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Wall Pictures Tell Your Story

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Wall Pictures Tell Your Story
By Alice Inoue

According to Feng Shui, what types of pictures should I have my home?

The types of pictures you have in your home should depict something with a positive message. Many people don’t realize it but the pictures you have on your wall are “speaking” to you, constantly pouring the energy of what is depicted in those pictures into your home. The more time you spend time there, the more your subconscious picks up the pictures’ messages.

Do you have pictures that depict desolation, emptiness, loneliness, turbulence, and fatigue, or do you have images that depict life force, abundance, vitality, peace, and harmony? I’ve noticed that there are often times correlations between what is going on in people’s lives and what is on their walls.

Pictures: A consultation story

My most memorable consultation involved a man in his mid-forties, who had been divorced for seven years, and thought feng shui might help him find a relationship – the only thing he felt was lacking in his life. He mentioned that he had minimal opportunities to meet women, and those he did meet seemed to “take off,” sometimes for other men and sometimes for other cities.

Observation of the space

In feng shui, the bedroom represents relationships, so that was where I anticipated most of our feng shui work would be done. When I walked into the bedroom, the most interesting things in the room were the two pictures on the wall.

Pictures tell a story

The first picture, placed directly over his bed, was a large photo of dried, cracked earth. It looked desolate and grey, lacking any feeling of life. On the other wall, which he could see while lying in bed, was a picture of an airplane taking off. The two pictures specifically reflected what he said to me in his living room: he had a lack of women in his life (black and white photo of dry earth), and the women he did meet seemed to “take off” (airplane taking off)!
I suggested that he display pictures that represent relationship energy, such as, items shown in pairs, and images depicting vibrancy, life force, abundance, and love. I also suggested that he decorate his bedroom to make it as warm and welcoming as the rest of his home.

Use your walls for energetic support

Take a look at the images on your own walls. If they remind you of a time you would rather forget or from which you would like to move forward, or if they emit the kind of energy you do not want around you, then take them down and find pictures with inspiring energy, and hang those. When in doubt about what to hang, pictures showing nature, landscapes, happiness, vitality, favorite places, and cherished items are a great place to start. Commit to using your walls not just as structural support, but as energetic support as well!

About the Author

Alice Inoue is a life guide that uses the modalities of feng shui, astrology and spirituality in her work. Her offerings include award-winning, mind-body-spirit themed books, as well as a series of feng shui instructional DVD’s. For more information visit www.aliceinspired.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive monthly articles on feng shui, astrology and life wisdom.

*Image courtesy of ©istockphoto.com/aliceinoue.*

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Making Your Bedroom a Romantic Retreat

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Making Your Bedroom a Romantic Retreat

by DeAnna Radaj, Bante Design LLC

One of the most frequently asked questions DeAnna gets is “How can I add more ROMANCE to my bedroom w/out it being all red & pink, or looking like something out of the Playboy Mznsion?” It is very easy to utilize basic Feng Shui and interior design principles into your bedroom to create the “perfect” atmosphere for rest AND romance.

First off, you should locate the “RELATIONSHIP” area of your home and/or bedroom. This area is the FAR RIGHT corner of the home/room when standing at the doorway looking into the space. This is the area you really want to pay attention to if you’d like to attract/keep relationship in your life. (It should also be noted that relationships can mean friendships or business partnerships as well, however, for the purpose of this article, we are referring to romantic relationships). This area should feature items in TWOS-think a couple. If things are displayed in ONES (solitary) or in THREES (a third person will come between you and your partner literally or figuratively) change it! It is common for a single person to primarily have things displayed in this very way – CHANGE IT!

Think romance. This will differ for each person-what’s romantic for me, might not mean romance for you. Here you can place romantic pictures, fabrics, flowers…create a romantic vignette. For an older client in her bedroom: DeAnna placed a small table with 2 small chairs in her romance area. DeAnna then set a “romantic tableau” with 2 candles, roses and a picture of an Irish landscape. She had traveled to Ireland and thought it was the most beautiful place she had ever visited. She then lit the candles every night before she went to bed to increase or “bring light” to her intention of bringing more romance into her life. A few months later she started seeing a gentleman socially and is very happy.

