PAY OFF DEBT
It is very fortunate to start the New Year with no debt. (A mortgage or a school loan are not in this category.) If you have personal debt on New Year, get out of debt in 2014 and organize your finances. Next year Sheep 2015 you can start the year with an even balance of your accounts. Sheep “eat paper” meaning that Sheep can really spend, so do not start out Sheep year with any financial problems.
ENERGIZE YOUR KITCHEN
Use this ba-gua map to find the Children/Creativity area of your home. Every room of your home or office has a Creativity/Children area to focus on in Horse year 2014. Keep it free of clutter! It's a good spot for creative tools such as musical instruments, computers, or an entertainment center. But the most important room this year is your kitchen because that is the room of the element Wood, and 2014 is the year of the Wood Horse. Start in your kitchen, a minor yang room. Start your 2043 feng shui journey by standing at the entry of your kitchen. Then observe what is in your Creativity/Children are. Really look at your kitchen to clean it up, and then make it the kitchen that you really want. Do the work. The next room to transform is your living room, also a yang room in this yang Horse year.
FLOWERS AND PLANTS
In a Wood year, it’s fortunate to add plants, flowers, and healthy bamboo to your home and workplace. Fresh flowers bring fresh aroma that clears the air for New Year, especially if your home feels dark, over heated, or musty. Add beautiful flowers to welcome the New Year and to increase abundance. And plants offer fresh oxygen to improve health. The energy of a room is brightened by the addition of flowers and plants. So be sure to add fresh cut flowers or a healthy plant to your home for New Year.
At work add green house plants with round leaves such as a lily (peace plant), jade tree, pothos, bamboo, or orchid with round leaves. If you do not have a green thumb, bring in fresh flowers on Monday to the office, or add silk flowers in lively colors. If you do add a fish tank, be sure you can commit to the work involved in maintaining a fountain. But a fountain in this Wood year is very fortunate because Water is the mother of Wood, meaning that water added to wood (plants) helps growth.
Lucky flowers are orchids, peonies, and lilies. Chrysanthemums have a scent that not everyone likes, so pay attention to scent. Roses are fine in a home or office, but remove them if there is much arguing (influence of the rose’s thorns.) Avoid thorny plants like a cactus, indoors or outdoors. Instead, grow lush plants that have soft round leaves like a jade plant or philodendron. Outdoors, it is more fortunate to have plants that stay ever green and do not ever lose their leaves.
Bamboo is especially lucky in feng shui because as it grows, the new growth is stronger and longer. Bamboo sways gently in the wind, meaning that it is easily adaptable to change. But be sure your bamboo does not dry out and become yellowed. If you have bamboo, keep it watered and transfer it to a larger container when it outgrows the container it was in when you bought it.
Flowers and lush plants with round leaves, such as a jade plant or rubber tree, are also very positive embellishments. Just be sure that your plants stay healthy throughout the year. If not, recycle the withered plant and replace it with a fresh healthy one. A bouquet of fresh flowers is excellent to add beauty, fragrance, and luck, but be sure to recycle the flowers when they lose energy and begin to wilt. No dead or dried flowers, and no potpourri. Silk flowers are superb in feng shui so you can add a big bunch of silk flowers to enliven the energy.
If you bring home a lovely orchid, after the flower wilts, cut away the dead stalk and insert a good-quality silk orchid into your container. Then your orchid seems to be always in bloom, instead of a dead stalk tied to a wooden stake. Silk flowers are a wonderful way to add light and life to your environment. And you’ll have an orchid that always appears to be in bloom!
You can purchase what is referred to as a “money plant.” This potted plant usually is decorated with gold or red charms. But this type of plant tends to get leggy as it grows, with the long stringy branches weighed down by the charms. So this money plant is not your best choice. A lush round jade plant is better choice than a so-called money plant. Good luck!