How can I become a more helpful person?

There’s an area of the bagua that has to do specifically with helpful people and benefactors, and it’s one that doesn’t get talked about as much. It’s called qian, and it’s related to the metal element. Metal governs our mouth, our voice, and our communication. There are a lot of ways you can interpret this, but something that stands out for me right now is that sometimes the best way to communicate is to do less talking and more listening.

Something that I have been thinking about recently is this quote from my root guru, Chögyam Trungpa: “The answer is the question.” Sometimes we need to take a break from talking and instead take the time to listen and receive what those around us are saying.

The benefactors area is about both giving and receiving help. The way to attract helpful people to you is to become a helpful person. And because it’s related to the metal element, it’s about learning to communicate, both in how we speak and how we listen.

This area of the bagua is also related to assistance from the heavens. If you feel like you need assistance, look at what is going on in the helpful people area of your home. Is it cluttered? Are there a lot of things there? How can you bring more clarity to this area? Since this is a metal area, you can add metal items to this area, like a metal singing bowl. The sound and vibration of metal instruments can cut through a lot of the confusion and can be a way to communicate to the world that you are available to help or that you need help.

At its core, feng shui is not really about moving furniture around in your home to attract a partner or more wealth into your life. Those are residual benefits that come from practicing feng shui, but it’s really about starting to recognize that you are not separate from your environment. On a superficial level, you affect your environment and your environment affects you. Once you understand this, you can see that you are not separate from your environment. Then, you also start to understand that you are not separate from the people around you. This concept of interdependence is at the core of feng shui, as well as many other philosophies.

Another nuance of the helpful people area is that it is directly across from the abundance area, which means they are intimately connected and work in tandem with each other. When you start to become a helpful person, you receive more. When you have more and you’re feeling abundant, you can share more and become a more helpful person. I hope that all of you can find a way to become a helpful person, take action, and offer some of your abundance and prosperity to those that need help. Since we’re all connected, we all will benefit.

by Anjie Cho

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Since a lot of us are spending more time at home right now, it’s a good time to consider whether your home environment feels supportive, and what you can do to shift that if it doesn't. One simple way to do this is to make sure your home includes the elements that are most nourishing for you. The five element theory comes from Taoism, and is the foundation of a lot of modalities including Traditional Chinese Medicine and feng shui.

There are a few different ways to figure out which of the elements (earth, water, fire, metal, or wood) nourish you the most. You can look up your numerology, or you can tap into your intuition and notice which element you’re naturally drawn to. I like this method because it encourages us to tap into our own innate wisdom, which we all have. Just like everyone can sense whether a home or a place feels good or not, we can sense which element feels the best to us.

To help you figure out which element feels most supportive for you, spend a moment visualizing each of the following vacations and see which one sounds the most appealing. Go with your first instinct and try not to overthink it!

Taking a cooking and wine tour in Tuscany
Looking out the window of a modern penthouse in the middle of a bustling cosmopolitan city like New York City
Swimming in a deep, dark, cool lake
Hiking in a lush bamboo forest surrounded by tall trees all around you
Sunbathing on a hot summer day at the beach

If a food and wine tour in Tuscany sounds appealing to you, you’re nourished by the earth element. If you’d rather be in a modern penthouse in a busy city, you’re drawn to the metal element. If swimming in a cool lake sounds like your ideal vacation, water is supportive for you. If hiking in a tall, lush forest sounds ideal, you’re nourished by the wood element. If you prefer to be on a hot, sunny beach, you are attracted to the fire element.

It’s also totally normal to be nourished by more than one element, so don’t worry if you can’t decide between two of the above. This can also change over time based on what’s going on in your life. For example, I have friends who aren’t happy to be in New York right now when there isn’t a lot to do, but for me, being in my home in New York feels really nourishing and supportive.

Now that you know which element supports you, you can choose colors, shapes, and materials that make your home a more nourishing space for you. Stay tuned for future posts where we’ll go into each of the elements and how to incorporate each one into your home!

by Anjie Cho