Age-old philosophy brings relief from modern-day practices..
Barrie Advance, August 11, 2002

   We've all heard about the house that just wouldn't sell. Great neighborhood, lots of nearby amenities, good sales nearby, but no luck on this one. Or, the family whose relationships seemed to fall apart after they moved to their dream home. Or, the child who mysteriously began a downward academic spiral.

   Often, it has to do with things in the house. At least, that's what Feng Shui consultants believe, and it's certainly held true for lots of people.
When my friend Theresa Dowsett, owner of The Business Advocate, told me the impacts of Feng Shui on her business space, my curiosity was piqued.

   "Valerie Samson's influence on my work environment has made a tremendous difference both in my focus and my increased revenue," says Theresa and she means it.  And so, Valerie Samson, Feng Shui consultant, former accountant, took the draftsman's drawings for our house and applied her Feng Shui interpretations to it. With interesting results. A house, or a room, or a single office, or a workspace can all be plotted with the same template.
The template concerns itself with eight areas of life ...relationships, prosperity, creativity, problems, healing, discord, disasters and life threats.

    As Valerie, or any of Canada's 250 Feng Shui artists for that matter, applies the template, she looks at latitude, longitude, direction of windows, orientation to east and west axes. She also looks at location of lot, location of street, shapes of yard, what's in the yard, garden and water features and where they should go. She uses a process that's 6,000 years old, combining Chinese ancestry and Indian culture. "It has to do with forms - a hill, a river, stars and what happens to people living with those elements," says Valerie.

   I found myself thinking, as Valerie was presenting "our house" to us, that this would be great thing to do if you were buying a house. She's quick to point out that no house, or office is a disaster, one of the best things about Feng Shui is that articles can be placed in certain locations to enhance our lives and bring positive energy to the way we live and work.

   Of course, if you have problems with the concept of positive energy, the concept of Feng Shui may seem a little off-the -wall, too. Valerie has a number of basic concepts that she shares with anyone interested in the art of placement. The first is to de-clutter. Less is more. Cleaning out closets, drawers, garages, and getting rid of things we don't like or never use is step one to enhancing our space, says Valerie.

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