Over the past couple of days, I’ve had brothers and sisters coming to me with the same complaint.
They say that since entering the second half of the year, nothing has been going right. Not only are they constantly running into obstacles and losing small amounts of money here and there — they’re also finding themselves blindsided by underhanded people working against them behind the scenes.
Everything just feels tangled up and miserable.
Here’s the truth: when this kind of thing happens in the workplace, there’s a very high probability that your workstation’s Feng Shui layout is the culprit — drawing in stagnant, unlucky energy.
People are products of their environment. The influence of your surroundings and energy field is genuinely greater than you can imagine.
Let me offer some practical suggestions. I sincerely encourage you to try them.
1. Under your desk surface, don’t keep a trash can there just for convenience — it attracts insects and pests, and the symbolism is terrible.
Don’t let others dump their unwanted clutter around your workstation either. Make every effort to keep the area as clean as possible.
2. If your workstation happens to sit in a sensitive position — near a restroom, an emergency exit, or a storage room — push to have it relocated somewhere more open and expansive.
One thing above all else: never, never, never allow someone who gossips, stirs up trouble, or stabs people in the back to sit directly behind you. Get that changed no matter what. If you don’t, your Chi field (气场) will be perpetually disrupted.
3. Keep sharp objects — box cutters, scissors, paper knives — stored away in a drawer. Leaving them out on your desk is not ideal.
4. Where you have a choice, aim to have an open view in front of your workstation. Sitting directly facing a blank wall is, to put it plainly, an inauspicious arrangement — it carries the connotation of being made to stand in the corner and reflect on your faults.
Similarly, avoid having a structural column directly in front of you — it symbolizes a blow to the head. If it’s unavoidable, sit at an angle and place a mountain-shaped pen holder on your desk.
If there’s a load-bearing beam directly overhead, that’s also a poor situation — it symbolically limits and suppresses your growth. Avoid it if you can.
5. As a general principle, try to sit to the right of a reliable senior colleague — meaning they are to your left — which creates a posture of leaning into their support.
If the opportunity presents itself, having a senior leader’s office directly behind your position is ideal. The higher the rank, the stronger the invisible support flowing your way.
6. As a rule, arrange your workstation according to a left-high, right-low principle. Leaving the right side completely clear is also a perfectly good choice.
Place taller items on the left: your computer, file rack, or anything that creates height.
7. Personally, I’ve never been a strong advocate for keeping plants at your workstation — especially succulents. They easily attract gossip and conflict, and the moment they start wilting, you must deal with them immediately. Do not be slack about it.
8. For your seat cushion, choose a landscape or mountain-motif pattern. Mountain-dominant designs are best, in blue-grey or earth tones.
9. If there are unavoidable negative factors in your immediate surroundings, the best remedy is a small purple-toned crystal ball. A compact size is perfectly sufficient.
10. While I don’t advocate for many plants, if you’re going through a period heavy with rumors, gossip, and scheming, place a cactus with long, firm spines on the right side of your desk. Just be mentally prepared that your income may also run a little sluggish during that same stretch.
11. If you’re in a phase where nothing works — tasks get mysteriously cut short midway, things collapse for no apparent reason, and strange negative consequences keep compounding — consider ordering a small figurine online: an azure dragon, fierce tiger, hunting eagle, or qilin. Don’t leave it out permanently. Let it stand guard after you clock out, and occasionally offer it a small meat-based snack during the day.
12. If career advancement is what you’re after, place a small decorative ladder on your desk at home — one that symbolizes rising step by step. Prop the top of the ladder against a platform or shelf so it leads somewhere, rather than hanging in empty air.
As long as your situation isn’t exceptionally extreme, these twelve suggestions are more than enough to get an ordinary professional performing at close to full capacity.
Give them a try. The results may surprise you.
One more thing: knowledge from Chinese metaphysics (玄学) traditions is best not consumed selfishly. Knowing how to benefit yourself while never giving anything back is not a particularly admirable way to live.
Fortune flows in when fortune flows out — that’s how abundance sustains itself.