Episode 173: Feng Shui

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[00:00:05] Autumn Carter: This is episode 1 73. Today we are talking about Feng shui and hopefully I pronounce that right.

[00:00:11] Welcome to Wellness In Every Season, the podcast where we explore the rich tapestry of wellness in all of its forms. I'm your host, autumn Carter, a certified life coach, turn wellness coach, as well as a certified parenting coach dedicated to empowering others to rediscover their identity in their current season of life.

[00:00:30] My goal is to help you thrive, both as an individual and as a parent.

[00:00:34] Today we have Megan Edge with me again. I'm so excited. She and I have become friends since the first time she was on the show, and you guys need to become friends with her too.

[00:00:45] She's amazing. She is a. Master healer. She does everything. Energy, spiritual. I've learned so much from her. Even in little conversations. She has tons of [00:01:00] courses. Check her out on YouTube, her website, tell us your website again.

[00:01:06] Megan Edge: The website is megan edge.ca.

[00:01:08] Autumn Carter: That's what I thought. I was afraid I was gonna say it

[00:01:10] Megan Edge: wrong.

[00:01:11] Autumn Carter: No, you got it. And you'll find her pretty much anywhere, everywhere. She's done it all. She has amazing courses, things that I've listened to, dove into, things that are bookmarked for later. She was the person who came to mind when I wanted to learn about and talk about feng shui.

[00:01:33] We are writing a plant book together. I don't know that everybody knows that. So now you do. And there is the practice of feng shui with plants as well. And she told me a couple of paragraphs worth and I was just mind blown. Let's dive in by sharing more of who you are and where all people can find you.

[00:01:56] Don't pause to go look, but just bookmark it in your mind [00:02:00] and then share this with other people who might be interested in feng shui or any type of energy healing.

[00:02:06] Megan Edge: Beautiful. Thank you. You certainly covered lots of it. And, thank you for that introduction.

[00:02:11] I wear a lot of hats. I love learning and then I love sharing what I've learned, especially if what I've learned feels like it could be of value to other people on their healing journey and we're all on a healing journey. I think living is a healing journey, quite frankly. But I also know that we get distracted from our own wellness and our own holistic selves, and that's where I come in.

[00:02:37] I come along and put you back on the path of wellness and wholeness, i'm the author of The Heart's Journey, and I know we've talked about that in some of our previous podcasts. This is the box set of Oracle cards along with a guidebook a journal, a pen and a bookmark.

[00:02:52] Everything you need to start working with and healing your heart. Most recently, I'm the co-author of The Expressive Arts, the Ultimate [00:03:00] Creative Guide to Transforming Stress, myself and 21 other practitioners from around the world shared our stories and our practices in this amazing book.

[00:03:10] It's an Amazon bestseller right now, that's amazing.

[00:03:13] Autumn Carter: And you also helped put together a book for somebody who was on their deathbed, a friend of yours.

[00:03:19] Megan Edge: Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. My dear friend, Juni Squadron, was a very accomplished author, had many bestsellers herself and her whole approach.

[00:03:28] To healing. She was a psychotherapist, but she was also a writing coach. And she would take people through their stories and help them craft their stories. And then I would come in as her editor and help her and her clients edit everything to get it ready for publication. When Junie was diagnosed with a second round of cancer back in March, she chose not to do conventional.

[00:03:55] Therapies. And she also chose not to do alternative therapies. She chose [00:04:00] to, see what would happen basically. She had this book she was writing called, if You Only Knew A Book of Healing Letters, it's part memoir of her life experiences through the letters that she wrote to others. And not only people, but also experiences she wrote to death, she wrote to cancer.

[00:04:17] She wrote to her childhood camp that was influential for her. When she went into hospice, she and I decided that this was the time to get this book written 'cause she really wanted it out in the world before she died. Bless her, the day I put the first draft copy of the book into her hands, she was already.

[00:04:36] She'd already transitioned into the deep sleep that happens before people die naturally, often. So she wasn't really aware. But what I did is I took her hands and put the book in her hands, and then put the book on her chest with her hands over the book and said, Junie, we did it. We did it.

[00:04:52] You're holding your book. And she took this big sigh, like just this big, huge sigh came out of her. And then [00:05:00] she went back into her sleep. So I know that she knew. We had done it, that we'd completed it, and the next day she passed away.

[00:05:08] So now the publisher and I are just working on the very last finessing of it. My daughter's working on the cover art and we're hoping that by middle to end of October, the book will be ready to be published on Amazon and out in the world for people to read. Her hope with this book was that it would be received similarly to Chicken Soup for the Soul.

[00:05:29] That it would be a type of book that could have a whole series where people could send in their most poignant letters that they had written to others or that others had written to them around different themes. Similar to the Chicken Soup for the Soul. So that was her vision and, her dream that she wants for this book.

[00:05:48] So that's what we're hoping to create.

[00:05:52] Autumn Carter: Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, and we'll have links to all of these in the show notes, so don't go searching away but [00:06:00] seriously, share this as things resonate with you and you think of different people share this wow. You do wear a lot of hats.

[00:06:09] That just emphasized it right there. Let's dive into Feng shui. What is it? How old is it? Tell us the

[00:06:15] Megan Edge: Interestingly, when I discovered Feng shui as a practice it was a friend of mine who gave me this wonderful book here, which I'll share. It's called The Western Guide to Feng Shui Room by Room.

[00:06:28] When she gave this book to me and I started reading through it, I realized. I've been doing this for years and years. I can walk into a room and I can feel the energy in the room, and I will know immediately if that bench should be over there, and that sofa needs to be in a different place.

