How to make your strengths shine! {Monthly Bagua Focus}
In this month of May (the last day we have left!) I share with you specific ways to be better recognized for your strengths--the things you are good at--the fame, reputation and recognition you experience in your life.
What does this have to do with your space, decluttering or designing a stress-free home? I’m so glad you asked!
One of my favorite tools in Feng Shui is called the Bagua Map. It is a map you lay over the floor-plan of your home that will tell you which areas of your space relate to which areas of your life.
The Fame & Recognition area of your home is the back, center, third (often opposite your front door, if that is front and center). If you’re not sure how to place the Bagua Map over your home, check out this introductory blog post (it includes access to the pdf shown above).
Why is it helpful to know what area of your home relates to a particular area of your life? Good question. Because then, when you struggle in some area of your life--the way we all do from time to time--you can look specifically at that area of your home to see if the energy is stuck or stagnant, to see if there are things reflected there that you don’t want reflected in that area of your life (like a whole lot of clutter).
For example: If you feel like you are determined in your work, like you know what you want to accomplish and you do what is necessary to hit your goals. And yet… even though you are driven, hard working and have a lot going for you, you aren’t making the connections you need to, you aren’t being recognized or rewarded for your strengths.
For a client who was feeling that way, I would expect to see some “opportunities" in the Fame & Recognition area of their home...
There might be closets that are jam-packed with no room for new opportunities. There might be photographs or reminders of people in your life who weren’t as successful as they wanted to be, or who (you believe) feel you should be more successful than you are. There might be things that hold you back from thriving in this area of your life--specifically things that don’t bring you joy, that don’t reflect the person you want to be. There might be a lot of water energy drowning out the fiery energy you want in the Fame & Recognition area (more on this later).
There is so much your home can tell you about why you are stuck in the areas you struggle in in your life and how to ease those areas for a more fulfilling day-to-day experience.
The Bagua Map is something I use as a diagnostic tool with my clients when they are struggling in one area of life or another.
Today I share with you the specific qualities of the Fame & Recognition area, and what colors, materials, images and objects you can use in your home to help enhance this area of your life.
One of my very favorite parts of Feng Shui is how it overlaps with the world of interior design and narrows down your choices so that decision about your home decor are EASY. Thinking of painting a particular room? Need a new piece of furniture? Want to move your existing furniture around? Have no idea where to start? Today, I clearly outline for you how to make those decisions within the Fame & Recognition area of your home.
While there is infinite depth in the ancient traditions of Feng Shui, I thrive at taking that depth of knowledge and condensing it for you into easy to digest actions you can take in your own home. Take a look at the all new Tip Sheet below for easy ways to shift your space to make your strengths shine!!
To begin…
There is an element associated with each Gua (life area).
FIRE
is the element associated with the Fame & Reputation area.
Fire is transformative, active (yang) and quickly focuses energy. It represents the merging of heavenly forces, mother-earth and human-kind. It is constantly moving, flickering, reaching for greater heights (the merging of the spiritual realm with the mental and physical).
Red and bright orange (and all the colors of fire) are associated with the Fame area.
Use fiery reds in your Fame & External Recognition area to activate energy or create momentum in that area of your life.
Don’t want to incorporate fiery reds into your decor in the back center area of your home? You can also use shapes, images and objects that represent fire.
SHAPE: The triangle with its three points is associated with the fire element (think about the shape of flames licking up into the air).
IMAGES: Utilize images that have three of something, or that incorporate triangles.
OBJECTS: Place three objects together to represent the points of the triangle and bring fiery energy into the Fame of your life.
Every element has a supporting element as well. When you feel like the Fame & Recognition area of your life could use some added support, you can also utilize the supporting element
Wood is the element that supports fire. Think of feeding a fire with wood.
Feel free to use as much green (a color of growth) and tree bark brown, as well as columnar shapes in the Fame & Recognition area to help feed the fiery energy.
In addition to helpful or supportive elements for particular areas of your home, there are also colors and elements to avoid.
(Don’t worry about keeping all this new information in your head! Scroll down for the all new Tip Sheet: How to Make Your Strengths Shine!)
Earth energy DRAINS Fire energy (fire turns to ash once the wood is consumed). This means it is best to avoid the colors, images and shapes that represent EARTH in your Fame & Recognition area as it can drain the energy of growth.
AVOID: Earth tones (yellows, dirt orange and brown), square shapes
Water energy CONTROLS (douses) Fire and thus should be avoided in order to allow your external recognition to thrive. In general, you want to avoid representations of Water in your Fame area including blues and blacks and wavy, fluid shapes.
AVOID: Blues & Blacks, Wavy Shapes
In all of these ways you can intentionally enhance your reputation, or how you are recognized for the things that you are good at--something we all want in our lives.
Whatever your style, there are many ways to utilize the fire and wood elements and the colors and shapes associated in order to provide the energy and upward momentum you need in the Fame & Reputation area of your life.
Take a look at the artwork in your Fame & Recognition area. Does it represent what you want in that area of your life? Play around with it. Have fun! How can you incorporate the energies of Fire and Wood into YOUR Fame & Reputation area of your home?
In recognition,
:) Tenaya
P.S. Rest assured, I’ve boiled the basic concepts down for you in a Tip Sheet! Enter your email address below and I’ll send the Tip Sheet: How to Make Your Strengths Shine directly to your inbox for you to refer to or put up on the fridge!
