In feng shui, you can tell your home is set up properly when things in your life go right most of the time.
You feel happy when you come home.
You feel well-rested in the mornings.
Everyone in your household is mostly getting along.
Your finances are stable or growing.
You have lots of positive things coming into your life.
And everything is generally okay – natural life cycles happen but for the most part everything seems even-keeled and not too over-stimulated or overly dramatic.
But when your home (or life) is full of negative energy, that can be a symptom of things in your home not being optimally set up according to feng shui.
It can also be a sign of negative predecessor energy (energy that existed in your home or the land your home was built on before you arrived.)
Or negative energy entering and circulating throughout your home for some other reason.
But the point is, any time something feels off, you can fix it!
Let’s go through some of the symptoms of negative energy at home and why they might be happening according to feng shui.
What Causes Negative Energy In Your Home
Things that can cause negative energy in your home are:
Predecessor energy (energy that existed in your home before you got there.)
Energetic patterns. This can be from things like arguments, bringing stress home with you from work or other places, addiction or negative energetic habits, trauma, depression – anything that drags down the energy can cause negative energy to circulate in your home.
Lots of clutter, broken things, or items you hate being kept in your home.
Having lots of people with mixed energy in your home or passing through. Things like parties and open houses can bring mixed energy into your home, including negative energy.
Neglected home maintenance.
Death or illness.
Financial problems. These can be both caused by your home or brought into your home, attracting negative energy.
Missing feng shui bagua areas. These can cause imbalances of energy, especially in the areas of your life where the bagua is missing.
Roommates or house guests.
Bringing in furniture or other home objects that were owned or touched by others.
Doing major remodels or DIY projects that disrupt the energy circulating in your home.
Home repairs or projects being done by others who are coming in and out of your home.
Consuming a lot of negative or disruptive media in your home.
An imbalance of the feng shui elements. Having too much of the fire element, for example, can stir up the energy and cause negative emotions, which feed on themselves and cause more and more irritation and negativity.
Symptoms of Negative Energy In Your Home
You feel uncomfortable.
The number one sign of negative energy in your home is that you feel uncomfortable.
If you feel like you can’t sit still, or you don’t want to be at home, that is a sign of negative energy in your space.
Even if it’s just a slight feeling – don’t ignore it!
It can be really easy to discount our feelings and think we’re making things up – but often we aren’t.
Often it’s a symptom of something even if we can’t fully explain it.
Things are breaking or not working properly.
Are things breaking? Are electronics acting weird? Are light bulbs burning out really quickly?
If you have a lot of things breaking all at once, it can be a sign that something is happening energetically.
Everyone is arguing.
If you’re having a lot of arguments – whether inside or outside of the home, it can be a sign of negative energy in your home.
In feng shui, everything in your home correlates with your life outside of your home. (You can see the feng shui bagua map here to see which areas of your home correlate with the different areas of your life.)
So if your kids are getting into arguments at school, or if everyone is arguing in your home – it can mean something is going on energetically that is dragging down everyone’s energy.
You can’t sleep.
Insomnia, sleep disturbances, or nightmares can also be a symptom of negative energy.
It can also be a sign that your bedroom feng shui is off.
Even if you can’t really explain why you’re experiencing insomnia or sleep disturbances – sometimes our bodies pick up on subtle energy and that comes out when we’re sleeping.
Don’t ignore it!
You’re noticing things you can’t explain.
Are you losing things and you can’t explain why? Are lights turning on or off even when you aren’t in the room? Are things being moved when you know that no one was in your space? Did you find something broken when you know no one touched it?
For example, I had a few days where the energy in my home just felt “off.” I kept finding drawers half open when I knew they’d been closed earlier in the day.
I would shut a door and the next time I passed by it it was open.
It turned out that I had recently brought in a lot of crystals into my home and hadn’t smudged them yet, plus I was doing a lot of cleaning and reorganizing so I felt frazzled and frustrated.
Once I smudged and cleansed the crystals, the excess energy dissipated and everything went back to normal.
But it was a really unsettling few days before I realized what was happening!
You feel angry.
Do you feel angry when you walk into a room? Do you find that when you come home you just feel frustrated and you don’t know why?
That is often a sign of low energy circulating somewhere in your home.
If you pay attention to when you feel angry the most, you might find the negative energy is attributed to one room.
If so, you know where to concentrate on cleansing the energy!
You feel afraid.
If you feel afraid when you enter your room, or at certain times of the day, it can be a sign that negative energy is in your home.
If you feel fine during the day, but at night you start feeling afraid, it can be an energetic pattern that exists in your home and your body is picking up on it.
You’re seeing things or hearing things.
Are you hearing sounds that you can’t explain? Are you catching things out of the corner of your eye?
Your brain is always scanning for threats in your space.
This is why the command position is so important in feng shui – your body won’t fully relax if a threat could potentially sneak up behind you.
But if you’re seeing things or hearing things, that can be a sign that there’s negative energy in your home.
You feel like you’re being watched.
Do you feel like someone is watching you but there’s no one there?
