Can Feng Shui Bring Work Life Balance?
In this article, I will explain the concept of work-life balance and how you can achieve it by implementing life skills and basic Feng Shui principles. I will also list several ways to manage the emotional stress of not having any work-life balance.
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According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, most professionals agreed they had zero work-life balance, and their jobs were demanding and exhausting. Notably, about 30% of men and 50% of women in the study claimed they consciously worked to maintain a healthy work-life balance and succeeded most of the time. This suggests that work-life balance isn’t just a myth, and you can create it in your life.
What Is Work-Life Balance?
Work-life balance refers to a sustainable way of working that allows one to maintain both physical and emotional well-being. It’s considered a person’s ability to accomplish the goals set for their personal and professional lives and enjoy the satisfaction of achieving harmony across all life areas.
Work-life balance is often a significant stressor in an individual’s life. The proliferation of technology and the rise of the remote and hybrid-working culture have blurred the lines between one’s personal and professional lives as has the need for a “side-gig” to help pay the bills.
According to the data published on the OECD Better Living Index website, 11% of employees in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries work 50 hours or more in a week. About 15% of all male workers work very long hours, compared to about 6% of the female workforce.
Methods To Decrease Stress
Emotional stress impairs your productivity at work and your ability to be present in your relationships with compassion, empathy, and serenity.
You have to bring back the work-life balance currently out of alignment. Meanwhile, you must try to remain stress-free as you attempt to bring back harmony into your life.
Read on to find out how you can decrease stress in your life arising from having no work-life balance.
Ditch Perfectionism
Striving for perfectionism will drain you physically, emotionally, and neurologically.
A report on Medical News Today compiled the findings from several studies on the link between perfectionism and physical health and mental well-being. There is a positive co-relationship between perfectionist tendencies and high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, clinical depression, eating disorders, anxiety, impaired healing, and suicidal thoughts.
As lives become complicated and responsibilities increase, perfection will remain an elusive goal. If you aim for perfection, it may cause you to miss a few deadlines or be forced to cut corners. Life will always be a mad dash against the clock, and you won’t find the balance you seek.
Strive for small improvements on what you’ve done before instead.
Turn Off Technology
By connecting us to the world, technology has also distanced us from our personal lives. Being connected 24×7 comes with its unique disadvantages:
- You’re never away from work because your office travels with you on your smartphone and tablet.
- You can’t enjoy the moment because you respond to emails at a party.
- You’re not present for your loved ones because you’re distracted by notifications.
Technology makes us try to live and participate in multiple worlds. As a result, we’re unable to fully engage with any world.
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is an old saying that might have been true once upon a time, but is a potential trap in the technological age because of the ease in which we can connect.
American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton cautions us, “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
So, unplug. Here’s how:
- Don’t take work home.
- Mute phone notifications when you’re at your kid’s game or performance.
- Take a break from social media.
- Call a loved one to ask them what’s going on in their lives.
Download the Disconnect To Reconnect guide to free yourself of the online world and get your life back
Exercise, Meditate, and Eat and Sleep Better
Cleveland Clinic recommends the following methods to manage stress:
• Eat a healthy diet.
• Limit caffeine.
• Drink alcohol in moderation.
• Avoid tobacco and nicotine.
• Get your quota of beauty sleep.
• Practice relaxation techniques.
Exercise is a powerful stress buster. Aerobic exercise has been shown to release endorphins that trigger feel-good vibes. You can also try strength training, Tai Chi, QiGong, or yoga to get moving.
Research and find a relaxation technique that suits your personality and schedule. You can choose from an array: deep breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, listening to music, mental imagery relaxation, or working with adult coloring books.
Declutter Your Schedule
Stephen Covey, the author of the best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said, “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”
It’s almost impossible to create work-life balance if too many things are on your plate. If you juggle too many balls, you’ll inevitably drop a few.
Declutter your schedule to create the mental space to focus on what is most important to you. Here’s how:
- Pause and think about your priorities and values to figure out what is meaningful to you.
