“Your personality and attitude determine your livelihood.” Prof Joe Choo, a Feng Shui Consultant and Author, reiterated that having a positive character trait can determine our success in life. “Perangai adalah rezeki. Success really depends on how you interact with people (your attitude) and how you respond to life challenges.”
Sometimes it is about laying back some plans, and really, go smell the roses. “I was supposed to move and live in Australia with my Australian husband, but somehow the plan has been delayed in the process. It could be because of the writing of my two books which were published in December 2017.” Prof Joe was trying to figure out why some plans are meant to be disrupted. “So, I stayed on. Everything is done now and I am ready to move sometime inMay, 2018.”
Her two books, Feng Shui Fundamentals and The Year of the Dog 2018 are now available in major bookstores in Malaysia. The two books were launched to high acclaim. When she had the launch of Feng Shui Fundamentals at EcoWorld’s event centre, the venue was packed to the brim with her students and clients. Even Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Liew (Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of Eco World Development Group Berhad) was impressed. He was amazed at the turnout and the success of the event that he sent Prof Joe a compliment.
That was a grand launch indeed when most of her students from her baziclasses came in full force to support the event. “I have been giving freebazi classes for interested students for a few years now. People find it strange when I conducted bazi classes for free.” Prof Joe laughed when she talked about how some people who are in business commented on her free classes. “They kept telling me that it is ok to charge a fee. But I have my principles. I like to have fully attentive students who are ready to learn the intricacies of bazi reading.”
Prof Joe insisted that students must be hardworking. There are a lot of homework and students must take time to do the given tasks. Some students found it gruelling and they were struggling in the beginning, but they became experts in their field of work.
“You can’t always look for fast tracks to success.” Prof Joe gave some insights about instant success. “A lot of people are looking for fast money. They just want life to be easy, they don’t want hard work. Give me, give me, they will say. But life does not work this way.” It took her a lot of time to explain the quality of tenacity and perseverance especially when someone is building a business, or even working on a relationship.
“People come to me looking for a ‘cure’. Some even expect me to give them some magic pills to escape their miseries,” Prof Joe felt disheartened that many people have this misconception about bazi and feng shui. “They think that by rearranging the stuff in their dwelling places so that qi moves smoothly, life will just flow.”
For a life-long solution, it comes down to how you react to all the challenges in your life. In short, your attitude towards life. “A good example to show you why opportunities forever fall on the lap of a person with good attitude. Let’s look at the way one of my students responded to tasks at hand.” Prof Joe wanted to give more exemplary examples of people having good attitude and getting ahead in life.
“My bazi classes are on alternate Sundays from 9am to 5pm. A total of 56 hours to learn bazi and feng shui. Within a year, students will spend 20 hours for feng shui and 36 hours for bazi. There will be homework and a lot of analysis to complete. One of the students, who happens to be the youngest in the group, turned out to be the most hardworking. He constantly keeps in touch with me to ask for clarifications,” she nodded with satisfaction as she talked about a studious person, more so her student. “Not that he is worried about making mistakes, he wants to know the proper procedure to do it right all the time. With this go-getter attitude, whenever I have the opportunity to do a public talk, the first person I think of to assume the role of my assistant will be him.”
Mentors will look for apprentice who are constantly willing to learn. Whenever there is an opportunity, it will open to people who are ready for it. Having a positive attitude and being hardworking, be rest-assured, you don’t need a feng shui consultant to tell you about your fate, you have already paved your way to success.
“There are no bad time or good time. Often, you will hear people say that there is a 10-year cycle of a person’s luck,” Prof Joe gave a little smile. “Let me tell you – there is no such thing. Let me put it simply so you can create the kind of life you want.”
A person could start his or her 10-year cycle from zero-year-old to when the person turns nine. Another person could start from five years old onwards. So, how do you determine the 10-year cycle? The best way to see if you should move forward or slow down is to observe the progress of your work or business at the beginning of a new lunar calendar.
If you feel that there is sluggishness in the progress of your work, then all you have to do is to take a break. Do less. It could be a time for you to learn a new way or a new technology that will help in your growth when the time is right.
“At this juncture, we still have to come back to attitude,” Prof Joeemphasised again on the issue of attitude. “If the person has a negative personality, no matter what motivational classes they attend, they will not learn. They will forever see the glass as empty – until they change the way they think.”
“Most of the people who came to see me for consultation, they usually don’t look at themselves critically. Most of them point their fingers at others, blame others for their misfortune and never really look at themselves to see their own faults,” Prof Joe continued. “Take a break. Stop the blame game and start to look within yourself. There is where you will find all the answers to your life challenges.”
Prof Joe gave an example of a case with a mother with an OCD child. The mother complained that her husband abused her verbally and treated her badly. She was so sensitive over a lot of things in her life she even changed her children’s school three times without first informing them. “I suggested that she sees a psychiatrist,” Prof Joe said that sometimes the better solution is to seek professional medical help. The family took the advice and everyone in the family, including the husband, went for it. During the consultation process with the psychiatrist, the wife broke down and cried. Further tests showed that she was suffering from severe depression.
“Sometimes, you need medical help, not feng shui,” Prof Joe suggested. “The wife got well after a few months of seeking treatment. When I met them again after a few months, the husband told me how he appreciated the practical approach.”
Taking the idea of practicality a step further, Prof Joe gives advice to corporate HR for placement of the right candidate for the job that is suitable for him/her. On top of it, Prof Joe gives advice where to place the candidate’s work desk. “For the Accounts Department to be productive and efficient, you have to put the Department in the North or Northeast sector,” Prof Joe gave some examples. “If the Accountant is a gua 8, his or her room should be in the Southwest sector. This Accountant, with the right qi, will help the company to save money and create goodinvestment portfolio.”
According to the feng shui five elements evaluation, a wood and/or fire person who is born in spring or summer has the ability to be an effective salesperson. It is natural for this person to have the gift of gap and they can survive in any situation – like a streetsmart kid.
“However, if a person is not born in the months of spring or summer, yet this person is determined to do sales, then it is good that the company understands these elements and send this person to attend workshops to be trained in sales,” Prof Joe provided some ideas to extend someone’s abilities. It is not true that a person is destined to stay in one vocation and get no room for extension. Take every opportunity to learn and be better than you think you are.
Prof Joe shared another case to highlight the importance of attitude and hardwork. A banker who had only studied up to Form 5, through hishardwork and persistence, moved on to become the central manager of a foreign bank. As a banker, he was asked to sell insurance and all the bank’s products. He did it with grit and determination. He was willing to work hard. At last, the opportunity for promotion fell on his lap.
Do you need to rely on feng shui or bazi to know what to do daily? “For me, I just knew that I am good at teaching and writing. In 2017, my plan was to move to Australia to start my practice there but the things I have planned didn’t materialise. I just let the idea rest, stopped the thought about moving and focused on the task at hand – writing my books and the launching of the books,” Prof Joe shared the progress of her work which is as challenging as anyone else. “And because I focused on my strength and stopped worrying about the goal (moving to Australia), a lot of things started to happen to my advantage. New clients signed up with me and I started to get busy with my work and the launching of my books. This may be the reason why I needed to stay back.”
“You see? You don’t have to force it. You don’t have to pressure yourself to make sure the goal you set is achieved,” Prof Joe advised to stay calm and peaceful. “You’ve got to allow it to happen naturally.”
In the meantime, raise your bar, change your attitude and work hard. These are the characters that will propel you to greater success.
