INDOOR PLANTS CAN HELP YOU HAVE THE ABUNDANCE GLOW.

The feeling that we live with shortages is a lie. Abundance is already here - starting today - when we are open to infinite creativity and refuse to compete for resources.

Plants are a marvelous creation - the very essence of our Earth. They were here long before us and we need them for survival. And remember they don’t need us. In fact, we have been their great destroyers, causing the extinction of millions of plants with our not-so-civilized ways of living. But plants are eternally forgiving and want to help us obtain the abundance that we long for. We just have to give them a chance. Having indoor plants is a good idea for everyone and especially necessary for those who live in cities where asphalt and concrete are most everywhere and green plants and trees are in short supply. This post outlines how to capture some plant-related abundance in our homes.

Unfortunately, for both our mental and physical health, the average US person spends about 90 percent of his/her time indoors. That means that we aren’t seeing much natural green except from out our windows at home or as we drive by. But when we bring some plants into our home, they give back to us some of the green-goodness that we are lacking. They not only lend beauty to our spaces, but also make us feel at ease and can even be a source of healing and food.

Plants can give your home the glow of abundance.

In fact, feng shui, a Chinese philosophy that spans thousand of years, points out how green plants not only improve the energy of indoor spaces but also are a remedy for other kinds of problems arising from being behind walls. And feng shui is not merely concerned with interior decoration or plant placement, but primarily with the flow of chi energy in man made and natural settings. This ancient philosophy also indicates that the healthier your plants, the more abundance they bring into the home. Fresh flowers bring luck and fortune into your home. For the same reason, dying and dried flowers are believed to bring bad luck.

Science today has proved what feng shui suggested centuries ago. Houseplants bring in beneficial oxygen and even lower electromagnetic pollution. Air conditioning, improved insulation, and other energy-saving innovations all reduce air exchange in buildings. We end up breathing the same polluted air again and again. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) created by man-made materials are also a major cause of illness. All these air-borne contaminants add up to a loss of concentration, depression and other diseases in what’s known as "sick building" syndrome. The good news is that indoor plants stimulate both the senses and the mind and help remove air-borne pollutants, making for healthier homes.

Two things to do improve your indoor air quality
First and foremost, if you want to feel better in your home, ventilate your rooms by opening windows. This should be done daily even if it can only be done for just a few minutes at a time.

Second, place some common household plants in the rooms of your home to increase air humidity and help your family to breathe easier. That's a real plus when it comes to fighting viral infections. And you don’t have to have a house full of greenery. NASA studies indicate that just one good-sized houseplant (6 to 8-inch diameter container) is enough to help clean up 100 square feet of your home. Of course, you need to keep the foliage dust free so that the leaves can do their job and keep the top of the soil free from debris.

Some useful houseplants for better air include three common household plants - areca palm, mother-in-law's tongue, and the money plant - all are effective in improving indoor air quality. Besides those mentioned, other research has shown that waffle plant, English ivy, variegated wax plant, asparagus fern and the purple heart plant are also good air purifiers. Some more great houseplants to consider are bamboo, palms, dracaena, peace lilies, jade plants, small ficus trees, rubber plants, and  weeping fig.

House plants can be food, too
Indoor-grown plants can also be a source of healthy food. A good way to grow these edibles is making a window or tabletop “farm.” Sprouts, cherry tomatoes, small citrus trees, and herbs - such as basil, mint, rosemary, dill, parsley, cilantro, and chives – all can be indoor-grown. In other posts, Grandma Susan wrote about growing sprouts and herbs in the home. (See related posts, below.) Today, homegrown microgreens - small garden veggies - have been added to indoor window and tabletop farms. Chia, cress, mustard greens, radish and arugula are some of the most common microgreens.

Larger than sprouts and smaller than baby salad greens, microgreens are harvested from two to five inches tall (about 2 weeks after sowing). At that time, they have a high quality taste and are most nutritious. And they add texture, flavor and healthy nutrients to all kinds of salads and sandwiches. They are also used as garnishes for a variety of dishes.

