by llenore | Jan 6, 2014 | Uncategorized
One of the many Chinese customs I’ve adopted since I learned about it through my studies of Feng Shui is the preparation of the kitchen to greet the New Year. Since the kitchen is the area where food is stored and prepared for ingestion into our bodies, it symbolizes a key factor in the health and well-being of the household. The kitchen is also associated with the abundance of life, so treating it with respect is also a major focus.
The simple tasks at hand are to clean the refrigerator and make sure all staples are new in order to have a “fresh start” for the year.
Getting rid of the old staples in your kitchen and replacing them with fresh ones is a great way to focus your energy on a healthy start for the New Year.
Clean the refrigerator.
This means to clear out all leftover foods so there is nothing left from the previous year. We don’t want to ingest “last year’s” energy. Get rid of the ham, turkey and main course foods. Check the bottles and jars of items you have used like mustard, pickles and olives. Try to use them up during the days preceding New Year’s Day. Give them away if you can’t use them up. Since “food banks” usually don’t take items that have been opened, check to see if there is an elderly person in the neighborhood who would love to use them. Your “last year’s” energy item is someone else’s “new” item.
While going through all these items, place them on a counter and clean each shelf and drawer. Go through the freezer to remove all items with freezer burn and other out-dated products. Having a clean refrigerator and freezer sets the stage for having the central storage or appliance in “optimum” order, symbolic of a healthy “heart” of the kitchen.
To establish the foundation for health, we are going to do a similar task with the four staples – flour, salt, sugar and rice. Again, we are going to get rid of all open bags and containers of these four products. And, again, a neighbor or needy family would be a great recipient. I will admit I sometimes make a very large batch of hummingbird food with my sugar in order to use it up. The other items I find homes who would benefit from this gift.
Since you most probably are going to be needing these staples, take a trip to your store to purchase them within a few days before the New Year. Just don’t start using them until after the year starts.
If you have a dear friend or know of a family that might not be able to financially afford all of these, you might consider buying multiples. “Gifting” them a New Year’s Gift Basket of staples with a written note to explain this tradition can be a wonderful, yet rather inexpensive, way to start the New Year with a focus on love and health.
A toast – “Here’s to the four foundational staples and corners of health (flour, salt, sugar and rice,) and to the a clean and healthy heart (refrigerator) of your kitchen!”
by llenore | Jan 2, 2014 | Uncategorized
A wonderful New Year awaits us filled with promise, but are you helping the Universe know what you would like? If not, start giving it some thought and be ready to do specific tasks during the next few weeks to change the cellular memory of your physical, mental, emotional and physical bodies.
“Why the next few weeks?” you might ask. Because there are things you can do to help sway the energy in your favor when done with intention as you approach the “New Year” and as well as on “New Year’s Day.” As I mentioned yesterday, even though the Western New Year is passed, we can focus on the Chinese New Year, which this year starts on January 31.
Specifically I want you to think of all the things you want to do and achieve during this next year. To help set the energy for some of these, you might be doing something specific to your desires actually “on” New Year’s Day or definitely NOT “on” New Year’s Day. For others, you may need to do something before New Year’s Day. Still others will require you do something both before the start of the New Year and on New Year’s Day.
We’re going to be doing everything possible including using our body, mind and speech to enhance our intentions. There are some simple rituals or awareness-building tasks we will be doing. So put on your thinking cap.
Empowering words from one of my vision boards to support me in remembering to be “rooted” or “grounded” as well as spreading my roots to give strength and encouragement to all I meet each day in my life.
Just to give you a few ideas –
Do you want to have more financial serenity in your life? Do you want a new love in your life? Is your career or business heading in the direction you want? Are your relationships fun and fulfilling? Are you as healthy as you’d like to be?
Start looking for images of your desired life this next year. Find them on the Internet or magazines. Or create them yourself. Cut them out and then paste them on a lightweight board, or paper, making a “vision board” or “treasure map.”
Collages are fun when you first start making vision boards. There are so many choices and possibilities. But not for this intentional exercise!
Don’t put too many things on it! Be selective! We want to focus – narrow our vision – to make the most of this experience.
Come back tomorrow for more ideas to create a fabulous New Year!
by llenore | Jan 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Since my introduction to Feng Shui 30 years ago, I have learned more about the rituals and traditions of different cultures, especially how they use intentions to attract the type of energy each person wants to experience in the coming New Year while deflecting negative energy or minimizing those things in life we’d rather not be doing or on which to focus.
Many of the rituals and traditions are done before the New Year starts, which means you are too late to incorporate them for this year – 2014 – right? Actually, there is hope because the Chinese New Year doesn’t start until January 31, 2014, when the Year of the Horse begins.
Cleaning a mirror allows for a clearer vision of the present. Cleaning windows in specific directions of the home focuses our attention to the past and future.
In fact, I’ve actually found it hard to follow several of the Asian traditions for starting the “new year” off right due to the way our Western society does so many things. For instance, paying off all your bills by the end of the year. Since many of us make purchases via credit cards, we often don’t even have the statement by the end of the year much less have it paid off.
Another challenge I personally have relates to the ritual of clearing out the refrigerator of all leftovers so as not to ingest “last year’s” energy. This simply cannot be done in my house.
My husband grew up in the South and the traditional food faire for the New Year’s Day dinner called “Hoppin’ John” is black-eyed peas (for luck), rice (for health), collard greens (for prosperity), cornbread (for delicious eating and in honor of the traditional grain of the Americas) and baked ham – LEFTOVER from Christmas!
So what I started to do about 10 years ago was to incorporate as many rituals and traditions as possible between the two New Year celebration dates. Some I’m able to do for both the Western New Year on January 1 and the Chinese New Year, which varies based on the cycle of the New Moon.
For the next week or so I am going to be sharing various ways you might want to usher in the New Year, whether it be Western or Asian. These will be ideas to support you with the desires you hold in your heart and mind.
For instance, today I cleaned a window facing West, a window facing East and a mirror. The symbology of these is for clarity of vision – the past, the present and the future.
I’ll explain more about symbology as well as the reasons behind several of the traditions. Plus I’ll give you many other ideas I’ve learned and implemented in my own life to enhance your focus for manifesting the life of your dreams.
Start thinking about what you want. There are so many possibilities in life, let’s dream BIG DREAMS! If I don’t mention a plan or ritual to support yours, please contact me and I’ll help you with it.
Here’s to a fabulous New Year – both now on the Western New Year – January 1, 2014 – and again on January 31, 2014 – the Chinese Year of the Horse!
