Work from home? 9 Ways to Minimize Distractions

By Jessica Hoelzel

Getting work DONE from home can be a challenge at times. Especially if you often get distracted by people, pet, outdoor noise or electronic interruptions.

Here are 9 Ways to Minimize those Distractions:

1. Work in a room that has a door you can close. And close it.

2. If you don’t have a door, fashion some separation with a tri-fold screen, bookshelf or other piece of furniture that serves as a divider.

3. Move your desk from facing out the window to facing the entry, the command position.

4. If you can still see out the window when your desk is in the command position, put a buffer in front of it. Sheers or plants still filter in light but minimize the distractions that can pull you away from what you’re meant to be focusing on.

5. Establish work times/boundaries with your family.

6. Kennel pets for short periods of time when you need intense focus.

7. Wear headphones and turn it up loud! Listen to soothing or motivating music – whatever moves you.

8. Disable the email pop-up feature on your computer.

9. Turn your phone on silent and put it in another room.

When you minimize distractions, you honor your time and your work, enabling you to be at your best.

Quote for the Day: Office Feng Shui

“The ideal office is a room of your own with a regular shape (preferably square or rectangle), natural lighting (at least one window), a solid door you can close, and a good position for your desk.”

- David Daniel Kennedy

Where is your home office? Is it working for you?

Come on, don’t be shy! Feng Shui FAQ

Feng Shui Frequently Asked Questions

What do you want to know about feng shui? I'm here to help!

Click the comment section below to leave your question...

What Can Feng Shui Do For You?

“Many of us in the West have forgotten what life can be like. We feel separate and disconnected…there is so little sacredness in our lives. When we are out of balance with our surroundings, we become physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually sick….

“Feng Shui offers hope. It offers the means to reconnect and bring the sacredness back into our lives.”

- Karen Kingston, Creating Sacred Space With Feng Shui

Quote for the Day: About Cleaning

“Cleaning creates an empty space where something new – life – can happen, leaving a free area for a fresh approach. It creates neutral ground. More than that, this is sacred work, creating hallowed ground – a space that is returned to its cleared wholeness.”

- Kathryn L. Robyn, Spiritual Housecleaning

Best Feng Shui Advice

By Jessica Hoelzel

Some of the best feng shui advice I can give is to stay inspired. To be inspired means to be “in spirit”. When we don’t change our home environment on a regular basis, the energy becomes stagnant. Rather than filled with life force energy, it becomes void of it. I encourage you to live “in spirit”, to continuously be aware of how you can create space around you that fills you up.
A great resource for home inspiration is my friend Lisa’s blog, Inspire Chi. Check it out!

Quote for the Day: Why Do Feng Shui?

“When you practice feng shui properly, you’ll first notice the difference in your environment – your body, mind, spirit and energy level. Good feng shui makes you feel wonderful because you’ve aligned your personal energy with your home or office.”
- Angi Ma Wong

Happy Valentine’s Day! Questions to Ponder Today…

By Jessica Hoelzel
 
Do you have a strong partnership?
In feng shui, 9 areas of your life correspond with 9 areas of your home. One of the most often adjusted areas is Partnership. Why? Like money, we all want love.

Do you have it? Have you done feng shui in your Partnership area to attract love, or enhance certain aspects of your relationship?

Leave a comment below.

Your Bedroom Should Be First Priority

By Jessica Hoelzel

If you have a lot of rooms in your home that could use some rejuvenation, and aren’t sure where to start, I suggest starting with your bedroom. The energy in your bedroom is the closest energy to you, because it is the most personal space, and where you spend the most time (sleeping). What can you do in your bedroom to make it more of a space that supports you? Decluttering? Cleaning? A little design sprucing? When you pay it some loving attention, it will pay you back in nurturing dividends.

5 Things You DON’T Want in Your Bedroom

By Jessica Hoelzel

For romance and closeness to ensue, your bedroom space must be set up to encourage, not discourage it.

