Do Your Actions Give You SatisfACTION?
Posted on 28. Apr, 2012 by admin in Random Thoughts
Think back to what you did yesterday. How much of what you did, the actions you took were what you really wanted to do?
If we are lucky then a large proportion of what we did were what we truly wanted to do. But for many people the actions that they take on a hourly, daily, weekly basis are actions that they take either to get through another day or to please somebody else. The danger is that if we spend too much time on these actions and forget what we want out of life then we lose the satisfaction that we should get from really living each day.
On the Life Goals workshops that I run I always start each workshop by asking people to focus on what they really, truly want in life. Their life purpose. We all know what our life purpose is, our reason for being on this earth, but as we get older we forget or it gets lost under the weight of other responsibilities. Our day to day actions are focused on earning enough money to pay the mortgage or the rent, hitting the firm’s targets, filling the fridge, helping somebody else. As we spend all our time on the actions that we need to do we don’t think about the actions that we want to do, or if we do think about them they become a dream for another life, or for when we have more time and less responsibilities in this one.
We all have responsibilities in life, but our responsibilities shouldn’t drive all of our actions. We should spend time each day in actions that are important to us, that bring us real satisfaction. Gradually as we refocus on our life goals and start to take actions that move us towards our goals we find that we start to bring more balance in to our life. Rather than living each day letting our responsibilities drive our actions, our responsibilities and our actions become aligned. And we have started on our journey to true satisfaction in this life.
World Earth Day
Posted on 17. Apr, 2012 by admin in Random Thoughts
World Earth Day
This Sunday marks World Earth day when up to a billion people will come together to give thanks for our planet and make a pledge to help protect and support it.
I have always had an affinity with World Earth day. Partly this is because I was born around the time of the first ever World Earth day and the collective power of people as they came together to protect the earth, and the growing awareness of the need to safeguard the environment, did something to the energy circulating around the earth at this time. Mainly though the pleasure I get from this day and the reason I am such a strong supporter of the event is that it is wonderful to see so many people in the world today taking positive action to protect and sustain our world for ourselves and for generations to come.
As well as bringing people together to show their support for the earth and to call on all our governments to make a commitment for positive change, World Earth day this year is a timely reminder that there is much on this earth for us to be thankful for. We hear so much in the media about what is wrong with the world it is great to know that there are so many people who want to do what is right. To make the world a better place and to make sure we always have this world it only needs for each one of us to make a small difference to improve our relationship with the environment. If we can all take one small step the earth will provide us with all the resources we need to live a happy life for many thousands of years to come.
As a Feng Shui expert I am very conscious of the changes on the earth and the dramatic shifting in the earth’s energies over the last few decades. Earth’s place in the universe relies on an equal and harmonious balance between yin and yang. If one becomes stronger than the other, which is what we are experiencing at this moment in time, then the whole balance of the earth is put at risk. Our so called advancements over recent years, the satellites spinning overhead which allows 24 hour communication, the ever larger and taller buildings in areas which were previously unspoilt wilderness, vast tracts of land concreted over to provide us with faster transport connections have all resulted in a shift in the energy around us towards yang. Too much yang energy in our environment leads to conflict and disharmony, pretty much summing up the ever increasing instances of wars and natural disasters we now live in.
It is not too late to help the balance of energy become more equal, there are enough people on the planet to do it. One billion of us will be lending our voices and making a pledge on Sunday. If you want to perform a small action to make a difference in your own environment to promote yin energy there is much you can do. Scattering wild flower seeds on a patch of lawn to make your garden more yin, making more use of the natural light in your home so that you are less reliant on electricity, making a commitment to eat locally produced food in season are just three easy ways in which you can help.
If we give to the earth the earth will give back to us. And our lives will be healthier, richer and happier as a result.
To find out more about the events on World Earth Day follow this link http://www.earthday.org
Life is a Journey
Posted on 23. Sep, 2011 by admin in Random Thoughts
I managed to find myself in the middle of a debate about life and death this week. It started off because I was asked what I thought happened when one died. Now the quick answer and in hindsight probably the one that I should have used is that I don’t know. However like most people when faced with this question I couldn’t resist giving my opinion, which led to us debating the subject for half an hour when we could have probably used the time much more productively. At the end of the debate, interesting and fascinating as it was, we all had to concede that we didn’t really know the answer and no one, including me, was in a hurry to find out.