[00:06:43] And it would drive my first husband absolutely bananas when he'd come home from school or from work, and the entire apartment had been rearranged because I would say to him the energy needed to shift. The energy needed to change. So finding. The practice of Feng Shui helped me to [00:07:00] understand, that's what I'd already been doing intuitively, and also the value of placing things in a room in a particular area or a particular place in order to best utilize the flow of energy and what it really speaks to.

[00:07:15] The fact that we have energy around us. We are electromagnetic beings, and also there is energy that flows. It flows through our spaces, and it can become stagnant or stuck if things are not placed in. The room according to the energy and intentional use of the room.

[00:07:37] So that's, how I came to feng shui. I jumped in and adopted it 'cause I loved how easy it was to implement. Now the history of Feng shui has, been practiced for thousands of years in China, where it comes from originally. A feng shui master. Would not be considered master until he, and at the time it [00:08:00] was only men had gone through a very vigorous and many decades of study.

[00:08:06] What we are really good at doing in North America is adopting practices from other parts of the world pulling out the most salient points and creating a newer version that allows the individual to access those, teachings in an easier way than the way the traditional masters would have been taught and the trainings that they would've had to have gone through.

[00:08:32] We've done it with the chakra system that we adopted from India. We've done it with feng shui. And while it's true that some things might get lost in the translation and the simplifying of these practices, what does end up happening is that they become accessible to more and more people, which means more and more people can benefit from the amazing teachings

[00:08:52] Autumn Carter: So my question that really comes up for me is if the energy is stuck in a room, is it [00:09:00] also stuck for you? How does that, what's that relationship?

[00:09:04] Megan Edge: Yes. And this is, the key takeaway I have found in the way in which north Americans have adopted this practice of feng shui. We have a psychological understanding that if the energy in our house is stuck or scattered, that's a reflection of what's happening for us internally.

[00:09:26] If you're feeling. Out of sorts. If you're feeling depressed, if you're feeling like you're not digesting your food properly, look around your spaces and see where there are messes or unfinished projects. See where there are dust bunnies. When you clear out your physical home and your home is a physical expression of yourself, right?

[00:09:49] It's part of your personality. It's how you present to the world in a very personal way. When you clean that, you feel better. Your brain is [00:10:00] not as cluttered. You're not distracted by that pile of dust bunnies that you know you should get to, but you just haven't yet. A clean and uncluttered home becomes a psychological tool for us to feel clear and uncluttered in our minds and in our bodies.

[00:10:15] Autumn Carter: Today I was doing that with my computer 'cause things were bothering me. Like for instance, your photo, I found it three times in downloads instead of where it belonged for when I post our episode. So it's doing that, but there's also the voice in the back of my head that says I'm wasting time and I could be doing something else.

[00:10:35] But it's also something that's been bothering me for months. So where is that balance? Because I know some of us tend to I don't really feel like doing that, so I'm going to clean my way into finally doing whatever project it is.

[00:10:49] Megan Edge: Yes. And so that little voice that says, this is a waste of time and I could be doing something more productive, that is very much a North American voice.[00:11:00]

[00:11:00] That's a voice of a culture that is constantly busy, constantly doing, we've been brought up with the expectation of instant gratification on the one hand, and that we have to prove our worth through the number of things that we're doing and accomplishing, and I consider that to be a bit of a problem.

[00:11:26] I don't think it's healthy for us to constantly be like this. It's demonstrated in the health epidemics that we're experiencing the mental health concerns that we're having. There's just so many manifestations in our overall health that is impacted by this high level of constant activity.

[00:11:50] When you know there's something you need to do that's going to make you feel better when you get it done, then get it done [00:12:00] right? And if it's not something tangible to anybody else, like you're cleaning up your computer and all the files on your computer, nobody else cares about that.

[00:12:08] It doesn't impact them in any way. So there's nothing demonstrable that you can say, look what I did today. I cleaned my computer. The people around, you're gonna go, yeah, but did you get the dishes done? It doesn't matter. The computer is also a reflection of who you are and how you operate in the world these days.

[00:12:26] So if you're looking for that peace of mind and that calm, and you're someone who really does like to be organized, then that becomes a piece of self-care to clean up those files and get your computer functioning so that it works for you

[00:12:42] Autumn Carter: my husband snuck in to give our dog meds, and I was over here texting him.

[00:12:48] She's whining. You could not hear it, but I was starting to hear it. Did you give her meds? So that's what was going on. There are files that I'm looking for that are no longer in, I have a Mac, so they're no longer in the [00:13:00] dock because somehow they moved.

[00:13:02] Megan Edge: So

[00:13:02] Autumn Carter: in cleaning up, I'm hoping I can find those couple of files that I'm looking for.

[00:13:06] And also there's things that my husband has put on that aren't in the right spot, so I could have 'em in his folder. When I am doing things like that, I try to put on more like chakra clearing music. Or meditation,

[00:13:21] singing bowls, something like that where I can feel like I am taking care of my spiritual wellness as well.

[00:13:28] Megan Edge: Yes, exactly. You are no matter what, but I also love that you're putting on music and you're creating an environment where there's a recognition that the work you're doing is somehow sacred.

[00:13:40] I have a whole process that I take people through around cleaning their homes like how people talk about a spring cleaning, but I advise that people do this at least four times a year. Do it for every season, do a winter, cleaning a fall, cleaning a summer in a spring, and. The thing to do, especially if it's, if it is summer or spring, is you open all the windows.

