Opening Wide to See the Mouth of Chi

Everything that comes into your workspace enters through your front door, bringing its positive and negative energy with it. In Feng Shui, the front entrance is called the Mouth of Chi. This opening might be the front door of the store where you work as a clerk, the door to your office, or the opening to your cubicle. The Mouth of Chi is one of the most important and powerful areas in your workspace. It is through the Mouth of Chi that good fortune, blessings, and opportunities come to you. Do your best to welcome them in! Making a good first impression is how you can start.

Creating a negative first impression — dirty windows near the entrance and unemptied trashcans by the front door — may cause chi to stagnate and may even attract negative chi. If nothing else, it will turn off potential clients!

The Mouth of Chi also allows people to enter. What these other people see when they enter your space is a reflection of who you are. Think of the Mouth of Chi as a mirror of your personality. Is the entrance to your workspace inviting or disorderly? Cluttered or easy to navigate? The image you project and the impression others have of your space affects the energy coming into your space, whether that impression is favorable or unfavorable.

Remember that your workspace entrance will leave a lasting impression on clients, visitors, and co-workers. Make sure it's the impression you want them to have. Your retail store's front door should be easily accessible (you shouldn't have to navigate sixteen steeply pitched steps to reach it), well lit, clean, and welcoming (get rid of the sign saying, "Attack dog in back"). Even the entrance to your cubicle reflects well on you if you take the time to keep the area free of clutter and position your desk and other equipment appropriately. If you meet clients at your office building, both the building's main entrance and your workspace entrance should be clean and clutter-free. This will make your clients more comfortable doing business with you.

Convincing your boss to keep the front entrance to your place of work clean and inviting can be a challenge. If she isn't open to Feng Shui, use words like welcoming and comfortable to convince her that paying attention to the entrance will enhance the bottom line. In fact, you can even spend a few minutes before or after work sprucing up the area to show your boss what a difference a little attention can make. If all else fails and she's not open to your suggestions, focus on those areas over which you do have control.

Sometimes the placement of the entrance to your workspace is awkward or inconvenient. Maybe the door to your space opens onto a wall or visitors have to come to it from a less favorable direction. Moving the door is probably not an option, but you can help correct this problem by making the entrance more inviting. Here are a few tips on how to do just that:

• Clean and de-clutter the entrance area and keep it clean and uncluttered. Sweep or vacuum the floor near the entrance. Signs of neglect make visitors feel uncomfortable.

• For exterior entrances, keep the door freshly painted. Dark or bright colors, like red or navy blue, and natural wood make good colors for front doors.

• Windows near a front entrance should be kept scrupulously clean.

• Healthy plants or blooming plants in colored bowls placed by a front door or near the entrance make a space feel attractive. Avoid cactus and spiked-leafed plants, which can make visitors feel unwelcome.

• Make sure the area is well lit and that lamps are hanging straight. Add a floor lamp or indirect lighting if needed.

• Hang a Feng Shui mirror (an octagon-shaped mirror, called a bagua mirror) above the front entrance on the outside of the building to deflect negative chi from the entrance.

• A circular or oval-shaped welcome mat for exterior entrances counteracts the rectangular shape of the door and doorway, and subtly makes the area feel more balanced and harmonious.

• Add a water feature such as a tabletop fountain or desktop waterfall near the entryway to make guests (and you!) feel welcome. Gently moving water has a calming effect on people.

• Position a pair of symbolically protective figures on either side of your entrance. Instead of the lions that "guard" many structures, think of colorful flowers or small stone or ceramic figures of angels or other protective figures.

Don't place decorative objects too close to or directly in front of the entrance to your office. The arrangement not only can feel unwelcoming to visitors, but also can block the good chi from entering your space.

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