5 Feng Shui Tips Anybody Can Use

Feng Shui is the ancient art of arranging your living space in an aesthetically pleasing and soft environment that will enliven your living experience. It's pronounced, by the way, "Fung Shway." I don't know why it's not just spelled that way, but I guess the phonetically incorrect spelling adds to its mystery.

Feng Shui has been practiced for thousands of years. Not by anybody I know, but I'm told that Tibetan Buddists used the practice to create serenity, peace, harmony and all that other-worldly jazz to their already enlightened existence.

You too, can enhance your life with the practice of Feng Shui. Or you can use it as a ploy to deflect from the fact that you're broke and can't afford decent furniture. Either way, here are some things you'll need to know about in order to make the correct Feng Shui statement in your humble abode in order of importance.

1-Clean Air: Apparently breathing is very important in the art of Feng Shui, in which case you already have a leg up on the practice. Your personal space should be surrounded by purified air. It is recommended that an air purifier be placed in your home to sanctify your oxygen. Or, if you don't have the space or the inclination at least move your smelly gym shoes to the back of the closet and spray some of Dr. Singha's Feng Shui Air Detox around. Now breathe in. If that didn't kill you, move on to number two.

2-Position: Your furniture should all be facing the door to the room. This is a practice started by our ancestors who domiciled in caves. I'm sure it would have been unwise of them to ignore the cave entrance lest a snaggletooth tiger enter and make a tasty meal out of them. They must have strategically placed their rocks in all of the proper areas. Luckily, snaggletooth tigers aren't a big threat these days but you'll want to face the energy flow in your room as it drifts in and out.

3-Unclutter: Old pizza boxes, flat bicycle tires, your Star Wars action figure collection are all taking up valuable space that could be a home to positive energy. Keep only those objects in the room that are absolute necessities and give the rest of it to your cousin Herbie. He's a big slob anyway and he wouldn't know Feng Shui if it bit him on his third chakra.

4-Colors: The colors in your room determine the type of energy therein. Chose for yourself a color (or colors) that represent one of the five elements of Feng Shui in order to expose yourself to the type of energy you would prefer . For instance:
Fire- (red, orange, yellow) for passion, danger and higher energy.
Metal- (white, gray, silver, gold) for clarity and balance.
Water- (blue, black) for freshness and abundance.
Wood- (green, brown) for health and wealth.
Earth- (pale yellow, beige) for a stable atmosphere.

5-Symbols: Surround yourself with symbols of wealth, health and happiness to invite and allow all the best energies to enter your life. So, remove your dirty underwear from your bowling trophies, dust off your diploma and water your plants once in a while. Replace that poster of Pamela Lee with photos of Norman Schwarzkopf. The objects you look at constantly influence your energy field and your thinking processes. If you want to be successful, say so with your décor.

That is only the tip of the Feng Shui iceberg but it should be enough information to start you on the road to decorating nirvana. When you feel you're ready to take on the next level of enlightenment we'll move on to ethereal window treatments and possibly the art of magic carpeting.