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Feng Shui to Lose Weight
So how many of us gained few extra pounds from our holiday feasts?
I know I may have gained a pound or more… I’m afraid to check.
Feng Shui can help you lose those unwanted pounds. Seriously.
Of course, exercise and especially good eating habits are the most important actions you can take to lose weight and to prevent obesity.
But, how can we change our behavior to help us eat better? Here are a few Feng Shui tips to help you get started in trimming the fat:
Throw Out Those TV Trays
Start by using your dining room for all of your meals.
If you eat in front of a TV, stop. As you roboticly shovel food into your mouth while lost in a TV show, you don’t pay attention to how much you are eating. Before you realize it, your entire meal will be gone.
If you are sitting as a family in your dining room, talking and engaging with your family, you tend to eat slower. And this is a good thing.
Did you know that your stomach doesn’t feel full until about 20 mins after you’ve stopped eating?
Your stomach can hold up to a gallon of food and liquids. But the feeling of feeling full after eating is not caused by your stomach actually being full.
Rather, feeling full is caused by your brain responding to chemicals released when you put food or liquids in your tummy.
And it takes about 10 to 30 minutes for the levels of these chemicals to reach the point for your brain to register them.
In fact, you may want to start your meal with a smaller portion, allowing your chemicals and brain more time to give you that feeling of being full before hitting the platter for seconds.
If you don’t feel full directly following your first portion of a meal, just wait. As the level of chemicals increases, your hunger should go away.
Stop Gawking!
Having a full view of the kitchen from the living room or den may not be a good thing if you are trying to lose those extra pounds.
More specifically, you want to make sure that you cannot see your refrigerator or any unhealthy food items from your couch.
Seeing your refrigerator will make you feel the need to check its contents every time you see an ice cream commercial. Seeing an open chip bag or that leftover bag of Halloween candy will only make you want to finish it.
If this explains your home layout, you may want to rearrange your living room so you won’t see straight into the kitchen. Alternatively, you may want to put up a door or other divider to obstruct the view of these items.
Surround Yourself with Health
If you can’t avoid seeing the kitchen from your living area, get rid of the junk food. Make sure only healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables and bottles of water are within sight.
Now, make sure to place bright, energetic and vibrant pictures, paintings and objects that remind you of healthy living in the appropriate places (learn about placement using the Feng Shui Bagua).
These items will help you guilt your way to eating healthy.
Avoid Clutter
I can’t stress this enough. If your pantry, closets and other areas of your home are overflowing, it will be difficult for you to break the eating habit.
Make sure that Chi energy can flow through your home, and positive energy will soon circulate through you.
Space Clearing
If you have had trouble with losing weight or sticking with other New Years resolutions in the past, a professional space-clearing or personalized Feng Shui consultation may be needed to get Chi moving again.
Have fun Feng Shui’ing your way to losing those unwanted pounds!
Next Steps
Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because I want to help you get 2014 off to a slimming start!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Olson Believes In Feng Shui Design
By Jessie Kim
Feng Shui Consultant
You might not be familiar with the principles of feng shui, or the Chinese practice of arranging the environment to create harmonious surroundings.
But, even if you aren’t, you’ll notice something different about a place designed along these principles. There’s a sense of quiet, a certain ease, a comfort that makes a house feel like a home.
That is why The Olson Company works with Jessie Kim, a renowned feng shui consultant, for many of its projects. Kim advises the company from the outset of a new project, helping orient buildings, laying out streets, and even selecting the artwork that hangs from the halls of the model homes. Once Olson became aware of her work, the company has consulted with her on a regular basis: “Olson saw the need for it and it has snowballed since,” she says.
The idea is simple: Day-to-day living involves movement and the flow of energy. Feng shui recognizes movement and the flow of energy and how it impacts the way that people live and relate to each other and their surroundings. And having recognized these principles, Kim offers advice on how to arrange the surroundings to make the flow of energy, the interpersonal interactions, the movement of day-to-day life better.
