Like any ancient art, there is a lot to feng shui - many different schools of thought and interpretations. You can go into fine details of exactly how homes are mapped out or just step into your space and get a sense of how it feels: open or stuffy, cluttered or clear?
This is the season of late summer, which corresponds to the Earth element and digestion. What better place to start with feng shui than our kitchens? Feng Shui practitioners believe that the kitchen impacts not only our health but our luck and abundance. We want our kitchens to be light and bright, clear and clean.
Instead of going into the technical nitty gritty of which corner of our kitchen reflects marriage, which area family life, work, love, luck, health, etc. let's go for overall feel and general energy flow.
How does your kitchen look? Are dirty dishes piled up? Are your counters clear or are there appliances crowded on that you hardly use? How about your fridge? Can you find things easily or does it sort of smell and have unrecognizable containers of leftovers that could pass as science experiments?
How do I know about all these things I wonder...?? Yes, I'm right there with you! This is my ongoing project as well: cleaning the fridge, clearing the counters, filling jars with dried herbs (instead of leaving them in paper bags cluttering counters.)
The goal is to have a clear, light, bright, clutter-free kitchen with lots of space to prepare healthy wonderful meals for yourself and your family. If you feel overwhelmed by the state of your home or health, the kitchen is the place to start.
A great website for help with clutter clearing and cleaning is Fly Lady. In fact, she too starts in the kitchen: cleaning the kitchen sink, which is a great idea of a place to start for this kitchen feng shui project.
Before you do anything else: clean and put away all the dirty dishes. If you have a dish washer load, run and clear it. If you're washing dishes by hand, go ahead and do that now, and don't forget to dry and put them away. Then wash your sink. It's a great place to begin.
Another thing I learned from Flylady is to set a timer for 15 minutes. That is what I do in my kitchen at least twice a day. I set it for 15 minutes and: put the dishes away, clean the counters, deal with leftovers and food left out, put appliances away, sweep floor, whatever needs to be done I do until the timer goes off.
Let's get our kitchens clean and clear and ready for all the great healthful recipes I will be posting soon!!
And remember, now is an excellent time for an acupuncture tune up or to begin treatments again. Please give us a call today to schedule your appointment: (412) 381-0116.
In health,
David and Melissa Sokulski
licensed acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Acupuncture
(412) 381-0116
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