Having financial troubles? Try fixing a leaky faucet or cleaning up the clutter in your house.
Sound weird? It makes sense to Ned Farrell, a feng shui consultant who offered those two, and several other, feng shui suggestions to a group of about a dozen people at Derby Neck Library Tuesday night.
The discussion was about how to use feng shui – the ancient Chinese practice of getting positive energy from particular arrangements of objects and living spaces – to help figure out why “finances aren’t coming in, or why they’re going out too much.”
It all comes down to energy, Farrell said.
“Every item in your house reflects energy,” Farrell said. “It’s either giving you energy or taking energy away.”
So when Farrell himself was having money problems, he called a feng shui consultant to his home to help figure out why. The consultant noticed a leaky faucet and toilet in his bathroom and suggested it may be the cause, Farrell said.
“Water will take things with it – physically, but also energetically,” Farrell said.
Farrell said when he fixed the leaks, his finances improved.
Feng shui is particular to each person’s situation and home, but Farrell offered some general tips for decorating in a way that keeps energy moving:
- clear out the clutter. That means anything you don’t use, don’t like, don’t need. And also extra things that take up too much space or are broken.
“If you get rid of something you don’t like, you reclaim that energy,” Farrell said.
- Make sure the front door to your house looks nice and is clear because it is the major portal where energy enters a home, Farrell said.
- To help with finances, make sure the back left corner of your home is clear from clutter and “energy stopping” items like dried flowers or closed blinds. According to feng shui principles, this is the area of the home where “abundance” and “fruition” energies are held, so this area correlates to finances, Farrell said.
Some of the attendants Tuesday said they thought the suggestions were helpful.
“It’s inspiring,” said Karen Kemmesies of Derby. “I’m going home and cleaning my house.”
