by llenore | Jan 14, 2024 | Balance, Beauty, Blog, Calm, Chinese New Year, Color, Dreams, Feng Shui, Health, Interior Design, Mindfulness, Sacred Space, Self Care, Spiritual, Visions - visioning - Vision Boards
Step 6: Aromatherapy and Positive Energy Infusion (10 minutes)
Aromatherapy image & products by West Elm
As our transformative journey continues, immerse your home with the soothing scents of aromatherapy, one that is carefully orchestrated blending Western wellness trends and traditional purification practices.
In just 10 minutes, infuse your living space with the refreshing aroma of citrus or the calming essence of lavender. As these fragrances delicately permeate your home, negative energy dissipates, leaving behind a profound sense of clarity and renewal.
This intentional act ensures that your home transcends the realms of the physical and becomes a sanctuary of positive energy, aligning seamlessly with the very essence of the Chinese New Year. The fragrances linger not only in the air, but also become an integral part of the very essence of your living space.
A vase filled with roses in all their glorious colors brings fragrance and the Five Elements of CTM to create balance. Also, it adds the personal touch to make your home uniquely yours!
Bringing in natures’ natural scents, like a vase of roses or boughs of pine, connects you and your space to the elements of Mother Earth. They create an environment that not only promotes well-being; it exudes an aura of balance since it encompasses the Five Elements of Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM); the elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. This step continues our journey, contributing to the ongoing positive transformation of your living space.
#AromaHarmony #SacredScents
Next Stop: Invoking Prosperity with Part 7
Step 7: Invoking Prosperity with Personal Touches (20 minutes)
Our journey unfolds as we delve into the realm of personal touches to invoke prosperity.
In just 20 minutes, infuse your living space with elements that hold personal significance and meaning. It could be a cherished piece of artwork, a family heirloom, flowers from your garden or the Farmer’s Market, or items that resonate with your aspirations for the dreams you hold in your heart. These personal touches add a layer of uniqueness to your home, deepening the connection between your space and your personal journey.
As you strategically place these items, visualize them as anchors for the prosperity you seek. This final segment is a culmination of our efforts. It allows you to personalize your space in a way that aligns your head, heart, and hands with your goals and dreams – a powerful tool to start the Chinese New Year.
Dreams you hold in a jar called your heart!
#PersonalizedProsperity #HomeAsAnAltar
In embracing the rich tapestry of Chinese New Year traditions with a Western twist, these Feng Shui tips are thoughtfully curated for the dynamic, busy woman seeking a harmonious home. In just a few hours, you can successfully transform your living space into a sanctuary of joy, balance, and prosperity. May your home beautifully reflect the intricacies of your unique journey in the Year of the Wood Dragon!
#HomeHarmony #ChineseNewYearDecor #YearOfTheWoodDragon #WoodDragon #ChineseNewYear2024
by llenore | Dec 13, 2023 | Blog, Feng Shui, Good Life, Health, Linda Lenore, Reflect You, Uncategorized
What Works Wednesday –
Towels soaking up the water on the floor
Well, I can tell you what doesn’t work – the cold-water faucet of my washing machine! Out-of-the-blue, without any warning, it broke yesterday!
Why am I writing about this? What does this broken pipe and plumbing have to do with a post where I usually have a photo of a room?
Because there is a deeper connection between our health, our homes, our bodies, and our lives than you may know.
The short explanation is:
Every part of our home represents a part of our body. If something breaks or needs repair in the home, there is a good chance an occupant of the home may be experiencing a health issue related to the corresponding part of the home.
One reason I often share about fixing up the front door to attract “good chi” is because that area of the house represents the mouth, nose, and face of the humans living there. (Actually, animals can also be affected). If you aren’t getting enough good energy to the front door, it’s as though you aren’t able to speak, breath, face people, communicate with them, or even the simple gesture of a smile might be missing in your life.
Here’s the story of the current situation around health issues and the symbolism of our home. I’m going to keep this as simple as I can while making the point.
Many of you know I asked for prayers for my husband and brother a couple of months ago. Both are doing better. Thank you for your prayers.
My husband was having problems breathing while on our vacation. Tests showed he was severely anemic. But what the underlying cause creating this health problem is still unknown. Yesterday he had some medical procedures done pertaining to the gastrointestinal tract.
The cracked/broken cold-water pipe
That part of the body equates to plumbing in the house. Part of the procedure for my husband was the insertion of a pill-sized camera into the intestinal tract. We got home and he took a nap. When he woke up, he checked the monitor of the camera. It was working perfectly. About 20 minutes later he looked and saw it wasn’t working.
