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Finding tranquility in everyday life can be tough. Juggling personal relationships, demanding work commitments and overloaded schedules causes stress and fatigue. As a result, tension can affect your body, mood, and behavior in negative ways.
Common symptoms of stress include headaches, chest pain, anxiety, lack of motivation, irritability, or drug and alcohol abuse. Stress can even lead to much more serious health conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
After the end of a stressful day, no one wants to come home to a space that only frustrates you further. Healthy living should be practiced and perfected, and there are many techniques that can be considered in order to achieve this goal. Some choose to focus on their diet, exercise, or state of mind. Stray from the beaten path and consider another option — a happy home life.
Finding balance in everyday life is not rocket science: it’s more of a pseudoscience. Some well-known pseudo sciences include feng shui, astrology, and hypnosis. While life events may not technically be controlled by the stars, many people still check their daily horoscopes. Additionally, while feng shui may not be deeply rooted in actual fact, its beliefs and practices have been placed in high regard over the course of centuries.
Combat chaos and restore balance in your home with the basic principles of feng shui.
Feng shui is an ancient practice focused on arranging furniture with the specific purpose of creating harmony and tranquility. Fostering ‘chi’ or energy is also a key element to feng shui so placing furniture and accents is key to making things flow effectively.
When it comes to bringing feng shui into your home, start by using a bagua chart.
The bagua chart is the pinnacle element in feng shui and is commonly used to start the journey. The chart breaks up the home into nine different, separate sections. These sections correspond with various life areas that commonly affect our daily routines and aspirations. Feng shui considers the nine life areas: career, creativity, family, friendship, health, knowledge, relationships, reputation, and wealth.
Each of these areas can be influenced using feng shui “cures”. Cures are objects, colors, shapes, and materials that improve or worsen the energy affecting those nine life areas. So, for example, if you have inferior cures in the wealth sector, you are less likely to be prosperous and negative energy will poorly affect this area of your life.
Here are some popular cures that best suit each life area:
- Career: black colors, well-lit spaces, mirrors, star or triangular shapes
- Creativity: white colors, art displays, objects in metal finishes, circular shapes
- Family: green colors, family photos, water fountains, square shapes
- Friendship: gray colors, map displays, shiny decor accents, circular shapes
- Health: yellow colors, fresh flowers, bright wall art, clean spaces, square shapes
- Knowledge: blue colors, bookshelves, tall floor lamps, rectangular shapes
- Relationships: pink colors, objects in pairs, throw pillows, star or triangular shapes
- Reputation: red colors, framed awards or accolades, star or triangular shapes
- Wealth: purple colors, objects known for good fortune (horseshoes/four-leaf clovers), square shapes
Spring is the perfect time to refresh your interiors. Use these feng shui tips to balance the energy in your living room and create a more positive space!
If you want to deeper on living room colors, take a look at our guide on living room color schemes to choose from.
1. Set it Up
When arranging your living room, ensure none of the pieces of furniture are in direct contact with any walls, windows, and beams. This allows occupants to relax comfortably and feel secure with their surroundings.
Make sure none of the windows have a back turned towards a window. It affects the flow of energy within the room and signifies you literally turning your back to the world outside the window.
On the other hand, if you have a good view outside the window, hanging a mirror on the wall opposite the window will reflect the view indoors and promote positive energy.
However, mirrors are not to be used lightly. The practice of good feng shui suggests that mirrors ought to reflect only the good. A lot of reflective surfaces in our homes can be considered mirrors, including TV screens. Cover your TV screens when not in use so no negative reflections, and through them, negative energy, spreads in your home. Ensure none of the mirrors reflect things like an unclean kitchen or bathroom.
Make sure you arrange your seating such that the front door is visible from all the chairs and sofas in the room to avoid restless energy. Knowing where the door is in a room again promotes a feeling of security.
Wealth is important to our wellbeing, and you can encourage its growth in your home by creating a wealth area. This can be done by placing a bowl with coins and crystals on your living room coffee table.
Read more: Spring kitchen decor
2. Picture This
Displaying family photos in the living room strengthens bonds and relationships in feng shui. Prevent the use of too straight lines by featuring them in a gallery wall arrangement or you run the risk of creating “poison arrows” in your home. Poison arrows attract negative energy and risk your sense of safety and wellbeing.
3. Let It Flow
The colors you use are an important part of deriving positive living room feng shui. White walls are a great place to begin. Include colors like smooth grays, blush as well light shades of blue and yellow in your living room decor to create a space that promotes harmony.
Read more: Living Room Wall Decor Ideas to Inspire You
4. Bare Necessities
Clutter is a huge cause of stress within an area. Organize your space to bring calm vibes and tranquil energy. Get rid of anything you don’t love to make room for energy boosting belongings. This is the most important step for creating a harmonious home base.
If you’re having a hard time deciding what to keep, utilize storage pieces like baskets, drawers and ottomans. Look for accent pieces made of bamboo, as this wood is a popular feng shui cure to attract health, bring good luck and abundance.
5. Welcome the Light
Include ample light in your living room design. Have as many windows as possible to let in oodles natural light. Use high wattage bulbs to light up dark corners, since low lighting promotes negative energy.
6. Bring in the Outdoors
The use of plants in interior decoration is another key aspect of living room feng shui. Use potted plants and flowers to cover unused spaces and corners, and to breathe life near natural light sources. This brings into focus the harmony between man and nature, one of the philosophical foundations of feng shui.
7. Use All the Elements
Feng shui design uses five different elements. Make sure you incorporate all of them in moderation while designing your living space.
The use of wood denotes creativity, strength, growth, and flexibility, but using too much of it symbolizes rigidity.
The water element symbolizes peace and spirituality. This does not mean you necessarily need flowing water or a fish tank at home, although that would be ideal. The use of mirrors, as well as colors like sea green and deep blue on fabrics, captures the essence of the water element as well.
Use clay pottery, landscape art, and rectangular furniture in your living room design to add the earth element to your living.
Metal needs to be used carefully. Too much of it can mean coldness and show a lack of emotions, but just the right amount denotes logic and clarity. Try and incorporate metal in shapes like ovals and circles instead of shapes with sharp edges.
The fire element is supposed to instill boldness in people and give the home warmth. Everything from natural sunlight to fireplaces and candles represent the fire element in feng shui design.
As with all things with a mystical Eastern influence, feng shui is about the amalgamation of various elements to bring about positive energy, peace, and harmony. While this brief look at how you can incorporate some basic principles into your living room design may not make you a feng shui expert, it ought to at least pique your curiosity to delve a little more into Asian culture.
Written by Narayan Shrouthy. June 1, 2019
Narayan is a content writer for Kukun. With experience in both content writing and editing, Narayan mixes his writing and love for reading with his passion for music. As an active musician, He aims to be a key player in Kukun's content experience.
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It can be silly, but a plan while decorating, like feng-shui, can help your head, perhaps a placebo effect, instead of thinking about energy things and metaphysical things …It works