Your Hibernation Reminder For January

Welcome to January. The start of the New Year! Scratch that ..… Change your thinking and consider this.

January may be the cultural start of the year, but really, it is the end of last year and the time for preparation for a new annual cycle that starts, energetically, in February. That gives you a whole month to craft your resolutions and desires and prepare for 2022.

If you think about it …. in the northern hemisphere at least, January hardly ever feels like it has the energy for a fresh start, and that's because many traditions see the end of this winter month, or early February, as the time when the new energies come in. The Chinese New Year, a movable date, is within this period (February 1st this year), and the Feng Shui New Year is always February 4th.

So do yourself a favour, do what I like to do and take January for you. The whole month. Yes, of course, life goes on, but if you lived out in the wild, you would still be in hibernation.

So… try this:

Stay close to home (as much as possible if you can) … continue to hunker in your cave. Give yourself space – the rest of the year will just get busier from here on in Conserve and protect the energy you have Focus on restoring yourself, building up an inner resolve for the year ahead Avoid starting anything new (if you can help it). It is VERY tempting to start new projects in January! If you live in a cold climate, work shorter days and use the long, dark evenings for quiet Use your time and energy to plan and work out how you will put things in place

January is winter. The season of the seed. When the new spring energies start to rise out of the ground, they bring a vibrant, lifeenhancing force that empowers that seed to rise up, containing all the information it needs to become a flower, a bush or even a tree. Nature starts to move in February from its winter stillness (and below the surface activity), so take the quiet of January for some deep thinking and planning. What kind of life blueprints are you consciously creating within your own seed energy?

January is the month for setting up yourhome as a magical intention space.

Here are five tips:

1 Understand that your home is indeeda magical space.

If you have not thought of it this way, then know that an increasing amount of scientific research indicates that something that we cannot see is actually going on 'out there' and can even be measured. I've just got back from the Science & Consciousness Summit at Broughton Sanctuary UK, where I have to say the Science of Intentions is alive and kicking. Decades of research have been done using machines to indicate a change in emotional atmosphere, the inner coherence generated by a community of people convening with a common purpose and peak experiences. Setting an intention is like sending a message through an invisible fax machine. In her books The Intention Experiment and The Power of Eight, Lynne McTaggart's work clearly shows that people can make specific results happen with focussed intention.

2. Create a big list of your intentions.

Let's leap beyond setting a couple of new year resolutions and make a big juicy list of desires. Perhaps this year, you are taking on a big house move, starting your own business, taking significant leaps in revenue, consolidating your market position, opening new territory, or bringing in a new relationship. Words have power, so articulate exactly what you want as clearly and thoughtfully as possible. Remember the phrase "Be careful what you ask for". Do just that … take the care. In addition to this wanting external things, a good question to ask yourself is, "What do I want to experience in 2022?" That is a very powerful question. As well as "Who do I want to be?" it's this list of desires and personal aspirations that is your intention list. Take each one and craft it into a powerful statement.

3 Pictures and images resonate with your unconscious.

As much as you can consciously create your future, remember that you are also run by your unconscious drivers. Your January reflection time might familiarise or re-acquaint you with some of these. Do know that the art you choose for the walls of your living space and the images you select for a Vision Board are potent connectors to your future. You become what you think about. See that future for yourself in the careful curating of your home art choices. These images are continually speaking to your unconscious mind.

4 Your home has an energy map.

Feng Shui has a bagua, a sacred shape mapping out nine life sectors. Understanding how it works helps you use your home to create new possibilities. Each sector lines up with a physical area of your home. So, for example, there will be a Relationship area and a Career area that are useful to attend to when you want to focus on those aspects. See the image below right, (taken from my Feng Shui House Book) and place it over a sketch (physical or mental) of your home. The front door of your house, apartment, or even a room, will sit at the bottom on the axis of the numbers 8, 1 and 6 in the diagram. That means your door will enter through one of three life sectors: 8 Wisdom, 1 Career or 6 Helpful Friends. Using this map will lead you to pay attention to places in your home that correlate with your intentions. I've written a whole book about feng shui, so I can't explain it all in one paragraph here, but you can find out more, and you are not confined to making adjustments just in specific corners. The most helpful advice I can give you is: sit quietly and tune in to your house … do its current structure, layout, and decor serve the you that is emerging this year? Then walk around your home looking with new eyes … assess whether the container you have created so far needs adjusting. You will know. Trust me … you'll know what is working and what isn't, and you can make the changes.

5 Placements have power when done with ritual.

If you have chosen a new picture that you feel resonates with one of your intentions, then we call this a feng shui cure. You have the ability to load it with meaning, making it important for you so that every time you look at it, you are reminded that that is your heart's desire or the feeling or attribute you want to embody. Repetition has power, so every time you look at it, your unconscious mind responds with, "Ok, so that is what you want. Let's see what we can do to bring synchronicities into your life to make that happen". Each time you place something that you want to use to call in an intention, you can choose a special date (e.g. Full Moon, Chinese New year) and create a special moment of ritual or ceremony with words, candles, thoughts that make it powerful for you. You are the maker of your own magic; never forget that.

Your healthy home is one that you design, not only for your wellbeing, but also for your successful and happy future.

Gina has spent most of her life at the leading edge of new ideas. She started out in the world of hospitality and her ground-breaking work was recognised with a number of industry awards. Her marketing consulting firm helped her independent hotel clients to reach new audiences and markets.

Responding to her own life crisis took Gina into the emerging human potential movement and in the early 1990s, she again broke new ground by launching the London Personal Development Centre. For the last 40 years, she has developed expertise in how people can create change and manage the transition process.

Her passion for living well at home became the seed for her interest in Feng Shui and she was instrumental in creating the popularity of this eastern philosophy in the west. By 1995 she created the world’s first professional training program in Feng Shui going on to write three bestselling books, including ‘The Feng Shui House Book’ and ‘The Healthy Home’. International sales topped half a million copies and her work earned her a prestigious award from the Institute of Public Relations for her national PR campaign to put feng shui “on the map”.

Gina has since sold over half a million books on feng shui and healthy living and has hosted several courses in her home using it as a backdrop for teaching people about using natural materials, non-chemical housekeeping, wholefood cooking and sacred space. Located in the hills above Skipton with breath-taking views down the Airedale valley, Gina has attracted friends and business contacts from all over the world for meetings and gatherings. For all its remoteness, they have entertained visitors from China, Japan, North America and New Zealand.