I noticed that there’s a “knowledge” area on the feng shui map, and I’m wondering what that means?

In case anyone isn’t familiar with the feng shui bagua map, it’s a tool that feng shui practitioners use to assess and adjust the energy of a space. It’s usually depicted as a three-by-three grid, and it’s made up of eight life areas around a center.

One of these life areas is the knowledge area. It’s called Gen in Chinese. It’s also about self-knowledge, self-cultivation, and skillfulness. It’s represented by the color dark blue, the number eight, square and flat shapes, and the element of yang earth. Yang earth is like a big mountain, one that you might climb to the top of to meditate.

To find the knowledge area of the bagua, stand at the front of your home or bedroom looking in, and imagine a three-by-three grid laid over the home or room. The corner that is closest to you on the left-hand side is the knowledge area.

This area of the bagua is related to your spiritual development as well as your skills and wisdom in mundane areas of life such as your career. It’s a great place for a library or a meditation space. Both books and meditation are related to the knowledge area. Reading books can be educational, and meditation assists in your spiritual development. Experience and practices like reading and meditation are really the most impactful way to cultivate yourself, and they may be especially effective if you do them with intention in the knowledge area of your home.

If you want to take it a step further and incorporate color, try a dark blue bookshelf or meditation pillow, since dark blue helps to activate the knowledge area.

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

For those of you who read my newsletter, I promised that I’d write a blog post about Deepak Chopra’s Creating Affluence. And if you’re not signed up for the newsletter, sign up HERE! I write about things there that I only share on my newsletters!

If you receive my newsletter, you may have already read the first part of what I wrote on knowledge and prosperity. The second part that I wanted to share is the idea that we always deserve the “better and best." Deepak writes: “People with wealth consciousness settle only for the best. This is also called the principle of highest first. Go first class all the way and the universe will respond by giving you the best.”

I sometimes forget that I deserve the best. The best doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive, but I see it as meaning the best that you need at that time. What it doesn’t mean is settling for something that’s mediocre. I see how I used to do this with clothing, for example. I would fill my closet with many inexpensive items that weren’t the best. The quality and styles were not ideal, and it showed! The items would either never get worn, or not complement my look. Now I try to buy one thing that I love, rather than a handful of pieces that are mediocre. We can apply this to food, too! Perhaps eating a modest amount of something delicious is preferred to eating a lot of something that’s average. With books, even though I want to get everything, I’m trying to be patient and first finish the book I’m reading before I purchase another :)

If we translate this into our homes, we are able to create more SPACE! We have less clutter and, as Deepak says, the universe will respond by giving us the best. It’s true! If you make some space in your life (and your home!) you will attract even more of the best. And we all deserve the best. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that. We deserve the best within our means. More isn’t always better!

Is there something you can let go of to create some space in you home? Can you remember to settle for only the best?

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com