Recently, I decided to paint my front door purple. I also changed the drab exterior color for a lighter, brighter color.
Most of the houses in the neighborhood are painted white with black trim, reflecting the newest home design trend. Neighbors opt for low maintenance shrubs and evergreens versus flowers. There is not a lot of variation from one home to the next, other than a handful of homes which are different, including my own.
Needless to say, the change in house colors caused quite a reaction. On a positive note, some neighbors have made a point to say how much they like the change.
Using Feng Shui as a Guide
I’ve used Feng Shui for years when deciding colors and layouts for my home. I’ve incorporated additional Feng Shui tools and techniques to enhance other life aspects as well.
Feng Shui, pronounced FUNG-SHWAY, is the Chinese art of placing objects and furniture in patterns to allow for the harmonic flow of energy when constructing buildings and business spaces. A more recent adaptation of this ancient art addresses color schemes for areas of the home, as well as things you can do to enhance relationships, business, family and other aspects of your life.
There is an extensive body of knowledge around Feng Shui and its practices. A quick search of business networking website LinkedIn reveals more than 10,000 Feng Shui designers and solution providers.
A Purple Door and New Opportunities
In Feng Shui, certain colors are preferred for your house and doorway depending on whether your home faces East, West, North or South. As my house faces East, the preferred front door colors are natural wood, blue, green and purple.
Each color has a special meaning, and purple seems to make the positive statement I have been looking for. According to prettypurpledoor.com, a purple door has a number of meanings including: open mindedness, a sense of calm, intuition, awakening, prosperity, as well as “magic lives here.”
By painting the front door purple, I am inviting new opportunities to come into my life too. And there have been plenty of them! I’ve traveled to five states in the past month and am about to travel to another in a couple of weeks. I’m taking classes in subjects that are new to me. I’ve been invited to parties, I’ve been interviewed on TV, I’m participating in cool events around Atlanta, and new clients are reaching out. Best of all, my purple door makes me smile, and I believe it makes some of my neighbors happy too, as they are more engaging than they used to be.
Change Your Interior, Change Your Life
If you can’t change the color of your front door there are other changes you can make to create positive energy flow in your home. The first step is to create a bagua that is specific to your space. The eight areas represented in the bagua are: wealth, fame, partnership, family, tai chi, children, knowledge, career, and helpful people. Each area has an associated color, element, number, season, shape and direction. If you want to improve a specific area of your life, you can include the specifics in the area of your home to improve it.
I would recommend researching online and printing out a bagua map that meets your needs, then map out your space.
Kaboom – Earthquake!
Speaking of energy flow, years ago, when looking for a house to rent in North Georgia, I noticed a long, narrow hallway and thought: “Uh oh! That’s just a gateway for poison arrows (Arrow Sha) to gather momentum and crash into the back wall. The hallway needs a crystal to break up the energy.”
I laughed when I noticed the mistake in structural design and said to the property owner, “This is a perfect hallway for an earthquake.” She said, “As a matter of fact, there was an earthquake, that’s why we can’t rent it until we repair the floor.” She pointed to a place beside my feet and said: “See. This is where the floor buckled.”
To this day I look at hallways and think, “Does this area need a crystal to break up the energy?”
Improve Your Love Life
If you are looking to bring love into your life, consider revamping your bedroom. Remove solo images, plants, clutter, mirrors that face you, electronics (when possible) and other things that can cause a drain in the environment. Consider softer colors and matching bedside tables. Also make certain you can get around both sides of the bed. Introduce pairs of objects, softer lighting, and empty out a drawer or two so someone has some space to “move in.” For more on the subject of Feng Shui and love visit: https://www.msfengshui.com/feng-shui-bagua/relationships-love-marriage.
Improve Your Health
Feng Shui offers opportunities to improve life outcomes, including your health. A couple of ways to improve your health immediately include: deep breathing exercises, proper sleep, taking the time to step into the grass with your shoes off, clearing your house of clutter (stuck energy), providing light in dark corners, improving airflow and ventilation when possible, adding windchimes to represent natural sounds, avoiding spiky plants such as cactus in favor of other plants such as bamboo. Color is another option that can be incorporated to improve health. For more on the subject, please refer to my past post: Healing with Color Tips for Self and Home.