Decorating with Feng Shui isn't as simple as running to Target and picking up some accessories or slapping a new coat of paint onto your walls.
Feng Shui is a concept that must be embraced for complete feng shui to be achieved. It's based on an ancient Chinese art that seeks to attract positive life energy or chi by arranging your surroundings so that energy flows freely. Basically the theory is that your environment affects the way you feel.
Now that concept isn't too difficult to get your arms around. You know that when your living room is cluttered you feel a little less relaxed while watching Desperate Housewives. Or when your desk is finally cleared of all those papers you feel a strong sense of accomplishment.
Transferring that belief and concept into the art of Feng Shui is a little more difficult but you can take small steps to creating better harmony and flow in your home and workplace to increase your inner peace and energy.
The goal is to create a square or rectangular shaped living space. Once you've defined your box you need to divide it into nine equal parts, drawing three lines horizontally and vertically. Then you apply the Bagua.
Bagua comes from the I Ching, a thousand year old Chinese book of wisdom and divination and it is the eight building blocks of life; health, love, wealth, career, wisdom, reputation, children and friends. A Bagua Map guides you through planning and arranging your home or office. Try thinking of the Brady Bunch grid as a model.
The very center of your home is its Chi. This is the middle box (Alice, if we're using a Brady Bunch analogy). This area harmonizes everything and should be free of clutter, an open space so energy can flow liberally.
The other areas are determined by your front door. Place your front door on your Bagua map and begin assigning the remaining squares their life building blocks. To best explain which areas fit your house plan I'm going to return to the Brady Bunch 9-Square. Turn your grid so that the door is in the Cindy Brady position, lower left hand corner - this space is now Wisdom. Directly to your right of Cindy is Mike. This area can be labeled Career. Continuing to your right we come to Bobby and you can label this square Friends. Above Friends is Children: some people also label this area Creativity. The middle square we've already discussed is your Chi. To your left of Alice/Chi is Jan who can be labeled Family. Directly above Jan, in the Marsha position is Wealth. To the right of that is Reputation. And finally, in the Greg Brady position is Relationship or Love.
Now that you've mapped your home and given it its very own Bagua map you can begin your decorating according to your needs and desires. If you are looking to increase your prosperity you may want to clean and organize the wealth areas of your home. You may even want to move a home computer or workspace into that area to encourage wealth in those areas.
If you're looking to improve your marriage or relationships, concentrate on that area of your home, making sure it's neat and organized and perhaps has its own little romantic flair.
These are just the very basics, the science if you will, but as I mentioned Feng Shui is an art and to fully explore the options possible you'll need a deeper understanding of the process and the ideology. But before anyone can become an artist they must first pick up a brush.