Within a 15-minute timeframe the monitor of the camera stopped working and we heard water dripping. The threaded part of the cold-water faucet of the washing machine cracked, allowing water to start dripping. (Sidenote – the washer was not running and was last used 3 days ago.)
A plumber arrived within 40 minutes. He turned off the water to the house. When he TOUCHED the faucet, it snapped off. If the water hadn’t been turned off – or worse still, the washing machine was running – water would have burst all over the laundry! It was that close to bursting on its own.
Now I don’t know exactly what the final outcome of any of this will be, but I do know they are related if only by time. If this were the first story, or only story, like this it would be one thing.
BUT…
This is one of dozens of stories where the house and an occupant’s health show up at the same time.
The broken cold-water faucet removed and sheetrock cut open to reveal the extent of the situation. Water mitigation, drying the walls, and assessing the situation are the next steps.
I have an eBook I will be making available to you for free very soon. I had planned to have it available 2 months ago, but “life happens.” Maybe this whole intestinal camera, monitor, dripping faucet, and snapped pipe to the washer needed to happen simultaneously so I would write this blog, you would read it, and realize you want the eBook with more details on the symbolism of your built environment and your body. Who knows?
One thing I know, I’m calling this a BLESSING.
Why you might ask?
Because if any of this had happened differently, we might not have been home, the washing machine could have been running, I might have been outside or running errands and not been around for hours!
Worse still, we might have been on a 2-week vacation. The water could have gone through the whole house wreaking all floors, walls, cabinets, etc. If that had happened, our well pump would have been running constantly and possibly burned out. I could go on-and-on.
With that said, I’m not saying I’m happy it happened during the holidays. It’s a blessing it happened the way it did. Now I just need to see where this takes us and how it fits into the Feng Shui health of body, mind, spirit, and environment.
“Stay turned” as this situation unveils itself.
by llenore | Oct 25, 2023 | Beauty, Better Life, Blog, Color, Feng Shui, Good Life, Healing Hearts, Health, Interior Design, Journaling, Linda Lenore, Mind's Eye, Optimistic, Scary Times, Self Care, Spiritual, Visions - visioning - Vision Boards, Wellness, You are the LIGHT
Here’s what I did
The Artist’s Way – The book that started my journaling journey!
- I started to read empowering books and magazines. (This was long before any electronic readers were available. Coaches, especially Mindset Coaches, were very rare and not in my immediate SOI – Sphere of Influence.
- I came across Julia Cameron’s book, The Artists Way. It talked about journaling and doing “Morning Pages.” This worked for me. I started to be more optimistic. I was “dumping” the negative thoughts and worries onto a hand-written page. After about a week of this I couldn’t handle the negative writing and started writing about how I wanted to be well, walk again, and be able to do all the activities I loved.
- I had learned about Feng Shui about 10 years before. In Feng Shui we learned about the interconnectedness of the home and the body. Since the diagnosis was unknown, all I could do was look at what had been visible – in and on my body – and what my symptoms were.
-
- The rash was on the skin and the skin is the outside of the house. I knew the paint on my house was peeling in places. I had someone come and fix it.
Area where the sheetrock was torn because the doorframe had been removed to move the washer & dryer out of the laundry room.
- My knees wouldn’t bend. Those are the “joints.” I had someone fix the joints where the sheetrock seams were located, which had been broken when the previous owner tore out the door in order to remove the washer and dryer from the laundry room. (The reason those joints had not been fixed before I bought the house was because I had bought the home “as is” out of desperation during the divorce.)
- I continued the process by changing my thoughts from “symptoms” and “poor me” to my desired outcomes! I saw myself wearing beautiful shoes again and having the ability to dress up, go out of the house, and enjoy the beauty of life. I wanted to see the sunlight from outside, to wear bright colors, and dance. Then in my mind’s eye I saw a stained-glass window with all the colors of the rainbow. I saw where it had to go in the house.
Before photo of living room when we started the remodeling. – Living room sheet rock removal 4-27-05
- From that point on my mind was on a creative journey. I wrote daily about visions I saw for the house. The visions looked at every part of the home, finding what was wrong or broken or didn’t work for me. These visions included ways to change it, making it beautiful.
Years before I was guided to name my company, A Beautiful Center of Light. During this time the real birthing of my company into a material form occurred. This process showed all the things I needed to change in my home and what to do.
I didn’t know how I was going to pay for any of the work. I didn’t know how this was going to heal my body.
