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How's Your Chi?

© L.C. Dumke

A few years ago, the company I was working for moved to a brand new building that still had that "construction smell" when we arrived. Each of us worker bees was placed in almost identical gray cubicles, so void of ornamentation and character that I felt like I worked in hospital closet. I was feeling a little gray myself that first week, then I received an email from a friend -- also working in that building -- with the subject line: Improve Your Chi. She forwarded an article to me that helped me set up my workspace to improve my feng shui.

According to the Web site SpiritWeb, "Feng shui is a philosophy that creates an environment which is ergonomic; it lets us work efficiently, comfortably and successfully by following the patterns of nature." It sounded like a good thing to do, so I quickly got to work on my space.

Chi, in Chinese culture, is an energy found in everything you find in an environment. If you have good feng shui everything flows nicely. But sometimes chi can get stuck or depleted in places like dark, blocked-in corners.

I did a little rearranging and added a plant, more family pictures, and moved my guest chair out of the walking path. I also brought in classical music CDs to play all day long, and placed a mirror above my desk that reflected the light and enabled me to see the door of my cube. It may have been all in my mind but somehow, these simple alterations made spending my days there just a little more tolerable.

Okay, I didn't ever fall in love with my cubicle, improved chi or not. But after I made the changes, I started thinking about how I'd felt in many different environments that I had encountered. There were certain rooms in my home and those of other people that gave me a weird, uncomfortable feeling inside, although I couldn?t quite pinpoint why. These places may very well have had their chi all messed up.

Good news for the budget decorator -- it's very possible to improve your home's Feng Shui on the tightest of budgets. Of course, you can buy lots of expensive decorative items to reach this goal, but it's not really necessary. Here are a few low-cost ideas to get you going:

* Add mirrors to reflect light

* Arrange furniture so there's some "air space" between things

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