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Choices, Consequences, Stress, and Feng Shui
by Lynne Ashdown
1/20/05
The circumstances of my life today are tumultuous. I am a Feng Shui
practitioner. We’re not supposed to be in tumultuous
circumstances. But we are human, too. Dr. David Hawkins (“Power
vs. Force” and others), one of the most advanced researchers of
consciousness in our time, writes that there are only choices and
consequences. No blame, no ranting, no retribution for past sins,
no wrath of God - only choices and consequences. Had to have the
stupid Mercedes instead of the Honda and the last repair bill was
$2500? Well hey, Poor Baby. Sometimes down the line, our
consequences surface from choices made long ago, causing us to fall
out of “the right stream of the universe,” the state that the
practice of Feng Shui seeks to help you create - connected in your
home to the auspicious chi energy streams of heaven and earth. This
is the state where life flows, and nothing impedes you. Right paths
and helpful people appear and doors open to your goals. You are in
the right place doing the right thing at the right time. You know
when you’re in it - and when you’re not.
I am not
sitting in that stream right now. My story is no better or worse,
harder or easier, more or less interesting than yours. No one gets
through life without making a few wrong choices somewhere along the
line.
So?
Consider. Somewhere you made a mistake. The consequences came
later - usually at the very worst possible time. Well
congratulations, you are a flawed human being, often unable to see
the big picture, just like everybody else. Who’s breathing down
your neck today - The Franchise Tax Board? A partner? Your bottom
line? Old Man Time? Worse?
It’s not
your fault. You made choices. There are consequences. That’s it.
So let’s look at what we can peel away from our vision about
ourselves? Blame, self-loathing. Judgement. Regrets. Wishing you
were different - smarter, maybe. Younger, faster, stronger. Try to
imagine if you could strip all this away. What would you have?
Yourself. Alone. Maybe you have a partner, but over the course of
your lifetime you really have only you and your life, for as long as
it lasts. As long as you are alive, everything else can change in a
second. Just think how it would help your stress level if, no
matter what happened, you could be in it with no blame, judgement,
guilt, or regrets toward yourself. Would letting go of these ideas
impede your ability to move forward from where you stand? No!
Doors would open and paths would appear. Giving up these
destructive self-attributions would ease your way back into “the
right stream of the universe.” Making this effort would be
practicing the best personal (the only kind there is) Feng Shui.
Allow me
to tell you my story. I have done and been many things in my life.
Although I am irrevocably committed to the study of Feng Shui and
its practice, this is only my most recent incarnation in this life.
I have been a carefree independent child, a young bride and then
young divorced mother who raised her two sons alone. I’ve been an
athlete, a singer, a Persian rug salesman and an adventurer. I’ve
cycled across continents, been scared to death in Libya and in
Montana on a gale-torn plain, jubilant on a mountaintop, lost and
alone in southern Italy. I have loved and been loved, won and lost
this game. I’ve been a leader, seldom a follower, sometimes a pain
in the ass. I’ve lived a life of privilege, rich in money and
family all my life, but my choice in men have been mixed. I’ve been
an intellectual, but too unconscious in my bubble of elitism to file
my taxes. I’m blessed with good health but have more sports
injuries than most football players. I have an indomitable spirit
and sense of optimism, but the other side of this coin is blinders
to reality. Scarlett and I will think about it tomorrow. I’m
generous and love people, but I can also be a judgmental elitist.
Never saw a woman or a room I couldn’t dress better in my mind’s
eye.
Being a
former poor little rich girl is a bitch. Never met a book or a good
handbag I felt I didn’t deserve. I’ve got a handle on the handbag
thing, but a book? It’s only twenty bucks for God’s sake, and I
need to know this stuff. Every time I move I give away several
cartons of books, but the volume of my books always stays the same.
Which
brings me to the present. I am moving again. The San Francisco Bay
Area has priced me out of the market. For a few years I bought,
fixed up and sold - but with each move the numbers kept getting
bigger. I decided to stay here anyway, trading the big townhouse I
can no longer afford for a smaller place, and expanding my ideas
about how to earn a living. This will be a great challenge, and I
know I’m up to it. Like my mother used to say, “It’s a great life
if you don’t weaken.” This transition from PLRG to Regular Person
has been hard - it’s so much easier to go the other way. Aw-w-w-w,
you say. Well I cheerfully tell you to put it where the sun don’t
shine. Fortunately, I’ve lived long enough not to care what you
say. Boy does that feel good! Think about it. What if you didn’t
care anymore what people thought or said? What a relief! Now I
only have to be myself, the bare soul me! God I could dance naked
on a beach in the moonlight! I could take a fresh look at the past
as only a series of choices I made - I could put consequences in
tomorrow - I could put joy into today! You know, even if you think
your consequences are happening today, did they happen this
morning? Will they tonight? What about right now? I sit in my
favorite San Francisco coffee house, watching all the other solitary
folks here engrossed in their computers and books but, like me, here
for the company - I savor my latte, loving the warm feel of the milk
in my mouth mixed with the sensual taste of the espresso. Soft jazz
is playing and I love it here. The joy of now puts me in “the right
stream of the universe,” in perfect Feng Shui. You can create it
for yourself this instant. |
