Chapter 4
The living room is a place where memories are made, and it’s also where good memories are preserved. Call it “the museum of you” (and of your loved ones). From family pictures on the mantel to that fabulous ottoman you reupholstered yourself, your living room symbolizes the harmony you should have in every relationship, from family to community. These are the spaces most often shared by family and friends, and every element in them should be welcoming, as well as representative of who you are.
In many homes, the living room is the first room everyone sees upon entering through the front door. Ideally, it is visible from many areas of your home, as it is considered the “hub” of energy in feng shui. The “heart” of your home—a place that holds your memories and spreads joy into the rest of your living space throughout the house—the living room should be clearly visible or easily accessible from other rooms. The same can be true of your den, family room, or great room, especially if your home’s layout doesn’t feature a “formal” living room. Keep in mind that wherever these rooms are located in your home’s blueprint, they have an inherent family energy and should be decorated or enhanced accordingly.
Surprisingly, the formal living room, in all its splendor, is often the one room in the home reserved for special occasions and visits from friends, family, and “company.” Don’t be one of those people like your Aunt Ida, who enshrines her living room furniture in sheets of protective plastic and constantly reminds you not to touch the “good” furniture. Good feng shui also means living life in flow with the Universe, and life is too short to spend hundreds of dollars decorating a living room that can’t be lived in!
Your “room for living” should reflect who you are, and who you would like to see yourself become. It’s a placefor dreaming and introspection and connection with the self as well as for connection with others.
Incorporate your family traditions into your living room, too. This could simply mean that you watch football every Sunday in your living room, or that you have a weekly Friday-night movie “date” with your significant other. The important thing is to create a warm, welcoming, and “safe” place for you and other members of your family to come together to share your hopes, dreams, and ideas in a receptive, caring environment. That’s what your living room is really all about.
Like clutter, work can pile up quickly in your living room, so be sure to declare it off-limits in this important room for family gathering.
Use wisdom and power to enhance this meaningful room. First, you need to look at the direction the room is in. The best energies for a living room in feng shui come from the south, southeast, or southwest. These directions inspire creativity, lively conversation, and the positive exchange of ideas. West is also a good location for entertaining, so focus on that area of the room when having a party or get-together in your living room.
Position furniture so that it supports the main purpose of the room, which is to build a strong sense of family cohesiveness and community. That means you should have your sofa and chairs positioned so that theyface the center of the room. Allow family and guests to choose their own best direction to sit, but be sure that no one is placed with their back to an entrance or window; if necessary, angle the piece of furniture so that your guest’s back is protected by a corner or wall. You don’t want your guests to feel open and vulnerable, right? Remember that your guests all need to be able to see an entrance to the room from where they are sitting, and you will be fine.
Not only is your living room a place for rest, relaxation, and community, it’s also a space for creative visualization and manifestation. Here, you can dream your dreams—but you can also set them into action and bring them to fruition by adding specific elements to draw them into being.
If you want the help of your ancestors in an aspect of your life, place photos or objects that once belonged to them in that corner of a room. For example, to receive help in business, put their portraits in your wealth corner, as determined by using your bagua. Don’t forget to say a daily prayer of thanks to your ancestors!
Balancing Act: The mixture of circles (round clock, mirror, and vase) and lines (the art deco and bamboo frames), as well as the mixture of metal, wood, and fire elements, brings a yin-yang balance to this mantel. Clutter would greatly upset this balance.
You can do your best to manifest the people or things you want to add to your life as long as your intention is focused on the highest good for all involved. Keep your intentions honest, pure, and of benefit to all, and you cannot go wrong.
Whether you want a new relationship (in which case, you should put pairs of things in the relationship corner of your living room) or a new job (in which case, you should activate the chi in the career sectionof your living room by hanging a crystal), know that you can affect change and make things happen simply by focusing your intention on a specific area of the bagua. Again, it’s your manifestation tool!
If you’ve lost something that’s important to you, consider placing a Chinese symbol of good luck in the last place you saw the item. A small, meaningfully placed statue of Quan Yin (the goddess of compassion) or Fu (the god of happiness and money luck) may help you “manifest” the missing item faster.
Some clutter is painfully obvious, like an overstuffed sofa crammed into a tiny corner of the room. But chi-blocking clutter can be found lurking in several other hiding spots:
Because it is typically the most “lived-in” room of your home, your living room can experience an “energy pileup” faster than other rooms. But don’t worry—there are many ways to stay on top of the situation.
It’s important to recognize that you are not limited to these simple solutions for storage and removal of clutter in your living room. Experiment with several different methods, then choose the one that best seems to work within your own (and your family’s) lifestyle. You may be surprised to find that all it takes to keep living room clutter from piling up is a simple sorting box kept close to the front door, giving your family a place to “plop” items before they even enter your sacred living space!
What if your living room is tiny—or, shall we say, cozy? Here, the smallest amount of extraneous décor is sure to seem magnified, as even tiny groups of items can appear to engulf a room of 10 feet x 10 feet or less.
One solution is to decorate using only one or two striking, yet space-saving, pieces of furniture and a few well-chosen objets d’art.
