Monday, June 25, 2007

More learning for me

Today, I attended an advanced course in feng shui. I am away from my shop and sales for a whole week. In this first-of-its-kind-in-the-world class, I met many many feng shui consultants from all over the world, some with much more experience than I have. There were participants from Sri Lanka, India, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Belgium, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, China, Japan, USA and of course, Malaysia. I thought I knew a lot about feng shui , but am humbled by the
fact that there is much more to learn. This goes to prove that no matter how much you know, there is always more to learn from.

I was invited to lunch with my most honourable teacher and 3 other consultants, 2 of whom, are as famed as my teacher is, in their respective home countries. What marvelled me was the fact that they were all unassuming and humble. I have often wondered how these world-renown masters would be like, and I found out today that they too, were ordinary human beings like you and me. We talked about clothes, cars,
fashion, work, family, customers, clients and religion.

Lunch was just like any other when a group of girlfriends get together - yak
yak yak yak. There were times when we all spoke at the same time, there were naughty jokes and exchange of news about family, comparison of job-related problems and
achievement of goals. All the gabbing about fashion and shopping must have seemed like a gathering of hens, much to the dismay of the one and only guy with us! The poor thorn amongst the roses!

In class, there was such a huge amount of comradeship as everyone knew that was being taught, with no stupid questions and nary a detailed repeat of anything petty. There was lots of laughing, joking and humourous experiences and incidents were narrated.

In just one day, I expanded what feng shui knowledge I have to include details on how to get seriously rich! We were taught to think big and to rid our brains of small mindedness and achievements. I can't wait for class to resume tomorrow as we continue
to deepen our feng shui know-how. So, watch out for me getting seriously wealthy when I go home to apply what I learn this week :)

Added to the above are two coffee breaks per day with delicious food, being whisked away for cosy lunches and an invitation to dinner in such witty company and my one week break from minding my store becomes such a refreshing break! Man! This can become addictive! Not to mention an ever-expanding waistline!

Till we meet again! Buuurrrrp!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A simple feng shui tip

A few days ago, my good friend Bee came to see me to seek some feng shui advice. At 27, she has come across her first brain-cracking, heart-upsetting, back-stabbing office politics! Poor Bee was quite unhappy.

I remember her as such a bubbly happy young lady to whom I wrote lots of creative notes to. (Psst...I used to leave her all kinds of brain/eye-challenging notes that drove her crazee!)

Well, just as luck changes with time in feng shui, the happy-go-lucky-look-4ward-to-work-cos-you've-great-colleagues-and-boss-days don't last forever. Up/down, happy/sad is here today and gone tomorrow. I found out a long time ago that I should store as memory, all my enjoyable escapades and never look for the same level of satisfaction at the same place with the same people ever again. A similar occasion with the same friends in the same place may not result in the same enjoyment you captured before.

Bee's office which I used to tear through, (We were once colleagues)is no longer the same. A change of ownership has changed her General Manager and most of her long-time colleagues. Then, as fate would have it, the new General Manager turned-out to be a first-timer at his post who BECAME SO UNPOPULAR, egoistic AND arrogant that EVERYONE hated him! This resulted in the resignation of most of even those who were NOT retrenched in the first place! My, my...how upside down everything has turned out to be.....Bee's beloved division head also got himself transfered far far away....

Meanwhile, Bee's entire department's furniture were rearranged. Tsk..tsk..tsk...in such a way that desks were grouped together in fours, with the staff facing each other directly across the desks - two directly opposite two. Now, anyone who knows feng shui will be able to tell you that that kind of arrangement is asking for trouble. Staff seated directly confronting each other will lead to office politics, uncooperativeness, back stabbing and quarrels, although not necessarily with each other. To sum it up, work in such an enviroment will not be smooth. Colleagues will turn against colleagues, there will be more absentees due to illness or otherwise, projects will be delayed and there will be a general air of dissatisfaction. There will be not much trust and a whole lot of unhappiness going around. Work wouldn't be very progressive or productive.

Which brings us back to Bee. Poor Bee.

I told her to take the directions of where she sits, sleeps and the direction of the door she uses to leave her home. I wanted to check out her Kua number and her directions.

Sometimes, without spending even a cent/sen, you can lessen the impact of your bad feng shui if you know how; although this may be only temporary. Sure, it will make things better but to actually start having better times, you'd have to do a little more. But we'll talk about that some other time. Let's see what happens to Bee.

