How Can My Fireplace Affect My Health?

Many people love the look of fireplaces in their homes. Having a fireplace creates a warm, inviting feel that makes visitors feel at ease, and creates a centerpiece that enhances the dcor of any room.

Although fireplaces are usually good for your home's energy, there are a couple of situations where having a fireplace can actually drain the positive energy of your home, and create an environment that can foster poor health.

This can happen when you have a fireplace that is located in the center of your home. Your home's center is the most important area for maintaining positive energy and good health. This is because the energy in this area affects all of the other areas in your living space. For this reason, it is vital that the energy in this area be kept as clear as possible.

The center of your house represents the center of your body. Having a strong element of fire in this area is just like having excessive heat running through your body. Having a fireplace in the center of your home can create a sense of exhaustion throughout your living space. It also affects your adrenal glands, and can weaken your immune system.

Obviously, if you have a fireplace in the center of your home, it is not practical to move it for the sake of improving your home's energy. However, there are a number of feng shui techniques you can use to stop the energy drain.

First, you can place a water feature, such as a small table top fountain or a fish tank, near your fireplace. Including the water element in this area will help to balance the energy created by the fire element.

If it is not possible to place a water feature near your fireplace, you can use objects that represent water, such as paintings or pictures of seascapes, rivers, lakes, or waterfalls. Hanging these pictures over or near your fireplace will help to improve the energy throughout your entire home.

You can also use black colored objects to represent the water element. Black planters, vases, and statuary placed near your fireplace will help to build positive energy to support your family's good health.

Hanging a mirror over your fireplace, or placing one in the surrounding area, will also bring in the water element. Using a mirror near your fireplace will stop the drain of energy, and you'll notice that your whole house just feels better.

Another area that is not ideal for a fireplace in terms of health is in the middle, left area of your home. This area also represents health, as well as family. Having a fireplace here can result in 'heated' family issues or over-activity in the body (such as high blood pressure, over-active thyroid, etc.)

Once again, the key is to balance out the fire energy with the element of water in the same ways as mentioned previously. Since this area is also associated with the wood element, you could also add some wood here - some ways to do that would be to bring in a plant or some flowers, a picture of flowers, plants or trees, or simply something that is made of wood. You could also use anything in the colors of blue or green.

It is important to take care of your health in any way that you can. If you have health issues and you happen to have a fireplace in either of these two areas - you'll want to consider these recommendations. They really can make a big difference.

Linda Binns shows you how to be more successful in all areas of your life by working with your environment. Get FREE Feng Shui Success Secrets. These powerful and practical secrets can help you transform your life. Go to http://www.fengshuiexplained.com now.

Linda Binns is author of Feng Shui for Your Relationships: Changing Your Environment to Create Better Relationships. She has been a Feng Shui Practitioner, Author, Speaker and teacher for over 10 years. She has appeared internationally on television and radio and in local publications. Linda is also the founder of The Feng Shui Success Institute - which teaches in-depth Feng Shui training and practitioner certification.

Is Money A Big Part Of Organized
Starting Your Own Religion

About That Dream...

About that Dream...

Remember your very first job? That all-grown-up feeling! Your own money to buy things... That feeling of independence!

Do you still have that excitement today? Do you jump out of bed, eager to start a new day? Or are you tired, even slightly depressed?

Perhaps you've lost touch with your own special *dream* over the years. What was your dream? Have you thought about it lately? Acknowledging your dream can free you up to remove the obstacles...

Those Nasty Obstacles

What's keeping you from your dream? Start a small list of things you consider obstacles in your way. Are they *Time,* *Energy,* *Money?* Is your life just too stressful? Brainstorm some solutions and write them in the column next to the obstacles.

Each of the above were obstacles for me. We were about $14,000 in debt (credit cards and school loans). I was working 40-60 hours a week -- just to pay the bills. I was using my energy to work for *things, * leaving none for pursuing my dream.

The Negotiation

If you could trade something for your dream, what would it be? If you wanted it so badly you could taste it -- how could you make it happen?

I wanted to work part time and pursue my writing. I negotiated with myself. If I could learn to live on 20 hours pay per week, I could go part time. Two and a half years later, we were debt free with a small nest egg. Our spending was minimal. I had finished the first draft of my book a year earlier. I moved to part time, evening hours, and my new job was now 3 miles from home. My immediate goal of part time had spurred me on.

What could you negotiate with yourself today - to pull your dream a little bit closer? How about making a small deal with yourself? If I (fill in the blank), then I could (fill in the blank). Who better to negotiate with?

Which Way to Easy Street?