[00:13:59] You [00:14:00] put on the craziest, bestest music. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be opera, it could be baroque, it could be rock and roll, it could be heavy metal. It's whatever music gets you moving you blast that music and start from the farthest part of your house.

[00:14:13] you start at the farthest from the front door of your house, and if you've got a two story or three story, you start at the top, at the farthest and you move through every room. This is a deep, clean, and it can take a couple of days sometimes, but you clean every room.

[00:14:27] You get into every corner. You pull the furniture out, you get all the dust bunnies underneath in every single corner. You move everything to the front door, like all the energy moves to the front door. The final piece is the foyer or the entrance to your home you're moving everything.

[00:14:43] Autumn Carter: Are you actually moving the furniture to the front? No. Okay. I don't think anybody's gonna be up for that 'cause that's going down the stairs. Okay.

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[00:15:59] Megan Edge: You're [00:16:00] right. When I say everything, I mean everything energetic. The physical part that you're doing is that you're physically cleaning and then you're sweeping, or vacuuming, it's the motion of sweeping and vacuuming as you move through each room and then the hallways, and then if there's stairs, down the stairs, that is the symbolic intention to move the energy,

[00:16:22] Autumn Carter: move it

[00:16:22] Megan Edge: Moves out the front door, and dissipates. The intention is that the energy is neutralized and goes out into the world.

[00:16:29] Autumn Carter: I like that.

[00:16:29] Megan Edge: And the world does something with it, right? It was like energy moves, like water moves. I like to use that symbolism of water.

[00:16:36] That's the same way that energy moves. And water is neutral, energy is neutral. It only becomes experienced as positive or negative once we do something with it. True. Just like money. Exactly, once that clearing has been done at that really deep level, the whole house feels amazing.

[00:16:55] Everything looks brighter. Everything feels brighter, the individual [00:17:00] feels better. What can then happen is because energy has been kicked up, it's been disturbed, things that have been in the house in an emotional way. Start to move again. So what I've experienced is that quite often my husband and I will get into an argument after this has all been done.

[00:17:23] Or my kids will be really grumpy, or there'll be some kind of tension that arises because we've released unspoken emotions. That had settled into the house and now we have disrupted them. So why do we wanna do this then? Because we don't wanna be stuck in heavy emotional energy that isn't being addressed.

[00:17:48] And so in a way, this forces us to address these heavier energies that maybe haven't been. Looked at or seen. For example, I'll use an example from my first marriage. My first [00:18:00] husband, would come home from work? Take off his socks and drop them. It didn't matter where he'd just drop them.

[00:18:05] He wouldn't pick them up. He wouldn't put them in the laundry. I would find them all over the place, and it would drive me crazy, and I would ask him over and over again, just please pick up your socks, and then I would just stop asking because I wasn't getting anywhere with it. But then we'd do a big, huge clean of the house.

[00:18:23] And what would we argue about after the house was cleaned?

[00:18:26] Autumn Carter: The socks, because

[00:18:27] Megan Edge: they

[00:18:27] Autumn Carter: started to clutter up again.

[00:18:30] Megan Edge: And because I had been like forcing myself not to say anything, to not get in his face about it, not get in the way, but not bug him about it. So I was holding onto that. When I cleared out the house, I open up that box and it needs to be cleared out as well.

[00:18:49] These are the kinds of conversations or disruptions that can happen after you do a really big, deep cleanse. But once you've talked it out, you and the other people in the house are now in a much [00:19:00] better place than you were before you did the deep clean. All of this ties into the principles of feng shui, which is that there needs to be balance in the world.

[00:19:11] And that q, which is the name given to the energy. Q is the life force. Everything has qi in the teachings of feng shui. So the tree outside my window has qi, my dog has Qi, my computer has qi. The things in my house all have Qi. If that Qi isn't flowing and it's not in balance and it's not harmonious, then we get disruption and the consequence of not clearing out your space is going to be far.

[00:19:41] More impactful than the consequence of clearing your space and then getting into an argument the next day or later that day because the energy has gotten brought to the surface because at least now you're dealing with it. But things left unsaid over long periods of time that are fostering [00:20:00] resentment and anger and bitterness are only going to make you sick.

[00:20:05] Autumn Carter: The things that stay in us somatically, that's what I was thinking about.

[00:20:08] Megan Edge: Yes, exactly.

[00:20:10] Autumn Carter: It makes me think about the monthly cycles for a woman. And for me that's when I'd be like, you know what? I'm done. Because I'm having this release within my body, I want it spiritually as well.

[00:20:21] That's when I would finally say things that need to be said. Release things. Forgive for different things. That was my time of release in so many other ways too, besides just the administration flow.

[00:20:36] Megan Edge: So

[00:20:36] Autumn Carter: that makes sense. And now that I don't have one because I medically took care of it, probably be the best way to say it.

[00:20:45] Okay. Some of that stuff is missing. So that does make sense. Was it yesterday or this morning? I don't even remember now. How bad is that? It's been a, this last week has been a month for me, but we have robot vacuums. It's [00:21:00] amazing. Love it. We have two dogs, four kids. Yes, please. They're on every floor.

[00:21:05] But I was realizing that I think the brush needs to be switched out, the one that gets the corners. A gray spot on our wider carpets. And I started to brush it and it was like, oh, okay. I need to vacuum the corners or have one of the kids do it and do the baseboards as well.

[00:21:25] I've been so busy with everything else going on. I wonder how much is underneath dust bunny wise, the dressers that the robot vacuum can't get under?

