(from Chapter 20 – It’s All in the Details)

                One of my advanced students recently asked the question, “How can I keep the Thanksgiving/Christmas Day holiday from becoming another major meltdown?”

                In her home it seems that the combination of adult children plus grandparents often makes for a soup bowl of prickly emotions for the entire family. The teens and college age adults pick on each other and everyone else gets in the way of the battle lines. No one ends up happy, and the turkey’s not well digested.

                In her words, “It’s too much work to have it turn out so wrong.” I agree.

                I assured her she was not alone in her dilemma. The holidays are hard for many families. But there is something you can do to make it better. Here is a summary of her story, blow by blow from two days before Thanksgiving to the Saturday after!

                In that initial call, Janie said, “Well, it’s already started. They aren’t even here yet and they’re fighting. I told you Annie, for the last few years Thanksgiving is always a melt down!”

                After consoling her, I asked Janie if she could smooth over the immediate crisis of getting everyone home for the holiday by doing something different herself. I suggested that she drive 1½ hours on the day before Thanksgiving to get her stranded son rather than use guilt to persuade her daughter to wait for him to finish work and pick him up. She agreed to that, and one problem was solved.

                Next I asked, “Did you remove all those childhood pictures of the kids from the main foyer wall?” She actually called it the “Wall of Children.” It documented each one from the age of infant through high school, but displaying no current age pictures.

                “No,” she replied, “I told you in class I love that wall. It’s been my life. I love my babies. I don’t really want to take it down.”

                I explained again to Janie, that those pictures could represent something very different to each of the kids. And certainly they were not demonstrating very mature attitudes and behavior when they came home for the holidays for the last few years.

                “They see those pictures and immediately revert back to the emotional state of 10 or 13 or 16 or whatever the ages were!” I reminded her.

                I again suggested she remove the pictures, even if they were only put in a box until after the holiday and then re-hung after everyone went home. She agreed to do what I asked.

                The following week I received this message on my voice mail from an ecstatically happy Janie.

                “I’m officially declaring a Thanksgiving Day Miracle! It was great Annie. There was no fussing or bickering. There were a couple of close moments; however, it seemed as if they miraculously blew over.”

                She continued, “The kids came in like little puppies, sniffing around each room to see what was different. It was amazing. They even sat in the living room and civilly discussed the difficulties of modern day dating!”

                This was music to my ears.

                She had listened to me and was able to change an established destructive pattern in her home by a little manipulation of the environment.

The Dance of Balance: Feng Shui for Body, Mind, and Spirit

The Dance of Balance—

Feng Shui for

Body, Mind & Spirit

By Annie Pane

Order Your Personalized Copy—Great for Gifts

It’s not about furniture…it’s about life!

Feng Shui is more about divine energy and physics than it is mysticism. Yet a shroud of mystery has long surrounded the question of how it works and how to apply it.  This book is a tool for personal transformation through ergonomic empowerment by energy manipulation.  Feng Shui is just the template.

Leading Feng Shui expert Annie Pane guides you through the situations and challenges of your everyday life.  Experience how she helps others solve their problems and the actions they have taken to create a better life for themselves.

If You See Yourself More Than Once In These Stories…

•     The woman who is married to the king of clutter

•     The divorced male whose home says, “I used to be married, ” instead of “I am single now.”

•     Others with kids out of control or hyper-active

•     Caretakers of the elderly or sick

•     Those who must deal with the loss of a loved one

•     Couples looking for more intimacy

•     Some who combat negative and abusive energy in their families

•     Others who fight the battles of being depressed or overweight

You probably have everything need…it’s just in the wrong place!

     No matter what’s going right or wrong in your life, the stories in this book show how the Feng Shui template can help.  This fresh look at the ancient art and science of Feng Shui doesn’t just guide you room by room, but situation by situation.  Find out how simply rearranging the energy in your space at home and at work can help you with:

• job, promotions & raises  • love & intimacy • family relationships • attitude & motivation •

The Dance of Balance is all about you and your personal choices.  It shows you how to add to the quality of your life and balance what’s already there.  It’s about what you want your life to look like and feel like, what you want to have, and who you want to become next.  It’s about how to get what you want in your life, not about giving anything up or using oriental knickknacks.

     This is NOT staging.  This is intentional manipulation of the environment to produce specific personal results.

The Dance of Balance makes Feng Shui simple to understand through parables.  These stories are common to all of us, the situations and circumstances we all face every day. You’ll learn how to change your surroundings to achieve your heart’s desires and solve some annoying problems along the way.

Through this book you experience the Feng Shui lifestyle template as a simple and quick process to attaining a healthier and better life.  The Dance of Balance is logical enough for the left-brainer and it’s right-brained enough for the intuitive.  Women love it and men are amazed at how it works.

   If you would like to ask a question regarding consultations and personal use of feng shui ergonomic environments, please contact me by email at author@danceofbalance.com AND be sure to include your phone number in the continental United States, as I prefer to consult by phone. Also, be sure and visit my website www.eastcoastfengshui.com for additional information about Feng Shui.

 You may blog your questions on Feng Shui; however, I will only answer in generalized terms as people have a tendency to make YOUR situation THEIR situation. If you need specific advice, ask for a mini-consult and we can make convenient and affordable arrangements for $25.00 for 30 minutes.

    Remember that Feng Shui is a template for living life, not magic or miracles. It addresses the `morphic’ resonance* of a space and how past, present, and future events are influenced by things and people in that space.

Happy reading …  and above all … remember to Smile.

*(See morphology, Oxford Dictionary: the study of forms of things, in particular, the branch of biology that deals with the form of living organisms, and the relationships between their structures.)