7 Easy Creative Rituals to Spark Your Imagination and Inspire Your Soul by Nancy Marmolejo

7 Easy Creative Rituals to Spark Your Imagination and Inspire Your Soul by Nancy Marmolejo

Creativity is a mysterious force that visits us with great ideas, new ways of seeing the world and the courage to do things differently. Revitalizing your creative talents will help you in the most unexpectedly wonderful ways: a new business idea, a renewed commitment to self-care, an appreciation for the beauty that lies all around us.

Finding a small bit of time each day to feed this force will not only reward you with increased creativity, but also an expanded sense of appreciation and gratitude for the creative process.

The following list highlights simple yet powerful actions you can take to spark your creative energy from the inside out.

1. Keep a Daily Journal
Use a journal to jot down the meandering thoughts of your mind. Write, draw, doodle, paste collages together. Stuck between your great ideas are random thoughts, mental notes, and menial observations. Use your journal as a place to deposit these thoughts, keeping your creative mental workspace clear. Think of it as feng shui for the mind, a way of keeping the creative juices flowing.

2. Create Sacred Space
Find a place in your home to keep inspiring, motivating and spiritually significant objects. Remind yourself that creativity flows like water and wind, that it is steadfast like earth and powerful like fire. Collect objects from nature to remind you of this. Place things that awe and inspire you, projects youre most proud of, and photos of people who support and encourage your creative action.

3. Reflection.
Reflection can be a minute of appreciating someone or something, or it can be a day of meditation and writing. Find ways to incorporate reflection into your daily routine, noting how experiences and interactions help you grow as a creative person. This is great for surveying what inspires you and what blocks you, what attracts you and what doesnt.

4. Get Away.
If you can, find some time to sneak away and enjoy a creative pleasure. It can be an hour wandering through a craft store, window shopping, a hike in nature or a visit to a special place. If you have kids and cant get away alone, dont worry. Enjoy the outing and reflect on it together. There are no rules to creative getaways. It is whatever touches you at that moment.

5. Do Something Loca.
Whats something crazy youve always dreamed of doing but didnt because of insecurity, fear or intimidation? Make a pact with yourself to get to know your Inner Loca (or loco for you guys reading this) and find ways to let her out to play each and every day.

6. See the World Through a Childs Eyes.
Children have the amazing ability to be open to the possibilities of just about anything. Give yourself playtime to see the world through the eyes of a child. Sometimes it can be simply sitting on the floor and looking at a room from a new angle, or giving yourself permission to laugh and have fun.

7. Chart Your Course
Its one thing to dream of creative things and its another thing to make them happen. Look at all the wonderful ideas you have and pick one to act upon. Make a commitment to do at least one daily action to support this idea. Doing the footwork to make your dream a reality will show you how easy it really is to turn ideas into action.

Ritual is a series of repeated acts. By incorporating creative ritual in your life, you will increase your innovation and creativity in ways that will surprise and delight you. Try at least one of these actions and feel your creativity grow!



About the Author
Nancy Marmolejo is a life and business coach for creative women and the owner of Comadre Coaching. To contact Nancy, email info@comadrecoaching.com or call 714-777-1216. Sign up for Nancys award winning newsletter, The Pocket Comadre, by visitng http://www.ComadreCoaching.com.

Pa-Kua Feng Shui Basics by Steven M. Ng

Pa-Kua Feng Shui Basics by Steven M. Ng

FENG SHUI BASICS

Feng Shui (literally "Wind and Water" in Chinese), is all about balance and harmony between us and our environment. Just like the Yin and Yang energies, Feng Shui is about balance. Where there is light, there will always be darkness; where there is fire, there will always be water; and so forth.

Feng Shui teaches that every individual interacts differently to their environment. Sometimes, a particular environment - such as a house or office - is so suited to you that you find that everything in your life is great. However, if you have troubled relationships or financial woes, it is quite likely that there is some discord or imbalance between yourself and your environment, manifesting in your daily life.

By subtly modifying your environment, you will be able to restore this balance, and consequently improve your life. Modifying your environment can be as simple as changing the angle or position of your work desk, or by buying Feng Shui items such as mandarin ducks and placing them in proper locations in your home or office.

