Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Feng Shui for work
Do you feel that your work life is going nowhere? Do things seem drearier by the day? Feng Shui can do wonders in giving your surroundings a new boost. Find out how
If your workspace makes you shudder and your job is the pits or you’re making no money or feel like you’re in a rut, you might need to find some balance and set some goals. You could find peace in the workplace with the ancient art of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui (pronounced fung-schway) is an ancient Chinese philosophy of design that can be applied to any room, building and desktop. It’s mainly about how your space makes you feel – often on a subtle, energetic level, write Holly Ziegler and Jennifer Lawler in their book Feng Shui Your Workspace For Dummies. It literally means ‘wind and water,’ which refers to the two universal elements essential for life. These forces are connected to ‘chi,’ meaning life energy or life force. Feng Shui allows you to harness your life energy to enrich your environment and create balance in your life.

How can applying it to a workspace help you? Whether the office, a cube or a desktop, Feng Shui can be used to cure imbalances, erase energy blockers and even soothe your interaction with difficult co-workers. It can make you more productive and help you accomplish career goals. You create and use intentions – state what you want and then make the changes.

You don’t have to do a lot. Spend as much time and energy on it as you want, from the minimalist approach to the ‘going all out’ one.

Step one: De-clutter
Start small with this fundamental change and you’ll clear the clutter from your workspace and your mind. Banish clutter, and you’ll feel more energetic and the ‘chi’ within the office will move more freely.

Empty overflowing wastebaskets, dump the dead plants, and recycle those old newspapers and industry publications. Don’t forget to clean you dusty computer monitor and keyboard. Now, what are your must-haves? Place only the bare necessities on your desktop and put away things you use only once or twice a week.

Step two: Improvement with the Bagua technique
Your workspace/cube/desktop is divided into nine life sectors, or Bagua, with the centre being your energetic hub. The remaining eight represent a particular sector in your life and can be applied to your workplace. Consider where these eight sectors fall in your workspace and the elements and colours that represent and enhance them. If you have trouble visualising this, you can always do a search for ‘Bagua’ on the Internet.

Consider the following eight situations and how you can improve them by enhancing their areas of the Bagua.
01. If you want to: Improve your reputation at work and with clients

Focus on the: Fame sector, which is located in the south portion of your workspace
Enhance it with: Fire elements including reds and lights including lamps, candles, fireplaces and sunlight

02. If you want to: Improve relationships with co-workers

Focus on the: Marriage sector, which is located in the southwest area of your workspace
Enhance it with: Earth elements such as yellows and earth tones, as well as oil, ceramics, tile, brick and stucco

03. If you want to: Improve problem-solving and performing creative tasks
Focus on the: Children and creativity sector, located in the western area of your workspace

Enhance it with: Metal elements – white and pastel, rock, stone and all metal
04. If you want to: Improve your relationships with those people who can help your career (boss, clients)

Focus on the: Helpful people and travel sector, which is positioned in the northwest part of your workspace

Enhance it with: Metal elements, including gray, white and pastels, as well as rock, stone and all metal

05. If you want to: Improve your career prospects and help you meet your career goals

Focus on the: Career sector, located in the north area of your workspace

Enhance it with: Water elements, including deep blue, black and dark colours, and water features, like glass, crystal and mirrors

06. If you want to: Improve your job skills and increase your education with a direct impact on your career

Focus on the: Knowledge and spirituality sector, which is in the northeast portion of your workspace

Enhance it with: Earth elements – yellows and earth tones, and soil, ceramics, tile, brick and stucco

07. If you want to: Improve your relationships with others, particularly your superiors, and to create a work/life balance

Focus on the: Family and elders sector, which is located in the east area of your workspace

Enhance it with: Wood elements like the colour green, plants and flowers, and all wood
08. If you want to: Improve your career success, increase your wealth and bring overall abundance into your life

Focus on the: Wealth sector, which is in the southeast portion of the workspace

Enhance it with: Wood elements especially purple, plants and flowers, and all wood
Note: The entrance to your workspace should always fall within one of the three lower sectors – knowledge, career or helpful people.

Step three: harmonise your workspace
Feng Shui is about creating your ideal environment – making a space feel good for you. Here is where the sectors, their locations and the elements and colours come together.

Light
Light represents fire and symbolises enthusiasm, passion and high energy. Fluorescent lighting can be the enemy and artificial light can make you feel stagnant and depressed. As much as possible, distribute your lighting. For example, you may have an overhead fluorescent and a hint of sunlight. Add a desktop lamp to the mix. Can you let sunlight into your workspace? If not, try to get outside a little bit every day.

Plants
Flowers and plants bring colour and life into your workspace. They can camouflage sharp edges and dark corners and help balance a dominant element (like a colour). They stimulate good energy and also absorb sound. When choosing a plant, stay away from cacti or sharp edges, try a flowering plant for more vibrant ‘chi,’ and keep in mind that artificial plants aren’t as powerful. And take care of your plants – dead or dying plants are worse than no plants at all.

Water
Water is symbolically and literally necessary for life. The sound of water is soothing and water itself helps with the movement of chi. This can be represented by water elements, a picture of the beach, a desktop waterfall or an aquarium. Be careful of running water or fish in your workspace, though. Or try hanging a mirror over your head or a crystal in the entryway.

Colour and symbols
If a sector in your work needs more of a boost, then use particular items to enhance that area of your workspace based on the Bagua. For example, if you are working towards a raise in salary, add a wood element to your wealth sector like a plant. Refer to the sectors in the Bagua that you feel enhancing, and introduce its complementing colours and elements to the area. Or, if there is an area in your workspace that needs enhancement, determine its Bagua sector and then use its corresponding elements and colours in that space. – Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com

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