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Days when you're “in the zone” are spectacular, right? It’s almost like you’ve become a channel for ideas and solutions as things fall into place in this flowing state of life.
In the ancient art of feng shui, the state of flowing energy, or chi, is the ideal. If energy gets stuck in your home, it produces stagnation or “sha chi” (aka: bad vibes) that depress a space and the people in it. When a space is free of obstacles, you feel inspired and uplifted, open minded and much more powerful in that space.
In this philosophy and practice, energy is everything. The higher the quality of energy — beauty, peace, love, excitement — the better all things work.
You probably know how you're feeling right now, but it’s not as common to notice how your environment and your habits reflect and reinforce your feelings. But how do you use these to get to the flow state — the optimal, most awesome zone of life?
My suggestion to start: do more of what you love.
If you create a new habit or two that helps you reconnect to that expanded feeling of greatness when things aren't quite as perfect, you’ll feel more of that love for the day, and far more powerful flow in all that you do!
Here are some habits you can begin implementing to achieve more flow in your everyday life.
1. Sync up your habits with nature.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, winding down the day as the sun sets by dimming the lights, shutting the computer and TV, and rising closer to the sun rise without an alarm is the ideal. A simpler idea is to go to bed at 10pm or 11pm if you can. My acupuncturist insisted I go to bed before midnight to have more restorative sleep, and when I keep that routine, I wake up feeling fantastically ready for the day.
2. Take breaks at work that help you to connect to life.
While we often think of “being in the zone” as being in a state where you can go and go for hours completely lost in your creative process, breaks actually help you to be more present and more connected … and productive! Fast Company published the results of a study that concluded that 17 minute breaks every 52 minutes is the magic formula to maximize your productivity.
The trick is to take REAL breaks. Go outside or head to a lounge or just step away from your desk and stretch and walk around, put your phone away, and get away from your computer!
3. Move 27 things when you feel stuck.
If you have a ritual to lean on when you feel stuck, you’ll more confidently break out of a rut. In feng shui, the idea of moving 27 objects (9 is a big number in feng shui for fortune, and 27 is a multiple of 9) is to get the energy circulating in your space. Move your books on a shelf, go through the mail, dust things … just move 27 things, big or small, and it can help pop you out of a rut and get you reinspired.
4. Clear the air.
This is also a great way to shake up stuck space. Fresh air is a simple way to wake up your home or office. If you can open your windows, that’s a simple start. A small fan can also help to get the air circulating.
5. Meditate on a view!
While we don’t all have views that face toward rolling hills or a perfect shoreline, with art — paintings, posters and even screen savers — you can have a view on the wall or near you that helps you to expand your thoughts into a depth of space when you need to get reinspired or reset the day.
Art with a built-in view — a great photograph of nature, a cityscape, whatever inspires you — is meditative and enlivening, two key facets of being in the zone!
These ideas can be a springboard to fashion your own ways to become more present, awake and “in the zone” in the day.
The most important habit, though, is well worth repeating:
Do more of what you love.
It never fails to bring magic to a day. And if you want to find out more ways that changing your space can change your life, check out my online video course, Your Guide To DIY Feng Shui: Change Your Space To Change Your Life.
Dana Claudat is a modern Feng Shui Master and founder of The School Of Intention Feng Shui Certification Program. In the last 15 years Claudat has pioneered her own approach to Feng Shui that is rooted in infinite possibility, creativity and empowerment. Rather than hope for lucky results and outcomes, she helps her clients to create them every day.
She’s a Stanford-educated art historian with more than a decade of experience in design yet her approach to space is simple. Claudat is a longtime mindbodygreen contributor and instructor (she may have had a hand in the hundreds of plants in mindbodygreen headquarters!), and her work has been featured in design and lifestyle publications around the world.
You can work with her from wherever you are in the world in her online Feng Shui Camps and through her Online Feng Shui Consultations.
You can sign up for her weekly Feng Shui Rituals, including rituals for every New and Full Moon, right here!
More from the author:
The Feng Shui Home Makeover
Check out The Best Of The Best High-Vibe Home Styling With mbg Feng Shui Master
More from the author:
The Feng Shui Home Makeover
Check out The Best Of The Best High-Vibe Home Styling With mbg Feng Shui Master
Dana Claudat is a modern Feng Shui Master and founder of The School Of Intention Feng Shui Certification Program. In the last 15 years Claudat has pioneered her own approach to Feng Shui that is rooted in infinite possibility, creativity and empowerment. Rather than hope for lucky results and outcomes, she helps her clients to create them every day.
She’s a Stanford-educated art historian with more than a decade of experience in design yet her approach to space is simple. Claudat is a longtime mindbodygreen contributor and instructor (she may have had a hand in the hundreds of plants in mindbodygreen headquarters!), and her work has been featured in design and lifestyle publications around the world.
You can work with her from wherever you are in the world in her online Feng Shui Camps and through her Online Feng Shui Consultations.
You can sign up for her weekly Feng Shui Rituals, including rituals for every New and Full Moon, right here!
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