Improving the Feng Shui of My Bedroom

For several months I’ve had an ongoing problem sleeping through the night. I’d fall asleep but at about 4 am I’d wake up and spend the next few hours tossing and turning. With luck I might sleep again between 6 and 7, but then of course it was time to get up.

It occurred to me that my bedside table might be the culprit – you can see it here in this “Before” picture, to the left of the bed. The small metal chest was “in my face”, making me feel trapped and uncomfortable according to Feng Shui.

Here you can see the result of my decision to replace the metal chest with a lower table next to the bed.

I’ve been sleeping through the night ever since. My friends have even been commenting on how great I look lately, and it’s all because I followed my own Feng Shui advice!

It’s not a miracle — it’s good Feng Shui!

Feng Shui & Food

Interesting article in today’s NYTimes about how good health depends on who’s buying the food and doing the cooking in a household. I was not at all surprised to find that researchers discovered five types of “nutritional gatekeepers”, because that range of types corresponds exactly to the Feng Shui concept of the Five Elements.

The types they identified are “Giving” cooks, which correspond to the Earth element; “Methodical” cooks, corresponding to the Metal element; “Competitive” cooks, corresponding to the Wood element; “Healthy” cooks, corresponding to the Water element; and “Innovative” cooks, which correspond to the Fire element.

As usual, what we want is to have a balance of all these types: good taste plus innovation plus healthy ingredients and so on. Check out the entire article here. You’ll even find a link that will help you discover what type you are.

And if you’d like to learn more about the Five Elements, please get in touch.

Three Feng Shui Tips for Organizing Your Papers

Decluttering is one of the most important steps to good Feng Shui: it’s always a good time to be taking the initiative in your life and in your space.

Just as plants grow best when weeds and detritus are cleared, we grow and thrive best when our environments are set up to support and nourish us.

The biggest clutter issue for many of us is paper – it just keeps accumulating! – so here are a few ideas to help you clear this particular type of pileup.

First things first
Huge piles of paper create a negative atmosphere in any space. They’re overwhelming and intimidating, and are likely to represent either unfinished business or completed projects that haven’t found a home.

From a Feng Shui perspective paper is essentially “dead trees”, so keep your environment feeling vital and alive by clearing out anything that’s unnecessary.

Start by taking a look at my Timeline for Paper Retention which will show you exactly which papers you can toss right away. Then use these tips to bring a clear, calm feeling into your space!

1. Deal with your mail
Set up a spot as close to your front door as possible for dealing with incoming mail. Make sure it includes a surface you can work on, a good-quality letter-opener, a pair of scissors and a recycling container or waste basket.

Use this place to sort through your mail every day, immediately throwing out junk mail, catalogs etc. that you don’t need or aren’t interested in. When the recycling container gets full, it’s well-positioned to be taken out and discarded, and you’re guaranteed that less unnecessary paper will make it very far into your home.

2. Easier ways to pay bills
If you haven’t started paying bills online, now’s the time to start. You’ll save paper from coming in, save postage, and save some measure of sanity by having to keep track of the bills around your home. It’s easy, it’s efficient, and it’s ecologically wise.

3. Put paper in its place
When’s the last time you cleaned out your file cabinet? It’s something that needs to be done at least once a year, both to get rid of things that are no longer useful to you, and to make room for projects, receipts, and other paper that needs a home.

Devote a half-hour to this project every day for just a week to reduce the piles and create a channel for paper to move more easily through your space.

I hope you’ll find these tips useful, and leave your own ideas in the Comments!

Good Chi At Your Desk

Last week’s NYTimes (here) featured a teacher in Minnesota who’s invented a desk with adjustable height (and adjustable stools to go with them).  When her fidgety sixth graders want to work standing up, they raise the level of the desk.  If they want to sit, they’re free to do that, too.

I love to work standing up — I guess I’m kinda fidgety, but I also love the angle and control it gives me for certain types of projects, like analyzing floor plans.  So I installed two desks in my office: a high one and a low one, so I can work either way when I choose.  I had this brainstorm when I discovered a few years ago that Winston Churchill wrote all his speeches at a “standing desk”.

Here’s a photo:

What change might make your working life easier?