“No matter how old you get, if you keep the desire to create, you are keeping the child within you alive.” — John Cassavetes

THESE ADVENTURES INTO CREATIVITY can lead you into new friendships, careers and joyful self-exploration. Every home has within it an area for fun, hobbies, special interests, and childlike qualities — an area were the “whimsical” is displayed and celebrated. This area, known as the Children and Creativity area, encourages us to fully express ourselves to achieve joy and satisfaction. It helps us to nurture and grow that energizing, creative spark that lies within all of us, irrespective of the creative medium.

Parents can also experience this energizing and magical satisfaction while encouraging their children to grow, learn and explore through creative expression. Think of the joy in children’s faces when they can see that we are proud of their works of art.

In the Feng Shui Bagua Map, represented as a grid of nine sectors, the Children and Creativity area is located in the right middle side of your home/office/business. The Bagua comes from the Chinese philosophy, “The I Ching,” and literally means “eight trigrams.” In the “I Ching” the Children and Creativity area is called “Joyous Lake” because it is associated with the qualities of pleasure, generosity and encouragement. We need a great deal of encouragement and admiration, as well as a “lightness of being” to help creative expression blossom. The flowering of creativity is a joyful experience when it occurs through kindness and encouragement.

Enhancements in this area are particularly helpful if you are trying to get pregnant, you want to become more creative in general, you are involved in a creative project, you feel creatively blocked and would like more energy, you would like to explore your inner child and creativity, or you want to improve your relationship with your children.

Enhancements for the Children and Creativity area inside your home or business

• Art, photos, collages or posters depicting children

• Supplies used for creating things, such as arts and crafts materials

• Whimsical, playful and colorful items, toys, stuffed animals

• Things that have a personal association to Children and Creativity, such as handmade items and memorabilia of your own childhood

• Items in colors of white or pastel

• Things made of metal — brass, steel, pewter, silver, gold, aluminum, copper, etc., such as furniture, lamps, candle holders, frames, figurines, jewelry

• Quotes, affirmations and sayings pertaining to Children and Creativity

Enhancements for the Children and Creativity area outside your home or business

• Whimsical garden art such as fairies, animals, whirligigs

• Play structures such as swings and sandboxes

• A children’s garden, where they have the opportunity to select, plant and tend their plants or to plant a tree when a child is born.

• Items, flowers, plants in the white and/or pastel color spectrum

• Rocks and stones

• Circular or oval shapes

The element of Children and Creativity

The element for this area is Metal. Archetypally, Metal is represented by the minerals in the Earth. When in balance in your home, it enhances mental clarity and presence of mind. Too much Metal causes rigidity, while too little creates feelings of indecisiveness.

In my September column, I wrote that the Earth element feeds Metal, so adding representations of Earth such as earth tones, ceramics or rectangle shapes helps feed the Metal of your creativity. Avoid too much of the Fire element in this area (items in the red color spectrum, lighting, candles and art depicting people or animals), as it melts Metal and will burn up creative juices. Pictures of children will bring in just enough fire to add balance.

A missing Children and Creativity area

If your Children and Creativity area is missing from your floor plan, you can anchor the area by doing one or a combination of the following cures: Anchor the missing area structurally using the metal element wherever possible, such as building a trellis or deck; planting flowers in a flower garden or planter boxes in the white/pastel spectrum; adding a play structure, children’s garden, animal play area, or whimsical garden art; or adding a metal seating area. If the area outside is not accessible, you can symbolically anchor from the inside by hanging a 30-millimeter, round-faceted crystal, placing a mirror and/or a picture representing Children and Creativity on the inside wall by the missing area.

Feng Shui at work

A few years ago, I heard about a woman who was at a loss on how to enhance her Children and Creativity area because it was her laundry room, and she felt it was strictly utilitarian. She did not realize it was a diamond in the rough. After learning more about Feng Shui, she decided to wallpaper the room with a collage of all her children and grandchildren. She already had the white metal of the washer and dryer, and now that she added representations of her loved ones, laundry is no longer a chore; she beams and is reenergized each time she’s in there.

I loved this idea, and since my laundry room is also in this area, I chose to make large photo collages of my daughter’s pictures from birth on. Knowing that she is an Earth element person, I chose to further nurture her by painting the walls a pastel yellow and adding a yellow orchid and whimsical art. I love doing laundry now, and my daughter is thriving!

I was asked to do a home consultation at the home of a couple who wanted to renew their energy. When asked what areas of their home they liked the least, they indicated the bedrooms at the right. When we walked through the room in the Children and Creativity area I noticed it was being used for storage. On the wall hung a picture of a child they had lost a number of years before. This room held many sad memories. It was no wonder their energy was low and this area was closed off.

I recommended decluttering the room, hanging a crystal, placing a small fountain to move the energy, and adding more family pictures along with those of their departed child. My clients loved to sew and do woodworking, though they had both stopped these activities. I suggested they display their crafts in this room and use it frequently. Though these enhancements in no way alleviated the pain of their loss, the refocusing of their energies to revitalize and clear the room also revitalized them, and helped them get back to the crafts they loved.

Children’s bedrooms are particularly nurturing in this area of the home, especially if the colors are kept in pastel hues, which are more calming than bright primary colors. Self-esteem posters are wonderful additions. Serenity is the keynote here. When you calm the bedroom down, you calm the child down, too.

There is no end to the creativity this area can generate! A client has this area as her quilting room, while another creates in her home office; another couple created a gallery of their children’s pictures in their stairwell, while another with no children made a gallery of pet pictures.

Have fun!

Affirmations

Remember that in Feng Shui, intent plays a significant role in enhancing any area of your home or business. That’s why all enhancements need to be made with intentionality; written or stated affirmations are very important. It is also important for them to be expressed as if they are already happening.

Examples of affirmations for the Children and Creativity area: “I easily and joyfully express my creativity”; “My inner child is safe and happy”; “My children are healthy and thriving.”

Classes and more information

For questions or home consultations email mtmccull@aol.com and put “Feng Shui” in the subject line, or visit my website (where you can read past columns), or “Feng Shui by Maria” on Facebook, where I post pictures as examples to enhancements.

Also, I now have a blog — just go to the website and click on “Blog” and you can view many pictures and I will respond to your questions quickly.

I will be teaching two more three-hour classes through Benicia Parks and Recreation: Saturday, May 5 at 9 a.m., and Saturday, July 21 at 9 a.m. These are the same classes repeated. The Parks and Recreation guide is now available, if you’d like to register. Participants will receive $40 off a home consultation.

Until then … Blessings!

Benicia resident Maria McCullough is the owner and founder of Feng Shui by Maria. She is a speaker and educator with more than 15 years’ experience specializing in residential, landscape and business consultations.