Best-selling author, interior designer, healer, and Feng Shui expert Tisha Morris combines her expert knowledge and intuition to help others maintain supportive and sacred environments. We talked with her about her forthcoming book, Decorating With the Five Elements of Feng Shui, and she offered us her insight into creating a home in which we love to live.
What inspired you to write your forthcoming book, Decorating With the Five Elements of Feng Shui? I love working with the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) because they are the bridge between the tangible world of decorating and the energetic world of Feng Shui. I wanted to write a book that would help people create a sanctuary – a space that looks great, feels good, and is supportive to one’s energy. If there were a science behind decorating, it would be working with the Five Elements to strike an aesthetic balance. In doing so, you will also experience more balance in yourself and in your life.
Can you describe the meaning behind Feng Shui? Feng Shui traditionally means living in harmony with the Earth’s energy. I addition, I feel that Feng Shui is about creating a supportive environment that you love coming home to. Incorporating the Five Elements into our space helps us achieve this balance and harmony in a practical way, while also creating a supportive sacred space.
How might we bring more energy, but less stuff into our homes? The key is being intentional about everything you have or bring into your home. Do you love it? Do you use it? From personal photos to office supplies, is it taking away or giving energy? Ultimately, we want to love everything in our home, as it is a personal reflection of how we feel about ourselves. So many times we have items sitting around our house that we keep out of guilt or lack or simply indifference. In these cases, that will be the energetic vibration that you are holding within yourself. This is why it is so important to be conscious of what you have in your home.
Is there a way to stylize our homes to compliment the personalities of the entire family, without it becoming overwhelming? Yes, this is something I address in my book, particularly since we each have a different Five Elements constitution and need slightly different environments to best support us. The first thing is to delineate private spaces versus public spaces. We each need a space, whether it is a bedroom, home office, or just a bookshelf, in which to express ourselves. It is then the public spaces, such as living room and kitchen, that we need to find compromise in. In these spaces, a good balance of the Five Elements is ideal so that the space can best support everyone in the family.
When does it become apparent that our home is out of balance and ineffective at restoring us? You know your home is out of balance if you feel like your life or some area of your life is out of balance. That’s because our home is a reflection of ourselves and our lives. Just like with our well-being, it is best to take preventative steps with our home space. As you make repairs, maintenance, and improvements to your home, you will see this reflected into your life. The more conscious we are about our home, the more conscious we will be in our life.
Any tips on moving into a new place? As we move into a new space, we often forget about the space we are leaving. It is important to have proper closure with the old space with a ritual or a simple Thank You and Goodbye to the space. This will help energetically to call your energy back to you so that you can ground into your new space. Upon moving into a new space, I always recommend space clearing it to clear the energy from previous occupants. Energy patterns from previous occupants can affect your happiness and well-being, particularly if there was trauma, loss, misfortune, or illness in the house. Space clearing is most often done with burning sage and wafting it throughout the space with a positive intention. For anyone sensitive to smoke, I make a Smudge Spray that can be used in lieu of burning sage that is as effective, if not more so.
How does Feng Shui relate to Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing? Marie Kondo’s book is shedding light on just how much we desire a calm and peaceful environment. With its minimalistic cover, just having the book sitting on your coffee table makes you feel like you’ve done some work! In my 3-step process to Feng Shui, clearing clutter is the first step. You have to remove stagnant energy and create space before you do any of the traditional Feng Shui practices. And, at the end of the day, you want to love everything in your home. That is at the heart of Feng Shui. Marie Kondo helps the reader make those hard decisions: Do I love and Do I use it? And, then, how do I organize it? I always advise starting with the easiest stuff first so that you can get energy moving immediately. This will, in effect, give you energy as well to keep going.
Decorating With the Five Elements of Feng Shui is available for advance purchase at Amazon, as well as Morris’ additional publications. To learn more about Tisha Morris, visit Earth Home: Conscious Design for Everyday Living.
Images courtesy of Earth Home: Conscious Design for Everyday Living.