[00:21:35] Yes, and we made sure our beds are clear so that the robot vacuum can go under the beds, but that doesn't mean they can get the really. Small corners or some furniture pieces where the legs are tight so that totally makes sense. Normally we take everything off the walls and I basically mop the walls with, a mop I use a vinegar spray. And I haven't done that for. A year or two. [00:22:00] So we have some dust bunnies even though everyone in the family does chores every morning. And we do, we have it very basic clean, but like the deeper cleaning that does make sense.

[00:22:10] And the question that I have with that, so I love Marie Kondo and can see Feng shui in there. She's Chinese. And. How much are you decluttering along with this? I assume because you're touching everything and moving things that is naturally happening.

[00:22:29] Megan Edge: That can certainly be a layer that you add to your deep cleaning, which is to, take stock of what you are surrounding yourself with in terms of objects and items, and how many of those you really love and they bring you joy when you look at them or use them.

[00:22:46] And how many are just cluttered? That gift you got for your wedding from aunt so and so that you never liked, but felt like you had to hold onto that's a negative attachment someone else will love it. Maybe it's time that it [00:23:00] leaves the house so you're not reminded of a guilty feeling

[00:23:03] because the objects that we surround ourselves with, we have a relationship with them in terms of how we feel when we look at them or when we use them if every time you look at something, you feel guilt, that guilt is building up in your body. It's staying in your body.

[00:23:17] If you're not releasing it, it will eventually become a disease illness or injury because your body doesn't wanna hold onto guilt. The decluttering is a part of that, and there are people who've made their entire careers around helping other people declutter because it can be a deeply emotional process and bring up a lot of emotional and energetic responses.

[00:23:41] Having somebody to help you if it feels overwhelming, is perfectly acceptable

[00:23:45] Autumn Carter: yeah, and what I was thinking about, because I know so many people, that have a ton of shoes, but their shoe size has grown as they've gotten older because the muscles start relaxing in the feet.

[00:23:58] Or who keep [00:24:00] telling themselves that they're gonna be back in this career at some point, so they're gonna keep the clothes for that career. I've done that. Who are going to be this certain weight at some point, so they keep those closed. That is a perfect place to start. What I recommend doing, because I've had declutter programs as well, is start with the things that are easy.

[00:24:23] Megan Edge: Yeah.

[00:24:24] Autumn Carter: You could even, if you want one place to start is put all like items together throughout your house. My father-in-law, makes me laugh because tools are very expensive. He has five sets of tools around the house. I bet that was interesting for them when they moved to bring all of them together into one house.

[00:24:47] If we have that toolbox and we just have the tools that we need for that project and we go and finish that project and put them back, we all have different areas of our lives where we do that. For him, it's [00:25:00] tools for some people to choose. For other people, it could be pens, it could be whatever.

[00:25:05] So there is a great reminder of that. But I know also with feng shui, it can be about the heaviness. In a room by like chunky furniture. How does that part work?

[00:25:20] Megan Edge: So that's where we're looking at what is the purpose of the room? What purpose does it serve in the house? Let's start with the entranceway to the house, for example.

[00:25:30] That's, the bridge between the personal space inside the house and the public space outside of the house. When we invite someone into our home it's a very personal act what do we want them to experience? How do we want them to feel when they step across that threshold and into our foyer or mudroom or front room, whatever people call it.

[00:25:54] What experience do we want them to have? Do we want them to have to step over shoes and not be [00:26:00] able to put their coat up on the hook because there's three coats already on that hook? Do we want them to come in and feel claustrophobic because there's no room to move? Or do we want them to have the feeling of being welcomed into this space?

[00:26:13] So how can we make. That front entrance, a welcoming space, when you, start studying feng shui, there's all kinds of wonderful suggestions about the ways in which you can make that space. Very welcoming. I'm fortunate that my front space is a separate room in the house. We've got a, door to the outside and then a door to the inside.

[00:26:33] We live in an older house. I think it was probably a porch at some point that got glassed in. So we've got these beautiful glass windows looking out over the, street. So lots of natural light. I've got plants in there and try to keep it tidy. It doesn't always work but certainly I know if I've got a client coming into the house or if I have a guest coming over, the first place I'll go to is that front foyer room and I will clean it so that I'm happy [00:27:00] in that space I know that if I'm happy in that space, then somebody walking into my home is going to feel that contentment and welcome, and they're going to relax.

[00:27:11] When they come into the home. So similarly, your bedroom. The Western guide to Feng Shui. Spends a lot of time talking about the importance of our bedrooms, especially in relationship to our partners. Or if we're single, how do we want to, make our room feel for when we do eventually have a partner, right?

[00:27:33] And she talks about. Adult women especially, who tend to hold on to things like teddy bears she's talking about adult single women who put teddy bears on their beds. And she says, just think about what message energetically is that giving to your home, but also to yourself in terms of what do I want my relationship to look like when my partner shows up for me?

[00:27:57] Do I want him or her to have to [00:28:00] compete with a teddy bear? On my bed, right? So it's things like that. Again, looking around your space and determining how do I want to feel in this space and how do I want my guests to feel when they come into this space? And one of the most, I think, easily translatable aspects of feng shui to the North American audience is what's called the UA map.

[00:28:24] What it does is it looks at. The house itself, how it is oriented, north, south, east, west. 'cause the directions are really important in feng shui. And then each room in the house represents a certain area of our lives.

[00:28:39] So certain room, like we've got career helpful people in travel. Creativity in children, love and marriage. When you walk into the house through the front door, and in this map there's the front door, it's a grid, and the grid is placed over the shape of the room.

