Shifting the Energy of the House

"You know," I said to my husband while he played Bejeweled on the office computer, "if we put the bed on that wall and the dresser here we could put our room in here."

He glanced at me nervously. I get this feeling every now and then where I must rearrange things. Usually it's just the couch or a table. This time I was talking about flipping two rooms. The internet cable. A huge heavy desk. Book shelves. He's less than thrilled when I move around the contents of a room, something I've done since childhood; when I start moving whole rooms he gets downright freaked out.

"Why?" he said cautiously.

"Because the office would fit better in our room. It would be nice to have our room closer to the bathroom and the office off the kitchen. It would be cozy in here, but... it would work."

I started to get excited. I began to picture the soft white curtains in our "new" room. The kids' art table under the window in our "new" office. I spent the day convincing him. I bribed him with a shoulder rub if he'd go down in the (gross dusty spider-infested) crawl space to figure out the internet cable situation. Finally he agreed, saying he actually liked the idea. If not of moving stuff, of having it all moved.

Long, boring, dusty story short, we did it. We've slept two nights in our new room and the new office is mostly set up. There are odds and ends we need like closet organizing and that darn cable moved (we went wireless on both computers), but the big pieces are in place. It feels really good - but also very unsettled. The baby napped poorly yesterday. I yelled at my daughter twice yesterday (I'm not proud to say). Things feel like they are floating off the floor a half inch. But it feels like the rooms are finally in the right place (we've lived in this house over four years), as if we'd swapped two puzzle pieces that finally clicked into place. When the dust settles (the invisible energy dust, I mean), the Feng Shui of our house will feel so much better.

Does your house feel unsettled? Bedrooms should be in yin parts of the house; in our case we moved a room from the front of the house to the back. They should be near bathrooms and away from public areas like the kitchen. Public spaces should flow from one to another, including living room, dining room, kitchen, and playroom or family rooms. Walls and doorways slow energy. Large windows let in energy from outside, which was one problem in our "old" bedroom, since we had a large window facing the street. I often felt unsettled and on alert while I slept. If you're having trouble sleeping, try moving a bed or even your whole room. The adjustment period can be unsettling, but you'll know it when the pieces click into place and it will change the energy in your entire house. And since our house is an extension of our selves, it can affect your health and happiness as well.


For more on Feng Shui and the energy of place, check out these books.