Bring Brightness to Your Life

By Lori Schneider

How do you define bringing brightness to your life?
It could be a call from an employer informing you of your new position for a job that you have been pursuing. It could be learning that you have obtained mortgage approval for the dream home you wish to buy or perhaps you have received news of a pregnancy and now you are starting or adding to your family. Bringing brightness to our lives carries a very different definition for many of us. While the 3 examples that I have just given played a role in my life, I felt in my heart that there was something missing. In addition to the above, I’ve been married to and loved a very supportive man for the last 20 years and have experienced no real tragedies within my family. So what could be missing? I convinced myself that there was nothing missing and that I was an individual interested in always seeking a new avenue of change. The changes; new job, new home, new baby, new dog brought a brightness to my life that would temporarily feed my hunger for what was still missing.

Embarking upon a career as a feng shui practitioner was joyous as I personally was seeking the harmony and balance that feng shui was creating in the décor of my home. I take pride when the guests invited to my home delight in my surroundings and offer their compliments on the feeling of comfort they find in my home. For the last 4 years, I have had the rewarding experience of enlightening others on how to create a personal paradise in their home with the wisdom of feng shui. While this avenue of developing a new career for myself has been rewarding, there was still an empty spot in my heart that was the missing link to all that was good in my life.

As an educator on feng shui, I stand in front of a variety of organizations located throughout Michigan speaking about feng shui. Part of my presentation includes the brief history of feng shui which teaches us that early feng shui practitioners would meditate to cultivate ch’i (living energy) within themselves. They would then search for this same ch’i in their surrounding environment. It was their belief that the combination of internal and external ch’i would bring greater abundance to an individuals personal and professional life. To cultivate ch’i within yourself is to develop an inner peace. To search for ch’i in your surrounding is to find an environment where the growth of nature is healthy and plentiful and where you can create beauty and comfort to support your inner peace.

It was the teachings of these early feng shui practitioners that suggest to us how a new job, a new home, a new baby can have a greater sense of abundance when it is combined with an inner peace. For many people inner peace still comes through meditation and for others it might be prayer, exercise, writing, art, music, reading and maybe you have something different to offer to this list. Whatever it is, it is important to connect to the influence that brings you peace of mind. If this influence is difficult to identify, take some time to reflect on what (through the years) has brought you the greatest sense of comfort.

Identifying my faith as being my sense of comfort, I decided to take the opportunity to attend a woman’s weekend of faith renewal offered by our parish. Since I had just moved one year ago, I felt that this would give me the opportunity to meet new people in the community. What I didn’t know is how that weekend would connect me to my faith in a way that had never occurred before and grant me the internal peace that was the missing link to all that was good in my life. While internal peace is not visible in form, it enhances the sense of comfort you establish in the décor of your home environment.

When creating comfort in your home this holiday season for friends and family, remember to find time to cultivate the inner peace within yourself. May this inner peace bring a brightness to your life that will enable you to experience a greater sense of abundance.

Lori Schneider is a graduate of the American Feng Shui Institute and a recognized practitioner with the Western School of Feng Shui. Her business, Brighter Destiny (located in Ann Arbor, MI), specializes in consultations for Interior, Landscape and Architectural Design. (734) 995-9737.