To grow microgreens, all you need are shallow, lightweight containers, soil, seeds and water and some sunlight. Seeds are soaked overnight, then sowed. Microgreens have short roots so the soil or mats that hold their roots have to be watered often but should not become soggy. Good sunlight and drainage are important to prevent rot and mold.

Related posts
SPROUTS SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR SURVIVAL KITCHEN
GREEN GARDENS: GOOD FOR FAMILIES AND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
TAKE POSITIVE AND PEACEFUL ACTIONS TO CONFRONT FOOD SHORTAGES
LOOK FOR WAYS TO BE MORE AWARE OF THE NATURAL WORLD.
LIVING IT UP WITH LESS: DECORATION IN A SIMPLE HOME

FENG SHUI CAN HELP ENERGIZE YOUR FRONT DOOR AND ENTRYWAY

Winter is not too far away now, and already the days are getting cooler and shorter. If you’re like most of us, the fall season causes your mood to droop a little. And, our energy-levels can slide even further during the cold winter months when there's not much sun and the green trees, flowers, and grass are long gone. Those are the times we seek the shelter and comfort in our own homes. And, an upbeat home will help keep our spirits up during the long winter.

Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of chi or universal energy flow. Feng Shui involves the placing of objects and the use of space to enhance our lives, and we can use these principles to energize our homes in the months to come. The theme of this post is how to use Feng Shui rules at the entrance of the house to increase the positive energy throughout the home.

According to Feng Shui, the main door and the front entryway are very important parts of the home because that’s where most of the positive universal energy, or chi, comes in. That’s also the space that you, your family and friends see first when entering the house. Your choice of decoration at the front door and entryway show something about you and contribute to your attitude toward life. If you feel bad energy entering your home, it will have a negative effect on your psychology.

While other parts of the house may be used by just a few people, all members of the family and visitors alike enter through the main door. So, you’ll want the entrance to your home to be inviting and filled with good energy. Now your main entry to the house may be a side door, through a garage, or a hallway door, if you live in a building. If that’s your main entryway then the energy flow principles that apply to a front door are the same for your entrance. So, start now to analyze what Feng Shui solutions can help you energize the entryway to your home.

Main door
In the outdoors, chi moves mostly uninterrupted in gentle curves – straight lines are human artifacts and often are unfortunate when it comes to energy flow. The outdoor chi flows relatively freely, like water or vapor, coming in through the main door, drifting through the house, and finally exits out of windows and any other doors.

According to Feng Shui, the main door should be a solid construction. It is the “mouth” of the house, taking in nourishing chi. Glass panels in the door and windows that are too close to the door on either side can pull the good energy back out of the house right after it enters. A green potted plant on the windowsill or a hanging decoration on the window help keep the energy from escaping.

You want the “fresh” energy that comes through your door to wander around the rooms unhurriedly before exiting. That is why you don't want to see an exiting door from your entryway. The worst possible position for the back door is in a straight line (shot-gun style) from the front door. Potted plants or folding screens that “bend” the energy to one side can help this problem - that way not all the flow will be in one door and out the other. Crystals, wind chimes, screens, curtains, and water displays can also be used to the stop rapid energy loss through an exit door.

Foyer or front hallway
The entrance area, traditionally called the foyer, is the transition from the outside to the inside personal space. It’s important that energy that comes into the front of your home isn't obstructed. Your entryway should be open and easy to move around in, allowing you free access to the rest of the home. The main door should open into an uncluttered, clean front room or hallway. A wall that’s too close to the front door blocks the flow of energy into the home.

Lighting is important in the entry, so use an overhead lamp that’s attractive and gives off sufficient light. Make sure that the walls are painted a light or bright color in the front area. The first things you see when you enter your home should be friendly to the eye and bring peace and joy to your heart. You'll feel much more at ease and comforted when the entryway is an attractive part of the home.