5 Things You DON’T Want in Your Bedroom

• TV
• Computer
• Phone
• Paperwork
• General Clutter (boxes of stuff, misc odds ‘n’ ends, kids’ things, piles of books or clothes)

Read Why Here

 

Question to Ponder: Do you have a place of peace?

By Jessica Hoelzel

It can be a crazy world out there. So in here – in our homes – we need a place that’s sane so we can recoup.

 Do you have a place in your home to:

• Meditate
• Practice yoga
• Drink a cup of tea
• Read a book
• Cuddle up
• Relax
• Be quiet

…a place for you to find some peace?

If not, why not?

Work from Home Survey: I Need YOUR Help!

A fact is a fact – if you’re not set up for success in your workspace you’re not going to find it.

As you may have read, I’m working on a brand new program to help people who work from home create a space that helps them meet their career goals. Whether those goals are:

• growing a business
• making more money
• getting more done in less time
• feeling less stressed out

I’m looking for feedback on how I can help.

Do you work from home, or know someone who does?

Click here to participate in my 2-3 minute survey

And I’d be ever-so-grateful if you pass along this link to any work-from-home professionals you know.

Thanks!

Feng Shui at Work: Watch Your Back

By Jessica Hoelzel

I’ve written before, in an earlier post, about the importance of your desk being in the “command” position of your office. You want to make sure you:

Have a view of the door

Are not too close to the door

Are not in direct line with the door

Are towards the back of the room (ideally diagonal from the door)

If you don’t work in an office, but rather a “cube”, you are usually at a disadvantage because they are designed so that you face into the cube, not out. You back is, most often, to the entrance. This is troublesome because, energetically, anytime you have your back to the entrance, it sets you up to be vulnerable, at risk for being “stabbed in the back”, “blindsided” or “taken by surprise”.


Feng shui is all about metaphors. It’s based upon the well-founded, scientific idea that everything in our universe is energy. So even though it may seem preposterous to move your desk away from the lovely view out the window, turning it so it faces out (What? It doesn’t have to be up against the wall?) and then diligently organizing your computer cords so they are not unsightly, and no one breaks his or her neck tripping over them…it is not. (Preposterous, that is.)

When you rearrange your desk to be in the command position, you change the flow of energy. Instead of blasting you in the back, you are there to meet it. Hello world. Whatever you present me with today, I am fully prepared to meet, head on.

If you’re in a cube, situate yourself the best you can, and put a mirror in front of you. Either hang one or put one on your computer, so you can see what (and who) is coming. Here are some convex mirrors from fengshuishopper.com that will work nicely.

By enhancing and directing chi flow, we are able to direct our fate in a positive way.

- Kirsten M. Lagatree

Good "office luck" to you! Please comment if you have a workplace challenge you'd like me to address.

Feng Shui at Work: The Dangers of Too Much Yang Energy

By Jessica Hoelzel

In my earlier posts, I’ve been writing about balance, and how the basic feng shui guiding principle “use nature as your model” can help you achieve it. The Yin/Yang symbol represents balance, according to the I Ching (an ancient Chinese text used for divination and explaining the order of the universe).

The aim of the I Ching practice is to bring about balance in which celestial consciousness guides earthly awareness to follow the rhythm of nature.

- Roger Green

Its design symbolizes how chi (life force energy) fluctuates between Yin and Yang, which are opposites. When balanced, there are equal amounts of both Yin and Yang energy. Things get challenging if there’s too much of one or the other. (Off-balance.)

In the workplace, balance is often difficult to come by – for many reasons. One reason being that there is often too much Yang energy. Yang energy is masculine, aggressive, willful and active. Too much Yang can overpower. Yin energy is the opposite: feminine, passive, flexible and still. Too much Yin can underpower, but adding some Yin can balance out the occasions of too much Yang.

Too much Yang, according to Kirsten M. Lagatree,
in Feng Shui at Work, can:

Impede decision-making
Cause lost opportunities
Cause bad financial outcomes
Hurt morale
Encourage high turnover

How do you assess what’s going on and fix it?

