Hello & Welcome back to “Where Feng Shui Meets Fashion”! Podcast Episode 13. A place for Home & Wardrobe Inspiration. My name is Laura and I’m a certified Feng Shui Practitioner, Curator and Stylist for you and your Space. New Episodes drop every Sunday Morning. Subscribe for weekly tips on mindful dressing and decorating! This hybrid Podcast & Newsletter originates on Substack where you can follow me for all the visuals, text and video. My stories about Feng Shui & Fashion are told in part through pictures and visuals in the body of my newsletters here on Substack. So if you’re listening on Spotify or ITunes, you can subscribe for free on Substack. For all my other content and services check out my Link-tree.
In Episode 12 of Where Feng Shui Meets Fashion, I spoke about my Origin Story. Today, I’m sharing Part 2. There’s a series of events that are pivotal to my narrative and pertinent to my story. You know how in Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey, there’s an easy part at the beginning and then it gets hard? This is the hard part 😉.
As I’ve mentioned previously, prior to becoming the Feng Shui Lady ®️ in 2010, I worked in the corporate world. While I was making a very nice income with excellent benefits, I felt creatively and spiritually unfulfilled. You can be making good money and still feel empty. That said, I was not considering leaving my job. In fact I probably wouldn’t have left my corporate career had it not been for what I can best describe as divine intervention.
I’m a Capricorn with a Taurus rising mind you. Earth and more earth! Neither of these signs likes change or risk! Thank goodness for my Fiery Leo moon to help spice things up. It took something rather dramatic for me to change course and eventually become The Feng Shui Lady ®️. I had to have a health crisis or 2 in order to shift my perspective. These events left me reflecting on my life’s path. Sometimes we need a nudge from the universe to make a course correction. Yah sure I was drawn to Feng Shui, but I know for a fact that certain circumstances and nudges from the universe were instrumental to my journey.
Unbeknownst to me, I was born with a congenital hiatal hernia. In other words I was born with a hole in the middle of my body that was waiting to break through since birth. PS, the symbolism of a gaping hole in the middle of my body, is not lost on me. I can tell you that emotionally this is an accurate depiction of how I felt inside for most of my early years.
My parents had failed to mention this health condition until after the diagnosis, so I was not exactly holding back when it came to core work or exercise. It wasn’t until I turned 40, that the condition made itself known to me. By the time I figured out what was happening, I needed to have a very serious surgery immediately. It came with a shockingly painful recovery that required an extensive healing period. A hiatal Hernia is much higher up in the body than say a more traditional and well known hernia in the groin area. In my case, internal organs were are at risk and the surgery was way more invasive than a hernia in the groin area. Mine in particular was a rather large breakthrough that had been growing for a number of years and needed immediate attention. It was made clear to me following that surgery that gaining substantial weight or becoming pregnant would be deadly and ill advised. So that was a fun plot twist. It was during my painful recovery that I conceived of the idea for my new life as The Feng Shui Lady. I thought if not now then when am I going to do as I please! How much time have I really got left and what does that look like? This was the year I turned 40. It felt like a rebirth and a total life redirect.
I got Certified in Essential Feng Shui in 2010 and I spent the next 13 plus years building my practice with numerous additional certifications in the field. For a good portion of that time, I also had a day job. I worked in the Furniture Space for about 7 years because what do you do with furniture? You arrange it. How can you do that in a Mindful and Intentional way? With Feng Shui! It’s the link between interior design, wellness and prosperity. That said, many of those years were frustrating and often demoralizing because I was only doing Feng Shui on the side. I entered the furniture space thinking it would be the perfect place for me to build my practice and find clients. However, folks buying furniture weren’t necessarily interested in Feng Shui and my employers didn’t necessarily embrace it either. I found myself working in the service industry in LA where people can see past you and having my true calling belittled by those who simply didn’t understand it. Selling furniture was also a rather physical job where I was on my feet all day often dragging furniture around the sales floor. I suppose it was a blessing when in the summer of 2017, I woke up one day and both my knees were on fire. It was so painful, I could barely walk. I’ve been a runner most of my life and the wear and tear on my knees suddenly reached a critical mass. I went to the doctor and got X-rays, and an MRI and fluid drained from one knee and a shot of cortisol etc. I was told I had a torn meniscus in one knee and osteoarthritis in both and I could no longer continue to run as I had been for years or work on my feet. My employer at the time would not make concessions for my condition and that was that. I was done, not by choice, but by circumstance. Earlier that same week my car got stolen and my apartment went up in flames! The fire in my apartment was quelled and I got my car back and by the end of that week, I no longer had a day job. It didn’t feel like a coincidence that all these things happened together. Knees and cars represent how we get places and the Fire marked another death and rebirth. 7 years after I became The Feng Shui Lady®️, I was officially working for myself and have been ever since! That’s divine intervention right there folks… I think the universe really wanted me to focus on Feng Shui without the distraction of a day job.
I know that I probably wouldn’t have stopped working in the furniture space if I hadn’t had a health crisis that forced my hand. I can only look back now and feel grateful for those non-negotiable interruption’s to the path I was on.
Both these health crises happened within 8 years of each other and each one jolted me out of the work I was doing and the path I was on to a better more aligned one. I have definitely paid my dues as a Feng Shui practitioner. After getting certified in Elemental Feng Shui, I continued to self cultivate by adding to my toolbox. I studied Space Clearing with Denise Linn, became a Red Ribbon Professional through the International Feng Shui Guild, got well versed in Numerology and Astrology and even Trademarked The Feng Shui Lady ®️. Most recently I am in the process of completing my Fashion Feng Shui ®️ Apprenticeship!
I can truly say that I’m happiest working for myself and I feel blessed to now be in a position to do so. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart though. Financially it can be feast or famine and you have to be great at not only your craft, but marketing, accounting, tech etc. That saying “what would you do even if you weren’t getting paid” applies here. I would be doing exactly what I’m doing and a lot of what I do, I’m not getting paid for. I don’t get paid (at least not yet) for creating content and putting myself out there to share my gifts and while a lot of these activities are valuable marketing tools, I was starting to feel depleted. The ROI just wasn’t there. My energy felt like it was mostly flowing out. So I came to the conclusion that something needed to change. In order to make the next pivot in life, I needed some kind of motivation. This time however, it didn’t take a health crisis! Thank God. Instead I have been Profoundly Inspired and following my heart.
Ideally we are drawn to something because it’s so bright and shiny that it lights us up. That’s how I felt when I decided I wanted to marry my 2 favorite things, Feng Shui and Fashion. I was already practicing Feng Shui, but as mentioned there seemed to be a lull with my work. Covid didn’t help and post Covid hasn’t been easy either. In a down economy, one has to consider how they can offer desirable services that people are willing to invest in and make them accessible. I also sensed that I needed to shift something about the way I was showing up in the world and with what I was doing. For a lot of People Feng Shui seems like a Luxury. Dressing however is a necessity and appearance for women in particular is a very central topic. I decided to lean in to Fashion and tailor my practice to a combination of mindful dressing and decorating. So here I am in the final stretch of my Fashion Feng Shui®️ Apprenticeship.
My biggest takeaway from these experiences is that we all have a divine path or destiny. The Universe wants us to succeed and is willing to help guide us when we get off course. I believe we receive signs from the divine when we are not on our true path. If we don’t pay attention to the more subtle signs, that’s when the universe intervenes. I can tell you that inspired action and calculated risks are much more enjoyable than having a medical crisis! I finally got the hint to follow my bliss. I hope you feel inspired to follow yours. Blessings everyone and Ciao for now!
Becoming The Feng Shui Lady ~ Origin Story Part 2…