A hanging mirror opposite the door is not such a good idea because it will “reflect” the energy back out of the house. Instead, let the eye see an attractive painting or wall hanging, preferably a landscape, facing the doorway. Mirrors can be used on the walls to the side of the main door, where they reflect the light and make the entrance feel larger.

Clutter stops energy from flowing. Remove anything that is blocking the flow of chi in your entryway. Keep your entrance hall clean and organized by including only a few essentials, such as an umbrella stand, a console table, or a coat rack. The entrance hall should never be a storage room. Don't leave items, such as shoes, clothing or any other unnecessary items lying around. Decorate the area with just a few beautiful objects, plants or flowers. Crystals, devotional figures, good luck pieces, and ceramic eggs are also commonly used in Feng Shui as a means of amplifying the energy in the home.

There is a particular problem when the front door opens directly into a living room or kitchen. While we usually can’t redesign the layout of our homes, Feng Shui remedies can still be of help. If possible, try to differentiate the entryway by hanging curtains or placing a divider or a tall plant near the front door, thereby creating a visual stopping point between the door and the rest of the living space. The addition of rug that’s in proportion to the entrance can help create the feeling of a separate entry space. The most appropriate rugs for the entryway have simple designs - suggesting stable, grounding energy that creates positive energy for the transition from outdoor to indoor space.

COLOR THERAPY CAN HELP YOU REJECT CONSUMERISM

Many times I have encouraged others to do what I try to do – reject consumerism and celebrate a more traditional and enduring way of life. Our society is all about mindless materialism, and it’s not easy to combat that toxic influence in our homes and our workspaces. We are constantly told, through the mass media, that real success for modern people involves having big homes, fancy cars, expensive restaurants, exciting night-life, and exotic vacations. (Wait, just a minute... that formula for success doesn't include at least 95% of us! What about the rest of us?)

We need tools to overcome the forces that urge us to define ourselves through consumer activity. We need ways to define our own values and get the strength to pursue our own personal causes. My search for strength-building tools led me to read about color therapy. I found out something that I already felt deeply - that colors have a symbolic or subconscious meaning, and that we can change our lives by surrounding ourselves with certain colors. It also worth noting that color therapy is totally in line with feng shui principles.

Recently, I wrote a blog about how I edited my wardrobe to include only black, blue, and white items. My wardrobe-editing venture allowed me to limit the total number of pieces in my closet and drawers to 40 items. When I chose clothes in these colors, I had 3 objectives: 1) practicality (I already owned a lot of clothes in these colors), 2) versatility (shades that were “primary” colors - weren’t tones of the same colors and were harmonious together), and 3) “felt right” - when I’m wearing these colors I tend to feel confident and at ease. After successfully reducing my wardrobe to three colors, I considered limiting the colors that appear in my home.

My research into color therapy reinforced some of my ideas. I discovered that a focus on blue-and-white is a very positive influence in my life. And, it's actually helpful to me in redefining my personal goals. When I see blue-and-white around me in my personal space, I feel harmony and confidence. My home and I are complete and because of this, I have no need to accumulate a lot of gadgets and toys. The repetition of blue-and-white makes my home truly my sanctuary – where I find meaningful work, meditation and simple pleasures.

You might ask: Why blue and white? Why not blue-and-green or red-and-white or some other combination? My research in color therapy has shown that the combination of blue and white is a very special one that represents simplicity, sensibility, and aesthetics.

Our pro-high-tech, consumerist society is plagued with industrial chrome, plastic grays and glossy black, colors which reinforce human-inspired activity and complexity. Bright chrome, plastic grays and glossy black are not found in nature. To achieve harmony and simplicity of spirit, we need to rediscover the colors of our natural world. The combination of blue and white can help us rediscover our true roots in nature. The blue signifies blue sky and the sea and symbolizes fidelity (as in true blue) and serenity. White is the color of clouds, stars, and candle light and stands for purity, new beginnings, and unity. When combined, blue-and-white creates a sense of completeness and aesthetic harmony.