“It’s important because it creates harmony for the people who are living in a community or a home, and it brings a sense of well-being into the community,” Kim says. “When it comes to overall harmony for health, relationships, it helps make everything well.”
In her role as a consultant to The Olson Company, Kim typically is involved from the beginning. Given a particular site, she advises on the big picture – where the homes are located, where the streets flow, which way the homes are oriented.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Kim’s input is apparent to homebuyers when they first visit the model homes. Kim advises on elements like colors, furniture, landscaping and the placement of objects within the model home.
“Even little simple things like artwork can affect the energy of the home and the energy of the buyer who’s walking through the house,” Kim says.
What is less visually identifiable but no less important is the floor plan of a home.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
“Generally, you want to have good positioning of the kitchen,” Kim points out. “I try to make sure that the master bedrooms and the kitchen are in a good position, and that there are no stairs or a back door lining up to the front door. Some of it just seems like common sense and good design – and it is.”
The idea is not for people to walk in and academically analyze a home on its adherence to feng shui principles. It’s more about the experience that people have when they are in the home, Kim says. “It’s about how people feel walking through the house,” Kim explains. “It makes the families feel more at home if you have a well feng shui’d house. If the front door and back door are lined up, people don’t want to interact, but they tend to walk through and out of the house.
“In a well feng shui’d home, you feel this is a home where you want to sit down, relax and stay for a while. It makes you feel at home. If it is your home, you’ll feel more rested, and your family feels more in harmony. Things just go smoothly.”
Ultimately, while Kim’s work is on the design of a community and its buildings, the focus is on people and the way they live.
“The home is for the people living in it,” Kim says. “With feng shui, you’re trying to create a space where people are harmonized and well balanced together.”
(Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Reprinted with permission from The Olson Company. Originally printed in Vol. 5 / Issue 1 / Page 25 of In Town Living.
Home builders: Contact me right now for a free proposal on how I can add harmony and balance to your properties.
For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
New Year Feng Shui for 2014
Happy New Year!
I hope your Christmas was memorable and bright.
I also hope that you’ve kept up with my post-Halloween thankfulness challenge. If so, consider it a good habit!
2014 is going to bring in good luck for more people. Money will flow in more easily for most, but you’ll have to work for it.
Here are six easy tips for bringing positive Yang energy into your home for the New Year.
Clean Under Rugs & Carpets
Clean under your rugs and carpets. Dust accumulates and energy stagnates in these places.
Vacuum Under the Beds
Vacuum out the area under your beds (except for beds where a pregnant woman is sleeping). Not only will you get rid of allergens, but you’ll also get energy flowing.
If It’s Broke, Fix It!
Do you have any broken items in the house (stairway railing, table, stovetop burner, electrical outlet)? Don’t delay in fixing them, as they can cost you much more in time and money down the road.
Bring Brightness In
Open up your home. If you are in a warm area right now, open the windows and doors occasionally. If not, at least open up the blinds during the day. Invite the sun’s bright energy in.
Fix Those Doors
Be sure that all of your doors, particularly your front door, open easily without creaking or rubbing. Joint problems are common with those who have creaky doors.
Chi flows in from your front door, so for the sake of your Career, Wisdom, Family, Wealth, Fame, Love, Children, Helpful People and Health areas, keep that energy coming in!
Make It Appealing
When was the last time you repainted your home? If it has been more than a couple of years, consider a new coat. If you are a renter, spray down the outside on your next warm day to get rid of cobwebs and dust.
When your home gets run down, its energy begins to fade. This is exactly why major hotel chains and department stores constantly upgrade their properties. They understand the need to keep the energy of their multi-million dollar properties alive and flowing.
Make your own home inviting. If you had to do it all over again, would you want to move in? If not, make it so!
Make 2014 a great year!
