Feature

Giving Feng Shui a Try

Can moving your desk to a different part of your office increase your creativity? Will you get a raise if you put a plant in your cubicle? Although it's not as simple as that, the principles of the ancient Chinese philosophy called feng shui can help each of us to bring positive events to our lives.

Feng shui, which literally means "wind and water," is a 3000 year-old philosophy based on common sense principles. It originated in the choosing of land appropriate for a building. Following this tradition, a building is planned in accordance with the natural environment to allow chi, or energy, to flow freely. Feng shui incorporates the Taoist principles of yin and yang, roughly translated to mean balance. The result is living and working in a state of harmony with your personal and professional environments. This in turn leads to good fortune, prosperity, and health.

Feng shui has become big business. Corporations in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and other countries have turned to this Chinese tradition in efforts to improve their business, productivity, creativity, and interpersonal relations. Many celebrities likewise have consulted feng shui practitioners. Books on the topic abound as well. If you search online bookstores for books on the topic, your results are likely to number in the hundreds.

Donald Trump hired a feng shui practitioner to design a New York skyscraper. Since he often does business with Asian markets, he decided that adhering to these architectural principles helped his own business. His Asian colleagues felt more comfortable, and his wealth has certainly not suffered. The Esprit de Corps fashion company also used feng shui at their San Francisco office as a way to foster more harmony in the work environment. The company has been so pleased with the results that they plan to do the same for their other offices. As feng shui practitioner Angie Ma Wong puts it, "It just feels better after you use feng shui. You are more productive, more prosperous, and more healthy."

There are many more examples of celebrities embracing this philosophy. The signature Tommy Hilfiger hockey jersey has a number 8 on it, which he chose as his company's lucky number after working with a feng shui practitioner. He now consults one regularly. The White House and Buckingham Palace have also been "feng shuied." Madonna, Michael Crichton, Marks & Spencer, The Body Shop, British Airways, and Citibank have employed consultants trained in the tradition. The producers of the successful comedy series Dharma and Greg consulted a feng shui practitioner to "bring good vibes" to the set. One of the cures they applied was to paint the walls of the studio purple and red, strong colors related to wealth and fame. Even Prince Charles employed a feng shui consultant at his home, Highgrove House.

Do these people know something the rest of us don't? Feng shui is a complex system, which cannot be fully explained in a short article. However one concept, that of the bagua, is important to visualize. Imagine the bagua as a map that you lay over an outline of your home or office. It is octagonal, but can be applied to structures of any shape. Each side of the bagua corresponds to a different area of your life.

In the Three Door/Black Sect Tantric method of feng shui, the bagua is oriented so that the door to a building or room is the starting point. Picture yourself standing in the door to your office or cubicle. In this position, you are most likely standing in one of three possible sides of the octagon: Knowledge, Career/Journey, or Benefactors/Travel. As you look to the far end of the room, you will see the Fame area in the center, the Wealth area to the left, and the Relationship area to the right. These three points frame the outer perimeter of the space across from you. In the center of the room is the Tai Chi, or life force, area. Assume that you are standing in Career/Journey as you stand in the entry to your work area. To your left and adjacent to Knowledge is the Family area, and to your right on the other side of Benefactors/Travel is the Children/Creativity area.

I decided to give it a shot, so I applied feng shui to both my home and work cubicle. My bedroom is in my relationship corner. Convenient, yes? But there was a problem in the relationship area of my life (a lack thereof, if you know what I mean). So, armed with my copy of "Feng Shui Made Easy" by William Spear, I stood at the door of my bedroom and assessed the situation. I had bad feng shui. In my assessment, the color of the room was all wrong (beige), and in the relationship corner of the relationship corner (the bagua applies to the home as a whole and also to each room, and even to structures in a room, like a desk), there was a pile of dirty clothes. Very bad.

So I painted my walls yellow, since this is one of the colors associated with the relationship area of the bagua (other colors are pink and white). I also cleaned up the corner, replacing the pile of clothes with a small table on which I placed two candles. Having two of something is very important in this area if you want improvement, in my case to find a relationship. That may have been enough, but I really wanted a date, so I also bought a print of "The First Kiss" by William Bouguereau. You know the one, with the boy and girl angel kissing. Now here is the good part. Within a couple of weeks of making these simple changes, I had three dates. After the dry spell I had experienced, this was amazing!

At work I was having a bit of trouble with a co-worker and my boss. I was in a cubicle where my back faced the opening. In the Three Door method of feng shui, the opening of a cubicle is considered the doorway. Having your back to the door is always a feng shui no-no. In essence this allows people to metaphorically stab you in the back. And that's how the situation was feeling to me. But I didn't have control over the layout of my cubicle, so I applied a few cures. I brought in a plant, always a good idea for a cubicle. I also cleared my desk of old papers that were of no use to me. Clutter isn't always bad though. Some of us like to have our stuff out where we can see it, rather than tucked away in some file cabinet or on the shelf. But my clutter was out of hand, so I got rid of the stuff I didn't need. Immediately I felt lighter and more clear-headed.

The next move was going to be putting a small mirror over my computer, which would help to lessen the negative impact of having my back to the door. But before I could do that I had the opportunity to move to a different cubicle, one where I faced the opening. Ready for the weird part? Within two weeks of my move to the new cube, my co-worker/nemesis quit. I'm not saying I drove her away, but my work life improved dramatically.

Whether you just want to redecorate a little or you want to get chi flowing better in your space, I enthusiastically recommend using feng shui. It seems to have worked for Donald, Tommy, and Dharma. And me!

By Terry Monaghan.
Terry is a Steering Committee member and also acts as Co-Facilitating Editor.

Edited by Jenny Neill.
Jenny is a Steering Committee member, acts as Co-Facilitating Editor, and List Admin for Seattle Writergrrls.