Crescent Blues| Empowering the 'Goldilocks Species'

Terah Kathryn Collins (continued)

…I just couldn't stand it. Because I like to be full of good news and empowering possibilities rather than "Oh, my God, your Five Ghosts is in the middle of your master bedroom; you're going to have to move." And [the customers are] looking at me like, "What are you, nuts?"

Crescent Blues: Besides, no one in this country knows the directions unless they happen to live in a state like Kansas where they pay attention to these things.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Right.

Crescent Blues: Having family from Kansas, they all talk about the north corner of the house, and no one else knows what the north corner of the house is.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Why do they know?

Crescent Blues: Because everything in Kansas is laid out in absolute squares from the homesteading days. I have relatives from Kansas who say, "You take the diagonal road," because it's the only one in miles that is diagonal.

When my father, who is originally from Kansas, comes back from visiting his Kansas relatives, he'll tell my mother, "When dinner's ready, call me. I'll be in the north corner of the yard." And she says, "You'd better tell me whether that's the front or the back. Or you won't have dinner."

It's not something anyone on the East or West Coast ever thinks about, and yet that's how the homesteads were laid out. Not very organic, but it's just how it happened. And when the federal government comes through and builds a diagonal road, I think it's distressing to a Kansan's sense of order.

Terah Kathryn Collins: I guess so. I think of all the times I've flown over that area, looking down on the quilt.

Crescent Blues: It's beautiful from the air.

Terah Kathryn Collins: It is beautiful. It's absolutely striking. The amazing ability that we have to establish order -- and then you get into people's garages...

Another practical thing that I ask people to do is to really organize their stuff. I feel organization is an important thing for people to consider. When our stuff is organized, we can tap our creativity easily. We all know this.

If I go into my [home] office, and it's a mass of papers and open books and gift wrap and the kids' toys and God knows what else, there's no way I could sit down and write clearly in a place like that. The confusion in the room creates confusion in my mind.

And the same thing in the kitchen. Say we went and we made a beautiful meal, and we create chaos in the meantime, and we never clean up. What I see with all the folks I've worked with is that most people live in chronic chaos. They have very few creative endeavors in their lives; they've become almost like little robots.

Crescent Blues: All their energy goes to dealing with the chaos instead of dealing with creativity.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Right. They keep getting sucked into the black holes of their own chaos. And it gets overwhelming. It gets really challenging to deal with so much chaos for some people. And so their creative spark is just buried.

Crescent Blues: So the first thing someone should do is to start organizing.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Actually a lot of the time a Feng Shui practitioner will say, "I'll be back in a month, and here's your homework."

Crescent Blues: Oh dear! Clean those closets! Get rid of half of those papers!

Terah Kathryn Collins: Yes. And it is very comic. The house looks gorgeous. You walk in and it's vacuumed, dusted, beautiful tchotchkes. But open any closet in the house…

Crescent Blues: And it's a deathtrap.

Terah Kathryn Collins: And what's so funny is to watch the face. Because I'll say, "OK, great, look all the seats in this room have a view of the door, beautiful colors, very warm, welcoming, comfortable. Do you mind if I look in this closet?"

"What! You have to look in the closet?" I had one lady throw herself against her garage door. "No! I didn't know you needed to go into the garage!" It's part of your house.

Crescent Blues: Essentially, there is no such thing as offstage when it comes to Feng Shui.

Terah Kathryn Collins: There's no place to hide with Feng Shui. I mean, no place. Even the yard. There are houses that are neat as a pin on the inside, but you get outside, and there are all these homeless beings camped out all around the periphery of the house. You've got the dead lumber pile, and the empty pots from years of potting things that have been thrown in the corner.

Crescent Blues: And the plants that have died and are just sitting there waiting for decent burial.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Right. If you're in the country you've got the old sheds and the dead cars, and you name it. And it all counts.

Crescent Blues: What if you're living in an apartment or a town home community where your ability to independently improve your surroundings is limited? For example, if you live in an apartment that has an ugly hallway.

Terah Kathryn Collins: I like to ask people to start with their point of power or place of power. Be where your power is.

If someone takes on their apartment -- if it is really a place that is not working well for them -- when they Feng Shui their apartment, the chi will change. More times than not, they'll move. It'll just happen. "Ring, ring" goes the telephone. "I know you were looking for a two bedroom two years ago..." All kinds of things like that happen for people.

Crescent Blues: So change what you have control over and trust that the rest will take care of itself.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Exactly.

Crescent Blues: Don't sweat the fact that the hallway is ugly.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Right. Just go for it, knowing that you have to pass through this less than excellent state, but remember you're moving toward excellence. You are moving towards a space that you have claimed in full.

A lot of people live in "temporary quarters." They've rented an apartment, but they think that someday they're going to buy a house. There's a big thing about if I'm renting a space it doesn't count, but if I buy it, it counts.

Crescent Blues: Not true.

Terah Kathryn Collins: No! I tell people we're all renting. Whether you think you own it or not, you're renting it, honey. This whole thing about ownership!

Of course, someone who's renting may choose to handle the Feng Shui of their house differently than someone who owns it. But the point is to address whatever problems the structure has in a way that helps or balances it. So somebody who's renting may buy a shoji screen or some kind of screen to hide an eyesore, whereas somebody who owns a place might do something much more structural.

Crescent Blues: Accepting temporary inconveniences is a bad sign, then. It could turn into not-so-temporary; you never can tell.

Terah Kathryn Collins: That's the whole point! If somebody lives with ugliness and discomfort and unsafety or whatever and says, "Oh, well, this doesn't matter," the chi stops moving them forward and no longer helps them progress in life.

This whole thing of waiting for the ideal before you do anything is a mistake. Earlier, you asked a question about traveling. I travel with my own little Feng Shui travel kit. Are you kidding? I have been in some godawful hotel rooms, as anybody has.

Crescent Blues: So it's valuable to do something, even if you are temporarily in an unpleasant environment.

Terah Kathryn Collins: Absolutely. I've just gotten ridiculous with it. For instance, when I travel or my husband travels, we always…

Terah Kathryn Collins (continued)