What to Keep Out Of Your Home

Feng Shui is a design system for placing things in your home or office to improve your life, but sometimes in Feng Shui what to keep out of your home is as important as what you invite in. Here are eight examples of things that are best kept out of your home to keep your energy balanced and harmonious. Topping the list are dried flowers, other people’s junk, and gifts from negative people.

1. Dried Flowers. According to Feng Shui principles, dried flowers carry negative energy because they are dead, plus they have a tendency to fade and collect dust. If you want your home to benefit from positive energy, surround yourself with healthy living plants and flowers instead of dead ones. If you can’t give up your dried flowers, make sure you dust them frequently and substitute a new arrangement with the change of each season.

2. Other People’s Junk. If you are tempted to accept offers of cast-offs from friends and relatives, resist the temptation. Sometimes we accept other people’s junk because of what I call a poverty mentality; that is, the fear that you will never have enough money to buy what you really want. You end up storing all that stuff in your closets, attics, and basements creating negative chi. Feng Shui principles suggest operating instead from a prosperity consciousness by refusing cast-offs with the positive affirmation that you can afford to buy what you love.

3. Gifts From Negative People. If you receive a gift from someone who is angry, hostile, or negative, every time you use it you will feel that anger, especially if their gift was given out of obligation rather than love. The Feng Shui advice is to sell, donate, or discard all gifts that come from negative people, no matter how expensive the item. When you allow them into your home you invite their negative energy to flow through your surroundings.

4. Things You Keep Because You Should. Sometimes you receive a gift from someone you love, but you really don’t care for the gift but display it anyway because you feel you “should.” Resist the urge to display items you don’t like. These gifts attract negative energy because every time you look at the item, consciously or unconsciously you think about how you wish you had never received it. The Feng Shui solution is to donate or re-gift these items so they can find a home with someone who doesn’t have any emotional baggage attached to them.

5. Violent Images and Music. We live in a world where violence is prevalent in the media, but there’s no reason to compound the problem by filling your home with artwork that has violent themes. It’s far better to fill your walls with upbeat images and your shelves with objects that make you feel happy. Similarly, music should create harmony rather than chaos in your home. Before you purchase or download music, make sure it uplifts, relaxes, or makes you feel comfortable.

6. Ashes from a Deceased Loved One. When you are grieving it may be tempting to hold on to your loved one’s ashes for comfort, but in Feng Shui, keeping them in your home represents trapped energy. Instead, choose a symbolic place to scatter or bury the ashes and surround yourself with a few cherished mementos of your loved ones, such as photos of them smiling and doing what they loved to do.

7. A Bed From An Unknown Source. Beds, mattresses, sleep sofas, and futons hold energy from the past experiences of the people who slept on them. Therefore, it’s best to avoid bringing a bed into your home if you don’t know who slept on it because you will be sleeping with all of the issues of the former owner. Instead, follow good Feng Shui principles and invest in a new bed, mattress, and linens to bring fresh chi into your home and your life.

8. People You Don’t Like. If you don’t get along with someone, don’t invite him or her into your home because this brings negative energy into your indoor environment. All too often we allow family members or business associates into our homes because we feel obligated. If you must entertain business associates you don’t like, or if there is hostility whenever your family gets together, meet these people at a restaurant or another neutral place. The event will have a time limit and their negative energy will not visit your home.