Translator's Knowledge Base - Feng Shui for the Freelance Translator

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Feng Shui for the Freelance Translator

By Carolina Villegas,
Spanish Translator

Feng shui is the ancient art of placement and design used to balance and enhance the energy flow in living environments. The Chinese have relied on feng shui for over 3,000 years to assure an abundance of wealth and love in their lives. Feng shui experts believe that by creating harmony and balance in your physical environment you will attract good luck and prosperity in all areas of your life.

So what does this have to do with freelance translators? By following some basic principles of feng shui, you may improve your productivity and career prospects as well as enhance your success, creativity, and wealth. Specifically, you can use feng shui to determine where to set up your home office, the best placement of your desk, the use of color in your office, and incorporate "cures" into your home office to change the flow of blocked energy. Check out these tips for positioning your office for success:

1. Set up your home office in the front of the house to take advantage of the flow of energy, since energy enters your home through the front door. If you're in the back, it's more difficult to receive any energy. This will also be beneficial if you will be receiving clients and conducting business with others in your home office. Once energy enters through the front door it flows up, so it is preferable to be on the entry level or above, as opposed to a level below the main floor of the house. It's difficult for energy to move down into the basement.

2. Look at the position of your desk. Sit so that you face the doorway or room entrance. Sitting with your back to the door means you don't know if someone is approaching - so you are more vulnerable to surprises. Because you can't see what's coming, this vulnerability may trigger unnecessary fears, or "negative energy". The best position for your desk is in the corner that is diagonally opposite the office door. If you can't move your desk to face the room entrance, put up a small convex mirror in the corner of your monitor so that you can see behind you. Have a wall behind your chair, rather than a window, for symbolic support. If you have no choice, keep the blind down and make sure to sit in a tall-backed chair for support.

3. Be comfortable with your computer equipment. Do not get stuck with the keyboard and mouse that come with your PC: replace them. Both need to be ergonomically friendly, with curvy shapes that benefit the flow of energy through your fingers and hands. You also need to position your computer monitor to avoid any hint of glare. Glare is very negative from a feng shui point of view. It interferes with concentration and peace of mind.

4. Keep your workspace clean and clutter-free in order to allow a free flow of chi throughout the room (i.e. the life force or vital energy that links people with their surroundings). Keep the cords to your office equipment well hidden.

5. Improve lighting. Get a really good desk lamp for your work area. The nice pool of light that you have with a desk lamp brings in energy, and really helps your concentration and focus.

6. Use feng shui enhancements to further your personal and business goals. Not only should you arrange your office so that the energy flows around it, but it is also very important to know your directions - north, south, east and west. Use a compass if the directions are not easily discernible.

Why care about directions? If you aspire to be better known in your profession, you need some sort of enhancement. The best position for your home office is facing south - this governs your fame area. Or, you could position your home study facing northeast - this governs your education and knowledge area. If these positions aren't possible, try placing your desk in a south or northeast corner.

The north area of your office is the one associated with career so energize it in some way. A water feature is a good idea as it symbolizes movement and promotes yang energy.

Fresh flowers on the east side of your desk will increase your yang energy but don't let them restrict your sight or movement and as soon as they start to wilt and die - change them.

Alternatively, a small plant in the southeast corner of your desk attracts prosperity, which can only be a good thing for a company. Palms are particularly good because they spread out at the top and as such will spread out energy.

Use crystals to energize areas of your business life. A round crystal placed on the southwest corner of your desk will promote harmonious relationships with your colleagues, as this is usually a good area for relationships of any kind. A faceted, spherical crystal hung in the window encourages movement and activity.

An illuminated and rotating globe in the fame area, to the south of your office, will encourage bigger markets.

Have some inspiring art, preferably a landscape including water (but make sure any mountains are in the background) on the wall of your office but avoid abstract art. Fruit, flowers and fish in pictures also promote good feng shui but avoid wild animals.

7. Clear the effects of electromagnetic stress from your computer by taking frequent breaks. Plus you can place a clear quartz or rose quartz crystal next to it to absorb negative emissions.

8. Don't sleep in the same room where your computer is. Electronic items such as computers, fax machines or even television sets can produce too much yang energy and disturb sleep patterns. Yang is the opposite of yin, which encourages rest and relaxation. Keep your home-based office out of the bedroom. If you don't have a choice, use a room divider to separate your office from your sleep area. At the very least, if it's near your bed, cover your PC with an attractive cloth when it's not in use, or hide the office area with a screen at night so that you don't mix energies when you move from work to sleep.

9. Place plants in your office. A plant will bring life into your workspace and will also absorb toxins in the air. Cactus and bamboo are plants symbolize good fortune and are ideal for placement in the home office. If you have views of harmful elements from your window, you can reduce them by the strategic placement of wind chimes or plants. Any sharp-leaved plants are good feng shui in this area, as they are believed to deter harmful influences. Peace lilies and a cactus called Cirrus Peruvianus absorb negative emissions.

You can use these tips as a simple introduction to this ancient science. Feng shui will help make your workspace more comfortable and even more enticing. If you feel relaxed and at ease in your workspace, creative energy can flow and your overall productivity will improve. If nothing else, you'll simply feel better or more positive while working and you'll reduce the amount of clutter in your workspace.

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