Color also plays a part in this area. Use RED if you are in a committed/legal relationship, PINK if you are single and looking to attract a relationship or PEACH/CORAL if you are single and looking, but not for a relationship (be careful w/peach!). It should be noted that any tone, tint or shade of the above mentioned colors would work. Bring the color in with flowers, fabric, artwork, candles…be creative.

In Feng Shui, the relationship area is represented by EARTH energy. Items made from the earth symbolize this: tile, stone, terra cotta…or by earth tones or square shaped items. Look at this area to see if any of the above is visible in this area. If it is and you are still having problems, add FIRE energy. In the productive cycle (increasing) of Feng Shui, fire produces earth. Therefore, by adding FIRE you will be boosting the EARTH energy of the relationship area. To bring in FIRE add candles (!), pictures of famous couples or triangular shaped items. An example of this is: 2 pink/red candles-lit in a square holder. Easy!

The bedroom in general should be a place of refuge and sanctuary from the rest of the world. There should be no TVs, computers or exercise equipment in this room! There should only be 2 things going on in the bedroom and watching TV or working on the computer is not on the list. If you can’t move these items to another location, cover them with a screen or fabric panels to disguise them. Also, lie down in your bed and look at what you see from this position. This is, subconsciously, the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see before you drift off to sleep – make sure the view is good! Is it the bathroom? Close the door. Is it a blank wall? Hang some artwork. Get the idea? Speaking of artwork, the bedroom is not the place for pictures of your kids, family and/or friends – the only people in pictures should be of you and your current partner! No old boyfriends please! Again, you don’t want “outside disturbances” bothering you in your private, romantic sanctuary!

The bedroom is also a place to splurge and really treat yourself. Buy the most expensive sheets, blankets and pillow that you can afford. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping so you should get the most out of it. Plus, a high thread count cotton sheet lasts longer and is softer and offers more comfort than it’s cheaper, low thread count cotton/poly blends. Buy organic cotton if possible if allergies or environmental sensitivities or concerns are an issue. These are available at most large bedding stores and comparable in price.

Clutter should not exist in this room – PERIOD. Anyone who has ever taken one of DeAnna’s workshops knows the dangers and ills of clutter and what chaos it causes, however, here in the bedroom, where you are trying to establish peace and calm – clutter does not fit. The rules again are: if you don’t use, wear it or love it, get rid of it. It doesn’t matter how much it costs or who gave it to you, it isn’t doing you any good sitting in the closet or (heaven forbid) under the bed. Donate it so someone who can use it, wear it or love it can have it. Clutter also collects dust and is hard to maintain-again, counter productive to the mood of the bedroom. This example has come more times than DeAnna cares to admit exist: knife and gun collections in the bedroom. This is a no-brainer – get them out of this room if you must have them. Knives and guns symbolize violence and (again) are not part of romance. If there is absolutely no other place for them, place them securely in a closet, not under the bed. Think of what this symbolizes whether you are romantically involved or not.

Lastly, if you’ve done all of these things and this area still isn’t working for you…check the floor plan of your home/bedroom and see if there is a missing corner. Your home/rooms should be square or rectangular. However, due to additions or attached garages, the home is L-shaped, thusly, there is a missing area. Check if this is the case and if the missing area is the relationship area. This was the case for another client. Her home, due to a kitchen expansion, now had no relationship area. This is an easy fix though! DeAnna really worked on the bedroom to make it a romantic sanctuary for her. Then they went outside and symbolically created a corner to square off the house with a bird feeder and some garden statuary and flowers. Three weeks after she did this, she met someone whom she started dating. They just got engaged this Christmas and are getting married! Now, if Feng Shui totally responsible? Maybe, maybe not. However, creating the intention of romance and bringing forth the feelings that this is what you want in your life and consciously making an effort to do so by manipulating your environment is.

About the Author

Please visit the Bante Design website at www.bantedesign.com. If you’d like to schedule a design consultation, please don’t hesitate to contact DeAnna at info@bantedesign.com.

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