fret. There are several things you can do around your home to attract that special someone.
Visualize
First off, close your eyes and take at least five minutes to imagine what your life would be like if you had the man or woman of your dreams as your partner.
Think of what you want your life to be like with this person, not what you think you need to give up or who you need to be in order to have just anyone in your life.
Let your mind go crazy and when you are done, write down the senses that you can remember. How does being in that relationship feel, look, taste and smell? Jot down colors, scents, flavors, etc.
Now jot down the things you remember doing together in your daydream and your moods during those activities.
Emulate
Now, using what you imagined, start to plan out changes in your home to remind you of that perfect relationship.
Bring out the senses to reflect the energy that you are looking for.
The point here is to use your senses to frequently bring you back to the way your dream relationship made you feel.
For instance, if you saw yourself on horseback, riding with your ideal partner, plan to find artwork of a couple of horses (always ensure the art includes the full bodies of the horses).
If you saw yourself meditating by the beach, plan on finding such artwork.
If you smelled roses, plan to get some pure rose essential oil or organic scented candles to match.
Before you implement any of the above, you need some guidelines.
Pair Off
Make sure to eliminate lonely items. I can’t harp on this enough.
To continue with the above example, make sure you have a couple riding on a pair of horses rather than a lonely person riding a horse. Just as important, make sure that there aren’t three people on horses (unless you want a third wheel in your relationship).
Also, make sure you have two sleeping pillows on your bed and two sets of towels hanging in the bathroom. You get the idea.
If I inspect your home, I don’t want to see a lonely ballerina statue or a single man standing on a wave-beaten lighthouse.
Let Your Love Flow
Chi is an energy that must be given room to flow. As such, make sure your Love Corner and all other areas of your home are clean and organized.
Make Room
Even if you aren’t with someone right now, make room for someone special in your life. Is there enough closet space for them? How about room in the medicine cabinet?
Let’s get more granular. Do you still have evidence of prior relationships? Pictures, love notes, coffee mugs… anything that reminds you of your exes? If feasible, get rid of them. As long as you hold onto these objects, you don’t make room in your heart for someone new.
If you can’t seem to let go of a prior relationship, a Feng Shui Space Clearing may be required.
Implement
Now it is time to implement the things you wrote down about your dream. Using guidelines from the various sections of the Feng Shui Bagua, implement these items throughout your house.
As an example, the colors and elements from the Health Area should not look like a bottle of Pepto Bismol exploded pink everywhere. Likewise, if you need to put the picture of the couple on horseback in your Family Area, it would be best served with a green wooden frame. Further, you would want to have any scented candles in your Fame & Reputation Area or your Love Corner instead of your Career Area.
Love Corner
Make sure all of the areas of your Feng Shui Bagua are setup correctly, but also be sure to focus some time reviewing my Love Corner page. There are several additional tips and points that are specific to this area of your home and your bedroom.
Final Thoughts
Be honest with yourself and with others. Love who you are and be proud of it!
Do not try to be what you are not. Tell the world exactly what you are looking for and the world will be more likely to give you exactly what you want.
Who knows… that perfect someone who loves horseback riding and has a greenhouse full of orchids may be at your next house party. How will they ever know that you are looking for them unless you advertise with a detailed description?
Next Steps
It wouldn’t hurt to display your dream at work, too. You never know who might walk past your desk!
If you are having trouble, a professional space-clearing may be needed to get your home’s energy moving again.
When you start to see some positive results, contact me to schedule a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because I want to help you make sure everything is on the right track!
Is this even a good year for you to find love? A Personalized Numerology Reading may be just the thing you need to make sure you won’t be fighting an uphill battle this year.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
2014: Year of the Wooden Horse
Happy Lunar New Year!
In Feng Shui (and for many Asian groups), this is the “real” time to celebrate the New Year. We often hear it called Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, etc.
Complete with the tradition of handing out little red envelopes of money to friends and children, this is an exciting time for people around the world.
Are you ready to make it exciting for you, too, by learnin how to generate some wealth in 2014?
Before we begin, have you cleaned out the clutter you may have collected during the holidays? If not, click here to review what needs to be done.
Clear the View
Now that we are de-cluttered, we need to begin the new year with a clean house.
Start by wiping down all of the door handles around the house to welcome in new opportunities for 2014.
Wash your windows to see things more clearly in this year of the horse. If you can’t see out, how do you know how far you can run?
So, your house is all clean, as well as clutter- and dust-free so that you can welcome in the new energy for 2014.
Now it is time to check your purse and wallets and all of your jacket and pants pockets. Clear some space for the incoming wealth energy!
