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July 31, 2008
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Home Office in a Bookcase |
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Q: My office is a tall bookcase located in the southeast corner of my dining room. Everything for my business is located in the bookcase so I'm a little confused as to how I can apply feng shui to it. I have removed all the clutter in the bookcase, moved my reference books to the edge of the shelves and placed a dish of gold coins flanked by red & green candles. My monitor is on the middle shelf flanked by inspiring pictures, the computer is located on the bottom shelf of the bookcase ( the only place it fits) I haven't been able to find anything that deals with a " office in a bookcase."
A: The reason you haven’t found any advice on how to feng shui your “office in a bookcase,” is that having your office in a bookcase is not good feng shui. The remedy is to get a better (bigger! dedicated!) office space, rather than cramming your business life into a few shelves in a corner of your dining room.
I realize that if the only space you have available for your office is a bookcase, then that’s what you have to deal with, at least for now. The bottom line, though, is that your feng shui tactics are going to be limited to the kinds of things you’ve already done. Yes, getting rid of clutter, adding some inspiring imagery, and finding a spot for a prosperity object or two are all good ideas, but those adjustments only add up to making the best of a bad situation. They are never going to turn a bookcase office into a favorable situation.
One of the key points I make in my book, Fast Feng Shui for Your Home Office, is that in feng shui terms, your office is a microcosm of your business. That means that any drawbacks (or advantages) of your office space are symbolic of obstacles (or opportunities) likely to be typical of your experience with that business. Fast Feng Shui for Your Home Office includes a Home Office Assessment that helps you to determine how well your space is working for you. (You can take that quiz here, although for a full discussion of the answers and possible remedies you’ll have to read the book.)
Here are some of the problems associated with your office-in-a-bookcase situation:
1) You face the shelves, so have no field of vision into a middle or far distance (blocked vision = blocked forward progress, limited ability to envision your future/path)
2) Because it’s a tall bookcase, whatever is stored at a level above your head when you are seated in front of it is likely to be “hanging over you” and/or “weighing you down” and creating some oppressive chi around your workspace, and that’s not good.
3) There’s no way you’re in a Command Position in the room if you sit facing the bookcase. When you are not in “command” of the space, you are not in command of your business. When you sit with your back to the room you are in vulnerable position, which may show up as being "stabbed in the back" or "blindsided" in your business in some way. A good office layout enables you to sit with your back to a wall with a view of the doorway. A small mirror carefully positioned on one of the shelves may be able to provide a view of the doorway, but it’s a stop-gap measure at best.
4) Your office shares space with another function (dining), which weakens the office “chi” in that space.
5) Cramming your office into a small space cramps your business and limits your growth, no matter how much clutter you remove from the shelves.
On the plus side, if you have to fit your office into a small space somewhere, the SE corner of your dining room is a pretty good choice. Although I generally prefer to use the doorway orientation of the ba gua for interior spaces, if you recognize the SE as the compass sector associated with prosperity then that’s a plus.
On the downside, what you have isn’t really an “office”: it’s a bookcase that you’re using as your work station.
In this situation, it would be better to work from a notebook computer than you can set up on the dining table during your business hours. That way you can choose a seat at the table that puts you in the command position and enables you to sit facing one of your favorable directions.
Another option might be to rearrange the space so the dining function takes up less of the room and you have more square footage for your office. This might require getting a smaller dining table, or moving some other furniture out of the room, for example. If that’s a possibility, you can arrange rugs, furniture, houseplants, etc. to visually define a separate work area.
Even better would be to take over the entire dining room as your office – at least most of the time -- and eat meals in the kitchen. Of course that’s only possible if you have an eat-in kitchen and family members who won’t mind giving up the dining table to you. Which is more important: a family dining room, or a more spacious office for your business? The answer to that depends on your personal/family/work priorities.
Sorry I can’t provide some quick and easy “this will fix it” suggestions. The best I can do is commend the actions you’ve already taken and suggest that you make finding a more spacious and feng shui appropriate work area a top priority. Make a list of possible options that might be available to you, consider budgetary needs, etc., and start to take whatever small steps you can in that direction.
Wishing you great success with your business, wherever it is housed,
Stephanie R.
Q+A POLICY
The purpose of this Q+A service is to clarify modern feng shui principles and remedies, and to help you make sense of contradictory teachings you’re likely to come across. If you are new to this blog, please read the Q+A Guidelines (see sidebar on left). If you send me a question, do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it may be several days (or longer) before I post a reply. Keep in mind, too, that you’re getting my personal opinion on the topic. If you ask someone else, you might get a different answer.Labels: Feng Shui Q+A, office
posted by Stephanie R. #
7/31/2008 10:14:00 AM
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