We’ve all been there. You walk into someone’s home and it’s a breath of fresh air; from the color scheme, to the placement of the furniture. It’s striking and peaceful all at once. It relaxes you and makes you feel at home. You wonder how they did it. Surely they must have hired a decorator. In many cases, they may have. A professional decorator can assess your home and belongings and apply creative improvements that really transform. If the budget doesn’t allow a professional, you can still make vast improvements on your own just by looking around your home and incorporating a little Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is a Chinese term describing the spatial arrangement of your surroundings to optimize a positive energy flow. This can be applied to an individual room, an entire home – even extended areas like an outdoor garden or home office to create a clean, clutter-free space and promote harmony and prosperity through the use of the energy map. This map, or Bagua, is a tool used to understand the energy flow in every room. Bagua in Chinese literally means “8 areas,” which identifies color and space against energy.

Rather than elaborate on the metaphysics of ancient Chinese color theory – here’s a short list for Feng Shui “How–To”.

1. Clear the clutter. At a very basic level, clearing space in your home is a key component to good Feng Shui. Begin with identifying cluttered areas; places where things pile up and become disorderly, like over-stuffed bedroom closets and those paper piles that seem to appear out of mid air. The effect of clutter is drained energy and a dampening of good intentions. Once you know where they are, create functional solutions that don’t involve “hiding” the problem, but fixing it.
2. Set the mood. During your organizational tasks, you can incorporate a positive and uplifting Feng Shui energy to optimize your efforts. Play some soothing music in the background. Provide good lighting. Open windows for fresh air. Light a fresh-scented candle or use oils (sage or lavender) to inspire. This will help to motivate you and bring a higher energy to deal with the lower energy. Try it!
3. Color your energy. Feng Shui involves 5 Elements which are the principals behind balance and energy. These elements are:  Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. Each interact among themselves and are represented by a specific color.

The correct placement of Feng Shui element and color is what defines the balance and strength of energy in your space. A deeper study of the Bagua color map will define everything you need to know, but at a basic level, here are guiding tips.                                                    

So grab a compass and go! Good luck, health, wealth, vitality and balance!

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