The Lost Wallet
Before I get to that, I have a little story:
We found somebody’s old wallet on the ground in a parking lot the other day. It was completely filled with junk… old business cards, receipts, about ten credit cards, etc.
Once we found the driver license, we promptly drove to the address listed and found the owner. The home and the wallet’s owner looked as worn and tattered as the wallet.
The owner of the wallet was surprised he had even lost it and showed us the wallet-sized hole in his back pocket. “It happens all of the time,” he said. Really?
There is a lesson here…
Make Space for Wealth
Clean out all of the old receipts and business cards you collected in 2013 (or maybe even further back for some of us).
Get rid of used tissues (and commit to never replacing them), outgrown childrens’ toys, expired coupons, stale chewing gum… whatever it may be. Clean it all out!
If you have unnecessary identification cards, membership cards and credit cards, take them out.
Now, wipe down or clean your purse or wallet and patch up all of the holes in your pockets.
If you can wash your purse, then wash it. If it’s a nice leather purse or wallet, then find a leather cleaner to bring that new shine back to your most central symbol of wealth.
Welcome in the new wealth by creating a clean and welcoming space for that 2014 cash to find a home!
Make It Red
If you are in the market for a new purse or wallet, look into investing in an attractive red one. Red has the energy to attract as well as to deflect.
Contact me if you are interested in getting one of these wallets!
In this case, we are using red to attract the wealth and prevent the draining of wealth.
Moreover, red promotes ambition and determination. It gives confidence to those who are shy and lack positive will power.
Who couldn’t use more of that energy in the pursuit of wealth this year?
The Bagua’s Wealth Corner
Don’t forget to spend a little time learning about the Bagua and the Wealth/Prosperity/Money Corner, in particular. Don’t neglect the other areas, however!
Next Steps
If things don’t start out quite right for you, a professional space-clearing or personalized Feng Shui consultation may be needed to get your home’s energy moving again.
Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation or a Personalized Numerology Reading because I want to help you get 2014 off to a great start!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Feng Shui Your Rental Properties for Good Luck
While some may believe that Feng Shui is only superstition, an increasing percentage of the population consider it essential for good luck and will only consider homes that have good Feng Shui elements.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that explains how energy, or Chi, flows throughout our surroundings. In one application, Feng Shui is then used to direct Chi in ways that are most harmonious to the occupants of homes in terms of wealth, health, relationships, etc.
Practical Feng Shui Applications
Moreover, Feng Shui has practical applications. It is likely that even if you don’t believe in Feng Shui or Chi, you will be more naturally attracted to homes that are the beneficiaries of Feng Shui applications… and so will more potential tenants.
How Feng Shui in Rental Properties Affect You
Further, your rental properties are an extension of you. Not only will bad Feng Shui in a rental unit impact your tenants, but it will also impact you. More specifically, if money problems impact your renter, it impacts you.
I have found that if I use the principles of Feng Shui and increase the curb appeal, I can charge more for my units and generally get higher-quality applicants.
So, here are five Feng Shui (and practical) tips for keeping your properties rented and the money flowing in.
If It’s Broke, Fix It!
Do you have any broken items in the property (leaky faucet, stovetop burner, electrical outlet)? Don’t delay in fixing them, as they can cost you much more in time and money down the road. Implore your tenants to contact you at the first sign of a problem.
In terms of Feng Shui, water and stoves are symbols of money. A leaking faucet, for instance, means that money is slipping away.
Landscaping
Whether your tenant is responsible or you are responsible as the landlord, make sure that the yard is properly kept.
Not only can overgrown grass, dead bushes and dog feces be unsightly to tenants (whether it’s their fault or not), they will deteriorate the value of the neighborhood, and therefore, your property.
Front Door
Be sure that all of your properties’ doors, particularly the front doors, open easily without creaking or rubbing.
As this is the tenant’s first experience in the property when they step in, it can set the mood for their entire time in the unit.
For Feng Shui, the front door is one of the most important areas of a property. The front door is the gateway for the flow of Chi.
For the sake of the Career, Wisdom, Family, Wealth, Fame, Love, Children, Helpful People and Health areas of the property, keep that energy coming in!
Junk
Make sure that your lease agreements require that junk is not allowed to accumulate anywhere on the property.
Non-operable cars, a pile of building materials, and even a gathering of children’s toys is not only unsightly, but also hazardous.
Fires, pests and injuries are more likely to occur where there is junk. In terms of Feng Shui, junk also prevents the flow of Chi.
Knowing when junk has accumulated outside is one thing, but how do you know if it accumulates inside? I have a clause in all of my lease agreements where my property managers inspect fire alarms and plumbing twice per year. If they happen to notice a junk issue during a visit, it needs to be cleaned up, per the contract.