Next Steps
If things don’t start out quite right for you, a professional space-clearing or personalized Feng Shui consultation may be needed to get the energy moving again.
Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because I want to help you get 2014 off to a great start!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
3 Christmas Feng Shui Tips
‘Tis the season of greetings and cheer. So, let’s take advantage of it and let it charge our homes with wonderful energy, or “Chi” as we call it in Feng Shui.
While I know that the holidays can be stressful, let’s instead use the holiday spirit to boost our energy.
I love the holiday season for many reasons: family and friends getting together, children’s faces lighting up when they see all the holiday decorations and presents….
But, the best part to me is that I can use holiday decorations to boost the Feng Shui energy in my house.
Here are three tips for getting the best Chi flow during the holidays.
Feng Shui Christmas Tip #1: Make Your Doorway Bright
You don’t have to go crazy with the holiday decorations, but Christmas lights keeping the doorway extra bright not only welcome family and friends, but also new energy for your home.
If possible, keep with the color theme of the Career area of the Bagua by using blue lights around your door.
Feng Shui Christmas Tip #2: Tree Placement
Try placing that plush and tall Christmas tree in the Fame and Reputation area to give you that extra boost of recognition. Remember that the color of Fame and Reputation is red. While you’re at it, add a big shiny star on top.
Alternatively, place your healthy green tree in the Family area of your home to bring the family together.
Feng Shui Christmas Tip #3: Present the Presents
Do you want to feel prosperous? Simply place lots of wrapped Christmas presents under the tree… early, if you can.
This will be one of the few times where I won’t call a pile of boxes “clutter.”
Think of how you felt when you were a child surrounded by holiday cheer and presents.
You never really grow out of that feeling. So don’t even try, Mr. Grinch!
Next Steps
Do you have some tips for me? Add your holiday energy boost ideas in the comments section of my blog.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Want to REALLY improve your situation? Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation so I can help you get some holiday spirit ahead of the New Year!
Ms. Feng Shui in Atlanta
I will be in the Atlanta area this week and next week with availability for individual and group consultations. Please contact me for more information and to setup an appointment.
As a friendly reminder, are you still being thankful after clearing out your Halloween Yin energy? Keep up the great work!
If you missed me, contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Post-Halloween Chi Roundup
I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.
Which part of Halloween do you like better: the cobwebs and spooky decor or pumpkins and sweet candies?
If you answered cobwebs and spooky decor, that’s a Yin energy. If your answer is pumpkins and sweet candies, that’s a Yang energy.
Yin and Yang
Our life is filled with Yin and Yang. There has to be dark to have light.
Typically at Halloween, there’s more Yin energy than Yang energy. So now that Halloween is over, let’s clean out those cobwebs – fake ones as well as real ones. We’re now going to welcome the Yang energy into our homes for the holiday season.
Fall Cleaning
Let’s call this a Fall Cleaning. We’re going to chase away the excess Yin energy by cleaning up the cobwebs, sweeping away the dead leaves and cleaning the windows and door handles.
Be Thankful
While we are busy cleaning, let’s start bringing in the Yang energy by thinking about the things we are thankful for. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, after all.
Here are some examples:
- I am thankful for this cool weather.
- I am thankful for a place I can call home.
- I am thankful for a warm cup of coffee in the cool Fall morning.
Let’s try to be thankful for at least one thing a day and continue thanking until at least Thanksgiving to see what kind of Yang energy we can call into our homes.
If we can keep this up until Christmas and New Years, maybe our thankfulness will be a habit. Then I can show you how to start being thankful to attract a great career, wonderful people, wealth, good health and positive relationships into your life.
I am thankful for my blog followers!
Next Steps
Leave a comment telling me how you plan to clean out the Yin and thank in the Yang.
Learn more about the Chi of Feng Shui.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Want to REALLY improve your situation? Contact me right now to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation or Feng Shui Space Clearing so I can help you fast-track the start of something new.
