The Feng Shui Of Abundance

In The Feng Shui Of Abundance: A Practical And Spiritual Guide To Attracting Wealth Into Your Life (Broadway Books), Hilton describes her notion of abundance. This concept includes not only the idea of overflowing quantities and wealth, but also your heart's desires, harmony with your family, all others, and the earth. She calls this "wealth with open-hearted wisdom." She writes to those who put in long hours but find money matters a struggle, to those with huge incomes who nevertheless feel as if something is missing, to those with little money who wonder how they can accumulate more wealth, and to those who are simply interested in feng shui: in short, to anyone who can benefit from applying the art of flow to their personal money flow.

FINANCIAL FENG SHUI

After becoming interested in feng shui, Suzan Hilton, who is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), began studying its effects as applied to finances, especially personal finance. The result is this guide, which shows the reader how to harness the flow of money and energy into your life to produce abundance. Hilton's goal is to combine practical financial wisdom, such as living within your income, saving and investing, and diversifying, with feng shui ideals that "harmonize breath, spirit, intentions, mind, emotions, and physical objects in a new pattern" to guide you to the "ocean of abundance."

First, she says, it is important to make sure your environments are carefully balanced to make the most of available energies. According to feng shui principles, an octagonal-shaped form called the ba gua will indicate to you where the different forms of energy "live" in your home. Once you have located your Wealth Area, you can boost your wealth energies by displaying purple or gold cloth, a fine vase, or a plant with round, coin-shaped leaves in this area. Another excellent device for attracting wealth to this spot, Hilton says, is a small fountain with a pool at its base, which represents both flow and retention. If you have a fireplace in this area, you will need to be especially careful so that your hard-earned wealth is not "going up in smoke."

After you have located your Wealth Area, Hilton describes a simple way to get started on the path to abundance: begin the Penny Dance, one of the author's favorite wealth-attracting activities. Take a bowl or container you already own and that is precious to you, put a penny in it, and place it in your Wealth Area. Then continue to add a penny every day, reflecting on your desire for abundance. This activity creates an attractive symbol of wealth, and reminds you each day of your plans to create open-hearted abundance. The copper in the pennies also aids the flow of wealth energy.

Scattered throughout each section of the book are other Action Steps like this one. In these, Hilton gives you a challenge, such as to "look around your work and living space for the things that consume your time and energy," and ask yourself whether you really love these things, whether they help you move toward your heart's longings, and whether you could release any of them. After each Action Step, your thoughts and experiences should be recorded in a Travel Log.

THE RIVER OF GOLD

It is the River of Gold that leads to the Ocean of Abundance, and so Hilton describes it at length. The river is made up of five currents, which include the Emotional Current, the Body Sensations Current, the Rational Current, the Creative Current, and the Feng Shui Current. A chapter is devoted to each, in which Hilton explains how it affects you and your finances and how you can use the current to move you closer to the Ocean of Abundance.

For example, in the chapter on the Emotional Current, Hilton asks: "Do your spending patterns signal some old sadness? Or some old anger? Your emotions are actually driving your money patterns." In this way, the Emotional Current can affect you financially if, for example, you tend to go shopping instead of expressing your anger or sadness (or even joy). The same goes for food, or anything else you spend money on to express yourself. Hilton admonishes readers to acknowledge and "honor" the emotions that may cause erratic spending. The Body Sensations Current can provide valuable intuitive insight when you are making financial decisions, large and small. In the West the Rational Current is often allowed to take control, but it must not be allowed to bully the other currents. The Creative Current can help you come up with new solutions and is best aided by meditation. The Feng Shui current shows you how to attract energy to your Wealth Area, and so on.

ATTRACTING WEALTH

As you can see, in the end, this book is more about feng shui than finance. Hilton's goal is to get you to pay attention to your body and environment, energies and flow, and when you are thoroughly aligned and have plugged up all leaks, your money will begin to pool in your Wealth Area rather than flow out the window, down the drain, or up the chimney. Yet, you may find bits of it to be simply silly (Hilton would tell you to thank your Rational Current for its input). For example, consider this suggestion: "A light installed at the bottom of a steep hill and aimed upward toward the building's roof will stem the flow of money rolling away from a Wealth Area by recirculating the ch'i back to the building."

It may be difficult to believe that fixing your toilet or pointing lights at your roof will be enough to turn around your financial situation. To those unacquainted with the benefits of feng shui, cynicism may seem to be the appropriate response. But cynicism doesn't help in attracting wealth, and there's no harm in trying something new — listen to your Body Current or Emotional Current for once. Give that Rational Current a well-deserved holiday. You never know, it just might make you rich, or more important, abundant.

Editorial assistant Jennifer Thonney may be reached at JThonney@Traders.com.

Current and past articles from Working Money, The Investors' Magazine, can be found at Working-Money.com.