feng shui bagua series: your home's feng shui career area

Have you been struggling in your job? Having problems finding a job? Are you looking for a new job or up for a promotion at work? Would you like to make more money or attract new clients in your business? Are you struggling with your purpose in life? It’s time to look at your home’s feng shui career area!

In Western feng shui, the career area is in the front center third of your home, when standing at the front door looking inside. Here’s a picture of the feng shui bagua (the feng shui map of your home):

(For more info about how to use the feng shui bagua map, click here!)

The feng shui career area of your home is responsible for:

your business
your career
your life path

For a lot of people, this means their work or their business.

But if you don’t have a job or business, or you’re retired, then this would be your philanthropic projects, your legacy, or just general purpose in life!

There is no right or wrong “answer” to what this is for you — if nothing comes to mind or if you are struggling with figuring out what you want to do for your life’s first, second, or third act, then it’s time to work on this area!

When the career area is in balance, you’ll find that:

Career growth comes quickly and easily
New customers are attracted to your business
Promotions and recognition at work happen consistently
Career opportunities are never in short supply
Your life path feels fresh and flows from one opportunity to the next

While the career area is related to money in your job or life path, it’s often called the secondary wealth area because it’s not 100% responsible for money.

Money and wealth can come from all sorts of areas, not just your job!

But if you are looking for wealth or income from your job or life path, then this area is important there, too.

(Click here to read more about your feng shui wealth area to see how it relates to wealth and abundance outside of your job!)

When your home’s career area is out of balance, you’ll find that:

Your job feels stagnant or constantly on hold
You have problems with your boss or coworkers
You’re losing money or customers in your business
Your income from work is unstable or fluctuates constantly
You’re always looking for more customers in your business instead of customers looking for you
Promotions or new work are hard to come by
You haven’t gotten a raise in your job in a long time
You’re out of work or always looking for a new job that doesn’t seem to materialize or be quite right
You feel lost or like you don’t have a purpose in life
Decisions about your work are not made by you or on your terms, or the terms are always less than ideal
You are competing for work instead of others competing to work with you
Projects you’re working on or involved with never seem to go to completion or are constantly have problems
Constantly bored at work or in your business/life path

Decorate your home’s career area with:

Black or dark colors
White/gray/blue as supportive colors
Water elements, water features, or pictures containing water (not crashing waves or large waterfalls unless you want an unstable career)
Glass/mirrors
Free-flowing/abstract shapes (symbolizing flowing water)

Decorative items to avoid in the career area:

Earth colors (browns, beiges, light yellows)
Earth objects – a little earth is great for grounding, but in the creative element cycle, earth and water = mud and counteract each other)
Square objects
Landscape pictures

Often, the career area falls in the entrance of your home. This means your front door is extremely important to your career, new opportunities, and life path!

If this is the case for you, make sure you check out: How to feng shui your front door

Feng shui cures for the career area:

A small fountain or aquarium, with the flow of water flowing in (towards) your home and not out (away from the home.) Flowing water represents a flowing, abundant career!

Items related to the career you have or the career you want. If you are trying to attract a new career, this is an excellent area to keep a career vision board!

Place a lamp or upward facing light in this area to shine a light on your career! If you are trying to attract forward momentum or new attention in your job, or attract a new job, turn the light on for a few hours a day for at least 8 days (or until you get the career movement you’re trying to attract!)

If the career area is in your entryway, here are feng shui enhancements for your entryway to attract money and wealth!

Keep in mind that the career area of your home is not the only area of your life that affects your success in your life path. Your desk and office space (at home or at work) also directly correlate with your career!

Click here to find out how to feng shui your desk.

What should you do if the career area of your home is missing?

Some homes are oddly shaped and don’t fit the shape of the bagua easily, which means areas of the home seem to be missing or unusable in some way.

If that area is your career area, don’t worry! This doesn’t mean you are going to have a terrible career or hard time in your life’s work.

When parts of the bagua seem to be missing, they really aren’t!

Instead, the parts that would appear to be gone are actually moved inside the boundaries of your home.

The areas that are inside the home do “double duty” and you can apply the cures that you would normally put in your career area inside the areas next to it – in this case, that would be the knowledge/spirituality/self cultivation area, the health area, and the travel/helpful people area.

You can either split the areas that DO exist into thirds and use those areas, or you can just enhance the walls that adjoin the area that seems to be missing.

What if your home’s career area is someone’s bedroom or an area of your home that isn’t accessible to enhance with feng shui?

What if your home’s career area falls in someone’s bedroom and you can’t place feng shui cures or enhancements there? Or what if you have a roommate or tenant or some other reason why you can’t place a feng shui enhancement in this area? Just pretend the area is missing!

Yes, the home as a whole DOES count toward your life as a whole, but you also can’t feng shui for other people.

Instead, respect that person’s boundary and just do the areas of your home that you DO control.

Make sure energy flows well in the rest of the home and don’t worry about the areas you can’t control.

You can also use the bagua map on each individual room of your home, so if the main career area of your home is inaccessible and you really want to boost your career, choose another room to place your feng shui cure!

Another area that works well for this is your home’s fame/reputation area, your entryway, or your knowledge/self cultivation/spirituality area.

Or, like we discussed above, you can also feng shui your desk and office. There is always a way to use feng shui to boost your intentions, no matter what type of situation you live in!