Fast Feng Shui Blog
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October 31, 2008
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Bathroom Across from Entry |
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Q: When you enter my flat, there's a center hallway that leads to a bathroom. The bathroom door faces the main door. I do have a feeling this might be causing the financial problems we are facing. Nothing seems to be working out to better our finances or help me find a new job. We'll be really grateful for any cure you can suggest.
A: If your bathroom is directly opposite the door, at the end of a hallway in the center of your home, it is in the Fame/Reputation gua, not your Weatlh or Career areas. That could affect how others perceive you, which would be a factor when applying for a job, for example. While you might wish to address that (suggestions follow), I doubt it's the underlying cause of work/wealth problems. See this post for why I think feng shui bathroom phobia is often an overreaction.
Decorating your bathroom with greens, purples, reds, and some living plants, if possible, will help create a space more “friendly” to the Fire element associated with Fame and reputation.
Keep in mind that chi goes where your attention goes. If you are concerned about the bathroom placement, the first and easiest solution is to keep the door closed or just a little ajar so you don't see into the bathroom when you enter your home. Look for opportunities to place something to attract your attention away from the bathroom as you enter the apartment. For example, if space allows, you might place a console table and attractive floral arrangement (artificial flowers okay) or lamp (on a timer, so it's lit when you come home in the evening) in the foyer, or hang a beautiful tapestry or fabric panel, or an art poster, somewhere along the hallway or even on the bathroom door to catch your eye.
A faceted crystal ball halfway down the hall, or chandelier-style light fixture in the foyer or hall will also help to divert chi from the bathroom.
Although a large mirror is often recommended for the outside of the bathroom door, I would not recommend it in your case because it will visually double the length of the hallway, which will encourage chi to move too quickly in that direction.
Don't forget to examine your wealth and career areas as well: any feng shui problems in those areas will have a more direct impact on your job/money issues than the bathroom.
Hope this helps clarify things for you,
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) before sending me a question. Do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it will be several days (often 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: bathroom, crystals, doors, Feng Shui Q+A, mirrors, prosperity
posted by Stephanie R. #
10/31/2008 10:18:00 AM
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October 30, 2008
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Office at the end of the Hallway |
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Q: My new office is brightly lit and a corner lcoation, at the end of a long hallway. The office is small and the only way to place the desk is facing the door with my back to a wall that is all window. The location is great for me because I can see all of the comings and goings of the general office, but I understand that such direct chi flow can be overwhelming. I read that a crystal ball is helpful in adjusting this energy. Are there other adjustments that can be made to make this energy positive for my business?
A: What you want to do in a situation such as this is interrupt or deflect some of the incoming chi, so it isn’t such a strong influence. Some chi flow into your office is a good thing, and, as you’ve noticed. there may be advantages to the location (awareness of what’s going on in the larger space). It’s the too much, too fast aspect of the chi that can be overwhelming.
Also, because there’s that large window behind you, all the chi coming in may be moving right on through unless you keep blinds drawn most of the time, and that could drain your energy.
Faceted crystals are an excellent remedy for both aspects of the problem. They diffuse the chi coming down that hallway and scatter it in a multitude of directions. You still benefit from the incoming chi, but it’s now spread out more around the office in a softer way.
Although faceted crystal balls are most often recommended as the feng shui remedy for this type of situation, a Swarovski crystal figurine can be just as effective, and is the more subtle choice for an office location. Place it on your desk between you and the door. If anyone comments on it, you don’t have to get into the feng shui significance: just say “it was a gift,” and leave it at that.
You might also see if you can put a large potted plant (“lifelike” artificial is okay) in front of that large window. I think every office can benefit from the introduction of some 'natural' energy (even if the plant is a silk one), and by creating an interior focal point it will help keep your energy and attention from going out the window.
