If you have to know one thing about feng shui, it should be how to collect energy. I'm talking about energy for the kids, energy to handle the relationships, energy to maintain health and to get out of bed each day. Everything is energy after all; the walls, the food, the television, the landscape, the dirty clothes in the hamper. So, for better instead of for worse, you need to know where to get more. According to the laws of energy and feng shui, the place to gather and store your energy is your home. Think of it as your energy storage tank. Is yours full of junk instead of uncluttered space and high-quality energy? The opening of your storage tank where the energy enters the house "tank" is the front door - the architecturally intended front door that is, (not the door coming into your house from the garage in other words.) If your front door is not up to par, you are not gathering the best, or most energy available to you which can spell out sub par living on the back end. Think of the front door to your home the equivalent to the mouth of your body. Everything that sustains your body - air, food, water - comes in through the mouth. If your mouth is impeded or not working properly, the body can suffer and the cells living inside are weak. It's the same with the home. If the door and the walkway to the door are impeded, broken, or in any way not in good order, then the whole home suffers, which ultimately hurts the people living inside, as they are malnourished energetically.

Here's a front door check list that includes energy-revving ideas:

1. Is the door easy to locate? Can strangers and the UPS delivery person find your door? If not, then the energy probably isn't finding it either. A quick fix for a door that is not easily visible is to hang a wind chime outside the door, preferable on the non-hinged side. The address is also a part of the conversation about how to find the correct door. Make sure your address is clearly presented for all who need to know.

2. Is the walk to the door from the street easy to negotiate? If you are being pricked by thorns or trip over the broken sidewalk chances are the quality of energy coming into the home is weak. Make the walk a pleasant, uneventful one. Trim back plants, add colorful fresh plants for additional energy, remove anything directly in front of the door (like a tree trunk straight in front of the door within about 100 feet.) If you have impediments, fix them by hanging or somehow placing a mirror either above the door or anywhere between the door and the item that needs to be pushed away. This mirror will energetically push the item away for you if you can't remove it.

3. Is the actual door in good working order? That means the screen door, door bell, knocker, windows, knob, locks, porch lights and anything else around the door works perfectly. If the door itself can't open all the way because of something stored behind it, then consider your energy hampered.

If you live in an apartment and your front door is in a hallway, wash the door often, placing a fresh welcome mat outside or other pleasant and eye-catching object nearby if possible. The goal is to attract as much energy as possible from the energy flowing through that hallway.

Karen Rauch Carter, founder of Life With Zing, motivates people to rethink their day to day choices by implementing simple, yet doable fixes for home, health, relationships and more. Karen wrote the best-selling book Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, and designed the ultimate site to empower people to create, shift towards, and live their fullest, most vibrant life. Download your FREE Transformation Tracker at:
http://www.lifewithzing.com