Paint
When was the last time you repainted the property? If it has been more than a couple of years, consider a new coat. In between, spray down the outside on a warm day to get rid of cobwebs and dust.
When a home gets run down, its energy begins to fade. This is exactly why major hotel chains and department stores constantly upgrade their properties. They understand the need to keep the energy of their multi-million dollar properties alive and flowing.
Make your rental properties (and even your own home and office) inviting. Even if a property is currently occupied, do you think someone would want to move in if it suddenly became vacant? If not, make it so! Vacancies aren’t fun. I know.
Next Steps
For more help, contact me right now to inquire about a Feng Shui Space Clearing or a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because you can’t afford negative cashflow.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
(Jessie Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui (https://www.MsFengShui.com), Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Home Builders Attract Foreign Buyers with Feng Shui
Foreign buyers acquire over six percent of all home sales in the United States.
Foreign Investors
The reasons for these purchases are varied. First, the wealthy around the world are looking for investment opportunities. Second, they want their children to attend school in the United States. Third, they are looking to immediately or eventually immigrate here. The EB-5 visa requires foreigners to invest money into commercial enterprises in the U.S. in addition to having a U.S. home.
Key Markets for Foreign Investment
Of the six percent of overall home sales, certain cities see a much higher percentage of sales to foreign buyers. According to Jed Kolko, Chief Economist for the real estate site Trulia.com, “There are some parts of the United States that see very strong foreign demand and that helps keep prices high in lots of areas. The places where we see this impact the most is in parts of Los Angeles, Miami and New York.”
Chinese Investors
A growing percentage of foreign buyers are from China, as the Chinese recently saw prosperity in their economic cycle.
More than 50% of all Chinese buyers purchase homes in California. The weather and the already high population of Chinese in parts of California are major factors to this attraction.
Feng Shui in Home Construction
As such, attracting foreign buyers may be one of the many reasons why several home builders are integrating Feng Shui into their new developments.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that explains how energy, or Chi, flows throughout our surroundings. In one application, Feng Shui is then used to direct Chi in ways that are most harmonious to the occupants of homes in terms of wealth, health, relationships, etc.
While some may believe that Feng Shui is only superstition, especially many Chinese consider it essential for good luck and will only consider homes that have good Feng Shui elements.
Ms. Feng Shui
Jessie Kim, a renowned Feng Shui consultant called Ms. Feng Shui, has provided Feng Shui consulting for several home builders, including Olson Homes, City Ventures, KB Home, Warmington Residential and Beazer Homes.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
Home builders are looking for Feng Shui consulting on the full range of project development from initial planning to marketing.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Ms. Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Feng Shui in Development Stages
Ms. Feng Shui consults on land acquisition, street numbering & naming, staging and sales team training. She also works closely with planners and architects to ensure the projects’ site designs, home designs and landscaping designs include beneficial elements important to those with knowledge of Feng Shui. She even provides Feng Shui seminars for prospective buyers.
Because Chinese nationals are often cash buyers and look to hold onto the properties long-term, many home builders are looking to ensure that the homes they build meet the Feng Shui needs of these important buyers.
(Jessie Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui (https://www.MsFengShui.com), Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Home builders: contact me right now for a free proposal because Chinese investors are looking for harmony and balance in your properties.
For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Feng Shui to Lose Weight
So how many of us gained few extra pounds from our holiday feasts?
I know I may have gained a pound or more… I’m afraid to check.
Feng Shui can help you lose those unwanted pounds. Seriously.
Of course, exercise and especially good eating habits are the most important actions you can take to lose weight and to prevent obesity.
But, how can we change our behavior to help us eat better? Here are a few Feng Shui tips to help you get started in trimming the fat:
Throw Out Those TV Trays
Start by using your dining room for all of your meals.
If you eat in front of a TV, stop. As you roboticly shovel food into your mouth while lost in a TV show, you don’t pay attention to how much you are eating. Before you realize it, your entire meal will be gone.
If you are sitting as a family in your dining room, talking and engaging with your family, you tend to eat slower. And this is a good thing.
Did you know that your stomach doesn’t feel full until about 20 mins after you’ve stopped eating?
Your stomach can hold up to a gallon of food and liquids. But the feeling of feeling full after eating is not caused by your stomach actually being full.
Rather, feeling full is caused by your brain responding to chemicals released when you put food or liquids in your tummy.
And it takes about 10 to 30 minutes for the levels of these chemicals to reach the point for your brain to register them.