[00:28:55] The farthest right hand corner of the house is [00:29:00] your love and marriage quadrant.

[00:29:02] Autumn Carter: That's why our master bedroom's there.

[00:29:05] Megan Edge: There you go.

[00:29:06] Autumn Carter: Whoever the builder chose

[00:29:08] Megan Edge: yeah. When, people who are practicing feng shui are building houses, they will do it specifically to the Bewa map so that it's already built like that.

[00:29:18] Now in North America, we don't have that tradition, so that's not how we build our houses. So we do have to be a bit adaptable. Within the house itself, or the apartment or wherever it is that you're living, that corner in Feng shui is always going to be the love and marriage corner. If you've got, your hot water heater cabinet in that corner.

[00:29:39] What are you going to do to bring the energy of love and marriage into the corner of the house that has the hot water heater? You can't move the hot water heater but you can keep the space clean and clear. You could put something pretty or something sensual in the space that the hot water heater is in, there's elements that you [00:30:00] can add, elements that you can bring into a space, even if the space itself isn't reflective of the energies on the bagua map.

[00:30:09] And then you can take it one step further and apply the map to each room. Of the house. Each room has a love in marriage corner. If your marriage is experiencing disharmony you could look at that corner in each room and see what's there.

[00:30:28] Is there something different that you could put in that corner that would be reflective of a harmonious. Marriage or clean the corner, for example. It ends up becoming a practice of focus and intention. The intention is to have the most harmonious home and that each room is harmonious.

[00:30:46] And then you learn the elements through studying feng shui of what is recommended to activate career or children or marriage. You find those elements and include them in that part of the [00:31:00] house.

[00:31:01] Autumn Carter: Okay. So we have the top corner.

[00:31:04] What's the area?

[00:31:04] Megan Edge: Closest to the door. So when you come in the door, the right side is helpful people and travel.

[00:31:12] Autumn Carter: Oh, that's our bathroom.

[00:31:14] Megan Edge: And the, left side is knowledge and self cultivation. Toy room. That could work. Knowledge and self cultivation. This is where the children are learning and experiencing and getting creative and imaginative.

[00:31:28] Yeah that's, I think that's definitely self cultivation. Helpful. People in travel, if that's your bathroom, you could have an image in the bathroom, like a painting on the wall or a picture on the wall that is of some exotic location or someplace that you've traveled to before or where you would love to go, you could put that element in there.

[00:31:46] You don't have to redesign every single room and make it theme-based. It's more about bringing in those elements so that when you see that element, your consciousness goes to, oh, [00:32:00] that beautiful place we once went to and we had so much fun there, and I feel so good whenever I see that picture.

[00:32:06] That helps you feel good. Which is ultimately, for me, my interpretation of feng shui, that would be why I would wanna work with these elements, because I want to feel good. I want the people in my house to feel good. I want my children to succeed and feel happy in their lives. I want my marriage to be harmonious and loving.

[00:32:27] And so with that intention, if I'm finding that those things aren't happening, I can use this practice as a way to zero in my focus and my intention. To change the things that need to be changed in order to foster that beautiful, harmonious home.

[00:32:46] Autumn Carter: And it's not something where you need to go shopping. You can easily shop your own house.

[00:32:51] That's what my cousin calls it, who is an interior designer. You can go in and you can move things around in your house. So I'm already thinking, [00:33:00] okay, what picture do I already have around that I can put in that bathroom? I do have a photo there, but it's a place where we used to live another state so it could work, but I'm sure I could find something better, and I'm sure I already have that same size photo, or I have something from our travels that I could easily put on a shelf in there.

[00:33:20] If you're thinking, oh no, I need to go shopping, or I have an excuse to go shopping. No, you can look around your house. We all have more than we need in our houses. Even me who likes to throw away things my husband came in to give our dog medicine and he put this on my desk. Why does it need to be on my desk?

[00:33:38] And I keep finding it on the floor. It's my daughter's. It's a little mermaid and you know where that's going because I keep finding it on the floor. Just went in the trash can.

[00:33:46] Megan Edge: Beautiful.

[00:33:47] Autumn Carter: What a great, they don't their stuff away. And it's been several months of me fighting if it's really annoying me.

[00:33:52] Even a week. I'm done. Yeah, if it's bigger and better quality, it's gonna go to donation, not the trash can, [00:34:00] but we don't need to keep all the clutter that we have. And I'm over here looking behind my computer because that's where the shelves are of the children's games, and I see plenty that aren't where they belong.

[00:34:12] So I'm gonna be having my kids clean that up again because this is supposed to be mainly my space and they seem to forget that. And I'll find their toys under my desk, behind my desk, and I have to remind them this is my space.

[00:34:25] Megan Edge: Yes.

[00:34:25] Autumn Carter: We all have too much stuff in our house

[00:34:28] Megan Edge: I love that. Shop your house. Because this whole process doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't have to be overwhelming, and it does not have to be expensive. But speaking of expenses, one of the corners in the bag, a map is the wealth and prosperity corner.

[00:34:41] Autumn Carter: Where's that corner?

[00:34:43] Megan Edge: That corner goes to the left of the front door in the house.

[00:34:48] Autumn Carter: Hi. I hope you are enjoying this show, and I just wanna take a quick minute to share with you two things that are going on in the background that I'm very excited to [00:35:00] announce. The first one is that if you are interested in experiencing any of these healing modalities that the guests that I'm interviewing or that even I'm speaking on during my solo episodes.

[00:35:15] I'm now offering that chance, and let me show you how to get there.

