My Organized Biz

(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – I’m so excited about this week’s feature – you’re in for a real treat! I interviewed Vicky White of Life Design Strategies about spring cleaning from a feng shui perspective.

Vicky works with women in creative businesses to help them boost their bottom line – and even if you’re of the male persuasion, you’ll find some great info below.

Jen: Welcome, Vicky! I’ve heard that feng shui is the study of how energy moves through a space. Is that right? What does that mean, exactly?

Vicky: I describe Feng Shui as the art of arranging your environment to enhance your life.

For me, it’s way more than that too. Feng Shui literally means ‘wind and water’. Wind represents the unseen forces – within us and outside of us, and water represents the seen forces.

The Feng Shui I’ve gravitated to I call Inner Feng Shui because it addresses energy flow in your environment and also the energy flow within you. It’s all about aligning your inner and outer which includes your physical environment, your intentions, your passions, the food you eat, the actions you take and your strengths, and this all adds up to support you in attracting what you want. Feng Shui is a powerful tool for transformation – in any area of your life.

Jen: We’re focusing on spring cleaning this month at MyOrganizedBiz.com, so I’m curious about what happens to energy flow when things are out of place? Or dusty?

Vicky: There are a number of challenges common to most environments. And this includes furniture placement. Because you’re a refection of your environment, it’s important that the energy flows freely as this affects all aspects of your life – your creativity, your relationships, your prosperity, your ability to learn your life lessons, your health, and so on.

Imagine energy coming into your office space. It enters the room, bringing fresh, inspiring energy and it comes across a pile of papers or runs smack into a piece of furniture – and it gets bogged down and certainly slowed down. And then because you absorb the energy in your environment, the same happens with your own energy.

Energy needs space to flow freely. Dust, clutter, poorly placed furniture will slow it down.

And, by clutter I mean: anything unfinished, unused, unresolved, tolerated or disorganized. So it covers quite a bit.

Jen: Wow. That is a lot – and I can see why it’s so important to deal with clutter from that perspective.

Are there feng shui principles that address how income and clutter are related?

Vicky: Great question. Money IS energy. Prosperity is energy. The prosperity of your business is directly affected by the flow of energy in your environment. If you’ve ever had a cluttered desk and felt stressed with a whole lot of things weighing you down, you’ll know it’s not possible to be creative or inspired or even to think clearly. This directly impacts your prosperity.

Take a break, clear your desk and the energy will starts flowing again.

Jen: So, will you give us some advice? What step(s) would you recommend that readers take in their own workspaces?

Vicky: There are several general principles you can start with.

Position your desk in the power position. This is where your desk is as far from the door as possible, and with a view of the door from where you sit. Hopefully you have a solid wall behind you also. Being in the power position means nothing (symbolically or for real) can sneak up behind you and take you unawares. Next best thing if your desk is attached to the wall, is to position a small mirror so if someone came to your office door you’d catch the movement out of the corner of your eye. Just think, they may not know anything about Feng Shui, but you’d never find a CEO sitting with their back to the door.

Declutter (of course). Your office needs to be inspiring and to reflect where you’re going, not where you’ve been. Anything not related to your business, or related to a past business should be out of there. Anything broken needs to be removed. One of my clients had a broken clock – she removed it and immediately attracted new clients. Another client spent a whole Saturday decluttering her office – everything got the once over – and within 24 hours she had attracted six new clients. She’s a raving fan for decluttering now.

Make space for new clients – The easiest way to do this is to declutter your filing cabinet. Be ruthless. Create an empty file folder – or 5 – for the clients you’d like to attract. If your file cabinet is full of old energy, with no space for the new, you’re sending the Universe mixed messages about what you’d like.

Jen: These suggestions really fit in with this month’s theme. Do you have any other ideas for us?

Vicky: The most important thing in Feng Shui is to declutter. Your office is divided into 9 different areas, each representing part of your life and business. Your Wealth and Prosperity area is in the far left hand corner of your office when you stand at the door looking in.

What do you have there? All areas are connected but when you know that pile of old papers or that cluttered filing cabinet is in your Wealth & Prosperity area for example, it gives you an incentive to clear it out.

I have a mantra: 20 minutes is my friend. Start with just 20 minutes a day, every day. Choose a defined area to declutter each time – perhaps one drawer, perhaps the top of your desk, perhaps one bookshelf or half of a bookshelf. That way you’ll feel the difference – as opposed to doing a bit here and a bit there.

Declutter first – then add a symbol of prosperity. You do need to get the energy flowing well first. Then it’s time to add a symbol to your Wealth and Prosperity area. This can be anything that represents abundance to you. Money, an image of your future boat, a sunset – something personal to you. You can check to see where the different areas of the Bagua are located here.

Jen: Cool – a freebie! Thanks for that tip!

Vicky: Use these tips to give your workspace an energy shake up and you’ll feel the difference immediately. Create a workspace that inspires and supports your success, and your creativity will be greatly enhanced – and that in turn will boost the prosperity of your business.

Jen: Thank you so much – this is terrific information. Now I’m jazzed to work on my Wealth and Prosperity Area!

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