Home   >   Feng Shui for living   >   Starting the year right

Starting the year right

By on December 30, 2011
New Year
As we cross the threshold from one year to the next, there is a unique opportunity to examine the past and make intentions for the future. While significant change can be made at any time, the collective societal recognition of change being supported as we enter a new year provides a portal that can magnify this energy – though shared misconceptions about ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ can also sabotage our success rate.

Thank you!
The first step in moving towards a desired future is a state of gratitude for what you have in your life. Reviewing your past year and expressing thanks for what worked – and for what didn’t – can help you more cleanly refine your intentions for the future.

Creating from an energy that is based in bitterness, resentment, disappointment, and other negative states will not bring sustainable or desired results. Gratitude begets more situations that will warrant more gratitude.  

Review the last year and be clear with yourself about what worked and what didn’t. For the things that didn’t work, can you acknowledge some learnings from those experiences? If an undesired circumstance has helped you clarify what you will not be doing in the future, it has served a useful purpose and you can be grateful for that. (You can also be grateful that things weren’t worse than they were – they could have been.) For the things that did work, express your gratitude clearly. If you haven’t done so prior to now, how can you? Do it now – don’t just say it, feel it.

Write it down
Making a list of things that you are looking to achieve in different areas of your life can be a supportive way to gain clarity of your goals: the mental precision that such lists provide can help to discern what is important. However, because they are word-based and usually black-and-white (by nature of how writing or typing works), they can be a bit restrictive. I would suggest using a list as a starting point before moving on to another process described below.

Write not only about what you wish to achieve, but about the states of being that you are looking to experience. Quite often (most often, I would say) we associate a certain outerworld achievement with a desired state of being with the notion that it is the accomplishment that we want when it is in fact that state of being that is of primary interest. What is the emotion you would experience? How would you recognize that? Is there somewhere in your body where you would notice that? How would your thoughts be different?

Vision Board
If a picture is worth a thousand words, consider the power of a Vision Board that incorporates multiple images of your envisaged future. The process becomes even deeper when you approach it from a Feng Shui perspective by using images that relate to the life aspirations on the Bagua map historically used in the practice. Because the areas of Career/Life Path, Self-Cultivation & Knowledge, Family & Health, Wealth & Blessings, Fame & Reputation, Love & Partnership, Creativity & Children, and Helpful People & Travel are all universal themes which we express from the center of our being, addressing desired goals and states in all of these areas helps us to focus our intentions more holistically. The image of the Bagua map provided here can provide a basic template: arrange images relating to each theme on your collage paper in the same position found on the map – for example, images relating to Career at the bottom center of the page.  

Out with the old, in with the new
A major step towards bringing new energy into your life is to release that which is outdated. Especially because people receive new possessions at holidays just prior to the New Year, releasing what is no longer fresh, desired, or appropriate is a great way to create space for wonderful new things, circumstances, relationships, emotions, sensations, awarenesses, and other forms of energy. Do your best to purge before New Year’s Day, but if you don’t, don’t let that stop you from engaging with this process at any time. When you release what you no longer need, you will experience less of what you no longer need and create space for what you more deeply desire.

Practice makes perfect
The word ‘try’ is one of the biggest impediments to successful manifestation. It implies that you expect to fail, and when there is a single instance of ‘failure’, you feel ‘better’ because you ‘tried’. Nonsense! Stop trying and start practicing – when you practice, you get stronger, even when you do not do things perfectly. If you have a cigarette when you are practicing not smoking, you get to strengthen your practice – it is not automatically a failure.

Continue practicing. Don’t give up. You can do it. Keep practicing.

May 2012 bring you ever more fulfilling experiences and
states of being.

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.markainley.com

About Mark Ainley

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.senseofspace.com and www.markainley.com.