I recently had a client who reminded me of the goddess Artemis. She was young, fit, and very competitive at work. Now that she is working from home, like the rest of us, she was riddled with anxiety because she doesn’t like working from home, and she felt as if she was losing her edge. She gave me permission to discuss the solutions that helped her ease a little of her anxiety. And I hope this helps y’all with the same.
- Lighting: Increasing the light helps to elevate your mood so open the curtains or turn on a lamp.
- Organize: Clutter causes anxiety and confusion and suffocates chi. Increase the flow of chi by taking out any objects that do not bring you joy. Only keep what you love, toss, donate or repurpose the rest.
- Nature: Harness the calm of nature by adding plants, which research shows, improves memory and focus and lessens stress and anxiety. And they add visual appeal and remind us that we are connected to the natural world.
- Balance the Elements: The five elements of wood, water, metal, earth, and fire should be represented in every room. Too much or too little of an element will make the room feel unstable. Items such as plants (wood), glass (water), stones (metal), pottery (earth,) and candles (fire) are examples of using the elements in your space.
- Natural Material: Change out furnishings with natural materials rather than synthetics. This helps to add to healthy chi in the work shape.
- Artwork: Add artwork that inspires and uplifts you. Ironically my client had the same Artemis painting that hangs in my office –the goddess with her beautiful stag. I told her that from my Scott Irish roots were the perfect symbol of power, nobility, and freedom.
- Colors: Select colors to reflect the mood you hope to evoke. For example, red will energize a room. Blue will create a soothing and relaxing atmosphere. White is purifying and represents new beginnings.
Everything in our space reminds us of who we are, what we are, and if we look a little deeper, what we will become.
Feng Shui invites us to open our eyes and re-examine our choices because there is a powerful connection between our experiences of comfort, health, happiness, and productivity. Having a pleasing and relaxing space to work in is crucial to nurturing ourselves and relieving anxiety.
Are you suffering from anxiety from all the chaos in the world today? I offer several types of Feng Shui Consultation. Find out how I can help you. Learn more here.
Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Feng Shui.
I have noticed as I age, western medicine doesn’t seem to be as effective. For whatever reason, after I hit 50 I began to get all of those dreaded side effects printed on the warning labels of all the medication I was taking. But after a severe allergic reaction during a trip to India, an Indian doctor treated me with aromatherapy. For over two hours he applied essential oils, which seemed at the time, completely far-fetched. The treatment was labor-intensive, appeared imprecise and low-tech. But the treatment worked. The doctor explained that essential oils are multi-dimensional, filled with homeostatic intelligence that works to restore the body to a state of healthy balance. When body conditions change, oils adapt, raising or lowering blood pressure as needed, stimulating or repressing enzyme activity as needed, energizing, or relaxing as needed. “Oils possess an intelligence that we can’t comprehend,” he said. “Nature, Mother Earth does not need to read a textbook.”
Rene Gatfosee, a French chemist, coined aromatherapy over a hundred years ago. He worked with volatile plant essential oils, developing fragrances for the perfume industry, until one day he had an explosion in his lab and was badly burned. He plunged his arm into the nearest vat of liquid, which happened to be lavender. To his amazement, the pain stopped immediately, and no blistering or scarring occurred. As a result, he changed his focus completely to the medicinal effects of these oils.
Utilizing the wisdom of plants and trees medicinally pre-dates written history. Early man, as a hunter-gatherer, must have sampled different plants to find out if they were edible and if so, what effects the plants had on the body. He would have learned quickly that some herbs bring on stupor, some enliven, others purge and of course, many nourish the body. A deep understanding and connection would have been formed between man and plant. As anyone who has lived close to the land soon learns, plants have a spirit of their own and can commune their intent if one is open enough to listen to their energetic frequency. In early times, man probably had a much keener awareness of his environment and worked more closely with the rhythms and vibrations of the earth. His sense of smell would be more honed, the odor entering the brain allowing him to intuit the efficacy of the plant by tuning into its vibration and sensing whether it would be a healthy fit for his body.
When they tell you to heal and move on, don’t listen. Healing from loss doesn’t look like healing from an injury. This was not a broken bone, these are pieces of our hearts, and now a piece of our heart is gone.
