If you’re working from home now like so many others, perhaps you’ve set up shop at the kitchen table, or claimed a corner in the family room. Wherever you’re working, it’s important to make it as conducive as possible to a calm state of mind.
In other words, it needs good feng shui.
“The Chinese practice of feng shui dates back several millennia and basically involves arranging your environment in such a way that everything harmonizes and stimulates positive energy,” notes a recent HGTV blog. “According to these principles, using feng shui in your home office can help enhance productivity, creativity and even your earnings.”
How to create the best feng shui? Here are some ideas from HGTV:
Separate yourself: Although you may not have an ideal working spot, look for a place that’s closed off somehow from the rest of the house. “Even just screening off your office area is a good start,” notes HGTV.
Face the desk toward the door but as far from it as possible: “Feng shui believes that a doorway is the mouth of the energy coming into a room,” reports HGTV. You don’t want to interrupt that flow. “The best position for your desk is diagonally across from the door, so you can see the door and most of the room.”
Choose colors with their properties in mind: Grey is neutral and calming; brown is grounding and stable; soft yellow or pale orange stands for abundance and prosperity; pale green is for knowledge and growth; blue is for clarity and inspiration, and white promotes mental focus.
Avoid sharp corners on furniture: Rounded corners help “keep stress and irritability of bay,” notes HGTV. Place furniture with sharp corners away from the room’s traffic flow.
Add a water feature, such as a table fountain: The sound of running water is calming and helps reduce stress.
Include plants: Plants promote positive energy and can help eliminate negative elements, “like the electromagnetic energy coming from your computer,” says HGTV.
Consider aromatherapy: Different oils can affect your mood; for example, basil, grapefruit and rosemary promote mental alertness; sandalwood can help calm and ground you; orange contributes to emotional balance.