(Part 1 of 2) Series #3

Jack, who is a very successful CPA, had recently undergone a very painful divorce . Although his business was still prospering, his mood

and hopes for the future for his personal life were less than sanguine.

The divorce settlement awarded his former wife their present commodious and well appointed residence and the position of custodial parent of their children, ages 7,12 and 14.

With less than an eager heart Jack snagged a condo near the town's business section so that he could live near his children for bi-monthly visits and still be within minutes of his accounting firm's office.

Jack's sister who lived just a few miles away supplied him with basic furniture from her cellar, attic, and a local outlet. Dozens of boxes of clothing, baseball cards, sports trophies, books, and momentos that documented his 41 year existence stayed mainly unpacked and filled most of what was meant to be a second or child's bedroom.

Needless to say the bi-monthly kids' visits were not thoroughly successful after the children started yearning for comfort instead of camping out on a sofa bed in his living room.

Jack's sister contacted me and arranged for us to have a preliminary meeting at his place of business.

In an almost dustless wood paneled and Oriental rugged office I explained while his sister cajoled until he consented to a feng shui consultation in his new digs. Armed with my portfolio, pads and bagua map for Jack I arrived promptly at the appointed hour. Jack cleared some mostly empty pizza boxes from the sofa, and placed them jauntily on top of an old armor so that I could be seated as I avoided stepping on empty beverage cans.

As I took in this room I thought that this would be either the easiest or most difficult consulting job I would ever attempt.

My first impulse was to call 911, then to get a big fire hose, and then to find some huge garbage cans. Since this clutter first aid was not really why I was there, I simply recalled Jack's extenuating circumstances, the fact that he did maintain a very tidy business office, and that he really wanted to maintain a good relationship with his children.

I recounted how Feng Shui can be of help, and reviewed the baqua areas as they relate to each room as well as the entire living space.

In an interview designed specifically for Jack, I asked him to name and rate his immediate priorities and relate them to them Baqua areas.

He also listed three long term goals. Since Jack is a Cancerian, it came as no surprise that his top immediate priority head and shoulders above all others was the health and welfare and his successful relationship with his children and the rest of his family.

Next in line were career and financial successes.

His top long term goal was to help people in need...those in the category who don't earn enough money to even pay taxes. It became obvious that I was dealing with an intelligent and caring gentleman of high moral character, whose unsuccessful marriage cast him out into a an unfamiliar lifestyle that left him confused and possibly depressed.

At the interview both he and his sister shared the pride that was appointed by the beauty of comfort of his former home. Was this grime,sleeze, and disarray a reaction to being cast out? What self respecting natal Cancerian would live this way? As I we went over the interview sheets I found it more and more difficult to breathe much less think in a cogent manner. The pizza boxes overhead on the armor seemed to be poised to fall on my head. The Chi in this room was so blocked that the atmosphere seemed all but suffocating.

It was at this point that I interrupted Jack's account of his eldest daughter's climb to first place in her horse show category, and announced that it would not be productive to go any further until he;

1) got rid of the trash and stopped saving it, and

2) unpacked, stored, gave away, or pitched those belongings still lurking in cartons that filled one entire room.