Personally, I have always been drawn to traditional Japanese home decoration and applaud their simple and dignified homes. The combination of blue-and-white is a part of Japan’s sense of beauty and, over the centuries, has been a great inspiration for Japanese crafts, arts, and house decoration. But, of course, the Japanese aren’t the only people to emphasize blue and white, and the folk art of many countries has a blue-and-white tradition.

I want my home to celebrate the blue-and-white tradition. I want the bulk of the things I acquire, make, and display in my home to include these colors. I’m aware that this process will take a long time. I can’t just throw out or give away a lot of things in my home just because they aren’t white or blue. What I’ve done up to now is add some blue-and-white things to my home – for example, a bedspread, some sheets, a tablecloth, napkins, dishes, and small accessories. The change to blue-and-white will be somewhat slow - a few things now and some later – as, over time, I choose what I buy and make for my home. (As you might imagine, I'm also emphasizing natural materials - wood, stone, cotton, linen, ceramics, and etc.- in my home.)

Try out the power of blue-and-white in your home decoration and see if it doesn’t help you to have a more complete and harmonious home. Choosing these colors should also help you find the strength to follow your causes, including, hopefully, the rejection of consumerism. (It goes without saying that you mustn’t let your color choice be a reason to do more mindless shopping!) Obviously, domestic peace and harmony depends on a little more than house decoration. You must also simplify, de-clutter and clean your home.

REST WELL IN YOUR BEDROOM, USING FENG SHUI.

[HOME MANAGEMENT - 10]

Next to breathing, drinking enough water and eating correctly, the most important activity that determines your health is restful sleep. Since sleeping usually happens in your bedroom, it makes sense to consider just how peaceful this room is.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have followed a system to create harmonious areas, whether these are homes, buildings, or landscapes. This system is called feng shui (pronounced fang shway), which means the Art of Placement. Feng shui takes into account how places influence people, in both the aesthetic and energetic spheres. According to this tradition, a feeling of orderliness is quickly experienced wherever feng shui principles are present, and the occupants of these spaces maintain optimal mental and physical health.

The goal of feng shui design is to create refuges where growth and peace can prosper. This kind of design gives a sense of things being right and natural. Feng shui decorating rules do not always make the space as pretty as those seen typically in home and garden magazines. But they do tend to make for harmonious rooms and, therefore, people feel more peaceful in them.

Most feng shui concepts, once analyzed, are quite logical. And even people, who haven’t studied the art in depth, can understand how to use elements of feng shui. On this page, I’m focusing on the bedroom. I believe that feng shui design in this room can help people feel more positive and rest better. I don’t want to imply that I am a feng shui expert. My entire study of the subject includes having read about three books, and numerous articles in magazines and on the Internet.

What I would like to pass on you in this blog are a few feng shui principles that I have incorporated in my bedroom. My feng shui experiments in the bedroom have helped me to improve my outlook and sleep better. What follows is a short description of some feng shui design elements that you can use to create a more restful bedroom.

Uncluttered and clean
To organize your bedroom correctly, you need to end the clutter. Start by culling out extra furniture. There are only five main elements that should be in your bedroom.

Here’s what you need: bed, chair, table or desk, some kind of drawer space, and a closet. Those are the essentials. That’s plenty of furniture for the size of the bedrooms in modern houses. If you are lucky enough to have a sizeable bedroom, enjoy your extra floor space and use slightly larger furniture, but don’t try to put a lot more functions in it. Too many pieces and oversized furniture weigh down your space, pull down your spirit, and cause your energy to stagnate.

Next, go through everything -- yes, literally everything in your room -- and eliminate all items that don’t add to your restful self or your positive self. If you want to feel free, light and unencumbered in your personal space, you have to lighten your load. Just keep what you love and what is absolutely essential. Take out all those extra things – you’re probably not sure why you brought most of that stuff to your room, anyway. Put all those things that don’t belong in another room or storage area. If your extras aren’t going to be of much use to anyone in the house, don’t bother to store them elsewhere. Throw them out or give them away.