Bee was born in the year of the sheep. The sheep has the best luck of all of the 12 Chinese horoscope animals this year because the home direction of the sheep has the most auspicious #8 Flying Star in 2007. She should be having it real good this year.

After some calculations, I came to the conclusion that she has the Kua number of 3, which makes her an East group person. Her auspicious directions are S - Wealth & Success, N - Good Health, SE - Good Relationships & Networking Luck and E - Personal Growth & Future Prosperity. Her inauspicious directions are W - Total Loss, NE - 6 Killings, NW - 5 Ghosts and SW - Bad Luck & Mishaps.

Bee told me that she has been going out of a side door of her home facing SW, she was sleeping with her head pointing to the SW, and her new work seating arrangements had her sitting at a desk facing W and confronting a colleague! Even her desk at home was facing an inauspicious direction for her and she had the desk pushed-up against the toilet wall! You must never share a wall with the toilet as you work or as you sleep!

I guided her to change all of the above to her good directions and if she did it correctly, she would immediately feel more comfortable and at peace.

Well, whadayaknow? Bee calls 2 days later.....to tell me that she had made some adjustments. She changed the direction of the head of her bed to the south and was using a south-facing door to leave her house so she could maximise her good luck by tapping into her success & wealth direction. She hasn't rearranged everything yet. She needs to wait till the weekend to do that.

To quote Bee - She said, "I just wanted to let you know that I really do feel such a sense of peace and I slept well last night, first good sleep in a long time!"

It really is a wonderful thing when someone feels better and is happier. I sincerely wish her the best and hope that she will continue to correct her feng shui so that she can reap the good luck 2007 has in store for her. But she'd better hurry! Half a year has already gone by. There's only another 6 months more for her wealth and success to manifest. next year, the sheep has the #7 Violent Star which makes her more vulnerable to theft, robbery, burglary and being cheated........

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Fortune teller? Aaarggghh!

Let me tell you some of the shortcomings of being a qualified, certified, experienced Feng Shui consultant.

1 - Not everybody knows the difference between a feng shui consultant/master and a fortune-teller.
2 - Not everybody knows the difference between a feng shui consultant/master and a fortune-teller.
3 - Not everybody knows the difference between a feng shui consultant/master and a fortune-teller.

Occasionally my patience is put to the test. That's when people pop their heads in to ask if you can 'tengok nasib' or 'thai seong'. Needless to say, these people are from all the three major races - Malay, Chinese and Indians (In that order of popularity!)

I have to keep on telling them that I do not tell fortunes. I am a feng shui consultant or a feng shui master if you wish to accord me some measure of respect. If you want me to analyse the feng shui of your home or office, I can do that for you. I can recommend things that you can do or place in order to balance out the energies and elements of your workplace or home environment. I do not tell fortunes. Even if I took a course in palm or face-reading, it will be to enhance my feng shui consultations. I will not tell fortunes. If everyone's future is meant to be current knowledge, God would have made it available.

Honestly, it annoys the hell out of me when that happens. Maybe I should go to work with a bandanna wrapped around my head, wear huge loop earrings and sit in front of a crystal ball!

Today was the ultimate insult. A whole family (And I mean a whole family - dad, mum and about 6 off-springs) came in to browse.

The mum was so proud of her eldest son. She told me he is an interior designer and has already purchased all the feng shui books we have. She said that he is so interested in feng shui that he intends to use it in his designing.

Number One Son spoke to me and asked a lot of feng shui-related questions but didn't even seem to know the simplest of the basics. Humphm. So much for his library of feng shui books. Wonder if he even reads them. I mean, he asked me what he should place in his new car so that the registration number would win the four digits draw!!!?????!!!

I told him that there is nothing to place in a car other than to ensure safety whilst driving and protection against car break-in.

Almost immediately, his mum piped-up with this - "I bought this combination of numbers - 9*** Can you tell me if it will come out?"

I couldn't believe my ears. For a moment I was speechless. Then, I said,

"Ma'am, I am not a dead spirit who can give you four-digit numbers. I am a feng shui consultant" At this point, both she and her lady friend grinned and chuckled sheepishly.

SHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSESSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If ever anyone reading this posting, loses his or her daytime job or gets retrenched or laid-off work, put on that bandanna, hook-up the earrings, knock-out a tooth or two, grab that crystal ball and borrow your auntie's multi-tiered ruffled skirt - GOSH! YOU CAN MAKE A LIVING WITH ALL THOSE REALLY GULLIBLE PEOPLE OUT THERE SEEKING TO KNOW THEIR FUTURE!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!