[00:35:23] If you go to my website, you go to wellness and every season.com/listener. Wellness guest here. This is an automation that starts through my newsletter. Here you are putting in your first name and your email address and three different things that you are interested in, and you are welcome to explain a little bit more after that, and then you hit apply right now.

[00:35:47] This is your chance to take something that feels just so out there and it sounds great if you work with that person and bringing this into, I have needs [00:36:00] right now. How can I have them met? This sounds amazing what this person is talking about, but I wanna see this actually happen with one of my peers that has something similar.

[00:36:12] This is your opportunity to have that happen. So wellness center season.com/listener, wellness guest is how you get here. From here, there are three people chosen at random. There's the first guest. And if they say no or their scheduling doesn't work out, it goes to the second guest. Same thing, and then it goes to the third guest.

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[00:37:54] And you talked about that, how there's certain plants for that. So I have my money tree right over here. It [00:38:00] needed more sunlight and this corner of my desk gets enough sunlight it looks tacky. I'll have to find a way to make it look prettier, but I took a box and cut it.

[00:38:08] Megan Edge: And it

[00:38:09] Autumn Carter: is wrapped around this screen right here, because during a certain time of day, there's enough light that comes through that I needed to have something to block out the sun. So I could actually see this monitor.

[00:38:22] Megan Edge: Yes.

[00:38:22] Autumn Carter: But yeah, I have my money tree right there.

[00:38:26] Megan Edge: Jade is another plant that is associated with abundance and bringing money and wealth in.

[00:38:32] So think of what would represent to you abundance, wealth and prosperity in terms of an item?

[00:38:42] Autumn Carter: I have a lot of books. I like books. I love learning. I'm a learner and a sharer. Once I learn something I'm like, have you guys tried this?

[00:38:52] This is amazing

[00:38:53] Megan Edge: yeah.

[00:38:55] Autumn Carter: Let's see, what else would be abundance and learning? I think [00:39:00] even just having my computer. Because I could easily learn whatever I need to. Our generation is blessed and cursed with that. There is so much information that it's hard to internalize it all.

[00:39:14] Megan Edge: When I think of wealth and prosperity, I think of coins. And if you've gone traveling, you might have coins from other countries. I do. They're in this room, in the corner. So your, office is the wealth and prosperity corner of the house. And then in your office you have a wealth and prosperity corner.

[00:39:32] Autumn Carter: This is the furthest corner behind me,

[00:39:34] Megan Edge: So when, you're at the door of your office, it's the furthest left hand area, it needs to move here. You can add appropriate things, if not cluttery, to that area so that when you look at that area you're, immediately connecting with, wealth and prosperity

[00:39:49] I believe part of this is based on the idea that if you think about it, you manifest it. So be mindful of what you're thinking about. And if what you're [00:40:00] wanting to attract is wealth and prosperity, then you need to be able to focus on that throughout the day, and that can happen when you look over and there's those beautiful coins from.

[00:40:09] A different place or your own country for that matter, or there's my jade plant. And in that moment you're connecting with the energy of wealth and prosperity. And then you put that vibration out in the world and it's easier for wealth and prosperity to find you.

[00:40:23] Autumn Carter: That makes sense. And going back to the teddy bear on the bed, how many women have the bedroom where it's just super feminine like roses and pink?

[00:40:36] But you have to realize that is the marriage unity. It's supposed to be about both of you. We try not to have pictures of our children in our room. Kid paraphernalia. I don't do laundry in our room because it's supposed to be our couple space, and we're very intentional.

[00:40:55] It's very zen. We have a water fountain, but it only goes [00:41:00] during the day. It turns off automatically at night because I could not stand that sound at night. I really like it. Quiet and dark in order to sleep, it feels a little more spa-like.

[00:41:09] We wanted that vibe and very clean lines, clean colors, if you are going to a higher end hotel or a higher end Airbnb or if you're going somewhere to get a massage, that type of vibe is what we have going on. And I love that vibe. And thankfully my husband was fully on board. It's very hard for me to find something that he's gonna disagree with me on.

[00:41:32] Very easygoing that's the key to marriage right there. Find someone easygoing. If you're not someone who has that healing presence.

[00:41:41] Megan Edge: You're

[00:41:41] Autumn Carter: on the right track with who you're marrying. Yes. If you're having teddy bears or very much is skewed towards one gender or the other, or one couple or the other, that's not right.

[00:41:53] It should be about that unity, and we tried to have that throughout our house, this is our space. So it's about [00:42:00] us and then in our kids' room it's about them. It's about what they want, the colors they want, the patterns they want, whatever. And our living spaces is about family. Yeah. So it sounds like we're on the right track and we very much are.

[00:42:16] Word for, I think it was last year was intention and we really. Embodied that in so many ways. We are very intentional in everything that we do. So it sounds like I'm on the right track with feng shui here. Yes.

[00:42:29] Megan Edge: Shui

[00:42:30] Autumn Carter: You learn how to say it right.

[00:42:32] Megan Edge: I'm sure it's said different ways by different people and, it occurs to me.

[00:42:36] I wanted to be really transparent. I in no way consider myself a feng shui expert. I have not done any formal training in feng shui, and I don't want to come across at all as disrespectful for those people who have done this as their training. What I've been able to do is adopt and adapt the key elements and the key teachings of feng shui into an [00:43:00] intuitive, intentional way of living in my space.

[00:43:03] And that's what I teach people when we talk about this, and I use the word feng shui because that's identifiable. It's like using reiki people have heard of that before. For those people who have studied under Feng Shu Masters and have spent those decades, they have a wealth of knowledge about the way that they've been taught that energy moves that is certainly to be respected.

