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The art of feng shui can encompass everything from the geographic placement of your home to proper choice of upholstery materials to the shape of rooms. Applying feng shui principles or "cures" is practiced in order to bring chi energy into your surroundings and remove or redirect negative energy flow. For the purpose of this article, we will look at one major aspect of feng shui: decluttering the home office.

Feng shui is all about order. The Chinese developed the practice as a way to keep the twin energies of yin and yang in balance. A cluttered workspace will affect your energy level and result in a cluttered, disorganized mental outlook. Your attention will be thwarted and your productivity will decrease. Applying a few basic feng shui habits on a regular basis will yield higher productivity and create a calmer and more attractive space in which to work.

Remove Clutter

In our hurried pace to accomplish our many tasks, we often neglect daily organizing. So the first step toward initiating feng shui is to look at your office and note the clutter. Then begin a long overdue clean-up.

Start with your desk. Do you have piles of paper crowding the top of the desk? Go through them now. Recycle what is unnecessary. File what is important. This might also be a good time to create a file system for your office, if one is not in place. Develop a system that is sensible. Divide your files into a few major categories which include contracts and other important documents; bills and expenses; correspondence; and, reference material. If you are an active writer, then you will need a system for organizing your work as well as tracking submissions. Here, you can also reduce the paper mess by using a computer database. Microsoft Excel and Access are both handy for this. Or try Duotrope, an online database for writers.

Remove Non-Essentials

As part of the desktop decluttering, remove non-essential "stuff" that crowds your activity or causes distractions in your work flow. This might include your children's toys, out of place tools, gadgets and gizmos that have nothing to do with your work. Make sure you have a a good lighting source. Put writing implements in one container. A small desktop organizer is an efficient way to collect outgoing mail, pens and pencils, postage, mini journals and other miscellaneous materials that typically hog your workspace.

Bag-in-Hand Clean-Up

Next move to your immediate surroundings with a garbage bag in hand. Throw away anything that is trash. Aim for

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