Optimize Your Reception Desk with Fengshui

The ancient Chinese principles of FengShui have been used for thousands of years to determine the arrangement, placement, organization, size, and other physical aspects of objects. This concept has been taken all across the world in different business buildings, sacred sites, graves, even bathrooms.

Have you ever wondered why outside of large business buildings or casinos there are fountains? That’s fengshui at work,  believed to bring more money to a location. Fengshui may have been considered way more than you ever imagined. Why is it so widespread? Does it actually work? As for many things in life, it is up to you to discover for yourself but the guiding principles of fengshui center your life on wholesome values while adding a sense of organization and awareness.

Below is explained how you might take the principles of fengshui and integrate them in to your work life, particularly on your office desk.

By the use of BaGua (Bah-gwah), an even more ancient Chinese principle from which fengshui is derived, we can get things where they need to be. BaGua, meaning the eight trigrams, refers to these symbols often seen in Chinese martial arts and on the South Korean flag. Fengshui uses the BaGua system to explain the meaning behind the location of objects and how energy interacts with its placement.

For those of us who haven’t learned the ancient ways of Chinese, this diagram explains the meaning of the BaGua diagram. Each 3-lined symbol correlates to a Chinese character, a direction, an element, a virtue, a season, a flavor, a color.

Taking the BaGua diagram others have translated it to a desk space. By having each element of the BaGua represented on a desk you find harmony and balance in the fengshui realm and also eliminate a lot of the needless items that crowd your desk.

Most desks are of a common material, wood, wood with laminate, metal. The only thing you want to avoid is glass, but if you can’t don’t worry it isn’t the end of the world! Use plants or wooden objects on the desk to stop the energy from seeping through the glass so quickly. Avoid too bright and vibrant of colors on the desk, these will distract you, activate your eyes and cause you to be restless. A little color is good but neon colors are not too helpful. Along with what you see, make sure the wall that you are facing isn’t blank, instead decorate it with inspiration, creativity, or motivation.

Simplify and optimize your work environment. With computer’s convenience today, softwares are available to take a lot of clutter of your desk. Instead of pen and paper visitor management systems, consider moving to a visitor management software. Try your best to rid your desk of all clutter; anything that isn’t essential and used frequently on a daily basis shouldn’t be taking that important space. Try your best to hide all wires and cords from the desk.

Give these suggestions a try, or share your desk organization ideas in the comments.