IS YOUR CAREER FULFILLING AND STIMULATING? Do you feel valued by your boss and colleagues? Are you currently searching for the ideal job?

The beginning of spring and the onset of the lunar Year of the Sheep signify a time of renewal — the time is right to evaluate your career goals and make changes that will successfully propel you forward. I’m finding that many of my clients lately have been focusing on enhancements in their Career Area, and are pleased with the positive results that simple shifts in energy, along with affirmations, will provide.

Applying some basic Feng Shui principles to the Career Area of your home can help you find a career that suits your needs. This is very simple to do. The first step is to use the Bagua to locate the Career Area of your home. Step two is to ensure the area is clutter free, and step three is to enhance using the following recommendations.

From reading my columns you have learned that the most powerful and important tool in Feng Shui is the Bagua (Ba-gua) map, represented as a grid of nine sectors. The Bagua comes from the Chinese philosophy, “The I Ching,” and literally means “eight trigrams,” with the Center acting as the grounding force.

On the Bagua, The Career Area is located in the front center of your home or office, the element for the area is Water (allowing career opportunities to flow freely) and the colors are dark and shiny. Representations of this element can be used inside and outside of your home or business.

For many of us the greatest challenge in life is discovering and performing the work that we love to do. This is known as “following your bliss,” which is the goal of the Career Area. Since this is in the entrance quadrant of your environment, the key is to invite and keep the Ch’i, the vital energy, flowing through your home.

Enhancements for energizing Career inside your home or business

As always, ensure that this area is clutter free. If your Career Area is your front door, make sure that when you open your door you are greeted with a clean, inviting space. And do the following:

• Hang art depicting water (such as streams, ponds, rivers or oceans) or career images and symbols (books or logos from your business or one that you aspire to). This is a great location for a small fountain or aquarium.

• Display items, such as statues, accessories or furniture in black or very dark colors, or in asymmetrical shapes.

• Hang mirrors and/or display glass/crystal items, such as a crystal vase or a glass table. A round-faceted crystal hanging from the ceiling helps the energy flow in smaller, more confined spaces.

Enhancements for energizing Career outside your home or business

Water features, such as fountains, waterfalls and ponds, work well here. It is important that the energy flows toward your home or business, so the fountain should either be a 360-degree bubbler or facing so that the water flows in the direction of your building. Also:

• If your Career Area is your front entrance (the Mouth of Ch’i), use wind chimes to invite the Ch’i to enter, plant colorful, healthy flowers along the (curved, if possible) path to your door, and have two greeters in the form of plants or statuary on either side of the door.

• The front door is very important in Feng Shui, therefore anything you can do to emphasize it will encourage new opportunities to come your way. Painting it a shade of red not only highlights it but invites wealth and positive energy, too.

Correcting Feng Shui problems affecting career

• For a missing the Career Area:

If your Career Area is missing from your floor plan, I recommend anchoring the area outside with fountains, wind chimes, red and yellow flowers to draw attention to the vital energy, greeting statues or hanging plants. The key is to complete the space and create a welcoming environment. You can also symbolically push the wall back from the inside by hanging a mirror or 30-mm, round-faceted crystal on the wall by the entrance.

• For a front door that opens to stairs:

Stairs can be tricky because they can symbolize the Ch’i flowing out of your home. This can be fixed by placing a mirror by or above your front door to reflect the energy back in, or by hanging a 30-mm, round-faceted crystal above the stairs to block the energy flow. This can also be done at the bottom of stairs, which point directly down from your front door.

• For a small entrance, or one that opens into a long hallway or bathroom:

Small spaces can be opened up with mirrors hung along the wall (not facing the door, as that would send the Ch’i back out). A round-faceted crystal hanging from the ceiling can keep the Ch’i moving forward. Place an inviting flower arrangement or art at the end of the hallway. If your front door opens to a bathroom, ensure that the bathroom door remains closed.