Common Workplace Issues
Too much Yang................Add some Yin

Florescent lights..................Turn some off, use desk lamps/task lighting

Smelly................................Use diffusers* or fans, empty and clean trash regularly

Noisy.................................Designate quiet areas, wear headphones

Hectic................................Put systems in place to create order, create opportunities for breaks

Too warm..........................Add window shades, use a fan, fix heating

Crowded...........................Reorganize/eliminate furniture, encourage off-site work

Male-dominated.................Bring in art/accessories with feminine feel, hire more women

Cluttered............................Purge, organize, streamline things

I'd love to hear from you. What's going on in your workplace? Do you think there's a solution? Click below to leave a comment.

*Curious about diffusers? Check out these options from Young Living. The Travel Diffuser would work perfectly in an office or cube. Contact me by email for more information.

Boundary Waters Balance Part 2

By Jessica Hoelzel

In my last post, I wrote about how adhering to one of the basic principles of feng shui, “use nature as your model”, can help you find balance in your space and in your life…my reflections after traveling into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). But I also alluded to the fact, at the end of the post, that our trip wasn’t all balanced bliss. Yes, feng shui practitioners are human too, and it’s not all perfect feng shui and organization in their worlds, all the time.

What happened was a good learning experience for me, as most episodes of being “off-balance” are. So here’s the story…

My mistake was to turn over all packing responsibilities to my husband. He has more experience than I, in going into the back country. Since we didn’t have to portage this trip (carry our canoe and gear) he went a little overboard. Not that I’m blaming him, but his thought process was that since we didn’t have to go very far into the BWCAW, didn’t have to carry our stuff, and since this was the little ones’ first trip in, that he’d pack all the stuff they needed (plus a lot more –just in case they needed it). His goal was to make it easy and comfortable for them.

When we got to our site and started to set up camp was when I first felt overwhelm creeping in. Then over the course of the short time we were there, I kept getting distracted and bugged by all the stuff. We probably only really needed about a third of what we brought. The stuff, getting in our way at the site – in our way of both movement around the site, to perform “camp tasks”, and in our way of viewing the beauty of nature – hindered my experience of balance.

Lessons learned: next time we will 1) do the packing together 2) be more minimalistic in packing and 3) give ourselves more time to plan, set things out, and decide what we REALLY need.

You live and you learn…and every experience is a valuable opportunity to grow, and make things better.

Boundary Waters Balance Part 1

By Jessica Hoelzel

The feng shui of the Boundary Waters? Perfectly balanced and harmonious.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, John Lake

For good feng shui, one of the core principles you must follow is to “use nature as your model”. Heading into nature every now and then is a good way to observe nature’s perfect balance, and achieve a state of balance for yourself.

When you are in nature there is less distraction, pulling your energy this way and that. No TV, no cell phone, no Internet…in our case, no motorized boats or traffic either. When in nature, you are free to be present, to BE. When you can BE, unencumbered by the typical distractions, you have the opportunity to find some balance. With the nurturing solace of nature’s beauty surrounding you, you have the opportunity to:

BE in quiet

BE clear-headed

BE healed

BE refreshed

BE inspired

…and return to a state of physical, mental and spiritual harmony.

So how do you keep that state alive when you return home? By ensuring that your surroundings are also balanced. That you don’t have too many noisy distractions – or at least opportunities for quiet. That you also have a place of beauty which provides you solace.

Stay tuned for more to come on how “stuff” impacted our experience of balance…

Your Home Needs Fresh Air Too

By Jessica Hoelzel

Open the windows. Let the breezes blow in and refresh your space.
Now that the weather is a bit cooler early and late in the day, give your house a dose of nature’s medicine – fresh air. Houses can be nourished just like people. Clear out all that stale, recycled air and freshen things up.

When you restore the health of your home by letting in vital chi (life force energy), it’ll translate to your own health being revitalized too.