Wishing you great success in your new office,
Stephanie R.Labels: chi flow, crystals, Feng Shui Q+A, office
posted by Stephanie R. #
10/30/2008 09:31:00 AM
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October 02, 2008
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Unpleasant Co-Worker |
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Q: I just started a new job. The lady at the desk across from me and I don’t get along, don’t speak and the energy from her is horrible. What do I put on my desk between us to deflect her negative vibes from me?
A: Sorry to hear you're having to deal with a difficult colleague in your new job. Once again, we're looking at the issue of deflecting negative chi of some kind, and once again the remedy is a faceted crystal. These crystals act like a prism to refract light (and therefore chi) from a specific source, thus diffusing the influence. Most often, a faceted crystal ball is suspended from the ceiling: to put one on your desk you can either use a stand for the crystal or use a crystal figurine instead.
That’s the “by the book” approach, but there’s something important I want to add. I truly believe that there’s a risk, in taking any steps of this kind, that your intention to “protect myself from her negative vibe” only reinforces the adversarial energy. I don’t mean you shouldn’t use a crystal if you’d like to, but do make an effort as well to shift your expectations of the relationship. If you place a crystal on your desk for protection, that’s a pretty powerful way of saying “I don’t expect things to get better, and they might get worse, I’d better put this here so I’m safe from all that awful chi over there.”
A more enlightened approach is to counteract an unpleasant vibe with a more powerful positive influence from your side of the room. I’m particularly fond of a smiling and compassionate Buddha image for this. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I’ve used a postcard in a cheap plastic frame over the inside of my front door (in several different homes) for over 15 years now, with the intention that it beam down blessings on all who enter: it looks nice and I feel happy whenever I see it.
Which is what you really want, right? You’re asking for help because you want to feel happy at work. Very probably your unpleasant co-worker is prickly because she’s not happy either. So wishing her happiness will improve things for both of you.
BTW: although I’m a big fan of smiling Buddhas, it’s possible that religious imagery of any kind might be a no-no in your workplace. If that’s the case use a more neutral image such as an angel or smiling sun face. Whatever you choose, I do suggest that you find some way to beam a lot of good vibes in your coworker's direction. If it’s not easy to do that yet yourself, then find a happy, smiling image to shower her with blessings on your behalf.
Be especially vigilant in your attempts to notice and appreciate even tiny improvements in her behavior, so you can have a moment of gratitude for the shift for the better.
You may also find this post helpful.
Wishing you success in your new job,
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) before sending me a question. Do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it will be several days (often 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: Buddha, crystals, Feng Shui Q+A
posted by Stephanie R. #
10/02/2008 03:02:00 PM
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Workspace near the bathroom |
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Q: I work at home, and the door to the room my workspace is in is directly across from the bathroom door. Lately my finances are suffering, so I want to do something to correct this. My plan is to:
1) put red/earth carpet at the entrance to the bathroom
2) place a bowl of pebbles on the top of the toilet
3) install Japanese half-curtains on my doors, like the ones in Japanese restaurants, that you bend down to duck under when you enter
4) hang a large mirror on the bathroom door (as is often suggested) to deflect any good chi from going into the bathroom.
I’m concerned, though, that the mirror will also reflect my work area. Will this do more harm than good?
A: Sorry to stick a pin in the balloon of your feng shui plans, but I think most of these ideas are misguided. It’s important to keep in mind that most common “bathroom cures” are designed to counteract a poorly located bathroom, such as a bathroom in the wealth or marriage area. But that’s not the issue here. You’re concerned because the door to your workspace faces the bathroom door.
If you are concerned that “money chi” is somehow flowing from your work area out the door and across the hall and down the bathroom drains (as alarmist bathroom-phobes might say will happen), adding earth chi to the bathroom isn’t going to fix that.
Same is true if you are worried that nasty chi from the bathroom is seeping out across the hall and polluting your work area (another theory that I don’t buy into). A bowl of pebbles on top of the toilet isn’t going to affect that, either. Yes, according to the cycles of the elements, earth “controls” water… but the strong water chi of the bathroom is not the problem here, so you don’t need to fix it.
