Had a belter of a day?
Have you had a belter of a day? Sometimes it feels like not a single thing has gone right. Whether you forgot to bring your little ones favourite teddy in the car to kindy and they screamed the whole ride, or your boss tore that report you wrote to shreds, Spencil is here for you.
We’ve found just the thing for you
From now on we are committed to regularly raiding the archives for our MaDs, who’ve suffered a rough day. That’s right we’ve found just the thing for you… chicken soup for your eyeballs. Finish a day that went so wrong, with something so right!
Chicken soup for your eyeballs – Feng Shui edition
It’s no secret that having a clean and well-designed space can improve our daily life. But would you be surprised to learn that the design and decoration of your home could be contributing to your misfortunes?
Feng Shui (translating to wind and water) is a 3000 year old Chinese art, concerned with designing your home in accordance with principles of natural energy flow, to achieve specific live improvements.
It’s aesthetically pleasing for the eye-balls but more importantly it might help you think more deeply about what’s fueling your need for chicken soup. What’s bringing disharmony into your life? And what might be the benefit of you and the kids spending a day rearranging and redecorating a room in your home?
Learning about bagua
One of the most powerful Feng Shui tools is the bagua. Bagua (translating to eight areas) is the energy map used in Feng Shui, used to chart the eight “life areas” around the centre of your space.
Each area is thought to contribute to improvement of different areas of your life, when the area is activated.
To activate an area, you incorporate the corresponding colours, elements and shapes recommended into the space.
Bagua map
Image source: Mindful Design School
How to apply a bagua map to your home
Print a to-scale floor plan of your home. Overlay a three-by-three grid over your floor plan. In the grid, mark the eight areas of your home as determined by the bagua. The bottom of the bagua should sit on the same wall as your front door.
When designing a house or moving into a new house, identifying which rooms fall in each area and whether these areas accurately represent the attributes of the gua can be used to determine where each room should sit in the house.
Applying a bagua map
Image source: Mindful Design School
To fix the outside we have to look in
Bagua can still be applied in your existing space. Simply see what rooms in your home fall under each area. Determine which three areas in your life need the most improvement, in order to figure out which rooms in the house you will activate. What’s really been fueling that need for chicken soup?
Typically, you will choose to activate in an area where you are currently experiencing disharmony. Experts suggest working on only one to three areas at a time.
Now the fun part!
Once you’ve determined the area in your house which needs the most work, you can begin making a little list of Feng Shui cures you’d like to make to the space.
Feng Shui really can be fun for the whole family! And it doesn’t have to be a pricey venture.
Three easy steps
The first step is to clean and declutter your space. Sell or donate anything you’ll no longer need. Perhaps some of the money made could go towards your new magnificent space!
Step two, hunt in a local op shop for new pieces and perhaps a pre-loved book or toy for your little helpers. There’s enough stuff to keep the kids occupied for days while you search for the perfect pieces. Busy kids, low prices, giving back to charity, saving the environment and creating a beautiful space… you really are a super parent!
You could also scour your local curbside cleanup or Facebook marketplace for pieces in the prescribed colour, shape or element.
Or even better, step three, get DIY-ing. Kids love getting their hands dirty! Make a family day of repainting a room or refurbishing some old furniture! Teach the kids some practical skills! Get the tools out and have an absolute blast together!
Redecorating guide based on bagua
Our team has created a simple guide to show what the corresponding colours, elements and shapes are for each gua in your home.
After determining what gua you’d like to work on and what room in the house that area may be situated in, use the guide to plan your Feng Shui cures for the space.
