Feng shui for an office desk

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Feng shui for an office desk boosts focus and creativity in the workplace

Nobody wants to feel scattered or sluggish, especially at the office. Unfortunately, sitting at a desk all day doesn’t exactly get the heart pumping. The traditional layout is not ideal for concentration or productivity, but there are things you can do to make your desk a place where you can focus.

These tips on feng shui for an office desk will help you get down to business by replacing stressful aspects of your immediate environment with design touches that energize you. If you work in a sterile corporate office that won’t allow you to make many changes, use your imagination to work with what you can.

Positioning

The ideal position of command for both your bed and work desk is facing the door without being directly in its path. This way you’re open to new opportunities, and negative energy can’t catch you unaware. From a practical stand point, nobody likes to be surprised when someone comes up from behind; it disturbs the nerves, disrupts a train of thought and leaves you a bit disoriented.

If you work in a modern, open space that doesn’t allow for spinning your desk around, place a crystal or something bright in your line of vision.

Plants

Plants bring a flow of live energy to your desk, and they’re mood-lifting. If you sit in a high-traffic area, thriving plants help filter out negative energy and any toxins in the air. Greenery also connects you to nature, which boosts the kind of creative thinking that helps you go above and beyond.

Lighting

Does the mere thought of the fluorescent lighting at work make you cringe? Artificial light is a problem in offices because they drain the brain of energy and they can make people cranky. On top of that, overhead lighting is so bad for the eyes it can give you headaches.

There are two ways to improve office lighting. You can either replace the bulbs in the overhead lights with healthy ones, like full spectrum tubes, or you can bring in a desk lamp to counteract the overhead horror – probably a good idea to ask a supervisor before changing out the ceiling one. Most businesses don’t take issue with simple desk lamps.

Clutter-Free Zone

Clutter is believed to attract negative energy, which defeats the whole purpose of feng shui for office desk. If the nature of your work keeps your desk piled high with over-stuffed files, and so many packages that can’t tell what’s incoming and outgoing, improve organization as best you can.

Bind up loose wires and cords with twist ties. Straighten the piles and try to get larger organizing shelves and out boxes so the to-dos don’t topple over. Look for ways to maximize space by moving things into drawers and staying on top of any filing, or even digitizing files to eliminate clutter-causing paper trails.

Clear off your immediate space in the morning. At the end of the day, step back and assess the amount of extraneous materials that build up throughout the day. See if you can delegate some information or remove yourself from the equation to expedite processes.

Balance

Balance is essential in creating a thoughtful space however chaotic your surroundings. This means incorporating soft materials around your hard desk, light colors to offset dark colors or vice versa, and a mix of textures. Your environment need not be so flat! If the desk has corners, add some curves with a round, earthy vase and some bamboo.

Like it or not, your environment has a direct influence on your mood, spirit and productivity. The time you spend at work shouldn’t feel like a physical challenge. Applying a few principals of feng shui for office desk will help support a positive attitude and replenish your focus when you’re trying to be two places at once.

References:

Dummies: Feng Shui at Work

The Spiritual Feng Shui: Offices