If you read the first article in this series, by now you’ve cleared your home office of clutter and may have even added a fresh coat of paint. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start moving furniture. Thought you liked things the way they were? Guess again!

Placing Your Desk

Whether you have the luxury of having your office in a big room with lots of windows or in a tiny cubby in your attic, the location of your desk is especially critical. Important things to remember:

· Never sit with your back to the door. Feng shui consultants believe that this can lead to insecurity in business. Yikes!

· Try not to put your desk or office in your bedroom. Leave work at work. Let your bedroom be a place of rest (and other fun stuff!).

· Don’t face looking directly out of a window. You’ll become distracted too easily.

· The optimal place for your desk is in a corner so that you have control over the rest of the room.

What’s A Bagua?

In the first article, you were promised an easy how-to guide for home office feng shui. Here’s where things get a little more complicated. A bagua is an eight-sided diagram that serves as a feng shui map. It can be used to help you find the most favorable placement for furniture, paintings, plants, and other objects that you intend to include in your new space.

The Everything Feng Shui Book, by Katina Z Jones, provides a simple and easy-to-use bagua that can help you position your belongings in places that will not only look beautiful, but can also help to draw new business and improve client relations.

Using A Bagua

An easy-to read, colorful bagua can be found at http://www.fengshuipalace.com/fs101/bagua.shtml. Once you’ve copied the diagram, line up the career section with the door of your office, and match the corners accordingly. Look for a diagram that includes the following elements, or “guas”:

· Career: represented by water and the color black

· Knowledge: represented by the image of a mountain and the colors blue, green or black

· Ancestors: represented by wood, and the colors green and blue

· Wealth: represented by wind and the color purple

· Fame: represented by fire and the color red

· Relationships: represented by earth and the colors pink, white or red

· Children/Creativity: represented by metal and the color white

· Helpful People: represented by the image of heaven and the colors gray, white and black

· Health: represented by the earth element and the color yellow

Now what? Considering these elements will help you think about the best placement for your belongings. Look over your things. Do you have anything that represents relationships? How about a photo of your loved one? What does success mean to you? Find something that represents a great accomplishment in your life and place it in the fame bagua.

Don’t make yourself crazy trying to make every sector in the bagua work—at the end of the day, the most important thing is to create a space that will help you dream big and accomplish a lot!