The Feng Shui of Abundance

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Abundance and money are about more.
I grew up with less, much less.

I was conceived in a homestead with out running water or electricity, during July, in the Nevada desert.

What we had more of, I learned later, was heat and dust--and arguments about money. Per her doctor's orders, my mother moved into the city just before I was born; my father followed--after he lost the homestead. It seemed to me that he held that against me for years.

Coming Home

By changing her environment to one with indoor plumbing, running water and electricity, my Mother created a sense of abundance for herself. She passed that awareness on to me. My connection to assessing people's environments began very early! Mother also handled money in her job. So from the womb -- my path was set. For me, as a former accountant, it was like coming home when I discoverend feng shui (pronounced fung schway) in 1992.

Miniature Money

The summer I was eight years old, I helped my dad mow the lawns of wealthy people. My job was to run the smaller 20" commercial gasoline mower; I can still picture the grass clippings flowing into the trash barrel--small green rectangles of newly mown grass--miniature money! Thousands cuttings, hundreds of trips to dump the clippings, hours of dragging metal trash cans and winding 100-foot garden hoses into neat circles with grass stained hands.

My Pledge

One hot day I set the trash can on the edge of a long, U-shaped driveway, looked at the large beautiful house, the expensive vehicles parked near the front door, the manicured yard, and thought to myself "These people know something about money that my parents don't know." I decided then and there to learn everything I could about money. My pledge promptly forgotten, I returned to racing after the gasoline mower and dumping the clippings.

At the age of eight, I couldn't stop my classmates from calling me "amazon" (I was already five-foot-nine!), yet I could make my life better in other ways. I had a secret plan.

Learning the Ropes

My first paying job, at sixteen was cleaning windows in an office. When I saw the bookkeeper's big ledger books I was fascinated. I knew that this was where they kept the information about the business' money and I was thrilled when the bookeepper showed me what he did. I wanted to know everything and to do that too. Soon I was helping out in the office learning the ropes.

Eventually, I took accounting classes and became a bookkeeper. At age 32 I finally had a degree in accounting, at 35 a Master of Taxation degree. I had not forgotten the lessons from the days of the grass clippings -- to make money you have to know about money.

Studying Flow

Ever since I watched the grass clippings pouring into the tresh can, as a child, I have been studying flow, and the strategies for how we stop, start and enhance it. In college I first studied air and blood flow in humans while training to become a Respiratory Therapist. Then money flow as an accountant.

Later my studies of the Art of Japanese Flower Arranging, Ikebana, were about the illusion of flow with static yet living materials. Then I began to study feng shui, the Chinese Art of Placement, and its focus on your environment, both outer and inner, and the flow of energy there. I also learned to meditate and noticed the flow of the subtle energies in my life.

FLow of Love

Relationship interactions are about the flow of energy and love between people. I began those studines with Drs. Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks when my own marriage died. I wanted to know how our mental flow, our thoughts and intentions, impact the flow of actions by other people and the opportunities the Universe brings us. Under their guidance, I became an Apprentice and Certified Facilitator of the Hendricks Institute. Always, I have been focusing on understanding the flow of life's abundance.

Writing the River of Gold

When I started to write about the River of Gold a good friend called me a master river guide. I immediately understood the connection. My childhood classmates had called me an Amazon.

Back then I was hurt as I didn't understand the gift they gave me, nor it's wisdom. Now I realize that I am and always have been an Amazon -- a woman who knows the secrets of navigating the largest river in the world: the flow of money and the strategies for engaging commerce along the River of Gold.

Money Flow

As a child I slipped my small vessel into the river, beginning with my first money: a meager allowance that I earned. In the years that followed I have capsized and righted my vessel in larger rivers, experienced floods where there was more money than wisdom, swamps where money and life seemed to stand still, and droughts where I ran aground and money dried up.

I have visited the headwaters of my life to understand my beginnings and trudged through the Valley of Darkness, seemingly alone, on my journey to become a Master River Guide. I know how the River of Gold flows to the ocean of open-hearted abundance. I can guide you there -- if you are willing.