Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (33 page)

A large empty vat in your backyard is not only a safety hazard, but an

emotional and financial wasteland. This scenario should be avoided at

all costs.

In feng shui, a swimming pool is a strong Water element. If a home

is located on property with water, such as a lake or ocean, then consideration should be given as to whether a pool will add too much of the

water element. Too much water can lead to an overload of emotions

and feeling ungrounded. A feng shui professional can help you with this assessment depending on the other elements surrounding the property.

For example, if the home is located in an already moist environment,

then adding more water is not advisable. However, if the location is a sunny one, then the water will help balance out the fire element from

the Sun.

The location of the pool with regard to the Bagua Map is another

important consideration. For example, if the pool is located in the back center of the home, in the Fame & Reputation section, then the water element would need to be balanced by adding more fire elements using

décor and finishes. This can involve a complex balance of the Five El-

ement Theory used in feng shui due to the pool being such a strong

Water element.

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Mind Body Home Connection:
Swimming Pool

• Do you feel overly emotional or ungrounded?

• Do you feel like your energy is being drained?

• Do you feel emotionally drained?

Trees

Most homes have at least one tree on the lot. Trees can add an impor-

tant energetic component to a property that cannot be replicated in any way. For many people, their favorite memories when growing up re-volved around a tree in their yard. A tree can provide a safe, protective place for introspection, a place for shade, and in the case of Buddha, a place for awakening. Trees are an important metaphor for our own

energy as they strike the perfect balance between being grounded and

expanding at the same time. Simply having one strong and sturdy tree

in your yard can help ground the home and its occupants.

But what happens when a tree falls on your property? If the tree or

limb fell as a result of a storm, then there is a clearing energy. Storms balance the energy in the atmosphere. They clear away stagnant energy that has collected. And in doing so, storms can be destructive often clearing away trees and limbs. In this case, the trees or limbs are representative of something that needs to be cleared from our own life.

Similar to clutter, fallen trees and limbs represent what no longer serves our highest and best interest. It is making space for more light to come through.

Storm winds can sometimes completely uproot a tree. Storm winds

represent “winds of change.” An uprooted tree is the physical represen-

tation of this change. In fact, the change is so extreme that it has the energy of uprooting us. This could uproot an old belief system that is no longer serving you. It could represent something ground breaking

that has come into your life or something that has shaken your own

foundation.

Sometimes a tree will fall for no apparent reason. This happened to

me a few years ago. Within a few days of moving into my house, I came

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home one night to find a tree taking up my entire driveway. It had fallen in the exact spot my car had been parked. The strangest part was that

it was a calm, still summer night with absolutely no wind. There was

no explanation as to why the tree had fallen, let alone been uprooted.

Energetically, however, the move into this house marked a considerable

shift in my life that clearly had shaken me to the core.

Mind Body Home Connection:
Trees

• What needs to be cleared from your life?

• What is no longer serving you?

• Are your support systems falling away?

• What foundation systems have shifted?

• What belief systems are no longer supporting you?

• What has shaken your foundation?

C h a p t e r 1 3

Encroachments:

What We Attract

[E]verything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation.

—carl jung



• Ants

• Flies

• Cockroaches

• Mice

• Burglar

• Ghosts

As our energy and the energy of our home come together, our home

sends us messages in and around the home that reveal our subconscious

desires, fears, and thoughts. As you have seen from the previous chap-

ters, everything seeks outward manifestation in some form or another.

In the same vein, we also attract certain things into our home as well.

These usually come in the form of insects, rodents, or other entities

that take up our energy. Where we have energetic holes in our life and

thus in our home, it allows space for other energy to take up and use.

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As such, we attract others to come in and take up our space. Similar

to an old friend crashing on our couch, we unconsciously invite other

energies into our space.

You’ve most likely experienced an infestation of a certain type of

insect in your home at some point. And while certain insects are prone

to certain regions at certain times of the year, it is nevertheless not coincidental. For example, where I live spiders are common in the Fall. Re-

gardless however, I have lived in some homes where spiders were never

an issue and other homes less than a mile away where spiders were a

major problem. As such, certain homes attract certain insects depend-

ing on the moisture and lighting. And thus in some cases the energy

of the home is a stronger factor in what outside energies are attracted inside.

Nothing seems to bring out fear in people more than bugs, insects,

or rodents. Most everyone has a strong aversion to some sort of bug,

spider, or small animal. We all have our
Achilles Heel
as to what gives us the heebee-jeebees. Usually it goes back to childhood and to what

we were exposed. Other times, it may be completely unexplainable. I

grew up in a house in the woods where spiders were very common

and, to this day I have no problem with spiders. However, the thought

of a mouse, let alone seeing one, will throw me to the roof. These little creatures represent an aspect of ourself that is unrealized, similar to our shadow side. For example, there are attributes of a mouse that I need to own. And thus these creatures show up in our spaces as a reminder, or

a resonance.

