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The Anatomy of Emotion- Joy

Joy is not a word I hear too often.

It appears on Christmas cards, in the writings of therapists and coaches, in spiritual and religious sermons but I can’t remember the last time I heard the word spoken in everyday conversation. We say things are great, we’re happy or even cool. But we don’t often say we feel joy.

It makes me wonder- can joy be secular as well as sacred?

The Anatomy of Emotion- Anger

Anger affects our bodies very differently. When we hold onto anger or take offense we lose this feeling of flow and instead feel tight, inflexible and constricted. We build a shield, a coat of armor to protect us from what has attacked our sense of happiness. But this shield is not protecting us. Internalizing anger makes us feel stuck, hard. The feeling of space disappears and we become smaller, isolated. Even our breathing, once effortless becomes difficult.

My little neighbor came home from school fuming over something her best friend did to her. She told me she would never talk to her again but the next day found them together playing in her backyard. Later I asked her what happened. She told me, with quite a serious look on her face, that being angry at her friend just hurt too much.

Holding onto anger is holding onto another piece of clutter, of past energies, of feelings that no longer serve. When we are angry we actually relinquish our power because the focus moves quickly beyond the issue to the holding on of emotions that do not make us feel good. Nothing takes us further away from being in the moment than the holding on of anger.

Feeling anger is natural. It is an emotion, a feeling, a barometer that helps us stay true to ethical and moral convictions. Anger is a message that something is not right. We need anger but we do not need to stay in anger. Anger is not foreign to love. We are only truly angry when we feel we are not being heard, when communication is being blocked. Staying in anger fuels these blockages.

Righteous anger can be used for the positive. Seeing an injustice and choosing to do something about it can be healing and life affirming. But holding the anger inside and not having the ability to create movement with or beyond it, is self-destructive. The anger becomes the issue rather than the act that caused the anger. The person we are angry with may feel the effects of our anger but never as strongly as we do!

The Art of Blessing

Take a breath, sit back, relax and enjoy this inspirational journey of love, beauty and blessings. Let the words and images flow through and over you. A simple blessing is more than a promise, it can the power of transformation. Bless and be blessed.

The words are by Pierre Pradervand from his book “The Gentle Art of Blessing”

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To discover the beautiful person that lies within. Transcend your everyday limits and let your intuition take flight.

The Anatomy of Emotion- Happiness

Anatomy may disagree with mom, it actually does take a few more muscles to smile than to frown, but it sure takes a lot more energy to stay mad than to be happy.

Happiness flows. It finds space inside of us and runs up and down the channels and meridian systems and smoothes out all the jagged edges. When we are happy, our bodies feel relaxed, flexible, and we experience an ease of movement. We feel alive and spacious. Understandable then that the Sanskrit word for happiness, Sukha, is also translated as unobstructed space. And this suggests that perhaps happiness is an energy that is felt when it is allowed to move freely.

Being happy creates space. It creates space for the energy of happiness, joy and love to flow. It allows movement, creativity and expansion. Happiness is infectious and we know that smiles and laughter brighten the hearts of those who give, receive and even observe these gestures of happiness.

The Stagnating Effect of Clutter

Feng Shui is called the art of placement; the belief is that objects, furniture, buildings are placed in just the proper area where balance and harmony is manifested. The manifestation of such harmony and balance is due to the easy flow of energy in and around the space. When chi (energy) flows easily without blockages the individual using the space is more creative, focused, productive and aware.

Feng Shui is based on the bagua, which is a designation of energy areas oriented from the entrance to a building or room. The space is divided into eight areas, Wealth, Health and Family, Knowledge, Fame/Reputation, Relationships, Children/Creativity, Career, and Helpful people. Using a clock as a reference, Fame/Reputation is at 12, Marriage/Relationship is between 1 to 2, Children/Creativity is at 3, Helpful people is between 4 to 5, Career is at 6, Knowledge is between 7 to 8, Health and Family is 9 and Wealth/Prosperity is between 10 to 11. The bagua is superimposed on the floor plan of the house or room and the area between 4 to 8 is at the entrance. The entrance to a room is usually in the Career area (6 o’clock).

When a room is filled with clutter, chi (energy) is unable to flow freely. Look at the bagua and determine which area is related to the clutter. For example if the clutter is in the Wealth/Prosperity (10 to 11), think of how you are doing financially. Perhaps the raise you were expecting did not materialize, or you were not offered the higher paying job you recently interviewed for.

The individual constantly surrounded by many things, especially things that are no longer useful or in disarray, will usually feel suffocated or sluggish, slow to make decisions and may have physical aches and pains.

Take a look at each room of the house and find where you tend to accumulate clutter. Relate this to the bagua and see what happens in your life when you clear the clutter. Work on one area at a time, perhaps do all the Wealth/Prosperity areas of each room in the house or if you are looking at the floor plan for the whole house, clear the room in the Wealth/Prosperity area of the house. You may be surprised as to how fast results happen. From my experience, it takes 2 to 3 weeks for situations to change.

Clearing the clutter can be very therapeutic; it is a way to let go some of the emotions that have been stagnating inside you. It also allows you to see what is important to you. So take some time off your busy schedule and clear, clear, clear.

Author: Jen Martinez-Bentley ND, Feng Shui Consultant and Naturopathic Doctor practicing in Washington DC and Northern Virginia, Hampton roads. Reiki Master, Acupressure/Reflexology practitioner.

Intentions and Relative Positioning

All western and modern Feng Shui schools recognize the power of intention and attraction in creating the life you want. The secret was never a secret to those who practice conscious Feng Shui. Having beneficial chi flow through your home and environment is so coupled with the idea of raising your vibration to attract loving partners and situations that there is no clear cut way to determine whether the internal or external Feng Shu came first. When good, kind, loving things happen to you, your view of your environment changes, when your environment changes for the better, you also change for the better. No matter where you stand in the debate doesn’t matter (is this the chicken and the egg question?), when you consider that it is all about enhancing the quality of your life.

The Black Sect Tantric Buddhist School of Feng Shui aka Black Hat Feng Shui has an official Theory of Relative Positioning. It states that the closer a part of the environment is to you, the more impact it has on your chi. Since nothing is closer to you than your body and mind, the first step is the understanding that you can change your inner thoughts and belief patterns to those that create a positive, receptive, harmonious energetic flow. This is the art and skill of using your emotions, thoughts, words, intention and attention to strengthen and give power to a positive view of your immediate inner and outer environment and give less attention to those vibrations that weaken your or bring you down. By doing this we create the environment which can attract the kind of love we want.

It is difficult to continually monitor one’s thoughts but with practice it is very do-able. And it is of course easier when everywhere you look in your home you are surrounded by things that uplift your heart and soul. We have often spoken about the need to surround yourself with things you love in order to bring you constant reminders of joy when you look around your home.

Feel the love and beauty that is around you. And one powerful Feng Shui tip to aid you in your quest– pay attention to where your mirrors are positioned and what they are reflecting. Mirrors that face the outside and bring in images of traffic going by or dark corners of the house just bring in more of that energy. Love what is being reflected and your life will become a reflection of love.

So, during this Lunar New Year time continue to work on heightening your thoughts, energy and vibrations. This will only attract more vibrations of love to you.

Continuing the ranking of those environmental areas that affect you and your personal chi are: bed, bedroom, home, yard, neighborhood, city, county, world and the universe.