Where proximity is the concern the remedy is to interrupt whatever funky influence you suspect may be coming (or going) from across the hall. The best way to do this is to hang a faceted crystal ball either outside the bathroom door or midway between your desk and the bathroom. You might also place a large houseplant beside your desk on the side that’s nearest the door.
The Japanese half-curtain does create a barrier between the two spaces, which is a fine concept: but the bathroom already has a door you can keep closed, right? So the curtain goes where, on the door to your workspace? Think about this for a minute: what kind of situation are you setting up for yourself if you have to bend over and duck under an obstacle each time you enter your work area? Is that kind of movement pattern likely to make your work life or financial situation any easier? I doubt it.
As for the mirror, yes these are frequently recommended for the outside of the bathroom door, if the bathroom location is a problem. It’s not quite accurate, though, to say that the mirror is there to “delfect good chi” from getting into the bathroom area. (BTW, I disagree with the entire concept that “good chi” from your room across the hall is going to wander over to the bathroom and get flushed away.) What the mirror does is symbolically “erase” the bathroom space: when you look at the mirror you see in the reflection a space that is not the bathroom. The mirror is there to disguise the bathroom, not to deflect good chi.
If the mirror reflects your desk, then yes, it could be “moving” your desk into the bathroom, and that’s the opposite of what you want to do. Something else to keep in mind is that if the mirror reflects your desk it could symbolically be doubling your workload. Whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing is for you to decide. Perhaps twice the client load or twice the billable hours will be a dream come true for you. Or maybe you already feel overextended and any more work will overwhelm you.
What this all boils down to is that it appears you have collected a hodgepodge of generic bathroom cures from a variety of sources and traditions without really focusing in on what exactly the issue is in your situation, so you can choose strategies that are appropriate for the underlying problem.
Personally, I suspect the situation is a “no big deal” at best. The idea that bathrooms are sinkholes of pestilence dates from pre-industrial times long before the introduction of indoor plumbing, flush toilets and, more to the point, Lysol. Our modern bathrooms—if we keep them clean—are just not that nasty an influence. (Yes, the draining influence of the plumbing can be a concern, but again, that's not the issue here.)
I think it’s far more likely that you are being affected by a poor desk position within your work room and that the location of the bathroom across the hall has little to do with it.
Hope this helps you re-think your plans toward a more targeted solution,
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) before sending me a question. Do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it will be several days (often 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: bathroom, crystals, Feng Shui Q+A
posted by Stephanie R. #
10/02/2008 02:53:00 PM
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September 24, 2008
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Chi flowing out back window |
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Q (part 1): I am in a very difficult financial situation due to my job. After 6 years, I was put from a full time basis into a part time position due to company cutbacks. I've been looking for a new job, but nothing comes up. Bills are mounting up and I am getting desperate. I desperately need to do something.
A: Excuse me for interrupting (question continues below) but I have to jump in here and say that based on your use of the word “desperate” twice in a three word span I suspect you have fallen into the habit of focusing on what you do not want to the point that it is interfering with your ability to attract better circumstances. I’m sorry you are having such a hard time financially, but focusing on how scary things are won’t do you any good at all. Really. I discuss why anxiety is the worst possible response to bad news in past newsletters both in the Q+A section here and in the featured articles here and here.
Whenever anyone writes to me that they are “feeling desperate” I point them here to learn why focusing on how awful things are will make it very difficult to experience significant benefits from feng shui. Changes you make to your home are not effective until you get your own attitude and emotions aligned in a positive direction. The better you get at not letting the scary stuff freak you out (not easy, I know; I still trip myself up sometimes, too), the better off you will be and the faster improvements will come to you.
Q (part 2): I think maybe part of the problem is in my home. When you come in, you can see the other side of the house where there is a big window overlooking the city. Somebody told me that being able to see all the way through when you came into the house was not good. Is this true? If so, what can I do to solve the problem? (A friend mentioned using a crystal ball, but I don’t know where to get one.)