[00:43:30] There's this wonderful woman named Lillian too. I don't know if you've come across her books. I've got three of her books. This one is Irresistible Feng Shu magic, and Rituals for Love, success and Happiness. And then smart feng shui for the home. 88. Brilliant ways to work with what you've got.

[00:43:45] My other favorite one of hers, is Feng shui for the garden.

[00:43:49] Autumn Carter: Ooh.

[00:43:49] Megan Edge: Our garden is, you've mentioned

[00:43:50] Autumn Carter: It's on my list.

[00:43:51] Megan Edge: Yes. And this, one talks about good feng shui plants, for example, so I'd mentioned Jade you were saying money plant.[00:44:00] 

[00:44:00] There's the philodendron. P is listed here as one of the flowers, the plum tree, right? So she goes into all kinds of detail in these wonderful full color pictures. And Phil runs easy to grow.

[00:44:13] Autumn Carter: We have several of those.

[00:44:15] Megan Edge: There's so much information in so many ways that you can implement these ideas.

[00:44:22] At the end of the day, it's you trusting your intuition about what feels good for you. I remember when I first learned about Lillian and started reading her books. One of the things she said is that she had been taught one of the few women at the time who had been taken under the wing of a Fe sway master.

[00:44:40] The reason she wrote these books is because she believed that this should be accessible. To anyone who's interested in it. She did share that she found some of the restrictions, some of the teachings to not be as intuitive as she wanted them to be or as she felt they could be.

[00:44:57] And so she broke away [00:45:00] from the hard line of traditional feng shui and wrote these books and made, the information available to the lay person who would wanna learn more about it and to have that harmonious living space.

[00:45:15] Autumn Carter: Can you show us those books and say the names of them again, and we can have them in the description as well?

[00:45:22] Megan Edge: Gardeners, Feng shui for gardeners. The Art of Living in perfect Balance with your garden environment, and that could be your balcony as well. It could even be the plants in your house. And then this one is smart feng shui for the home. 188 billion Ways to Work With what you've got.

[00:45:40] Autumn Carter: That already resonates for me.

[00:45:43] Megan Edge: The irresistible feng shui magic. For love, success, and happiness. And I opened it up to the money or coin tree. Wasn't that interesting? Right next to it is the coins to enhance the wealth of a marriage. Chinese Empress threw coins [00:46:00] onto a daughter's marriage bed to protect future dynasties.

[00:46:02] Contemporary way to invoke marriage success is to tie coins to the bedpost. Cute. A little necklace of coins on your bedpost.

[00:46:13] Autumn Carter: And then you had one more book that you mentioned at the beginning.

[00:46:15] Megan Edge: This is. Yes. This one here? Yeah. Which is the Western Guide to Feng Shui room by room. And her name is Tara Catherine Collins.

[00:46:25] And she also wrote a book called The Western Guide to Feng Shui.

[00:46:28] Autumn Carter: Perfect. And that's really a majority of the listeners are in the United States. And others who are around the world. They're mostly western culture as well. So that resonates for so many of us.

[00:46:42] Megan Edge: Yeah. Thank you

[00:46:43] Autumn Carter: for the recommendations.

[00:46:44] We will have a lot of links in the description, so go there. Are there any last words that you wanna leave us with?

[00:46:54] Megan Edge: I believe that it is important that we are aware of our environment [00:47:00] and what we are bringing into our environment, what we are holding onto in our environment and how our environment impacts us,

[00:47:07] there's not a lot of places in our lives where we get to exert true control. One place is over our own responses and reactions to the world around us, but we don't have control over other people's responses reactions behaviors or beliefs but your home, no matter how humble or grand is a space in which you can.

[00:47:29] Imprint yourself on that space and in a sense, exert some control over how it looks and how it presents to the world. We all want to feel like there's something that we have control over, but controlling others is not the way to have that.

[00:47:46] Looking at your space and realizing that it is a reflection of who you are, gives you a place to start. I would say that is an amazing first step in any healing journey.

[00:47:58] Autumn Carter: I was thinking about that and [00:48:00] thinking if I was to start all over again, and it was just me, how much of this house would look the way that it does now?

[00:48:07] Each of our family members has influenced each other. My husband has influenced me, I've influenced him. And we were married young. We've been married 16 years now. So how much have we evolved? With each other and for each other. And then our children have changed us and their own unique spirits and what they come with. And just how much of this. Would be the same if it was just me.

[00:48:37] Megan Edge: And I think that's why men like man caves and women like man caves, but she caves. I don't know.

[00:48:46] My daughter and I were talking about this the other day. She said, I want a man cave. Not that it would have tools and beer and stuff like that, but that it would be her space and that space would be a reflection of herself. I think that's why our bedrooms are so important to us when we're children.

[00:48:59] I think it's [00:49:00] really important that children have a bedroom if they're able to, because it's a, place where they can learn how to express themselves and put things on the walls that matter to them and give them joy as opposed to accommodating other people's ideas, which is what we do in the common space in our, homes, hopefully.

[00:49:17] That private space is really important to know who you are.

[00:49:22] Autumn Carter: I know I don't have one space that's completely mine in this house. It's all shared with somebody. But I'm grateful for the time that I did live alone. I had my dog, so I still shared, but realizing that eventually this will be fully my space.

[00:49:39] Sounds amazing. Once their toys are a little more adult and all of this stuff that's behind on the shelf can go into the toy room and realizing a couple weeks ago I was at a friend's house and her children are both in college I just wandered into her front room.

