Fast Feng Shui Blog

At this past New Year (Jan. ’09), as my husband and I discussed what we hoped to accomplish this year, we also discussed whether or not to renew our lease when that rolled around in late spring. Our current rental wasn’t where we wanted to spend many more years, but it was spacious, comfortable, in a decent neighborhood, and our landlord was happy to rent to us for as long as we wanted to stay. Moving, we decided, would be too much hassle, too much of an interruption to our ambitious project plans, and with the economy barely limping along it seemed a good idea to postpone the expense as well.

But when the Universe grants an important wish like “help us find our dream house” it’s a good idea to jump on it and worry about catching up with your original plans later.

One afternoon in February (after we’d decided not to move) I was relaxing for a few minutes after lunch when my Inner Voice (intuition, or higher self, or whatever you want to call it) said, “Go see what’s on Craig’s List.” I’ll admit I received this advice somewhat skeptically. Our lease didn’t expire for another 3-1/2 months, so even if we’d wanted to find a new place, it was way too soon to start looking. Nevertheless, when my “gut voice” speaks up like that, I’ve learned to pay attention. So I went to check the Big Island rental listings on Craig’s List.

And there was our house. I knew as soon as I saw the photos that this was the house for us.

“Honey,” I called out, “come look at this house I found on Craig’s List!”

“What are you looking at Craig’s List for?” he complained. “We decided we aren’t going to move this year.”

“Just come and see these pictures,” I insisted, so he did.

“Oh, wow,” he said. “That’s our dream house.”

My husband and I have been “dreaming out loud” about our dream house for a few years now, and we’ve developed a very clear shared vision of what that house will look like, what area we hope it would be in, and a list of specific details that ran to several pages. Yes, we did write it down. We’ve eagerly anticipated how great it would be when the day came that this dream home was ours. And last fall, for about a month, I spent a few minutes every morning visualizing and expressing gratitude for our future home.

I didn’t expected it to manifest quickly. After all, one part of our dream is owning the house, and until the economy picks back up (at the least) that hasn’t seemed likely. But we’re happy with how things turned out, because although we’re renting for now the owner says he’s open to selling at some future point, whenever we’re ready.

For those who might be curious about my morning visualization method, here’s what I did “first thing in the morning,” meaning after I’ve had my first mug of coffee but before I’ve turned the computer on and shifted into work mode:
· I sat outside on our deck (i.e., in a comfortable chair, in a peaceful spot)
· I enjoyed the early morning for a few minutes, listen to birds chirping, admiring the sunlight on green leaves (i.e., mindful appreciation of the moment with a quiet mind)
· When I felt ready, I picked up my mala (a strand of 108 beads). Using a mala is not necessary, it’s simply a focusing tool.

· As I held each bead, I made a short statement of appreciation about some aspect of our future home. Some mornings I’d cover a lot of different things, other days only a few. Sometimes I’d repeat a certain feature or statement several times over, other days I would run through a lengthy list before repeating it. I didn’t have a set “do it this way every day” plan, and just followed what felt most comfortable each day.

The statements I used went something like this (each line represents what I might say for one bead on the mala):

“Thank you God for our beautiful home…”
“…which we love so much and can so easily afford.”
“Our home is on the north side of town…
“between the Wailuku River and Honomu.”
“It’s a spacious house on the side of a hill…”
“… with great big decks…”
“… and an ocean view.”
“We love the fruit trees in the yard…”
“… and our quiet, safe neighborhood.”
“Our house has lots of interior room…”
“… including space for our home offices.”
“The master bath has a nice big tub…”
“… and the kitchen is a delight to cook in.”

… and so on, you get the idea.

As I went through this features list, I imagined myself in that house, and focused on feeling how happy and grateful we would be to be living in there. This emotional focus on appreciation and gratitude (rather than on wanting) is every bit as important as the list of features, and is what makes the method work. It also put me in a happy, relaxed mood every morning, which is a nice way to start the day.

I repeated this daily for about a month. When it felt done, I stopped focusing on the house and used that time for either general meditation, reading, or to focus on some other issue.

I also didn’t push for a time-frame, choosing to trust that our house would be ready for us at some future point with perfect timing. Given that we’d decided, at the time we found this place, that we weren’t going to move this year, the timing felt a bit rushed at first but in the end it did work out with perfect timing. In spite of the interruption to our summer plans, we’re so happy to be in our new home that the sooner-than-expected expense and inconvenience were well worth it.

As for that wish list, we got everything but the swimming pool. Maybe when we buy this place we can find a way to put one in…