Feng Shui Guide: Tips for Harmony and Prosperity
A home should feel like a place of harmony and peace for those who live in it. Though with an abundance of clutter and untidiness, finding that harmony can seem like an impossible task. But you have the power to find that balance through feng shui. By utilizing feng shui principles, you can establish a feeling of prosperity and balance in your home.
For newcomers to feng shui, it’s important to understand what elements and aspects of a room bring balance and harmony throughout the space. Allow our team at Five Star Storage to guide you through the basic principles and practices of using feng shui in your home.
What Is Feng Shui?
Before using feng shui in your home, you need to know what feng shui is. According to National Geographic, feng shui is an ancient Chinese art of arranging objects, buildings, and space in an environment to achieve balance and harmony. Its roots stem from early movements on Taoism but still remain popular today throughout China and western cultures. To help you utilize feng shui in a certain space, there are certain principles and elements that must be acknowledged.
The Five Feng Shui Elements
In feng shui, there are five elements that symbolize the basic elements of all life. When you use feng shui in your home, you strive to find a balance between all five elements. Not only does each element evoke a different mood, but it is also associated with different qualities and colors. Here are the basics of each element:
- Earth. Centered on being stable, grounded, and nourished and is embodied with earthy colors like brown, yellow, and orange
- Metal. Precision and joy centered with the colors white, gray, and other metallic shades
- Water. Represents deep wisdom and connection to the world and is usually tied to dark blue or black
- Wood. Focused on growth and healing and is represented by green, light blues, and teal
- Fire. Revolving around passion and inspiration and is shown through reds and bright oranges
Incorporating the five-element principle in your home could involve implementing more of a certain element in a certain room. For example, if you feel your bedroom is where you lose focus or sharpness, implement more metal in your space with round and oval shapes with gray or metallic shades.
Feng Shui Bagua Map
Another principle of feng shui is the use of the bagua map, which is composed of nine separate areas that each relate to a certain theme in your life. These nine themes are as follows:
- Wealth and prosperity
- Fame and reputation
- Love and relationships
- Family and community
- Center and well-being
- Creativity and children
- Knowledge and self-cultivation
- Career and life path
- Travel and helpful people
The center square, well-being, is considered the heart of every space and home. Similar to the five elements, the bagua map is used to find balance and harmony between all nine themes. If there is an imbalance, focus must be placed on rebalancing certain areas of the bagua map in a space.
How To Feng Shui Your Home
After you gain a better understanding of the core elements of feng shui, it’s time to pivot your attention to applying them to your home. It can be easy to see all the imbalance in your home and want to wave the white flag. But there are specific ideas and areas you can focus on to start finding the balance of your place. Let us show you six common practices for incorporating feng shui into your home.
1. Brighten Up Your Entryway
In feng shui, entryways represent how energy enters not just your home but your life. If there is a place to focus on first, it would be your entryway. To help make a balanced entryway, clear away any clutter or debris. Additionally, sweep your entryway to keep it clean and free of dirt or dust. Finally, wipe down your door and shake or vacuum your doormat.
2. Commanding Position
Among the most basic principles of feng shui is the idea of commanding position. This involves placing the defining piece of furniture in a specific room or area in a position where it commands the rest of the room. Examples of this are a bed being in the commanding position of the bedroom or a stove being in the commanding position of the kitchen.
3. Focus on Your Doors
Pivoting back to entryways, your doors are another area of focus across your home. Doors represent your voice and communication as they’re portals where opportunities come into your life. First, make sure your door can open to at least 90 degrees, if not more. The more it can open, the more that can pass through. Secondly, make sure all your doors work properly in opening and closing. Ensure the flow of the door’s movement is as smooth as possible.
4. Keep Your Windows Clean
Windows represent the eyes of an adult and the voice of a child. To create good feng shui throughout your home, regularly clean your windows. Clean windows will allow sunlight to come through and make the balance in your home all the more clear. This will also bring additional sunlight that can energize and vibrantly render all colors in a room.
5. Bring in Plants
Alongside the many other principles in feng shui, plants embody life energy. Having plants present in your home can liven up a room unlike anything else. After all, living greenery also connects a space closer to the nature that surrounds the home. Remember to find plants you can take proper care of and are appropriate for the space.
6. Create More Space
The link between clutter and stress is strong and can greatly disrupt an otherwise peaceful environment. Feng shui is about making more space. Find certain spaces, whether it’s an entire room or a single drawer, and let go of anything that isn’t necessary. However, don’t get upset if a certain space gets filled. It’s simply another way of the world.
Use Feng Shui With Self Storage From Five Star Storage
To help you in your feng shui journey at home, turn to Five Star Storage and rent one of our premier self storage units. With the right storage unit, you can make the space needed to find balance in your home without getting rid of any prized possessions. Why wait when your path to harmony and prosperity is right around the corner with us? Find your nearest Five Star location or contact us online to rent or reserve your storage unit today!