In the course of the passionate but good natured debate somebody raised the view that one of the reasons people believe in life after death is the hope that there is something better than this life in the next one. Whilst I don’t think that everybody who believes in life after death believes in it for this reason there is certainly some truth in the comment. I know quite a few people who try and live a good and blameless life, helping others and giving what they can in the belief that they will be rewarded in Heaven. I am in no way criticising that view, nor knocking that way of living which is one I aspire to, but I do find it more than a little bit sad, the feeling that Heaven is a better place than our life on Earth. Because if we are living our life on Earth as it is truly meant to be lived, how can there be anything better than this?
To live your life as it is meant to be lived is a lot easier than many people imagine. The problem I find is that like most things in life we humans try and over complicate it. If we were to just accept that our journey through life is mapped out for us at the moment we are born we could just sit back and enjoy the ride. That is not to say that we shouldn’t be prepared. When I talk about our journey through life on the courses that I deliver I ask people to imagine they were setting off on a walk through a wood. Assuming that it was a long walk, and you were being sensible about it you would need two things. Firstly you would have to have a rough idea of where you were going, secondly you would need some equipment both to make the journey easier and to help you in case you encountered difficulties. Setting off on our life journey is no different to setting off on a walk through a wood, if anything it is made easier by the fact that we already know where we are going. We are heading towards our dream, the purpose that was set out for us when we were created. All we need to think about then is the equipment that is going to help us to get there.
If you were going on a walk through a wood you would hope that on the whole the path was smooth, clear and filled with some spectacular sights and sounds. I imagine though that you would also expect to encounter the odd obstacle. You may find that in some parts the terrain was rocky, that you may have to walk up a few hills, retrace your route occasionally or take a new path if the path you were on became impassable. If you were well prepared, with a compass, good boots, provisions and strong walking equipment you would not be worried about the obstacles you encountered or the changing plans you had to make. You would still be confident that you were going to reach your destination.
Your life journey is exactly the same. At times the path will be clear and smooth stretching in to the distance as far as the eye can see, at other times it will be hilly, rocky, blocked by obstacles. Occasionally you will have to take a path that you don’t want to take, or find that a shortcut that promised so much actually leads you in to a right old mess. If however you understand that every step on your path, every obstacle you encounter has happened for a reason, and feel confident that you have the equipment you need to reach your ultimate life purpose then you will enjoy the journey. Space in your rucksack won’t be filled with heavy things you have no need for like fear, self doubt, worry and disappointment.
So what is this equipment that will help us on our life journey? The Chinese call them the Three Fates or Three Lucks depending on which book or translation you are reading. The Three Fates are Heaven Fate, Earth Fate and Human Fate and link closely to the Five Factors that Influence Fortune (which I wrote about in my blog post of August 12th). The Three Fates are with us all the time, although many people don’t realise it and therefore don’t turn to them for help when help is needed.
We are all born with Three Fates. Heaven Fate, the first one, is our destiny, the life path that we are on. Heaven Fate controls us. Our destiny is decided by the Universe at the moment we are born and is influenced by the exact moment of our birth, the name that has been chosen for us and the circumstances that we were born in to. This is our path through life. Our Heaven Fate gives us our purpose in life, our ultimate destination and decides how easy or lucky the path will be. We cannot change our path through life but the other two fates will help us deal with any obstacles or problems we encounter.
Earth Fate is how our personal energy interacts with the energy in our environment. Our Earth Fate changes as we move through life. When we are first born our Earth Fate comes from the environment we were born in to. Later the energy comes from our immediate environment, not only our home, but the places that we work and the places that we like to spend time in. We have a choice as to whether we let Earth Fate control us or not.
To make our path through life easier we can strengthen our Earth Fate by the use of Feng Shui. In general terms we should ensure that our environment is balanced and harmonised, that yin and yang are equally represented and the five elements allow the energy to flow through our environment in a positive and constructive way. This energy harmonisation should be constantly maintained, it is the foundation stone of Feng Shui and allows more personal enhancements to have the desired effect. Without the foundation stone any enhancements will be diluted or work only in the very short term.
Personal Feng Shui enhancements can be used when we encounter obstacles or difficulties on our life path, or if we want help in reading the signs that we see as we walk down our path. A personal enhancement is when we take an action to link our personal energy with the energy in our environment. This is done through understanding how our Heaven and Earth Fates interact and making subtle changes to channel the energy towards a specific desire. This can be as simple as moving your bed so that you face a particular direction when you sleep, or placing crystals in certain auspicious areas of your home.
