3 things to do before Chinese New Year!

Being a Buddhist Malaysian Chinese Reiki Master Teacher, Chinese New Year is really special and meaningful to me. So, I wanted to share with you 3 things of what you can do before Chinese New Year to prepare you for a successful year full of abundance, good health and positive energy.

1) Deep clean your home

Deep cleaning before Chinese New Year is deeply symbolic in Chinese culture. It represents sweeping away bad luck, misfortune, and stagnant energy from the previous year.

So, ensure you do this by 17th February, and not do this during the Chinese New Year itself. Doing so means you will be sweeping away good luck.

2) Decorating my home is one of my favourite parts of preparation. I fill my space with beautiful red and gold decorations, which hold deep symbolic meaning in Chinese tradition.

Red represents prosperity, joy, vitality, and protective energy. It is believed to repel negative influences and attract good fortune. Gold symbolises wealth, abundance, and success.

3. Wear Something New

Buying something new to wear on Chinese New Year is a tradition passed down from my mother, who grew up in Malaysia and still honours this ritual today. This is a great excuse to go shopping and buy a new outfit!

Wearing new clothes symbolises a fresh start, welcoming prosperity, opportunity, and growth.

Bonus: Release and let go

And, a bonus one is to release patterns, behaviours, habits or fears before going into the new year. This last part is the year of the snake, which symbolises the shedding of the skin. You may have found this year challenging, testing and triggering. In which case, it can highlight to you what you need to release and let go, so that you move for forward. Perhaps you already know. 

So, my question for you is there anything you need to let go of before we move into the new year? This could be letting go of a fear, self-doubt, a habitual pattern or behaviour, a fear of speaking up or even an addiction. By recognising this and being aware of what you want to let go of is halfway of letting it go. 

I often get asked how do you let go of things. For me, it's all about intention. When you have the intention you let things go, then you can. As a Buddhist, we would just sit with it - even if it's uncomfortable - and then let it pass through our mind and body. Then, to keep up with the letting go, you can use tools like affirmations and new habit building to build it up. It takes 21 days to create a new habit!

If you do need more help and support with letting go, please email me at chiayen@reikichia.com or book in a free chat, and I will send you ways of how you can let things go.