“Chi (pronounced chee) is the vital energy that comes from nature. It is the constantly moving and changing force around you, making you feel either good or bad in a certain location.” Carol Olmstead, Feng Shui Quick Guide for Home and Office
I have been feeling a bit off recently. I have let blogging and book writing and Twitter and kids at home for the summer nudge me off of my usual routine. My motivation concerning all things mind/body/soul-related is flying at half-mast. I have been feeling disorganized with my writing, in my surroundings, in my thinking.
Time for a jump start. Today was a day for clearing paths for positive chi to flow more freely and to get rid of some of the culprits contributing to negative chi.
I started the same way I start most mornings, by making a list. Today’s read:
- Write book installment
- Write a blog post
- Run
- Pledge a contribution toward my nephew’s participation in a breast cancer walk
- Review Feng Shui clutter clearing tips
- 1 hour garden clean-up
- 1 hour office clean-up
- Send Max’s birthday wish list to his grandmother
- Drive Max to his babysitting job
- Drive Max to soccer
My Feng Shui consultant Carol Olmstead explains in her book, Feng Shui Quick Guide for Home and Office, that there are three main sources of negative chi:
- Things you don’t like
- Things that are broken
- Things that are cluttered
As I wrote in an earlier post, one of my main sources of negative chi, Shocko the parrot, is non-negotiable (click here to read). I couldn’t move Shocko out of the house, but I could move the TV out of the bedroom. We had redecorated our master bedroom this spring in conjunction with a master bathroom remodel, but the bulky grey box of a TV still sat on our dresser, poking me in my peripheral vision even when I tried to ignore it.
My husband wanted to replace the old TV with a flatscreen at some point, but the truth is we go months at a time without turning it on. Today was the day to get rid of this source of negative energy. I said to Mark as we were carrying it out, “It’s like having a wart removed!” I stood in front of the cleared area and felt the positive vibes filling the space.
To take care of some things that were broken, I took two of Carol’s quick fix recommendations. I replaced a broken light bulb in my office lamp and arranged to have the leaky kitchen faucet fixed (in Feng Shui, leaks represent a loss of wealth and abundance).
The third source of negative chi–clutter–poses the biggest challenge. I have done major clutter clearing before, so I am by no means a candidate for one of those hoarder reality shows. But even if you’re good about getting rid of things, excess stuff and clutter creeps back in over time. My side of our shared office had accumulated a number of piles in recent months. I had ignored them for long enough.
The prospect of clearing the office of every paper pile and piece of clutter was overwhelming. If I didn’t break the job into manageable chunks, I’d never get started. So I wrote out the Office List (a sub-set of the Bowl of Rooms), cut it up, and dumped the folded tasks into their tiny bowl. Though I haven’t finished yet, I did more than the 1 hour of office clean-up specified on today’s to-do list. And I’m looking forward to working on it more tomorrow (and the next day, and the next).
It’s 11:30 at night and, once I finish this blog post in the next few minutes, I will have completed every item on my list. I had no desire to go for a run, but having had such a productive day of Feng Shui fixes, I managed to lace up my shoes before making dinner and squeeze in 30 minutes on the road–always the most gratifying check mark on the list.