In considering the following encroachments, think back to whether

you have ever experienced these and what was going on at that time in

your life. For future referencing, if you begin experiencing any of these energies in your home, consider what the message is for you. Why has

this energy shown up in your space? Remember how it entered and in

what room. Once conscious of it, you may be surprised at how quickly

the energy leaves. An exterminator may still be in order for good mea-

sure.

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Ants

Is there anything more annoying than having ants in your home? Have

you ever had an ant infestation show up out of nowhere? Not surpris-

ingly, ants represent annoyances. When they suddenly show up in your

home, they are a manifestation of some annoyance or irritation in your

daily life. Ants also represent petty annoyances that seem insignificant, but they can also build up similar to an anthill. Before long, it becomes something much bigger that represents a general dissatisfaction in your daily life.

It is no coincidence that while ants are highly annoying, they are also extremely efficient and one of the most organizational-minded energies

on the planet. Annoyances and pettiness can also cause one to be inef-

ficient in how one uses their energy and goes about their day. They represent industry, productivity, and efficiency. Consider where in your life you can use more organization and efficiency. Annoyances are distractions, and distractions take our focus and energy into nonproductive

outlets. Where are you being distracted? Also consider in what room

or area of your home the ants appear. The location of the annoyances

may give more information about the message.

Flies

“What’s bugging you?” Flying insects are synonymous with swatting,

clapping, and waving them to remove them from our personal space.

Like ants, flies are annoying irritants, although there is an air quality about them that makes them much more elusive than ants. They cause

us to be more ungrounded and in the head as we swat them away, be-

coming mentally distracted in the process. While ants represent an-

noyances in our physical world, flies represent mental annoyances that

come and go through our mind.

While ants give us and show us the gift of productivity, flies have a

unique gift of transformation. Flies transform sludge. It is the reason they seek decay, waste, and anything dead. They are transforming this

energy. If you come across an inordinate number of flies in your home,

then consider what is dead, dying, or decaying in your life that needs

216 Encroachments

transforming. What thoughts are no longer serving you and only dis-

tracting you?

Cockroaches

Just writing about cockroaches is difficult, let alone seeing one. While cockroaches are nasty little insects that we associate with foraging for food and crawling in unwelcomed places, they actually deliver a powerful message. Cockroaches are similar to weeds in that if the world were to end, they would be the lone survivors. Cockroaches have incredible

survival skills. They scurry, squeeze, and elude danger at all costs.

My only encounter with cockroaches was my first apartment in law

school. It is not coincidental that I was in survival mode in my first year in moving to a new city not knowing anyone. By the time I moved out

of this apartment, I had integrated into my new life and established

friendships, never experience cockroaches again, nor the feeling of survival. Seeing cockroaches can also signify one’s own need for rejuvena-

tion or self-cleaning on the emotional or spiritual levels.

Mice

Mice represent holes in our life. This is also indicative of energy leaks. I recently had a situation that gave me new insight about mice. I had just moved into a newly renovated, historic home. Prior to the renovation

an older man lived in the house for decades. The first cold, October

evening around dusk, I realized we were not alone, but shared the space with mice as I saw one run across the kitchen floor. I screamed. Traps

and bait were set, but there was a sense that there were multiple mice.

My dog was sniffing in odd places and there was a constant uneasiness.

It got to the point that I didn’t want to be home after dusk. I was literally being run out of my own home by mice!

After a few nights of this, I realized this was crazy and I began to

wonder what the meaning of all this was. In that moment I realized I

was not taking up my own space. In other words, I was not using my

power. I was underutilizing myself and allowing others to overpower

Encroachments 217

me. If you don’t take up your space, then someone or something else

will—whether it is a mouse, a competitor, your mother, or even a

friend.

The old man who had lived there for years apparently had not

minded his furry friends and thus the mice were allowed to run ram-

pant. I was an intruder upon their space. When I realized that this was what was happening in my own home—that I energetically had not

claimed the space as mine yet—I got to work. I was tired of being fear-

ful of mice. I was tired of something else taking over my home. I felt a new sense of power that I had never felt before. I declared it as my home and completely filled every corner and nook and cranny with my

energy through meditation. This was my house. I started to consider

where else in my life I had not been taking up my rightful space.

Often people have problems with mice upon moving into a new

house. Perhaps the house had been sitting empty for a while or the

previous owners weren’t as tidy. In either case, you are being asked

to claim your space and your power. Mice inevitably enter the home

through holes. The holes have as much symbolism as the mice. Holes,

even if the size of a dime, indicate holes in your life. Where are you letting energy escape? Where in your life or in your relationships are there holes? What is not being discussed in your household?

The gift that a mouse offers is that of resourcefulness, adaptability, timidness over arrogance, and tidiness. If you find a mouse in your living space, then consider if any of these attributes are qualities that you need to embody more.

Burglar

Anything that comes into our space that has not been invited is an in-

trusion of our energy and our space. Like insects and rodents, burglars are an example of allowing others to take our space. It may be hard

to imagine that victims of burglary have on some level attracted the

energy of allowing an invasion. And while random accidents and in-

cidents happen without explanation, usually there is a resonance that

allowed the intrusive energy. Anyone who has had their home broken

218 Encroachments