But… the process healed my body! And the money came to do the work on the house.
The multi-colored stained-glass window placed in the living room where I saw it in my Mind’s Eye years before!
They still don’t know what I had or what caused my illness. It really doesn’t matter now. What does matter is I learned how our home is an extension of us. We are connected to it and it to us.
I continued to journal for many years and then stopped. When I went back to reading my journals, I decided I wasn’t going to do any more writing like that. It was so negative and depressing. I tossed the journals because I never wanted anyone to see how far down the dark hole I had gone. They contained an energy I needed to release from my body at that time, not keep to remember or share.
Closeup – Multi-colored Stained glass window
Journaling has helped many people and may be exactly what you need and want to do. It definitely did help me. But the journals themselves were not something I wanted to keep in my space once I was healed.
If you’d like to learn more about the connection between our body and our home, I’ve written an eBook on this called, HOME: A Reflection of SELF! Check my website for a free copy of it or contact me to receive it.
I think you will find the information fascinating and helpful!
by llenore | Oct 24, 2023 | Fear, Feng Shui, Health, Independence, Linda Lenore, Optimistic, Scary Times, Self Care, Uncategorized, Wellness
Navigating your own health challenges can be one of the scariest seasons.
Baked sweets containing sugar contributed to my many health issues.
This might be for a few reasons: 1. It often commands we address how we might have contributed to the cause of the health issues, 2. It brings up any issues we have regarding independence, and 3. It sometimes makes us confront our own mortality.
As a child, I was sick most of the time. As I’ve gotten older – and wiser – I’ve discovered I am highly allergic to sugar. My mom was always baking cookies, pies, cakes, etc., that I loved to eat! They all contained massive amounts of sugar. My body reacted with sore throats, sinus infections, and pneumonia.
At the time I didn’t know any better. Through trial and error I discovered this allergy. Now I stay away from those sweets knowing what the result will be.
Fear of loosing independence
About a year before my mother died, I became aware she couldn’t balance her checkbook. Then she couldn’t find things and forgot whether she had eaten or not. I had to find what was called a nursing home at that time. Although she couldn’t remember many things, she knew she was being moved from her home. Many seniors have this fear about loosing their independence.
Often an illness will occur for which there is no known logical reason. How should a person handle those situations? The answer: It depends! It depends on many things.
Let me share how I coped with one of mine.
Water-Babies & Moon-Faces
One morning I noticed a few red patches around both my elbows. The next day they had spread, plus there were now the same type of red rash around my knees. The following day it had spread to most of my arms and legs. I got an appointment to see my doctor, a gynecologist, the next day. When I awakened, I was having trouble moving and could barely walk.
Prednisone induced Moon Face
When she saw me, she immediately asked the neighboring dermatologist to fit me in. Biopsies were taken without any answers. By the time they got the results back (which had no conclusive answers), I couldn’t walk and was told I probably would never walk again!
Massive doses of prednisone were prescribed and taken. Slowly I was able to move a little. I started doing water exercises. I lasted 3 visits, then quit!
The reason wasn’t that I couldn’t do it. It was I couldn’t handle being in that environment!!!
Every one of the people in the group were unbelievably negative. They joked about “moon-faces” because the prednisone caused our faces to be big, fat, and round looking, like the moon. They only talked about how horrible they felt and how they felt more worse as time went on. AND they were accepting and integrating into their lives the words they were using to describe themselves.
I couldn’t stand their depression and lack of optimism.
Tomorrow I will continue with what I did to support my own healing.
by llenore | Oct 19, 2023 | Feng Shui, Health, Interior Design, Linda Lenore, Self Care
Get help – It takes a village
Now we’ll focus on a few things for you!
- Get help – lots of it! I was fortunate to have my daughter & son-in-love living with us at the time. We all had our chores or ways we helped. My son did the yard and cooking. My daughter took care of Hilory’s business and the house. I did my business and took Hilory to appointments. It takes a “village” to take care of someone just like it takes a “village to raise a child!” Create your tribe or village!
- Find something you love and are passionate about that you can do during this time. This ONE THING I think saved me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in this situation.
I needed to create handouts for an interior design class I was teaching. What happened after about the 7th day was mind-blowing! I realized I needed to write a book. I allowed spirit to take over and I was its muse. Words poured out of me easily. The handouts became the book, The Gift of the Red Envelope. I wrote for all but 2 days of the 42 days of radiation (I took Good Friday and Easter off).
Think positive thoughts!
