Feng Shui (pronounced “fung shway”) is a design system for arranging your surroundings in harmony and balance with the natural world around you. Your surroundings have a powerful effect on what you attract into your life. When the energy around you is unbalanced or blocked, your prosperity, health, and relationships can be adversely affected. An understanding of Feng Shui basics gives you a way to unblock that energy.

The words feng shui mean wind and water, and refer to the way we naturally feel in nature. To understand this better, picture a beautiful May day. The sun is brilliant in a cloudless blue sky. There is a light breeze tickling your skin as you relax by a meandering clear stream. In this kind of environment you feel wonderful and everything is in harmony around you. The goal of Feng Shui basics is to make your indoor space feel the same way.

Feng Shui unblocks and corrects any imbalance around you to let positive energy flow into your life. Once that happens, you are more receptive and responsive to the good things that come your way. Often, small changes in placement, color, shape, or texture of objects can bring dramatic results into your life.

There are five Feng Shui basics, which I call “Power Principles,” that will help you understand how to start using Feng Shui to attract wealth, harmony, love – and so much more – into your life.

Power Principle #1 – Chi
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. Every person, object, and environment has the living energy we call chi. Like Goldilocks, when you step into any interior space you instinctively know when the chi is not too strong, not too weak, but feels just right. When you understand Feng Shui basics, you can place furniture and objects in your environment to keep the chi flowing gently throughout every inch of your space.

Power Principle #2 – The Five Elements
The Five Elements is the name that Feng Shui gives to the colors, shapes, and textures around you. The goal of Feng Shui changes, or cures, is to achieve a balance among all of these elements in your environment. The Five Elements and their properties are:

Fire Element Shape – Triangle
Colors – Red, Orange, Deep Purple
Attributes – Passion, EmotionEarth Element Shape – Square
Colors – Brown, Yellow
Attributes – Grounding, Stability Metal Element Shape – Circle
Colors – White, Metallic
Attributes – Strength, Independence Water Element Shape – Curvy, Patterned
Colors – Black, Deep Blue
Attributes – Relaxation, Inspiration Wood Element Shape – Rectangle
Colors – Green, Teal
Attributes – Growth, Expansion
Power Principle #3 – The Bagua
The bagua (pronounced bag-wha) is a mapping chart used to determine where to place objects in your home to improve your life. The nine areas of the Feng Shui bagua are:
• Power/Wealth/Abundance
• Fame/Future/Reputation
• Love/Marriage/Relationships
• Creativity/Children/Legacy
• Compassion/Travel/Helpful People
• Self/Career/Work
• Knowledge/Wisdom/Harmony
• Family/Health/Community
• Well-Being/Balance

Power Principle #4 – Yin and Yang
Yin and yang are the opposites around you. You have probably seen the universal symbol for yin and yang – a circle with a curved line in the middle that divides the black and white halves of the circle, with a spot of each opposite color on the opposite side. According to the yin-yang theory, everything in the universe consists of two opposing, but interconnected, forces. Yin, is the feminine, and yang is the masculine energy.

Power Principle #5 – Continuity and Connectedness
Continuity and connectedness are terms that explain the link between what you see and what you attract into your life. Feng Shui believes that the more you surround yourself with symbols of what you want to attract into your life, the more likely you are to achieve these things. That's why it is especially important to select the appropriate decoration and artwork for your home and office.

Start making Feng Shui changes today with the tip-a-day calendar in the new e-book from Feng Shui Master Practitioner Carol M. Olmstead. Click here to order your copy of "365 Feng Shui Secrets" from the e-book store at BellaOnline.com.


Join me on Facebook where I post tips, advice, links, and answers to your Feng Shui questions. Click here to "like" the "Feng Shui For Real Life Page."