There is no Easy Street (at least not on my road map). But there is that road less traveled... with a few obstacles along the way. My husband lost two jobs soon after I made major changes in my life, the first just months later. It wasn't easy, but I had Plan B ready to go.

What's the worst thing that could happen if you take a different path? Beneath your obstacle list from above, jot down the worst things that might happen. In the column next to them, jot down some ideas for a Plan B of your own.

What's Keeping You?

***Time*** Instead of working more hours away from home for 'extra money', could you invest your time in planning and saving for your dream? Do your current activities move you closer to doing what you'd love to do?

***Energy*** Short on energy? Try blowing the dust off your dream. You'll be amazed at the renewed energy you'll have! Eliminate energy wasters -- things that don't move you forward.

***Money*** What spending can you 'exchange' if it means finally living your dream? Money I spent weekly buying books is now funneled back into my dream. Trade your current spending for your dream. You'll be wonderfully surprised at how much money you'll *find* for your dream!

(c) 2003 Darlene Arechederra

About The Author

Darlene Arechederra is author of Rat Race Blues-How to Break the Stranglehold. Do what you *love* to do for a living -- not what you *have* to do! Darlene offers hope and help in *finding* money, time and energy to support your dreams. Fr*ee weekly newsletter with mini-assignments and rewards to get you back on track with your money and dreams. http://www.RatRaceRemedies.com.

darlene@ratraceremedies.com

Powerful Beliefs In The Bible
Healthy Lifestyle Tips

How to Stop Pleasing Everyone Else and Still Be a Nice Person

As yoga practitioners, yoga teachers and citizens of life, our boundaries with friends, family, co-workers, students, strangers, ourselves are constantly receding, expanding, evolving. Sometimes we feel comfortable with our boundaries sometimes we do not. Just like with happiness and anger, we are each responsible for establishing our own boundaries. And then, the harder part...communicating these boundaries to the universe (or relevant person).

In my work with yoga instructors and others who gravitate to yoga, I have seen a theme of people who are "pleasers". Sound familiar? Those of us who want the world around us to be happy and comfortable (nothing wrong with that), can easily end up feeling taken advantage of. But remember, only you can allow yourself to feel taken advantage of....no one can take advantage of you.
So, how do we prevent ourselves from feeling this way?

The Yoga Sutra's first limb, Yama (principles for living), talks about satya or "truthfulness" of words and actions. We can use this idea of right truth to support ourselves with boundary setting. A few ways to think about this:

1. If we do not express ourselves when another person is behaving in a way that is detrimental to our well being - we are NOT being "truthful" with our SELF.

2. It is NOT our responsibility to speak up for every perceived inequity or wrong that we encounter - ONLY to speak up when it is a more than a mild infringement on our own boundaries. We are ONLY responsible for and can only set our own boundaries.

3. Where do we draw the line between a "nuisance" infringement on our boundaries and a "detrimental" infringement? We don't need to expend the energy on every boundary that is bumped into (remember the story about crying wolf?). Often we are better served practicing letting go of life's little annoyances.

So when does it serve us best to (re)set and communicate boundaries? When the amount of energy that we expend on a "missing boundary" begins causing stress.

HOW do we set boundaries while being truthful to ourselves and practicing ahimsa (non-harming)? As with everything in our yoga practice: with conscious practice. This means pausing and being aware of the following before reacting:

1. Am I doing or saying this to please another person or does it serve me?

2. Stay with the discomfort that comes up when you envision setting a boundary for yourself - get comfortable with the discomfort by allowing yourself to experience it. This is different from ruminating (obsessing) about the situation - rather it is a meditation in letting go of the AVERSION to the discomfort. There will be discomfort in setting boundaries, because other people may and up disappointing by your actions (a pleaser's biggest fear). But it is essential to preserving your authenticity and self worth to serve yourself in this way. So let the discomfort sit - practice being with it along first, and then when you act on it.

3. Consciously evaluate whether something is worth an expenditure of energy or if you are better served letting it go. This will take practice, and mistakes. If you let something go, and it is still nagging at you - you may want to revisit whether you should have established a firmer boundary. If you set a strong boundary, and find that you are not even thinking about the situation a few days (or hours) later perhaps it was not necessary. This will take some experimentation, mistakes and a lot of awareness of the consequences ("positive" and "negative") of your actions.

Deborah Bernstein is a yoga teacher, owner of Florian Villa Yoga Retreats on St. John, and former corporate finance director of a Fortune 500 company. A portion of all proceeds from Deborah's yoga retreat business supports families of fallen firefighters and disabled veterans. http://www.florianvilla.com and http://florianyoga.blogspot.com.