The sacred space called home can often mirror what’s going on in your personal life. Use this exercise to discover the hidden metaphors and gain valuable insight.
The goal of the ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui is to create healthy living and work spaces conducive to personal growth and development. According to Feng Shui consultant Rochiel Wallers, “Our homes and work environments have an enormous impact on our state of mind and well-being.”
By examining the condition of your home, you can uncover clues about major life areas such as relationships, career, finances, and health.
Step 1: The Condition of Your House
Start by looking at the external environment of your front door. Honestly assess where improvements can be made. Are there sticky cobwebs and dead plants? As you walk through each room, write adjectives and observations in column one labeled “House” on a piece of paper.
Mark down words that first come to mind to create a colorful description of any space that could use some work.
Step 2: Reflecting on Your Personal Life
When you’ve finished assessing your living environment, create a second column for “Personal Life.” Look at the descriptions you’ve written in column one and try to identify if your interpersonal relationships, career, habits, and other life aspects reflect what’s physically disrupting your home’s energy, or chi. You can also use the nine sectors of Feng Shui to further interpret blocks related to specific rooms and life areas.
Step 3: Underlying Metaphors
Think how the exact words you’ve written down mirror what’s going on in your own life. If you have bugs flying around outside your door, do you feel like someone is bugging or distracting you from something? If your bills are loose and lost, do you feel your financial situation is hopeless and out of control?
Extrapolate some more by comparing your physical home to your physical body. Is your outside paint/skin weathered and cracking?
Step 4: Clean and Organize
Once you’ve done an initial assessment, you can work to balance your inner energy and your outer physical environment by creating spaces that are healthy, clean, organized, functional, and supportive of what you truly desire. Keep it simple first and remedy situations that can be improved quickly and efficiently.
If something is dirty, then clean it. If closets are cluttered, then spend time organizing them.
Step 5: Home Improvement for Self-Improvement
Treat your home like a sacred space and tackle each area individually. Play with the metaphors and have confidence knowing that you’ve taken responsibility to heal your life. For example, after you’ve wiped the windows clean, see if you notice a change in how clearly you can visualize your future.
When you fix the jammed front door, acknowledge if you take a major step toward your career goals.
Using Feng Shui as a personal development tool can help you create a path for self-improvement and harmonize your inner and outer worlds. By examining your home, you can discover what your immediate environment is trying to tell you and relate the underlying meaning to your personal life situations.
