What can you do to improve your feng shui in 2011? Here are a few simple sorting tips from Feng Shui By Fishgirl that will have a big impact. You don’t have to tackle all of them at once. Babysteps is okay. How about tackling one thing per day? You can stimulate your good ch’i (energy) via altruistic donations or alternative income ideas.
1) Sort through your reading material. Take a look at the piles of newspapers, magazines, and paperback books around your home or office. After you’ve figured out what you want to keep and what you don’t need anymore, organize the keepers. Then recycle newspapers. The magazines and paperbacks can be passed on to friends, to hospitals or nursing homes, etc. You may even want to keep the magazines as “source material” for collages and vision boards (see point 9 below). Alternate moneymaking idea: sell your books through a yard sale or sell/trade online via sites such as Book Mooch.
2) Sort through your closet. This might take longer than one day. You can arrange your closet via color hanging all reds together for example. Or you can arrange by style hanging all pants together, all blouses, etc. Once you have that done you will quickly be able to see what you have available to you to wear. Don’t be surprised if you discover some items you forgot you even had at the back of the rack! Now you’re ready for the next step: sorting through each piece to determine what fits, what you like, and what you want to discard. There are plenty of places to donate your hand-me-downs. Alternate moneymaking idea: you might have some vintage or valuable clothing in good condition to sell via Etsy or a local consignment shop.
3) Sort through your medicine cabinet. For safety and for good health in the new decade, make sure your meds are not well beyond their expiration dates. Even some cough & cold over the counter drugs lose their potency. Ditto old nail polish and makeup. Dispose of properly and make a note of what you need to replace. If you or a loved one recently went through some health issues and you now have unused/unopened medical supplies you can put them to good use via a donation to Med-Eq.
4) Sort through your pantry. Your fridge and kitchen cupboards hold lots of stuff you need to discard. Get rid of spoiled food and food that is well beyond expiration dates, frozen foods beyond 6 months, and anything “suspect”. If you’re changing your diet and have unopened canned goods that are still okay, you might want to consider donating to your local food bank.
6) Sort through your plants. If you keep houseplants, make sure they are thriving and in good health as plants are a direct reflection of good feng shui energy in your space. Toss any stragglers if your thumb ain’t green enough to revive the thrive! Consider buying some abundant green round leaved plants if you don’t already have some.
7) Sort through your address books. Whether you still keep a rolodex like I do, or have your addresses in a database on your computer, hand-held, etc…taking the time to update and discard contacts will serve you well throughout the year.
8) Sort through your receipts. Get ready for tax time. Many of us get overwhelmed by tax season. By going through your pile now, organizing into separate piles of categories, you can then take some of the stress out of preparing your return a couple of months from now.
9) Sort through your goals for 2011. Some might call these new year’s resolutions. I call it a review of what you want to manifest and attract to you. Once you are clear about what your goals are, it’s time to put those ideas into action. One excellent way of doing this is creating a personalized tool known as a vision board or a treasure map. Click the link to the left to go to the guest post by astrologer Tracy Abbot Cook on the treasure mapping process.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Feng Shui By Fishgirl 