3. I was so connected to spirit I couldn’t have a negative thought!
This is one of the most important things I can share with you!!!
Only be around positive people! People who believe miracle happen! People who hold good thoughts!
That’s when I learned, “We can’t afford the luxury of any negative thoughts!” That’s when I realized I had followed the plan that was set in motion for me to provide me with the SELFCARE TOOLS I needed to make it through this horrific time.
These were SCARY TIMES! I had numerous “talks” with my Creator on many levels. My emotions were all over the map – from anger, begging, fear, to hope, etc.
- My question to you would be –
Follow Your Soul! It knows
If you are in the mist of scary times, what could you give all your energy and focus – to give your body, mind, and spirit – to create?
I think that is one of the greatest SELFCARE tools you can have.
- Another tip –
Help them find a dream 20 years out to focus on where you both are doing something together! It could be seeing a child (or grandchild) graduate or get married. It might be traveling on a long-desired vacation. Maybe it’s buying a dream home, car, or airplane.
If they can get deeply emotionally attached to the dream or desire, their brain starts figuring out how they are going to be able to do it, shifting any negative thoughts.
- Use Feng Shui. Find the corresponding location of the health issue in the home.
Ba-Gua
I’ve often felt helpless during a loved ones’ health challenge. It can be devastating. I’ve found if I change or clean up an area of the house that correlates to the affected area of the person’s body, it shifts the energy for me, the person, and the home.
For instance, with Hilory and his throat cancer, I cleared the boxes that were blocking the hallway because the hallway is associated with the “throat” of the home.
I’ve written an eBook on this called, HOME: A Reflection of SELF! Check my website for a free copy of it.
A few examples are: 1) the doors represent the mouth, and the windows represent the eyes, 2) bone issues could be the wood studs or framing of the home, 3) even the various systems like heating and plumbing represent things like our arteries and lungs.
Change it, fix it, beautify it! Find something that needs to be done with the home in the associated area of the body. In the process, you’ll shift any negative energy in the person’s body while improving your home’s energy.
#SelfCare #Self-care #BodyMindSpiritHealth #HealBodyMindSpirit #TheHealingDesigner
by llenore | Oct 18, 2023 | Better Life, Healing Hearts, Health, Linda Lenore, Scary Times, Self Care
Let Your Light Shine (Candle), Be Grounded (Stones). Grow Gently and Bloom with the Journey (Leaves & Flower)
What is Self-Care? For each person and their situation, it can be something different.
Self-Care seems to be the new buzz word, yet women have known what they need to do intuitively. The challenge has always been, will we take the time and do the steps to take care of ourselves.
In our day-to-day life women have many roles and responsibilities. Throw in something unforeseen, especially something dealing with our health or the health of a loved one, and it can throw our lives out of balance. For many it’s hard to step out of the “caregiver” role and into self-care mode, at least it has been hard for me.
But let me share a few examples from my life in these next few posts. In some cases, I discovered I had done exactly what I needed to do “after the fact.” In others, it was somewhat planned. There are many tips for all parts of your life in these stories!
Over 25 years ago my now husband, Hilory, (then newly living together significant other) was told he had base-of-tongue cancer. (The doctor told me he had less than 2 months to live.)
Praying Groups Work!
First, I fired the doctor! Any healthcare provider who tells me a doom-and-gloom diagnosis is fired. I want a provider with a positive outlook on results and life. They need to say something like, “I’m going to do everything I can to help you get better!”
Second, I contacted everyone I knew who had a prayer group and/or did healing energy work. I got Hilory on every prayer & healing list and connected to every person I knew who did energy healing.
Hearing Bad News
A person going through a health challenge is only going to hear a fraction of the information any doctor or healthcare provider says. They are going to be in a state of shock, not ask questions, and sometimes be in denial. It’s best to be with them through it all. AND I do mean BE WITH THEM! Don’t take any excuse by the provider for not being with them 100% of the time.
I say that because at one of Hilory’s first appointments for the radiation he was strapped to the table, the developing machine didn’t work, the attendant left to go to a different building, and he was there by himself for 30 minutes – strapped down unable to move!!! He was so distraught he wasn’t going to go back. It took a hypnotherapist to reprogram his brain to have him feel comfortable and confident enough to continue.
From that point on, I told the doctor I was going to be in the room and would leave when the technicians left! Be assertive! Be obnoxious if you have to be! Be there for – and with – them!!!
These may not seem like they are “selfcare” for you, but they are. When you know you are doing your best – giving your all – you will sleep better at night.
Next post we’ll focus on a few things for you!