While this can sound super “woo-woo” if you don’t believe in other beings or energy (like ghosts or other dimensional beings,) I’m going to guess you wouldn’t have read this far if it was too far-fetched for you.😉
If you feel like you’re being watched, it can be a sign of something negative in your home.
It could also be a sign that something else is going on, like a neighbor or stalker – so it’s important to pay attention to this sign and make sure it really is purely energetic and not really happening!
You have financial problems.
Are lots of unpredictable or unexpected bills showing up? Are you losing clients in your business? Does someone in your household keep losing their job unexpectedly?
Oftentimes this shows up once you’ve moved into a new home, but it can also happen when you’ve done major remodeling or changed something energetically in your home.
If the financial instability started happening once you moved into your home, it can be a sign that the feng shui wealth area is off in some way.
If it happened after a major remodel or energetic change, you can usually trace it back to what happened and piece together why it occurred.
Sometimes things just need a chance to settle, but it could also be a sign that you need a specific feng shui wealth cure to counteract the change.
If the financial instability is occurring in your workplace it could also be a sign of negative energy happening in your office or building.
Did you change offices? Did someone new start working near you or in your office?
People you invite over don’t stay very long.
If you’re inviting people over and they don’t show up or they don’t stay very long, it can be a symptom of negative energy in your home.
They could be picking up on it and it makes them want to leave!
It can also be a symptom related to the feng shui in your dining room, which represents your relationship with friends and family.
You feel stressed.
Do you feel stressed when you come home or when you enter a certain room?
Of course, stress can be attributed to things going on outside of your home, but if you only feel that way when you are home, it’s a sign of negative things happening.
If you can pinpoint exactly what’s causing the stress – like a specific situation at home – it could just be temporary stress.
If you can’t pinpoint the stress, it can be a sign of negative energy circulating.
You can’t concentrate or can’t sit still.
This goes back to feeling uncomfortable, but if you can’t concentrate, sit still, or you feel brain fog any time you enter a certain room, it can be a sign of negative energy in your home.
You don’t spend a lot of time in certain rooms.
Is there a certain room no one in your home spends time in? Do you try and try to spend time in a certain room but it never ends up happening? Do you have one room that feels dark, suffocating, frustrating, or just “off?”
If you can pinpoint why (there’s too much clutter, you hate the color, you just don’t use that room) that’s one thing, but if you can’t pinpoint it, it can be a signal that there’s negative energy attached to that room.
You don’t want to be alone in your home.
Do you feel afraid or uncomfortable when you’re home alone?
If that pattern just started recently and you don’t know why, it can mean there’s something negative happening at home.
Sometimes this energy will also be paired with the “can’t sit still” or “can’t concentrate” energy.
If you find yourself coming up with excuses not to be home alone, or when you are, you are super uncomfortable – think about when that started. Did you change something? Did you have a lot of people in your home? Did you bring in a piece of used or antique furniture?
Predecessor energy can also be attached to objects, so it can be useful to smudge or cleanse anything you bring into your home.
Lots of illnesses.
Negative energy in your home can put stress on your body, leading to illnesses or being run down energetically.
It can also be a symptom of something happening in your home’s feng shui health area, kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom.
Bug infestations.
If you find bug infestations, like termites, wasps, carpenter ants, bee hives, or other unexpected nests of bugs, that can be a sign of negative energy circulating in your home.
Often, hidden things like bug infestations are a symptom of emotions hidden under the surface that need to be cleared out and worked through.
Leaks or home accidents.
Finding leaks or having lots of home accidents can also be a sign of negative energy.
Leaks especially can be a sign of repressed emotions.
Plants keep dying.
Plants that keep dying can be a symptom that negative energy is in your home.
Usually, this happens because the plants are absorbing the negative energy.
But it can also be the reverse – dead and dying plants can CAUSE stuck and stagnant Chi energy (life-force energy.)
If you don’t have a green thumb and tend to accumulate sick plants, they can cause energy to get stuck and attract more negative energy.
Lots of clutter.
Do you find that certain rooms just attract clutter, no matter what you do? Or is your whole home full of clutter?
This can be an energetic pattern that reflects chaos happening throughout your life (the inside is reflected on the outside.)
But it can also be a sign of negative energy – especially if it is always tied to a certain area of your home.
You could be unconsciously filling the room so that it can’t be used properly due to underlying negative energy.
Lots of negative thoughts or feelings.
Like attracts like. If you have a lot of negative thoughts or feelings, they can be caused by negative energy.
They can also be CAUSING negative energy. Everything is a reflection – so when things just feel “off” and negative – they ARE!
Take those feelings as a cue that it’s time to do something about the negative energy before it becomes a full-blown problem.
If you found one of these symptoms of negative energy in your home, don’t despair!
You can easily remove negative energy from your home in just a few easy steps.
Easy Ways to Remove Negative Energy in Your Home Are:
Using sea salt to cleanse the energy.
Using a singing bowl or sound to cleanse the energy.
Creating and using a DIY smudging spray.
Cleansing negative energy with crystals.
Using feng shui to remove negative energy.
Cleaning your home really well while opening windows and doors.
And once you’ve removed all of the negative energy, you can fill your home with good vibes by:
Using feng shui for positive energy.
Adding crystals for protection and grounding to your home or entryway.