Exercises in Awareness: Shapes and Patterns

Step outside and look around with the intention of noticing shapes and patterns.  Look up - find the shapes within a tangle of tree branches.  Look down - see the rounded horizon where white snow meets what's beyond.  The spiral of a shell, the crystal perfection of a snowflake.  Organic geometry.

Key Principles of Honey Bee Feng Shui

HARMONY.

From the late 14th century, Middle English armonye, Old French armonie, Latin and Greek harmonia.  Meaning: agreement, means of joining, framework, agreement of feeling, concord.

As you know, Feng Shui, literally translated into english, is "wind-water." This is a shorthand, taken from this passage from Zangshu, or Book of Burial, by Guo Pu:

Qi rides the wind and scatters, but is retained when encountering water.

 The goal of Feng Shui is to create harmonious spaces by enhancing the positive flow of Qi, or Life Force, using Nature's elements.  This, in turn, creates harmony in our lives.  Remember the law: when your space changes, you change too - so best to pay close attention to the ways in which you, or others, change your space!  And, don't forget - harmony is a relationship, not a one-way street.  Harmony is not created at the expense of others, or at the expense of the earth. 

Exercise in Awareness

Pick a room that you spend a lot of time in - your office, your kitchen, your living room.

Next, make a list of the objects in that room you touch on a usual basis.  Pens, utensils, counter tops, phones, keyboards, couches, light switches, carpet, etc.

Make a note next to each object in your list with the material that object is made of.  Is it plastic?  Is it wood?  If it's wood, is the wood covered in a poly finish? 

Why Is Adding Nature to Our Indoor Environments Important?

For tens of thousands of years, human beings lived deeply connected to the Natural World- its spaces, its cycles, and its species. We are a part of Nature and have evolved in profound connection with other beings and elements of Nature. And yet today, 95% of our time is spent indoors, shut off from Nature's rhythms and energies.

"If human history for the last 40,000 years were represented by just one hour, then the amount of time that we have been living in such extreme isolation from Nature would be represented by only a few seconds." - Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul