LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Feng Shui


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With the shelter-in-place orders still in effect and many of us working remotely from home, it's a perfect time to conduct a Feng Shui audit on the home office during this 2020 Metal Rat/Iron Mouse year.

Releasing feeling stuck in any office is always a relief for my clients. Proven Feng Shui recommendations on everything from desk placement, art arrangement, lighting and color, all affect our creativity, productivity and resilience with our life's work. We might do well to fashion our work spaces as if were able to closely mimic the experience of being in the middle of a forest, at the ocean, or on top of a mountain, with the Five Elements seamlessly incorporated into the design, by a seasoned professional.

Below are some positive home office Feng Shui tips:

- Remove all reminders of "Home" to include only one family or spouse photo;

- Place a fish aquarium, or a lovely sounding tabletop fountain in the home office Career Bagua area to activate vital cash-flow and career success;

- Paint the walls a stronger, more lively hue of the color to help keep you alert and awake;

- Place a new white or clear crystal on top of your desk, and also, a round one hung from the ceiling directly over your head to promote clear thinking and focus and general well-being of the state of the business;

- Place your company's logo prominently on the wall you face at your desk;

- Place photos or paintings of the other Five Elements or natural elements on the office walls, for example, waterfalls, sunrises over landscape or ocean, mountains, and sky.

- Sit in the corner farthest from the entrance to the room to have a "command" position, and do your best face the door from your desk chair;

- Keep your back toward a corner or a wall for support. If a post protrudes from the corner or wall, correct it by covering it with floor-to-ceiling mirrors or hanging a coin-shaped leaved plant's draping foliage;

- Sit with a tall building behind you to provide the support of a "mountain" if your back is to a window;

- Put your laptop/computer in the Career or Children area of your office to enhance your creativity. Place the computer in the Fame area if you use it to generate income.

- Place a safe, constructed of metal, in either Children or Helpful People area of the office, as both areas represent the metal element. The safe symbolizes the security and financial stability of a business.

- Have a good balance of yin/yang when decorating your workspace. Balance light and dark colors, soft and hard surfaces, and smooth and rough textures in your choice of window treatments, furniture, and flooring. Art should reflect the inspiring and creative aspects of your work and minimize overhead lighting in favor of floor or tabletop lamps.

- Treat the files in your office with respect. They represent your past, present, and future business.

- Keep the cords to your office equipment well hidden. This eliminates the negative energy clutter creates and allows for the free flow of healthy Qi.

Remember not to face away from the door or with your back to the door. Business will symbolically come to you through the door, so don't turn your back on it. You shouldn't arrange your workspace so that you look straight out the door into any corridor or see the stairs, storage rooms, closets, elevators, escalators or toilets, and you should not sit in line with the door, as you will be in the path of too much unsettling rushing energy.

Finally, and very importantly, inviting our businesses to grow upwardly, just as the wood element grows upward, thoughtfully and bit by bit, so our businesses benefit from our bringing juicy symbols of life force into our spaces and reminding us continually, that we are alive and our business is flourishing.

The wood element's life force is perfectly activated with fresh-cut flowers (don't allow them to get murky), orchids (white by front door, purple in Wealth Bagua area), large potted evergreens or rectangular planters with stick-straight bamboo flanking the home's front entrance. Ensure that you fully and completely understand your home-office natural light availability before selecting your options and then place with love, and care for them like your children.

Happy, healthy and prosperous 2020 to all!