A: Yes, if you can see straight through from the front door to and through a door or window on the far side of the house, that’s a problem, because chi goes where your attention goes. So if you step in the front door and your attention (sight line) goes through the house and out that window, then chi coming into the house will flow through and out, too, without circulating to nourish the home.
The remedy for almost any situation involving an straight-line flow of chi is to hang a faceted crystal ball at the mid-point of the area involved. In this case, that would be halfway between your front door and the picture window on the other side of the house. The midpoint position is ideal, but if that is not possible for some reason, you could hang the crystal inside the picture window. It will be less effective there, but should still help.
Faceted crystal balls are available from just about any feng shui retailer. Get the largest one you can afford. A fancy cord like this is not required, but I think it's rather nice:
(We're having some trouble with the product links from our site today, so until we get those fixed you'll have to Google "feng shui crystal"; when our links are working again I'll come back and hyperlink this photo).
Don’t forget to give your Career, Fame, and Helpful Friends areas some attention. Those are the most important guas for anyone looking for a new job.
Hope you find a wonderful full-time position soon,
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) before sending me a question. Do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it will 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: chi flow, crystals, doors, Feng Shui Q+A
posted by Stephanie R. #
9/24/2008 09:54:00 AM
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Stair and bathroom location |
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Q: I live in a 3-level townhouse. The main living area is on the middle level. Two of the three bathrooms are located in the center of the house (on the bottom & top floors). In addition, the front door & two flights of stairs are located on the left side of the house. I have heard that crystal-like balls & upward growing plants can offset the negative effects of wealth & energy "going down the drain" & "flying out the door," so I've tried them. The bathrooms have no windows so I have artificial plants in them. I also keep the drains closed & toilet lids down. Neither the balls or plants seem to be helping to make a difference. Do you feel that these are the most effective cures for these situations?
A: There are two separate issues here: the stairs and the bathrooms.
First, this idea that wealth “flies out the door” if the stairs are on the left side of the house is a bit of an exaggeration. It is only an issue in very specific situations: where the bottom of the stairs are directly in line with and very close to the front door. This may not be the case in your home, although it does more frequently show up in townhouses than in other typical home layouts.
The key factor is to look at how much distance there is between the door and the bottom of the stairs, and whether the stairs are pointed directly at the door. If there’s more than 6 feet or so (approximately one body-height in distance), it’s not considered a major problem.
If you do have this layout and wish to correct it, a faceted crystal ball hung half-way between the bottom of the stairs and door itself is the most common remedy. Perhaps your crystal is not in the best position, or is not faceted. It’s very important to use a faceted crystal, which refracts light (and therefore chi), breaking up a one-directional flow of chi and scattering it in many directions. A round crystal will not accomplish this.
However, a crystal chandelier or similar light fixture in the foyer area can substitute for the faceted crystal and interrupt the flow of chi from the stairs to the door. It is sometimes also possible to place a basket at the foot of the stairs to “catch” chi before it flows out the door, but I don’t recommend this if your stairs are narrow or the general area is small.
Bathrooms in the center of the structure are thought to have a draining effect on the overall chi of the home, although they do not specifically target your wealth. Plants are often recommended for any area with excessive water chi, and certainly living plants are the best option but other “wood-type” remedies, such as silk plants, can be used.
The problem is that the center of the ba gua is associated with the earth element, and plants and trees break up earth. Even all-purpose remedies such as using plants to balance excessive water chi should be evaluated in terms of the elements associated with that area of the ba gua. I would recommend using more “earth-type” remedies in a bathroom in the center of the home, and a full-length mirror on the outside of the door.
Hope this helps,
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) before sending 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: ba gua, crystals, Feng Shui Q+A, plants, stairs
posted by Stephanie R. #
9/24/2008 09:28:00 AM
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