Day 1: Welcome to my home!

I am going to do five consecutive days of feng shui topics to commemorate this last week of winter. One of the main principles of feng shui is that everything is always in a constant state of change. The seasons are a wonderful example of this, and since living in good balance with nature is one of the things we strive to do with feng shui, I thought this would be a good time to embrace change and teach you all a few things you can do to create harmony and peace in your home.

There is no better place to start than at your front door. The main door to your home is very important in feng shui and this door should be used every day. I know many of us enter our homes primarily through the garage, the kitchen door, or some other entrance, leaving our front door to just sit there and look pretty. I encourage you to use this door whenever possible. This is the primary entrance for good energy to enter your home, and your using it keeps that flow active. If you're not using this door, ask yourself why. Is it not convenient? If so, consider changing where you park. Is it a pain because the lock sticks? Oil it up! Are there bushes that poke you when you approach the front door? Cut those babies back! Even if you come and go from this door to walk your dog or check your mail, that is bringing vital energy to the threshold of your home.

If a guest comes to visit you, what is the path they have to take to get to your front door? Make sure it is safe and well-lit. A meandering walkway is always better than a straight shot to the door. Think about how you feel when you're driving down a curvy country road as opposed to a long, straight highway. It just feels more easeful. Make sure there are pretty plants and flowers to look at and to soften the hard lines of the walkway. And in some cases it's appropriate to have a walkway from the street and the driveway so visitors don't have to dodge between parked cars or trudge through the grass to get to your home.

Once that visitor is standing at your front door, what do they see and how do they feel? Your front stoop should be welcoming and cheerful. Cobwebs, loose bricks, old newspapers, and a tattered mat don't leave a good first impression. Again, make sure this area has good lighting for the evening hours--safety is always the first consideration in feng shui. Just the attention you give to keeping this space clean and fresh does wonders for welcoming positive energy into your home.

You greet your guest (and your good energy) at the door...what next? Does the door open fully and freely or does it bang in to a basket of dirty shoes when it opens? What is in the entryway to welcome you in? Consider putting something there that makes you feel at home when you enter, something that reflects the people who live there and the impression you want to give people when they first arrive. This is the first place to make a statement about the rest of your home.

Many homes have staircases that run right down in the front entry way. Obviously, if this is how your house was designed there isn't much you can do about it. However, this layout is not ideal for the free-flow of energy throughout your floor plan. Placing a mirror on the wall at the bottom of your staircase will help discourage good energy from shooting out your front door. Another trick is to not stair-step pictures on the wall in your stairwell. Encourage the energy to meander down the stairs by creating a horizontal display, or by skipping the artwork all together.

In feng shui there is an energetic map that relates specific areas of your home to different areas of our lives. The front door, in almost all cases, will fall in one of three areas: helpful people and travel, career, or knowledge and self-cultivation. Depending on where your front door lies on the front plane of your house, distinct colors, shapes, and materials in your entryway can support these areas of your life. This is definitely something to be mindful of, and if you'd like some help determining what area this is for you, consider contacting me for a feng shui consultation. It's a fun and fascinating process to see how your environment relates to your life. And it's exciting and empowering to gain new knowledge of how you can create more harmony and prosperity by making conscious changes that are in alignment with what you want out of life.

I'm off to take a broom the corners of my front porch and deal with an unsightly pile of extension cords to the right of my front door. Check in again tomorrow for some more feng shui inspiration!

peace, love, and welcome mats....