By Indiana Lee
Feng shui, this ancient Chinese idea, has really made waves among interior designers worldwide in recent decades. At its core, contemporary feng shui is about arranging things in your home to bring about balance and peace. This can be transformative if you live in a cluttered, messy home that causes you stress and anxiety.
When you organize your home according to feng shui principles, it's like fine-tuning the energy flow to bring more harmony, peace, and even prosperity into your life.
Finding Peace at Home
Your home is the space where you can retreat from public life and let work worries subside. However, for many of us, home represents yet another stressor. This can be a real issue if you’re going through a trying time at work or are struggling to handle stress.
You can follow Feng Shui principles and find ways to nurture your mental health at home by making design changes like:
Remove distractions and clear signs of physical clutter
Invest in organizational tools like tubs and totes
Use heavy rugs and pillows to dampen noise
Pick up some houseplants to lighten the mood
Use calming colors when redecorating
Make tactful use of mirrors to help your space feel larger
You’ll need to assess whether new installations are serving your mental health or causing a negative shift in energy within your home.
For example, if you decide to invest in mirrors, consider placing them in hallways to adjust the flow of energy. This can be particularly positive if you can place a mirror in a space that reflects a beautiful natural scene from outside of your house.
Decluttering for Energy
Clutter is the bane of any homeowner’s existence. It’s all too easy to fill your home with “stuff”, and it suddenly seems impossible to cut down on your pile of clothes, boxes, books, and pillows. However, decluttering ruthlessly may be the answer to your problems — particularly if clutter is bringing down your mood.
Decluttering your bedroom is particularly important. Bedroom clutter may be why you feel fatigued, as clutter makes it difficult to get a good night’s rest. Psychologist Dr Pamela Thacher explains, “Hoarders typically have problems with decision-making and executive function; poor sleep is known to compromise cognition generally.” This may be why you feel tired all the time and could mean you develop issues like:
Sleep Apnea: Breathing stops and restarts while asleep and leads to daytime tiredness.
Insufficient Sleep: Most adults need 7 - 9 hours of sleep. However, if the energy in your bedroom is off, you may find it difficult to drift off.
Stress and Anxiety: How often do you check your phone while in bed? If you’re regularly turning to your phone to check emails and respond to messages, you may inadvertently raise your stress levels.
If you have sleep apnea, you should speak to a doctor about the condition to receive medical help. However, if you simply struggle to sleep, it may be due to bad energy within the bedroom. Feng shui can help you declutter your bedroom by suggesting things like:
Positioning the bed in a more commanding space
Removing electronics
Minimizing books and clutter
Removing items from beneath the bed
Making these changes will give you a bedroom that feels more open and tidier, helping you feel better and sleep more soundly. This is crucial if you regularly wake up feeling fatigued and struggle to get off to sleep at bedtime. Just by moving your bed around, you might be surprised at how much better you sleep and how much more energized you feel during the day.
Feng Shui Tips
After you’ve decluttered, you can start modifying your space to align with feng shui principles. You can do this easily by:
Making your front door and entryway as welcoming as possible
Cover up windows that allow energy to flow out of the house too quickly
Remove barriers to entryways and use plants to spread positive energy throughout your home
Once you’ve created a home that attracts positive energy and allows negative energy to leave, you’ll need to take proactive space to maintain your home’s happiness. This can be a little tricky if you’re naturally cluttered and struggle to clean up after yourself. Rather than letting your hard work go to waste, make it easier to keep your home positive by utilizing feng shui principles that minimize cleaning time:
Rearrange your furniture so it’s easy to vacuum and dust. You can also invest in furniture casters to easily move your heavy sofas around when you need to vacuum underneath them.
When installing countertops and tables, consider whether the surface is easy to clean. If it’s not, consider switching your design plans to adopt something that is easier to clean.
If it's in your budget, consider switching carpets for easy-to-clean surfaces like hardwood flooring and tiles
These easy tweaks will save you time when it's cleaning day and make dusting or vacuuming easy. And be sure to water and feed your houseplants while cleaning, too, as this will naturally enhance the energy flow around your home.
Conclusion
The practice of Feng shui can meaningfully improve your life if you follow its principles. Even simple changes, like removing clutter from beneath your bed and banishing electronic devices from your bedroom, can reduce your stress and help you get a better night’s rest.
Just be sure to choose simple solutions, when possible, because there’s no need to break the bank when following feng shui. Rather than buying new couches and mirrors, simply move them to invite positive energy flow around your home and pay attention to how the changes impact your quality of life.
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The opinions and views expressed in any guest blog post do not necessarily reflect those of Michael Helwig Interiors or its Principal, Michael Helwig. Michael Helwig Interiors, and Michael Helwig, do not have any affiliations with any products or services mentioned in the article or linked to therein. Guest Authors may have affiliations to products mentioned or linked to in their articles or bios.
Indiana Lee is a passionate writer and avid puzzle enthusiast hailing from the serene landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. With a deep appreciation for aesthetics and a strong preference for designs that seamlessly blend comfort and functionality, she brings a unique perspective to the world of interior decor. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
