Irish visual artist Ciara O’Connor on using embroidery to explore women’s lives
Irish visual artist Ciara O’Connor on using embroidery to explore women’s lives

Nathalie Marquez Courtney

How an interior stylist turned this period Cork apartment into a quietly luxurious home
How an interior stylist turned this period Cork apartment into a quietly luxurious home

IMAGE Interiors & Living

This picturesque, split-level home in Delgany is on the market for €995,000
This picturesque, split-level home in Delgany is on the market for €995,000

Sarah Finnan

March 28: Today’s top stories in 60 seconds
March 28: Today’s top stories in 60 seconds

Sarah Gill

Real Weddings: Keelin and Darren tie the knot overlooking Dingle Bay
Real Weddings: Keelin and Darren tie the knot overlooking Dingle Bay

Shayna Sappington

Let me tell you why a mother is the perfect employee
Let me tell you why a mother is the perfect employee

Dominique McMullan

I broke up with my boyfriend and now I have bangs
I broke up with my boyfriend and now I have bangs

Edaein OConnell

WIN a family pass to Emerald Park this Easter
WIN a family pass to Emerald Park this Easter

Shayna Sappington

This peaceful Victorian-era Galway home is on the market for €1.65 million
This peaceful Victorian-era Galway home is on the market for €1.65 million

Sarah Finnan

How to recreate 90s skinny brows without plucking out your eyebrows
How to recreate 90s skinny brows without plucking out your eyebrows

Holly O'Neill

Image / Editorial

Feng Shui: 10 simple ways to change your surroundings for a happier home


By Jennifer McShane
08th Dec 2019
Feng Shui: 10 simple ways to change your surroundings for a happier home

Have you ever walked into a space which has a particular sort of energy? One so energised and balanced you instantly feel comfortable? This is what is known as Feng Shui — an ancient Chinese art form in which energy forces a balance to harmonise individuals with their surrounding environment. Expert and author Patricia Lohan explains how you can Feng Shui your home in 10 simple steps. 


In her new book, The Happy Home: Your Guide to Creating a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Life, Feng Shui expert Patricia Lohan not only explains the ancient Chinese art form, but reveals how she uses the 4,000-year-old practice to change people’s lives. It’s a practice of which even Oprah speaks highly.

The Happy Home is an invitation to look at your home with new eyes — not just as the place you live, but as the gateway to your happiness, health and wealth,” she explains of the book.

How does this work when it comes to our home?

“Your home possesses its own unique energy. When everything is as it should be, this energy works like a magnet, attracting in the right things at the right time. This could mean more money, better clients, happier relationships, improved health — there’s no area of your life that your home’s energy won’t touch!

“It all begins with your home; it’s where you kick off your shoes and settle in after a long day with the most important people in your life,” Lohan adds. Originally from Galway, she moved to Bali to expand her business — using some Feng Shui of her own, of course.

Feng Shui

Patricia Lohan

“It’s the foundation for literally everything! Which is why when your home’s energy is out of whack, the rest of your life is too,” she continues before offering her 10 tips to ensure your home’s energy stays on balance.

Clear the clutter! Ask yourself two questions about every item in your home: Do I love it? Is it useful to me right now? You need a YES to at least one – preferably both – of those questions to retain the item.

Make your home welcoming. Create an entrance that is alive and vibrant, for the front door is the portal for all the Good of the Universe to come your way. So think plants, welcome mat, clean door. Accordingly, USE your front door! Bring your energy through those doors and invite in all manner of Good.

Claim your space. Make sure you have house numbers – or apartment numbers. If people can’t find you easily and effortlessly, then Universal Abundance will have a hard time getting to you as well.

Make sure all your doors and drawers do not stick (and that they have handles). All should open easily and effortlessly. Don’t put up with little aggravations, because they drag down energy – yours and the home’s – in a BIG way. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes in your life when you literally have a good handle on things.

Replace all burnt-out light bulbs in the home and consider upping the wattage in key areas. Light is life! It’s good chi.

Try to always sit in your power position. Have a view of the doorway from your chair, whether it’s your chair in the living room or your seat in the office. Have a view of, preferably, ALL the doorways into the room.

Bed position is important. When you sit up in bed, you should ideally be able to view the doorway across the room, but NOT be in the direct line of the doorway, with your feet pointing directly out the door.

Keep the toilet seat down and the bathroom door closed always. After all, you don’t want the positive energy and money in your home going down the toilet.

Assure a meandering flow of energy through your home, with no obstacles to your path. Feng Shui is all about bringing nature’s flow indoors. Any obstacles to free, easy movement inside your home can create obstacles to health, relationship, career, etc.

Keep your cooker top and kitchen counter clean and clutter-free at all times. The kitchen represents wealth and prosperity.


The Happy Home: Your Guide to Creating a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Life is available nationwide now or can be purchased at patricialohan.com