Spring cleaning is a good time to get the dust and dirt out of your home. Tidying up your home is a means to welcoming the new season. However, just getting the grime out is not the only way to bring spring into your home. Applying feng shui to your indoor and outdoor spaces can help create a new sense of calm and balance.
Feng shui is meant to help bring chi, life energy, into our homes. This energy is brings positivity in all aspects of our lives such as wealth and relationships. This energy can be affected by the state of our living spaces. A cluttered and dirty living space leads to blocking chi energy.
Here are some ways you can incorporate feng shui to your indoor and outdoor spaces:
Clean and Minimize Your Indoor Space
The state of our living spaces is a reflection of our lives. Clearing our indoor space also helps to clear our minds. Feng shui forces to be mindful about the way we care for and arrange our home. This can help us be mindful in other areas of our lives as well.
- Declutter Kitchen – The state of your health can have a strong link to the state of your kitchen. If your kitchen is filled with unnecessary or unhealthy items, your health is likely unhealthy and needs some better energy. Decluttering your kitchen is a great way to kickstart a healthier lifestyle. Gather all the items in your kitchen and get rid of any gadgets you no longer use or food that has expired. Improve the energy in your kitchen even more by bringing in whole foods and potted plants such as air-cleaning indoor plants or potted herbs.
- Wash and Open Windows – Windows are an important part of feng shui. Windows are considered the eyes of those living in the home. Dirty windows lead to blurry perceptions of the world or not being able to see the world clearly. They are also a key to letting out bad energy and letting in good energy. Washing your windows and curtains can make a huge difference to the energy flow of your home.
- Symmetry and Balance Your Bedroom – The bulk of spring cleaning is usually in larger, communal areas like the kitchen and living room, but the bedroom is just as important. The bedroom is an important and intimate space. Feng shui suggests arranging your bed so that you can see the door, but not directly in front of it. Creating balance and symmetry is important as well. The same lamps and nightstands should be on either side of the bed.
- Clear Out Closets – Bad energy lies in hidden places as well. Clearing out closets can help any bad stagnant energy to come out. Making space in your closet also helps you to make space in your life for more positive energy.
- Bring The Outside in – Plants are a great way to bring vibrant energy into your home. Incorporating living things such as plants helps create a more lively energy in your home. Indoor plants can also help filter your air to provide cleaner, more breathable air.
Create A Balanced Outdoor Space
We often talk about practicing inside of our homes, but using feng shui with outdoor areas is important as well. Practicing feng shui with the outdoor areas around our home helps make sure we are surrounded by chi energy.
- Bring Balance to Your Entrance – The kitchen and the entrance of your home are strongly linked to your health. The entrance of your home is the first indicator of the energy in your home. Everything from the color to the direction of your front door could have an effect on the chi of your home. While it may not be the only factor that determines the energy of your home, keeping the entrance to your home free of clutter and balanced is important.
- Minimize Outdoor Furniture – Outdoor furniture should be kept to a minimum. Decluttering your outside space helps to balance the space within. The key to outdoor furniture is to use them to create space. Use outdoor chairs to frame a space that would be relaxing for people to sit in. Arrange chairs and tables so that everyone will have a view of the garden.
- Choose Colors Carefully – Feng shui is not only about arrangement and space. In feng shui, certain colors can bring about certain luck or fortune in different areas of your life. Choosing the right colors to help improve your home’s energy. Many people might consider the colors of the inside of their home more than the outside. However, the colors that are outside of your home can affect energy flow. According to feng shui, red is considered good for fortune so painting your mailbox or fence red could help with wealth. The colors of your plants also need to be considered. Planting blue or purple flowers can also help with wealth while white, red, and pink flowers can help with romance and love.
- Incorporate Water and Wood – These elements in feng shui are good for bringing positive energy. Water helps to bring a calmness and balance to emotions. Try incorporating this element by installing a small fountain in your garden or to the entrance way of your home. Wood is another element that can help you achieve chi outdoors. Wood helps with creativity and growth. A good way to incorporate this element to your yard or garden is to use wooden outdoor furniture instead of plastic or metal furniture.
- Create Gentle Curves – Instead of long straight lines, incorporating gentle curves is ideal. Redesigning straight walkways and edges into curves can bring better balance and energy to the outside of your home.If you do not have the flexibility to redesign walkways another way to create curves is to use sculptures or plants to break up the appearance of the long lines and edges. Choose outdoor sculptures and decorations that are more rounded and avoid pointed edges.
Progress Not Perfection
Achieving a perfect home according to feng shui practices can be intimidating and in all honesty probably impossible. However, adding any of these elements to your home can help bring positive energy and balance. Spring cleaning is a process and practicing feng shui takes exactly that – practice.