If you have lots of interesting glasswork, photos, or meaningful objects, consider spreading the wealth and sharing them in other rooms of your home. You are never limited to the traditional in your decorating. Why not put a great sculpture in your bathroom, or a whimsical vase on your kitchen counter? Think “outside of the living room” for almost any décor item.
A final option is to refurbish your basement into a secondary living space—in the form of a finished recreation room. Here, you can have a less-formal space for entertaining your family and friends and more usable space throughout your home. This creative use of space allows even more positive chi to flow through your home, since people can carry it as they walk from room to room.
Don’t forget that dust is clutter, too. Clean your living room on a weekly basis to keep the dust bunnies from populating in the space where your family shares its special times.
The primary purpose of your living room is to be a place for the relaxation of yourself, your family, and any guests you may entertain from time to time. It can be a place of wonderful memories, but it is also yoursubconscious mind on display. Everything you place on the mantel, bookshelves, or coffee tables will be seen by all and perhaps interpreted by many.
The degree to which your living room is open, airy, and free of clutter shows the outside world that you honor your relationship with nature—and with them.
What does your living room clutter say about you? Mostly, it says you are stuck in the past, and unwilling or unready to move forward into your future. It could also indicate that you’re trying to block changes from coming into your life, reflecting a deep insecurity or unwillingness to grow. Your guests will not perceive your living situation (and, worse yet, you) as healthy, even if they don’t know about the principles of good feng shui.
Keeping the living room clear and open not only for your guests, but also for the future, will help complete your social circle in a healthy, positive way. When you have a party or soiree on your calendar, plan to clean up clutter one week before the event—and then perhaps again the day before, just to be on the safe side. No cheating—sliding old magazines under the couch may seem like a quick solution, but you’ll pay for it in the end with feelings of guilt and oppression. If you’re the least bit uncomfortable or preoccupied, your guests will definitely pick up on it and exit sooner tothe comfort of their own homes. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to shine in your clutter-free living room!
If you have a squabble or heated debate with others while in your living room, this is actually a form of emotional clutter. Do a space clearing to break up the negative energy; it can be as simple as ringing a bell or clapping your hands around the room.
Because it is frequently located near the front door, the dining room can quickly become the “dumping ground” for all kinds of clutter-related items. It starts innocently enough, with a few books, papers, and pieces of mail placed on the dining room table for “just a little while.” Days pass, and it’s all still there because there is always something else that needs to be done. Before long, you’ve got a dining room dump of a mess.
The dining room is often an extension of your living room—it is where your family and guests spend time together in celebration and memory making. Dealing with clutter in your dining room is therefore as critical as it is in the living room, because these are the two rooms that symbolically show your face to the outside world.
When dealing with clutter in your dining room, there are a few obvious obstacles you could begin with.
As lovely as collectibles are, these figurines can quickly overpopulate an entire room. Displaying a few of the better ones, and storing the rest will help. Add new interest to the room—make it a revolving exhibit. If they speak to you, keep them on display, but if they say more about you to others than you might feel comfortable with, store them in the attic or, better yet, give them away. Remember to be mindful and meaningful in the display of objects.
Other people’s clutter in your home can be just as oppressive to chi as your own array of junk. One visit to a clutter-free friend’s home and you’ll immediately notice the difference. If you’re there with the clutter-a-holic you live with, point out the difference, but don’t go home and clear their clutter for them. Instead, encourage and inspire them to do it themselves.
It is also important to be cautious of possible clutter when displaying your “good” silverware/dishes. By themselves, these are not clutter. But if you have too many of either, your sideboard or china closet will be overstocked—and before you know it, you’ll have silverware everywhere in your dining room. Again, display a small and interesting grouping of things, and leave the rest instorage until you need them. Also remember that, despite their beauty, wine glasses are symbols of water and replenishment and should be kept in a closed china closet and protected from dust.
When creating a centerpiece for your dining room table, one lovely item, nicely centered in the middle of the table, is all you ever need. If you prefer fresh flowers, keep them healthy and alive—or pitch them. Dead or dying flowers represent negative energy in feng shui, and a table where you eat should be a place of health and vitality. Using a complementary table runner underneath the centerpiece will add softness and color.
An increasing cultural interest in spirituality has led many people to create mini altars in areas such as their dining rooms. This is fine if kept clean (as in free of burnt incense remains) and clutter-free (as in a few meaningful spiritual reminders, like a statue of the Virgin Mary, an angel, or perhaps the goddess of mercy, Quan Yin). You’ll be amazed at how focused your prayer sessions can be when you limit the number of deities represented in your altar!
Finally, think of the dining room’s main purpose. It is for feeding your soul—and the souls of your friends and family. There’s a reason most home designs instinctively place the dining room in the helpful people corner of the home’s bagua. Contrary to the opulence and extravagance of kings and queens, don’t make your dining room a shrine to excess. Respect yourself and your guests by keeping this room—and your living room—clean and clutter-free.
Once you’ve cleared the clutter in your living and dining rooms, think of how much better you’ll feel about inviting others to your home. The best, and most liberating, part of this process is that it will allow you to say goodbye to those hurried, last-minute clutter-stuffing sessions in your closet or basement when you discover that company is on its way. But you’ll also find that eliminating clutter by giving things away to others will increase your personal power of abundance—and you’ll reap those benefits in many new and wonderful ways.