The final of the three fates is Human Fate. Unlike the other two fates Human Fate is the one that we have complete control over. Human Fate drives our behaviour, the actions that we take, the characteristics that we display and the feelings that we hold. It is Human Fate that decides how we see each stage on our path, whether we successfully navigate each obstacle, cheerfully learning what we can or wallow in self pity and wonder why life is so unfair.
As well as knowing that we have complete control over our emotions, Human Fate also allows us to improve ourselves through study. This gives us a great opportunity to have some form of influence over Heaven Fate. By studying and understanding our personal horoscope, our Four Pillars of Destiny, we can gain an insight in to the path ahead. By understanding where the path is clear, and where there may be obstacles we can then take action to either take advantage of the clear path, or prevent the obstacle from holding us up too much. Remember we have complete control over Human Fate. We cannot move the obstacle from our path, but we can determine how we react to it.
Life is a journey to be enjoyed. Whether we believe in a next life or not, we should all ensure that this life is as rewarding and fulfilling as the Universe intended it to be.
Maintaining Balance in the Universe
Posted on 05. Aug, 2011 by admin in Random Thoughts
As I write this post it appears that the western world is heading for yet another financial meltdown. The US at the last minute saved itself from defaulting on it’s debt, but may still have it’s credit rating downgraded. Italy may well be the next Eurozone country to need a financial bailout, potentially followed by Spain or Belgium. International markets have reacted to the uncertainty and dropped sharply. And in every western country people are struggling to cope with cuts in spending, less money and job insecurity.
The financial problems that the west are experiencing are not the only problems facing the world at the moment. Large parts of Africa are once more in the grip of a major famine, the conflicts and power struggles in the Middle East are covering more countries than ever before, the ice caps of the Arctic and Antarctic are melting meaning that Polar Bears in hungry desperation are attacking humans for food and Japan and New Zealand are still trying to deal with the aftermath of the huge earthquakes that struck their countries earlier this year.
None of this is particularly new. The world has always had to deal with disasters. But in talking to people there is a sense that these disasters are now occuring with more frequency and with more force. And we don’t seem to be able to overcome one before another one hits.
Living in the countryside of South West France it is easy to feel immune to the disasters around the world. Even on a local level though we can tell the world is changing. One of the things that we have always loved about France is the feeling of seasons that we get in our part of the world. We have been in France for three years and in that time winters have been cold and crisp, spring warm with regular wet spells and summers have been hot and dry. This year however the natural sense of seasons has changed. Between February and June we had no rainfall. None at all. The field next to our house which should have been been full of sunflowers bringing much needed income to this poor area of France has possibly 100 tough sunflowers growing out the dry, sandy, desert like soil. Farmers in the local bar have called this year a catastrophe.
After agriculture the second income generator in our part of France is tourism. The holiday season starts in earnest at the beginning of July when thousands of people from Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK descend on our area of France for the scenery, the weather and the markets. On the 4th July this year we finally had rain and it doesn’t feel like it has stopped. In one week it rained constantly for seven days. Now the shopowners and gite owners are joining the farmers in calling this year a catastrophe.
The problems in our area of France pale in to insignificance compared to some of the problems around the world but they are painful to those of us who are here. And they are starting to create a lot of unease and uncertainty, there is a real sense in many people that the world is changing, that somehow it is starting to turn out of control.
The universe is made up of two opposing forces of energy, yin and yang. For there to be balance and harmony in the universe these two forces need to work together equally. Yin is dark, quiet, natural, yang is bright, busy, manmade. To live as humans we have been given a great opportunity, but with that opportunity comes responsibililty. We are responsible for our world and maintaining and supporting the forces in this world. That means we need to ensure the balance between yin and yang remains equal. If we look at many of the “advancements” we have made in the last 100 years they all support yang energy. Concreting over vast tracts of land to build new cities and roads, damming rivers, covering the sky with satellites to bring us ever better and quicker methods of communication all promote yang energy. The further we go with these advancements the further we create a sense of inbalance between yin and yang. If we continue as we are there will come a time when we push the balance past the point of no return.
The universe is sending us a message at the moment and we need to listen. There is an inbalance between yin and yang in our world. We need to try and restore and strengthen yin energy to recover that balance. We need to protect our natural world, build houses that blend with the environment, live simpler lives. If we can spend millions and millions on sending people in to space, building skyscrapers, designing and building ever smaller communication devices then we should be able to discover ways of maintaining that sense of balance and living as one with the world. We can never control the universe, nor does the universe control us. When we fully understand that and take action we will restore balance in our world.
