Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement is all about bringing balance and harmony to the energy in the life areas. The balancing of elements, shapes, colors and numbers that all contribute to the flow of chi to enhance happiness or calmness takes many years to learn and understand. However, the Feng Shui tip that most people are looking for is the one that will provide a quick fix for some life problem. Fixes are not quick in Feng Shui. They are called “cures” and here is how they work.

Feng Shui Cures

There’s no doubt that color has a strong effect on moods. A good Feng Shui tip is to use color to calm or energize your rooms. Red is strong and energetic. Use it for a dining room to energize company. Orange is happy and refreshing making it good for kitchens and playrooms. Yellow inspires creativity and vitality needed in kitchens and offices where creative work is done. Green is healing and calming -- great for living rooms and bedrooms where balance and renewal are needed. Blue is healing and relaxing, so add blue to a sick room. Indigo is relaxing and so will keep health in a home; purple is rich. Use it in spiritual rooms and around the home to encourage wealth and abundance.

Lighting also affects the mood of a room, so a good Feng Shui tip is to light a home with natural sunlight. A room meant for movement and activity should have bright lights, while rooms meant for quiet and reflection should be softly lit. The modern technology of dimmer switches allows room’s mood to be changed as needed.

Aromatherapy is a branch of Feng Shui. A good Feng Shui tip is to change the mood of your home by adding scent with candles, cooking, and flowers to enhance different feelings in each room. Use lemons to energize or lavender to bring harmony between residents of a home. Don’t overlook the benefit of fresh air and be sure to keep your home free of dust, mold and other unpleasant odors.

Taste has an important place in Feng Shui. Each of the life areas is associated with a taste. Knowledge is sweet or bland, career is salty, helpful people is hot and spicy, family is sour, children and creativity is hot and spicy, wealth and abundance is sour, fame and reputation is bitter, and personal relationships is sweet or bland. A good Feng Shui tip is to drink lemon in water to increase wealth.

Life is an important energy source in Feng Shui. Bring living things into the home like pets, plants and flowers. On the other hand, death is a source of negative energy. A good Feng Shui tip is to get rid of dead plants, stuffed animals and bring in flowers of the appropriate colors.

Numbers are associated with each of the life areas as well as with directions. Career is associated with north and the number 1, while wealth is associated with southeast and 4 and health with center and 9. You can group objects in the necessary numbers, avoid mismatched objects if you’re looking for love, hang a picture of several objects, or depend on the number of inches that a crystal measures. But the best Feng Shui tip, though, is to be aware of your life goals and do what you need to do in order to accomplish them.