Create The Life You Want

Are you ready to start the New Year creating the life you want?

Here's an excellent article written by Dana Claudat  a Feng Shui expert, about 9 simple steps to accomplish changes in your life.

The bagua map is a diagnostic tool in my Pyramid School Feng Shui practice that helps to identify weaknesses in a space and explains how the correlate to one's life.  

The bagua map is a grid of nine areas that can be laid upon the floor plan of a room or home that explains which areas of a home influence specific areas of your life. 

For example, the far right from the entrance door of a home or a room is an area focused on love & relationships.  

If this area is empty (or, say, used as a mess room), your love life may reflect the same disarray! 

We could discuss the bagua for hours and have a great time, but for today, the important lessons are that the bagua is a diagnostic tool (not your destiny!). 

The areas that comprise the bagua can shine a light on under-valued aspects of your life and the bagua can help you design your dream life!

A little while back I got a call from a fabulous designer on the East Coast asking for my help to coach him in his question to be extraordinary.  

Instantly I was interested. 

He had a system worked out based on the feng shui bagua map that encompassed engaging a coach in nine separate areas of his life that correlated with the nine areas of this feng shui tool. I was honored, flattered and agreed to coach him in one “area” of the bagua map.  

I also sat down and looked at his system and realized the genius that could be extracted from using the bagua as a “life coaching” tool.

I experimented with y friend’s “bagua” formula. What I learned was astonishing! While I could never ease myself with nine different life coaches at once, I actually needed help with aspects of my life I’d never seen before looking at the map in this way.  

If I set a very modest but actionable goal or intention for each of the nine areas of my life that correlated to the bagua, would this make a difference?  YES!!! A small shift in areas that seemed unrelated to my “goals” actually moved me forward in every sense and helped me to live a more balanced and empowered life

The holistic life-design exercise I have enjoyed for the last few months is my big recommendation to you as you reflect on 2012 and make plans for 2013. 

Ready? Grab a piece of paper and something to write with!

• Sketch out this map (see above) on a piece of paper.

• Decide on a very small shift in action that you can take in each area of your life for next month and write it in the corresponding area.

1. Self-Empowerment/Money: could you save a few dollars a week, start a new personal business venture with a small step like a blog, hire a life coach that specializes in business… the possibilities are endless!

2. Power/Fame: since this area has to do with how the world sees you as manifesting your purpose, could you start by revamping your image online? (Add a few fresh photos? Tweak your blog design? A freshly designed portfolio? ) Could you try wearing some new colors in the new year that enhance you?

3. Love/Relationships: the classic “love” area deals primarily with romantic relationships, but all kinds of relationships in actuality. If you are already dating with marginal success, maybe you can get more specific in your love search with a reputable matchmaker? Perhaps you can redo your bedroom or get some sexy new bedding?  Remember, just one action or a shift in attitude in each area is all we need here.

4. Legacy: Do you honor your family? Can you improve your relationship with one family member, learn more about your genealogy, etc?

5. Health: Rather than planning an entire health revolution (you can, for sure, but this is about easy-to-accomplish moves!) could you steadily take a vitamin, take a walk, drink a smoothie or do a few minutes of yoga a day or a week? You know for you what will work, but for the intention of this exercise, pick a small thing like, “ I will eat a vegetable every day.” (I hope you do already! This is just an easy example…) 

6. Children & Creativity: If you don’t have kids, can you volunteer with kids?  If you have kids, can you find new ways to bond with them? Or can you nurture your own creativity and inner child with a fun hobby or an artistic pursuit that you can act upon in 2013?

7. Wisdom: Learn!  Decide how you can learn (An app that teaches you a new word a day? A subscription to the New York Times? A class? Webinars? Videos?) and make a bit of time to keep learning.

8. Self/Career: It’s always a good time to tune up your business/life plan and this exercise is already a huge step in that direction! You may have a goal or two in mind for the new year, but here we keep it to a small action. Will you hand out business cards to people you meet? Start a newsletter? You get the gist. A small action that feeds this area of your life without overtaking you.

9. Compassion & Helpful People: How much do you give to others in the spirit of selfless service? How much do you nourish your clients in business? Can you think of a way to give more to others?That energy always comes back, but you don’t really think about it because it feels so good to just give!

Take a walk through your house and see if there are any areas that you seem stuck on in your “life map” that are also cluttered or neglected in your house. That’s your assignment: to clean it up and beautify what you aren’t excited about in your space…

Now, with no pressure, enjoy getting involved in your life as a whole. These steps may seem insignificant but I promise you, they are not!  

And they are fun!

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About Dana Claudat 
Dana Claudat is a Pyramid School Feng Shui consultant, writer, and founder of the feng shui blog The Tao Of Dana. A Stanford-educated Art Historian based in Hollywood, she does very personalized feng shui consultations with an artful slant to a client base composed largely of vanguard hipsters, musicians, the entertainment set and the art world, and also works online with clients spread around the globe. Dana's mission is to help everyone in the world become more positively in control of their environment and, thus, their lives.

Follow Dana on her website, The Tao of Dana
And on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter @thetaoofdana