Embrace the quiet.
Listen...no more constant hum. If your air conditioner has been running all summer, give it a break. Not only will it allow your home to get a wee bit quieter, but your efforts will consume less energy, and let nature do what it’s meant to do.

If you’re looking for more ways to refresh your space, read my earlier post on diffusing essential oils.

6 Ways to Enhance the Feng Shui of Your Front Door

By Jessica Hoelzel

As I discussed in my earlier post, it’s important to use the front door of your home, as well as to make sure the energy flow to it – in terms of blessings and opportunities – is not blocked.

 

But going beyond that, what can you do to go one step further – to really make a feng shui statement?

Enhance your “mouth of chi”, and draw attention to it with the following ideas:

1. Paint your front door red, or another color complementary to the house.
2. Place pots of flowers near your door in the summer/plants or tree toppers with lights strung on them in the winter.
3. Hang a wreath or bucket with silk flowers on the door (taking care that the silk flowers don’t get faded or dingy).
4. Place an attractive rug in front of it.
5. Hang a new light fixture over it, or clean and shine your existing.
6. Add a shiny door knocker to it. (Opportunities just might come a-knocking!)

Let me know what you decide to try - and the results you have after. I'd love to hear your feng shui stories; just click "Post a Comment" below...

Why It’s Important to Use Your Front Door

By Jessica Hoelzel

With the modern convenience of a garage door opener, most of us just push the button and pull in. But to have good feng shui, you must use your front door. It’s where chi, or life force energy, enters your home, and where blessings and opportunities find their way into your life.

Not only must you use your front door, but you must also make sure your front door:

• Is visible from the road
• Is well lit at night
• Is unobstructed by overgrown bushes or trees
• Opens easily and fully

If you can check YES to all of the above, you’re in pretty good feng shui shape. But also go to the extra effort to pull out those keys – yes, and even walk around the house or up your sidewalk to enter your home through your front door, at least occasionally.

In fact, this is usually the most pleasant way to enter. And have your guests come in the proper way too. After all, you’re just allowing the house to do what it was designed to do. Invite entrance through the front door and invite feng shui blessings in too.

Using a Home Diffuser to Make Your Home Smell Fresh & Lovely

By Jessica Hoelzel

Looking for a natural way to freshen the air in your home? Well no doubt. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), typical air fresheners are mainly made up of four chemical ingredients: formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, p- dichlorobenzene, and aerosol propellants. These chemicals are known to be highly flammable, can cause irritation to the eyes, skin and throat. And, they can cause death if ingested by people or pets. Read more

Have you ever been in a space where the smell of air freshener or scented candles gave you a headache? Well, this explains why. It’s unnatural, dangerous even, for chemicals or artificial scents to come in contact with the human body. A headache is a minimal side effect, but clearly, there are other more threatening side effects from using them as well. I want nothing of the kind in my home, and I don’t want it for others either…

This is why I became an independent distributor of Young Living Products. I’ve been experimenting with their essential oils for years, and I've found several oils that can be used for enhancing feng shui and space clearing.

Let’s be honest, the air in our homes can get stale, funky or otherwise unpleasant at times due to lack of air flow, humidity, kids, pets, cooking, and so on. So freshen it the natural way with a Home Diffuser. You just fill it with water and some drops of essential oil, turn it on, and it disperses the oils as vapors into the air, making your home smell fresh – not by masking the odors, but helping to eliminating them. And they’re 100% natural and therapeutic grade.

Here are two I recommend having on hand at all times, for diffusing:

Purification – An essential oil blend that can kill bacteria in the air. Crisp, refreshing scent.

Lavender – An essential oil with a myriad of uses, especially for relaxation. An herbal scent most people enjoy.

If you’d like to order a Home Diffuser, Essential Oils or are curious about other Young Living Products, check out the website. Email me with questions or products you’re interested in. I’d be happy to let you know how you can place an order, and help you get the best deal.