Can You Design Happiness?

Guest User July 29, 2020

Anjie Cho was featured on Business of Home

For many designers, the link between living spaces and well-being is intuitive. A thoughtfully designed, personalized space sets you at ease, whereas a poorly planned one can bring on stress or blues. But what that actually looks like can vary widely: Some people feel most at home among rich hues, ample texture and low lighting; others prefer clean lines and sun-splashed minimalism. And while experts have reached certain points of consensus—like that greenery can boost mood—other topics, like how much symmetry matters in design, aren’t so clear-cut.

The good news is that design’s connection to mental health is garnering growing interest and resources, which means we’re likely to see plenty of new insights in the future. In the meantime, here’s a look at how beautiful spaces affect our brains, how art and nature can act as feel-good tools, and how color and light might influence our emotions. One thing’s for sure: In this ever-evolving realm, it’s worth keeping an open mind about how design choices can elevate (or inhibit) well-being.

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If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: My Number One Feng Shui Tip

Anjie Cho July 26, 2020

Hi Anjie, I love your blog and podcast! I would love to know: if you could only give one feng shui tip to someone, what would it be?

Thank you so much for your question! The most important piece of feng shui advice I can give to anyone (it’s also the last tip in my book) is to love your home. If you’ve been incorporating a lot of feng shui tips, remember that it’s your home so your energy and intentions are key. It’s not about taking something you read from a book or something that someone told you as truth. It’s important to test things out and see how they feel for you personally. My goal is to suggest things based on what I’ve personally learned and experienced as powerful, but that doesn’t mean what works for me or my clients will necessarily be the right thing for you. Not every adjustment is necessary for every person.

Each time you try a feng shui adjustment, take some time to reflect and see how it feels to you. Does it feel good? If not, try shifting something until it does. It’s also possible that something worked well in the past and now needs to be updated.

You want to love the way your home looks and feels. The most rewarding thing about what I do, whether I am teaching my students to become feng shui consultants, working with individuals in their homes, or working with architecture clients, is helping people transform their homes and spaces into places they really love.

I encourage you to take a look around your home and take note of what you love and also what doesn’t feel right any more. The more love and attention you give to your home, the more your home will serve and support you. BTB feng shui is also a shamanic tradition and everything is considered alive, so you can even say thank you to your home for supporting and nurturing you.

What I have always loved about architecture is not just designing buildings for how they look, but creating spaces that can support people. This is why I love working with interior spaces as well as teaching, so that my students can create spaces they love, and help their clients to do the same.

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui questions!

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

How the Feng Shui Bagua Map Works (and Why It's No DIY Project)

Guest User July 22, 2020

Anjie Cho was featured on PureWow

For many of us, our interior design skills are based on instinct: We arrange our furniture, art, even the books on our shelves based on what looks good—and, if we’re being honest, what will fit in any given space. Sometimes that works, sometimes it’s…a cluttered jumble that we hope we’ll fix someday. But for practitioners of Feng Shui, there’s an art to placing every item in your home—one that can affect the flow of energy, or Chi, throughout each room. “The intent is to create an environment that nourishes you holistically,” writes Anjie Cho in Holistic Spaces: 108 Ways to Create a Mindful and Peaceful Home.

One of the primary tools to achieve just that is through a Feng Shui Bagua Map, which essentially divides a space into eight areas that can boost different types of energy in your life, be it relationships, wealth or spiritual growth, just to name a few. The center of the map, which forms the ninth section, is considered a neutral zone. It represents a sense of balance and of being grounded.

Once you have a reading of where those areas are in your home, you can arrange the things you own—according to the principles of Feng Shui—to encourage abundance in those areas.

But! Before you click print on the map below and dash off to use it, there are a few things to know first.

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If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com