There is a phenomenon in Feng Shui that occurs when we are too close to a thing to see it clearly. We become blind to the things that we notice in our daily surroundings and that is one of the benefits of hiring a professional to analyze a space. A Feng Shui consultant is able to see the items that have become invisible to our clients. We are not attached so these things pop out at us. I know all this and yet, I recently noticed something in my own home that I had never noticed before. As is usually the case, now that I have made the connection, I have made a swift and non-negotiable decision to let them go.
It occurred to me recently that I have been taking the same artwork along with me to every single place that I have lived since my divorce way back in 2002. One of my favorites was of two Japanese cranes hand-painted on silk. In East Asia, cranes are symbols of love, happiness, marital fidelity and longevity that mate for life.
Each time I moved, I made sure to hang the cranes in one of the many relationship areas that can be found in a home, and I have always loved it. I felt like it was a beautiful symbol of what I should want, a permanent mate for life. I say it is something that I feel like I should want because this is the message that society teaches and preaches. We should want to get married, have a family and grow old together. Coming from parents who divorced when I was five, and then getting divorced myself, this idea of relationships has often felt just out of reach for me.
One day, I was standing near the kitchen and for the first time, I noticed the stark dichotomy of the art on my walls. On the wall opposite the cranes was a framed poster of a whimsical drawing of the Patron Saint of the Kitchen, also known as San Pasqual. This piece has been in my kitchen as a faithful companion almost as long as the cranes. However, for the first time, I actually looked at the scene with fresh eyes. I don’t know a lot about monks, but I do know that they do not typically get married or have intimate partnerships.
In the print, the monk is standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking outward away from the viewer with a halo of sorts around his head. The kitchen behind him is full of pies, fresh loaves of bread and cats. The cranes and the monk do not go together. They are sending mixed messages about this area of my life. It was truly a holy shit kind of moment! It’s times like these that I just really get goosebumps about the power of Feng Shui. It reflects the subconscious like no other healing system I know.
Within moments, I had taken San Pasqual off the wall. As much as I like my alone time, I am not interested in being the poster child of pious solitude. It has been a few weeks since San Pasqual left. I can already feel the shift. At first, the walls looked forlorn and empty. Now, they are like a clean slate where anything is possible. The beauty of life is that we are the creators of it. We are not at the mercy of the unfortunate events that have led up to this moment in our personal evolution. Feng Shui is powerful medicine when you are ready to shine a light on your shadow self. Are you ready?
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