[00:49:59] That is [00:50:00] our toy room in our house. But hers has a nice couch, some chairs, a table and a piano. And then there were some musical instruments on the floor in the corner. Someday that's gonna be us. Is this what our front room's gonna be like? What is this room even gonna be? What is no longer a toy room?

[00:50:17] Our kids are old enough that they don't need that type of stuff.

[00:50:20] It was just, I was telling her about that afterwards, that she was chuckling. It was just like, I don't even know what that room will end up being. Maybe when the kids leave, that's where I put all my extra plants. Just realizing how our house is going to be evolving as our children evolve and it already has.

[00:50:35] Megan Edge: Our

[00:50:35] Autumn Carter: basement was very much a workout area during COVID, and now that we go to the gym, a lot of our workout equipment has been condensed, folded up, and put away, so it can be more of the kids' play area during the winter and the guest bedroom, because my husband's now working from home, has become more of his office that happens to have a bed in it.

[00:50:55] So we tease that he could take a nap whenever he wants, and realizing that [00:51:00] my oldest is going to middle school next year, so he's going to end up having his own room, and our youngest is going to be rooming with our third kid. So there's gonna be that whole change and that. I'm giving him that option of what colors do you want your wall to be again?

[00:51:16] I'm curious if he is gonna choose the same pink color or not. If he does, we'll have it, but I'm sure he'll go somewhere else. And I'm very curious to see how he's going to decorate it and what his plan is. And because he's on the taller end, I know he's gonna be taller than my husband. My mom's side of the family, the men are all tall and he's has that body, that frame, so right.

[00:51:38] So we're already going to get him that extra long twin and it gets to be his space again. I love that idea of we should have spaces that are ours and that it should really reflect us, and that makes sense, and that allows us to feel like we have this space that's safe, that's us, where we can let our spirit go [00:52:00] free.

[00:52:00] Because there's so many times in life where we just try and. Make our spirit smaller to fit in our body, and that we have to put on different masks, so having that space where we can just be us.

[00:52:14] Megan Edge: Yeah.

[00:52:14] Autumn Carter: Sounds like that. Really great.

[00:52:17] Megan Edge: Exactly. And to give ourselves permission to change up our space as we change, as our interests change, as we mature, as we grow, as people come and go in our lives.

[00:52:27] It's, a little bit like getting a haircut after a breakup, it gives us a feeling of, oh, this is a new chapter in my life. This is a new era in my life. So when there are no more children's toys, it becomes an adult space again. And what will that look like? Nothing is permanent.

[00:52:44] Except for change. Change is the only thing that doesn't change,

[00:52:49] Autumn Carter: And there's so many people out there who still have their children's toys. If, they're worth keeping, like they're great quality and they're worth keeping for grandchildren, one bin, it [00:53:00] doesn't need to be this huge thing

[00:53:02] that makes it so it feels stagnant for the children who are returning home to visit or to stay for a little bit. It makes them feel like they have to conform back to who they were, and that's not really fair to them. So I can see where that energy comes from and why it's important.

[00:53:21] Megan Edge: Absolutely.

[00:53:22] Autumn Carter: This conversation's amazing. We wanted to give you an overview and know that you can reach out to Megan Edge to gain more insight. She has her YouTube channel, she has her website. The books are in the description. All of the stuff is in the description, so please check it out.

[00:53:38] If you know any people who are feeling really stuck. They can try this hat on, see if this fits. More than likely, it's one of several things that need to change. But this could be a great, easy starting point. Thank you for this conversation.

[00:53:54] Megan Edge: You're so welcome. Not only an easy starting point, but an inexpensive starting point

[00:53:58] Autumn Carter: Yes.

[00:53:59] Megan Edge: I [00:54:00] also wanted to add in that my teaching platform on Learn It Live and the wellness universe. I have got all kinds of classes in there as well. Many of them are free. I've got a chakra journey, which is a paid class, but it's 13 individual classes.

[00:54:17] I class for each of the chakras, so there's lots of things that I'm bringing forward in addition to all of the things that I've already created for people.

[00:54:26] Autumn Carter: Oh, that's amazing. Energy work in all of its various forms. Thank you.

[00:54:31] Thanks for tuning into this week's episode. I am your host, autumn Carter, a certified life coach dedicated to empowering individuals to rediscover their identity, find balance, miss chaos, strengthen relationships, and pursue their dreams. My goal is to help people thrive in every aspect of their lives. I hope today's discussion inspired you and offered valuable insights.

[00:54:53] Stay engaged with our wellness community by signing up for my newsletter at wellness and every [00:55:00] season.com/free resources. When you join, you'll have the option to receive a five day guide called Awaken and Unwind, five Days to Mastering Your Mornings and Evenings, along with Free Guides, special offers on my programs, practical tips, personal stories.

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[00:55:36] So please spread the word about our podcast and about our newsletter. Thank you for being a part of our podcast community. I look forward to continuing our conversation, sharing stories and exploring wellness in all of this aspects. Take care until our next episode. You can also work with me one-on-one or on demand through one of my programs by visiting wellness in [00:56:00] every season.com/programs.

[00:56:03] One last thing to cover the show legally, I'm a certified life coach giving general advice, so think of this, this more as a self-help book. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed therapist, so this podcast shouldn't be taken as a replacement for professional guidance from a doctor or therapist.

[00:56:23] If you want personal one-on-one coaching from a certified life and parenting coach, go to my website, wellness and every season.com. That's where you can get personalized coaching from me for you. See you in next week's episode.