There are many systems of authentic classical Feng Shui. This article describes the Xuan Kong (pronounced "Shu-en Kong") system. Xuan Kong (literally "Mysterious Void" in Chinese) is a complete system which includes complicated formulae to calculate optimal positioning and composition of an environment.

EIGHT MANSION (PA-KUA) SCHOOL OF FENG SHUI

There are a few sub-schools within the Xuan Kong system, including the popular Flying Stars school. The descriptions in this article are based on the Eight Mansion school, also known as the Pa-Kua school. In the Pa-Kua technique, the compass is divided into eight directions, each of which is depicted by a trigram. Each of these directions have different significance. For example, one of the Pa-Kua directions is the personal or relationship direction, which will be of the most interest to someone with troubled relationships. Furthermore, the significance of each direction differs for each individual.

To find out how each Pa-Kua direction affects you personally, you will need to calculate your Kua Number. You can do this by using the Kua Calculator at:

http://www.mandarin-ducks.com/dragongate.html

The calculator will provide you with your Kua Number, and more importantly, what each Pa-Kua direction means to you. In short, four of those directions will be positive and favorable to you, while the other four will have negative connotations for you.

The eight Pa-Kua directions can be briefly summarized as follows:

Sheng Chi (Life Generating) - This Pa-Kua direction is your prosperity and wealth direction. You would focus on this direction if you are interested in financial strength.

Tien Yi (Heavenly Doctor) - This direction is your health direction. You would focus on this direction if you are interested in health and physical matters.

Nien Yin (Relationships) - This direction is your relationships direction. You would focus on this direction if you have troubled relationships and would like to improve your love life and/or your marriage.

Fu Wei (Stability) - This direction is your stability and knowledge direction. You would focus on this direction if you want to achieve tranquility and knowledge.

Ho Hai (Mishaps) - The first negative Pa-Kua direction is your accident or misfortune direction. You would focus on this direction if you want to reduce unforeseen accidents or loss.

Wu Gwei (Five Ghosts) - This direction is your financial loss direction. You would focus on this direction to prevent theft and other financial woes.

Liu Sha (Six Killings) - This direction is your "evil" direction. You would focus on this direction to ward off malevolence against you.

Chueh Ming (Total Loss) - This direction is your loss and death direction. You would focus on this direction to reduce physical loss and death around you.

For more information on the Nien Yin (Love and Relationship) corner, you can read:

http://www.mandarin-ducks.com/love.html

About the Author
Steven maintains the Mandarin Duck Feng Shui website at http://www.mandarin-ducks.com. It provides information on how mandarin ducks are able to help improve relationships using Feng Shui principles.

The supreme imperial dragon by Jakob Jelling

The supreme imperial dragon by Jakob Jelling

The supreme imperial dragon is a very positive feng shui item which provides help in different life aspects. Dragons are one of the most important icons for the oriental cultures and therefore this item contains this added value to its symbolism. A supreme imperial dragon is a very powerful Chinese and feng shui object which can add authority and control to the environment in which he is as well as to those who inhabit it.

This Chinese item allows us to improve the power of convincing and persuading others. It enhances the possibility we have of having certain subconscious dominance on other people. Therefore, the supreme imperial dragon is ideal for business people, executives and all those whose work is based on their persuasion and negotiation skills. If you feel like you lack self confidence or you need to improve this aspect of your life, a supreme imperial dragon could be a great help to you, it would not only help you on that but also reaching any work or career related goals you might have had problems achieving before.

Having a supreme imperial dragon on the desk might be a great help not only for improving our power and persuasion abilities but also for achieving our goals. The supreme imperial dragon is meant to help people reaching their career objectives, and therefore keeping it in the office or work environment might be very helpful.

According to the Chinese traditions, the supreme imperial dragon also symbolizes masculinity and all yang related powers. Therefore, if you wish to add more yang energy within an environment, you can do so by placing a supreme imperial dragon in it. Ideally, it should be placed at a high table where he can feel important and dominate the environment in which he is.

If you are an ambitious person, whose work involves dealing with people on a daily basis and negotiating with them, you should have a supreme imperial dragon at your work place. Another way of keeping this item and receiving its benefits is by carrying it with you. This way, you could have you persuasion and negotiation skills enhanced at any moment and wherever you go.
About the Author
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.fengshuicrazy.com. Please visit his website and learn all the feng shui tips you'll ever need!