This winter I took an organisation course – a weekly webinar with the wonderful Susan Sly, in which she walked a group of us through various steps of getting our lives and businesses under control.

Among other things, she told us to turn our desks away from the wall, and to put a few stalks of bamboo on them, in water, of course.

Doing this, she said, would bring us prosperity and luck, as well as making our home offices more pleasant to work in. It’s all about feng shui (pronounced fung shway) – the idea that our environment affects our receptivity to love, success, money, etc.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always viewed the whole concept of feng shui with a great deal of skepticism. But I do have a lot of faith in Susan, so I obediently turned my desk away from the wall, facing into the room, and bought myself no fewer than 9 stalks of bamboo. I might have been going a little overboard there, but multiples of 3 are apparently very lucky in Chinese culture.

So maybe it’s coincidence, or maybe there is something to all this (or maybe I am a living example of the placebo effect), but there’s no question that my desk is much more inviting in its new position. I’ve probably spent more time there in the last two months than in the entire year before. The bamboo stalks are growing, their leaves turned towards the window, and I’ve learned not to knock their jars over (not good for the laptop!).

Are they bringing me happiness and prosperity? Or am I finding happiness and prosperity within myself? I don’t know, but something is working. As a coach, I’m inclined to think that the magic is in the thoughts I am thinking and the story I am telling myself when I am in my new, spiffed-up office space. Others might beg to differ.

How about you, do you believe in the power of feng shui? Has it worked for you? Let me know!