A Numerology Reading for Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
Posted on 29. Apr, 2011 by admin in Random Thoughts
As today is such a momentous and historic day in the UK with the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, I did not want the day to pass without a mention of the wedding in my weekly column. Although a large part of my life is taken up with the study and promotion of Feng Shui I also have a keen interest in Numerology and run a number of courses on the subject. In a slight change this week in addition to my weekly blog full of Feng Shui tips I thought I would also share some of my personal thoughts with you on William and Catherine’s life path numbers and what they show life has in store for them.
The study of numerology shows us that our personal numbers are derived from a variety of different calculations. In this brief article I am going to cover just a couple of these and look at William and Catherine’s life path numbers derived from their dates of birth to show what this year and the next few years have in store for them as a married couple. I hope you find the article interesting and it encourages you to begin to look at your own personal numbers to gain a greater understanding of your life.
Let’s start by looking at William and Catherine’s life path numbers. Life path numbers are derived from your birth day, birth month and birth year added together and reduced to a single digit, unless the numbers add up to what are known as the master numbers of 11 or 22. Master numbers are fairly unusual and tend to signify a higher level of intuition and knowledge in those that are born under them. Life Path numbers show your path through life, what some people call your destiny. William was born on 21st June 1982 and Catherine was born on 9th January 1982. This means that William’s life path number is the master number 11, no surprise there for our future king ( 2 + 1 + 6 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 2 = 29, 2 + 9 = 11) and Catherine’s life path number is 3 ( 9 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 2 = 30, 3 + 0 = 3).
Those with the master number 11 often possess extreme characteristics, they are visionary’s often ahead of their time and make great natural leaders. They can inspire people with their knowledge and their humanity and are often extremely generous and kind hearted. Highly intuitive with an unerring ability to know exactly how to motivate people they are remembered by those people they come in to contact with and can make a real difference to people’s lives. For all these qualities however 11′s often come to prominence later in life, usually after the age of 36. Their development to greatness and to leadership often takes a slow path and for this 11′s can demonstrate melancholy and frustration in their early years as they feel that something is missing in their lives. For those like William who have 11 as their life path number their destiny is to be a strong and powerful leader, to inspire others and to touch the hearts of those they come in to contact with, great qualities for a future king in fact.
Catherine’s life path number is a 3 and those with a life path number of 3 tend to be great communicators and extremely artistic. Indeed many 3′s end up as artists, actors, musicians or teachers. 3′s are social butterflies, often gregarious and extroverted and light up any room that they enter. As a natural communicator 3′s can reach out to people, inspiring them to make a difference and change the way they look at life. 3′s also possess a great sense of empathy and humility and so make excellent listeners and counsellors. On the downside the creative and quick witted 3 can be flippant, distracted and not very organised. A 3′s destiny is often to live a life of happy chaos, highly thought of , looked up to and well loved by those who know them
As a couple, and a couple that will live their life very much in the spotlight William and Catherine’s life path numbers show that they complement each other perfectly. William’s natural leadership and great humanity which will develop even further over the next 10 to 20 years and Catherine’s natural sparkle and powerful communication style means that as a couple they will inspire people across the globe. Expect great things and a number of changes from this couple as they move through life.
Moving on from their life path numbers let us now look at what this year and the next few years has in store for them. To get William and Catherine’s personal year forecasts you take their birth day and birth month and add it to the current year. This means that William born on the 21st June has a personal year number of 4 ( 2 + 1 + 6 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 13, 1 + 3 = 4) and Catherine (birthdate 9th January) has a personal year of 5 ( 9 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 14, 1 + 4 = 5). A 4 personal year is a good year for building a solid structure and foundation for the future, to start looking for greater security in your life, a good year in fact to get married. Whether William knew this when he decided to ask Catherine to marry him last year is unclear but the omen’s for William are excellent. He couldn’t have picked a better time for himself to formalise this union.
For Catherine however the omens may not be quite so good. A 5 personal year is often a year of great change and in a 5 personal year you should really expect the unexpected. This suggests that while Catherine having lived with William for the past few years may expect life to go on much as before once she becomes his wife things may change much more than she expects. The next few months may well be rocky and she may start to have doubts about the life she has committed herself to.
Looking longer term the numbers show that both William and Catherine will be entering a period of change over the next two to three years. The next two to three years will not be plain sailing for this newly wed couple and they will both need to make a number of adjustments if they are to be happy. Fortunately their life path numbers show that both have amazing compassion, the ability to read and understand the needs of other people and strong communication skills. Providing they are given space, they talk to each other and they are there for each other there then any doubts they may both have will be overcome by 2014 and as their life path numbers show it is then that they will start to become a strong and inspirational couple.