- List everything you usually do in a day or throughout the week.
- Declutter your schedule by crossing off activities that don’t add value to your life. Don’t waste precious and limited time and energy on these activities.
3 Ways To Use Feng Shui To Bring Balance
The ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui seeks to manage energy to help us live in harmony with our environment. By implementing the principles of Feng Shui, work-life balance can be attained and sustained.
Here’s how with Feng Shui, harmony and work-life balance can be achieved:
1. Use your Ming Gua Directions
Your Ming Gua or Life Number is based on your year of birth and can tell you which directions are good for you and which ones are bad.
A way to use this information is when meditating or relaxing, face towards one of these good directions. Firstly, calculate your Ming Gua then work out which of the good directions suits your purpose. My preference is B – Tien Yi, “Doctor From Heaven” for clearing away negative energy and replacing it with positive energy.
Here are the Tien Yi directions for each Ming Gua –
1 Water: East, 2 Earth: West, 3 Wood: North, 4 Wood: South, 6 Metal: Northeast, 7 Metal: Southwest, 8 Earth: Northwest, and 9 Fire: Southeast.
A lovely ‘earthing’ technique I learnt from a wonderful teacher many years ago is to find a fertile area like a garden or forest and dig your bare feet into the ground slightly while facing towards your Tien Yi and meditating. This works at the beach, near a river or anywhere that you can find some peace in nature.
2. Balance Yin and Yang Energies
In Feng Shui, balance between the Yin and Yang energies is crucial to create harmony between your personal and professional lives.
Yang is a fast, assertive, and active energy, while Yin is softer, passive, and more receptive.
If you want to recharge your work life, you need to bring more Yang energy into your life. If you want to incorporate more rest and relaxation into your life, you need to bring more Yin into your life.
If your work-life balance is skewed, it’s probably your job taking up most of your time, energy, and focus. You need to bring more Yin into your life, and here’s how:
• Use dimmer lights to darken your surroundings towards the end of the day.
• Unplug your computer as a signal to your mind that you’re now ready to focus on your personal life.
• Be in nature more often.
• Relax with calming activities, like listening to soft music, meditating, or visualizing with guided imagery.
3. Invite More Earth Element Into Your Surroundings
There are five Elements in Feng Shui, and each represents a specific mental state you may want to invite into your life.
The Earth Element represents stability, support, and groundedness. When your work-life balance is off-kilter, inviting Earth energy into your environs will help you keep out distractions and focus on your priorities so you feel more in control of your life.
You can add more of the Earth Element if you work from a home office or have your work desk in your bedroom. Invite more Earth energy into your surroundings by incorporating one or more of the following items in the décor:
• An earthy color like yellow or brown
• An object that has originated from the earth, such as a crystal, a stone, or a piece of pottery.
Final Words: Work-Life Balance Is Not an Illusion
You can create work-life balance by changing your mindset. Feng Shui regulates the energies around you to create spaces that inspire you to reflect on your values and priorities and find the courage to restructure your life.
By helping you create work-life balance, Feng Shui also transforms you into a person who lives intentionally and is the highest version of themselves.
Feng Shui and Stress Busting Resources
For further reading, here are some websites, books, services or courses. If you know of any resources that should be in this list, leave a comment below –
- Click here for information on dealing with modern day life.
- Learn about all the different forms of healing here.
- Meditation can help reduce stress, here are some resources available for download.
Many people believe crippling stress is an inevitable side effect of our fast-paced modern life. Some even see it as a necessary ‘evil’ to achieve their career and personal goals.
But being calm, happy and joyful shouldn’t be negotiable. In fact it can and should come as naturally to you as breathing.
The Everyday Bliss program with celebrity hypnotherapist Paul McKenna empowers you to reprogram your body and mind’s response to stress – so an unconditionally positive mind, a relaxed body, and a happier and more productive life become your new normal.