Then, eliminate everything that duplicates a function. If you have two similar things, just keep the one you like best or the one that bests serves your purposes. Put like things together, neatly in drawers, boxes or baskets. To be organized means to know where everything is. To live with clutter means you’re doomed to spend hours every week, just looking for things and you can't work efficiently.

Organize and find a place for your essentials. Look for logical spots for all items -- likes with likes -- and everything as close as possible to where it is to be used. Then, clear off as many surfaces as you can, leaving out only the things that you use daily.

Everything that isn’t in daily use should be stored out of sight, in drawers, cabinets or the closet. You'll probably have to pare down a lot in order for your stuff to fit comfortably in its newly designated space.

Dirt is another type of clutter. Get rid of it, and plan to clean your bedroom often. You’ll find that once you’ve taken out all those extra things, it won’t be so hard to keep your room tidy. And with the path cleared out, sweeping, mopping, and dusting will be a lot easier.

Beds

If you want to sleep restfully, you’ll need a comfortable bed. Check to make sure that your bed works for you. If it doesn’t, make changing your type of bed or mattress a strong priority. Also, according to feng shui principles, there can’t be any kind of dust catcher below your bed. That area needs to breathe and for that to happen, you must be able to clean under your bed. So, it’s really not a good idea to have any kind of storage under your bed.

The position of the bed in the room is important, too. The head of the bed should be against a wall. This is the best arrangement for sleeping comfortably in your bedroom. What’s more, your bed should allow you to see the door when you are lying down, but be as far away from the door as possible. That is a secure feeling position. On the other hand, your bed should not be face the door directly as this may serve as a distraction. Unless you need to listen for someone during the night, such as a child or an elderly person, it’s best to sleep with your door closed.

Floors
Things kept on the floor tend to get dusty and make it hard to clean the room. They also make it hard to move around without effort. Feng shui indicates that as few things as possible should be on the floor. All that extra stuff on the floor acts like an anchor on your energy and brings your view of the room downward, stifling your good mood. What’s more, it’s a sign that you are tied to your past and have insecurities about the future.

Trust in yourself to live with just the basics and have confidence that you will find what you require should your circumstances change. Remember the five essentials for a bedroom (mentioned above). Well, those are about the only things that should sit on your bedroom floor. When you keep piles of things elsewhere, you’ll feel better about your space and about yourself. On the other hand, a tall lamp or a tall plant on a stand – a live plant, not an artificial or dried one -- can also be useful. These objects, in themselves, represent types of energy and tend to draw the eyes upward in the room.

Walls and accessories
Feng shui considers the walls to be a main concern. A wall can represent your life. The lowest part of a wall symbolizes your past and the middle part is your present. The highest part of the wall represents you in the future. For this reason, you want your eyes to look up in your room rather than down.

To allow your eyes to be lifted to up without becoming tired, don’t put a lot of distractions on your walls. Your entire room should only have a few simple pieces of artwork or other sort of decoration. Instead of formal art, everyday objects can sometimes be displayed on the wall, if they are attractive enough in themselves and in scale with other things in the room. Mirrors can be in on a bedroom wall as long as they don’t reflect the bed.

Organized, uncluttered bookshelves are acceptable, but shouldn't be very extensive and it's better to place them on the upper half of the wall. Curtains can be used to create hidden storage on the wall. The space hidden behind the curtains can shelve books, clothing racks, and odds and ends. Even though their contents are not in plain sight, drawers, closets and hidden storage need to be kept orderly and clean.

Finally, since your room needs to be restful, you’ll have to consider the paint on the walls. Strong colors on bedroom walls cause stress, while pastel and neutral colors help you relax and sleep.

Tell your feng shui experience
I hope you can put these feng shui tips into practice in your bedroom. They should help you feel and sleep better. I’m fairly sure that you will be pleased with the result. If you use feng shui design elements in your bedroom or elsewhere in your home, please send me a comment. Whether your results are excellent or not so good, I’ll be happy to hear your experiences.