In fact, you may want to start your meal with a smaller portion, allowing your chemicals and brain more time to give you that feeling of being full before hitting the platter for seconds.
If you don’t feel full directly following your first portion of a meal, just wait. As the level of chemicals increases, your hunger should go away.
Stop Gawking!
Having a full view of the kitchen from the living room or den may not be a good thing if you are trying to lose those extra pounds.
More specifically, you want to make sure that you cannot see your refrigerator or any unhealthy food items from your couch.
Seeing your refrigerator will make you feel the need to check its contents every time you see an ice cream commercial. Seeing an open chip bag or that leftover bag of Halloween candy will only make you want to finish it.
If this explains your home layout, you may want to rearrange your living room so you won’t see straight into the kitchen. Alternatively, you may want to put up a door or other divider to obstruct the view of these items.
Surround Yourself with Health
If you can’t avoid seeing the kitchen from your living area, get rid of the junk food. Make sure only healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables and bottles of water are within sight.
Now, make sure to place bright, energetic and vibrant pictures, paintings and objects that remind you of healthy living in the appropriate places (learn about placement using the Feng Shui Bagua).
These items will help you guilt your way to eating healthy.
Avoid Clutter
I can’t stress this enough. If your pantry, closets and other areas of your home are overflowing, it will be difficult for you to break the eating habit.
Make sure that Chi energy can flow through your home, and positive energy will soon circulate through you.
Space Clearing
If you have had trouble with losing weight or sticking with other New Years resolutions in the past, a professional space-clearing or personalized Feng Shui consultation may be needed to get Chi moving again.
Have fun Feng Shui’ing your way to losing those unwanted pounds!
Next Steps
Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because I want to help you get 2014 off to a slimming start!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Olson Believes In Feng Shui Design
By Jessie Kim
Feng Shui Consultant
You might not be familiar with the principles of feng shui, or the Chinese practice of arranging the environment to create harmonious surroundings.
But, even if you aren’t, you’ll notice something different about a place designed along these principles. There’s a sense of quiet, a certain ease, a comfort that makes a house feel like a home.
That is why The Olson Company works with Jessie Kim, a renowned feng shui consultant, for many of its projects. Kim advises the company from the outset of a new project, helping orient buildings, laying out streets, and even selecting the artwork that hangs from the halls of the model homes. Once Olson became aware of her work, the company has consulted with her on a regular basis: “Olson saw the need for it and it has snowballed since,” she says.
The idea is simple: Day-to-day living involves movement and the flow of energy. Feng shui recognizes movement and the flow of energy and how it impacts the way that people live and relate to each other and their surroundings. And having recognized these principles, Kim offers advice on how to arrange the surroundings to make the flow of energy, the interpersonal interactions, the movement of day-to-day life better.
“It’s important because it creates harmony for the people who are living in a community or a home, and it brings a sense of well-being into the community,” Kim says. “When it comes to overall harmony for health, relationships, it helps make everything well.”
In her role as a consultant to The Olson Company, Kim typically is involved from the beginning. Given a particular site, she advises on the big picture – where the homes are located, where the streets flow, which way the homes are oriented.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Kim’s input is apparent to homebuyers when they first visit the model homes. Kim advises on elements like colors, furniture, landscaping and the placement of objects within the model home.
“Even little simple things like artwork can affect the energy of the home and the energy of the buyer who’s walking through the house,” Kim says.
What is less visually identifiable but no less important is the floor plan of a home.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
“Generally, you want to have good positioning of the kitchen,” Kim points out. “I try to make sure that the master bedrooms and the kitchen are in a good position, and that there are no stairs or a back door lining up to the front door. Some of it just seems like common sense and good design – and it is.”
The idea is not for people to walk in and academically analyze a home on its adherence to feng shui principles. It’s more about the experience that people have when they are in the home, Kim says. “It’s about how people feel walking through the house,” Kim explains. “It makes the families feel more at home if you have a well feng shui’d house. If the front door and back door are lined up, people don’t want to interact, but they tend to walk through and out of the house.
“In a well feng shui’d home, you feel this is a home where you want to sit down, relax and stay for a while. It makes you feel at home. If it is your home, you’ll feel more rested, and your family feels more in harmony. Things just go smoothly.”
Ultimately, while Kim’s work is on the design of a community and its buildings, the focus is on people and the way they live.
“The home is for the people living in it,” Kim says. “With feng shui, you’re trying to create a space where people are harmonized and well balanced together.”
(Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Reprinted with permission from The Olson Company. Originally printed in Vol. 5 / Issue 1 / Page 25 of In Town Living.
Home builders: Contact me right now for a free proposal on how I can add harmony and balance to your properties.
For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