Even if the Career Area is not your front door, similar enhancements can be made. In a classroom, my Career Area is where I teach my lessons, with a screen, whiteboard, projector, etc., all representing career images. You also may hang posters representing waterscapes, place bookcases with career-oriented books and put a small fountain here.

A client had her Career Area in her kitchen; she hung a beautiful ocean scene, hung a crystal in the kitchen window and put a small fountain on the counter. Since then she has had numerous, lucrative career opportunities. Another client placed a large, bubbling fountain outside of her studio directly in front of her Career Area. She can hear the flow of energy and is constantly being energized.

Let the rebirth of the year also be a rebirth and blooming of your career. Enjoy the flow of renewed energy that helps you follow your bliss!

Affirmations

In Feng Shui, intent plays a significant role in enhancing any area of your home or business. That’s why all enhancements need to be made with intentionality; written or stated affirmations are very important. It is also important for them to be expressed as if they are already happening.

Examples or affirmations for the Career Area: “My career is fulfilling, inspiring, and lucrative”; “I grow and prosper though performing my life’s work”; “I attract many positive opportunities and circumstances.”

Feng Shui at work: Client testimonial

The following testimonial represented a very positive and quick result. The consultation was in the small room a client was renting, and the Career Area was the wall at the foot of her bed where she had hung a rock poster. Knowing that was the first thing she saw every day, I realized the importance of replacing it with career images and a vision board. She even hung her resume with the word “hired” across it. As you can see, the results were dramatic.

“Recently a close relative was floundering in a career ‘blockage.’ A Feng Shui visit from Maria revealed that many areas in the living space were conflicting with the flow of energy. Moving and/or eliminating some of the decorations had almost immediate effects: a payment for future services was received the next day. A career vision board was hung and one week later, the job offer hoped for was received! Wow …”

Feng Shui on a shoestring

Feng Shui enhancements do not have to cost a great deal. Just the act of hanging an inexpensive wind chime by your front door calls in the Ch’i. Planting fresh flowers and decluttering get the energy flowing — and remember that affirmations cost nothing.

Questions, questions, questions

I encourage you to email me with questions, to which I will respond in this column or by email.

Reader: “My front entrance is recessed from the rest of the front of the house. Does that mean my Career Area is missing? What can I do?”

Dear Reader: “If your front entrance is in the middle front of your house (refer to the Bagua map), your Career Area is indeed missing. Don’t worry, my house has the same design and there are always easy Feng Shui corrections for this. Inside your home, if possible, hang a mirror or 30-mm, round-faceted crystal on the wall by your front door to symbolically push the wall out and anchor your entrance. Outside, keep the entrance clean and beautiful by planting red flowers by your front door, either in the ground along the path or in black pots as greeters on either side of your door. Hang a wind chime to call in the Ch’i, and paint your door a shade of red. Any or all of these will anchor the area and help to enhance your career.

“Please write back and let me know how these enhancements affected your career. A student of mine had a similar issue and was pleased to learn that the area was already anchored outside with a flower bed containing camellias. Unfortunately in all the years she had lived there they never bloomed. She hung a wind chime close to the door to call in the Ch’i and was delighted that soon after hanging it the flowers all bloomed. Her entrance now looks so inviting, and business opportunities are coming her way.”

FOR QUESTIONS OR HOME CONSULTATIONS email me at mtmccull@aol.com and put “Feng Shui” on the subject line, or visit my website at http://www.fengshuibymaria.com, where you can read past columns, or find “Feng Shui by Maria” on Facebook, where I post pictures as examples to enhancements.

And check out my blog — just go to the website and click on “Blog” and you can view many pictures and I will respond to your questions quickly. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until then … Blessings!

Benicia resident Maria McCullough is the owner and founder of Feng Shui by Maria (www.fengshuibymaria.com). She is a speaker and educator with more than 15 years’ experience specializing in residential, landscape and business consultations.