PP 006: Feng Shui for Office Layout with Patricia Lohan

Quick Show Notes – Patricia Lohan

This chat with Patricia Lohan about Feng Shui for office layout was truly mind-blowing for me. As you listen and hear our discussion about how my office was arranged, I want you to know I did do exactly as I said I was going to… I flipped my desk around, that day, and simultaneously a few other major events happened in my life.

Together, all these events changed me personally, changed my business, changed my family — for the better!

Thank you, Patricia, for gracing me and the listeners of Positive Productivity with your presence.

Connect with Patricia Lohan

Thank you so much. Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity. This is Kim Sutton, and today I’m thrilled to have guest Patricia Lohan as my guest expert. Patricia is an intuitive healer, Feng Shui — I can never say that correctly – and success mindset coach.

Both ways work, whatever you want, haha.

That is so embarrassing but it’s all about being real on here. Even with my background, like I don’t even think I told you in our pre-show chat – I used to be an interior architect so…

Wow!

It’s horrible that I can’t say that right, but welcome, Patricia, anyway! Thank you so much for being here!

Thank you so much for this opportunity, Kim. I’m delighted.

About Patricia Lohan: Feng Shui for office layout, love and more

So, tell me and the guests how you found your way into intuitive healing and… I’m not even going to try to say it…

Feng Shui.

Well, you know what I think that every journey isn’t to get yourself onto your right track… it takes a while. But at 16 years of age I actually had a fascination with Feng Shui and I ordered books. I asked for Christmas for books about Feng Shui. Believe it or not. So I’ve always had an interest in it.

My parents were entrepreneurs. I think that’s where my whole drive for business and entrepreneurship really came from was like grow

When we’re talking about Feng Shui for office layout a lot of imagery, light and colors are necessary. Let’s say you’re not really able to take care of a plant, or to have some sunlight. Then maybe add them to your vision board, it will count and it’ll surely help!

ing up in a house with their own business, and I didn’t really know any different.

I studied business studies in college. I went down a very traditional route. I was trying to become an accountant and then that did not work because I’m really… I suck with numbers.

So I moved from that into marketing and went into several businesses and marketing. I lived in Japan and the Philippines, working for finance companies and doing marketing all over the world – which was an amazing journey.

And in the midst of all of that, my father rang me and told me that he had come out of retirement and bought a new business. Which needed a lot of work, and I just thought “Wow. What an opportunity. This is a new start. It could be really interesting.”

So at 24, I moved back to Ireland after traveling for several years and set up this business. It was a bar, restaurant, off-license by the sea.

It was a big operation for a 24-year-old who had never run a business before. I did that for seven years, and within the first six months that it took seven figures; I had staff;  It was a really, really, really massive undertaking. It was amazing, I learned a lot and I loved it. I loved all the startup, the going, the marketing side.

But for me after several years I was really struggling on the inside. I was like, “You know what. Everything on the outside looks amazing. I have a great car, I have a lovely relationship with a great house. Everything looks great.” On the inside, I was really crippled.

I was like “There’s more. I have more potential. There’s more to me.”

And everything started to get the chop.

First of all my relationship. Then I quit the job. Then I drove my car into a flood of water and killed it. So everything kind of fell apart, or I kind of let go of everything.

And in the meantime I had come into this journey of really getting into yoga, meditation and like the holistic arts and holistic world. And I really found benefit from this. I love the fact that a yoga class with an hour for me which I had been more than 17 days insanity with my phone constantly on my ear ringing. It was very very hectic.

The Feng Shui for an office layout is commonly used in the holistic world, since both pivot around your inner energy flow. 

So taking the hour for me was amazing, and going to yoga, getting into meditation, was a huge turning point for me. And then going on, I really dug inner deep kinda healing energy journey, as I decided to quit the business which was a huge huge decision. And once I did that I was like, “What are you going to do next with it?”

I said, “I’m going to go to train to be a yoga teacher.”

Feng Shui for office layout, love and more

And that was a trip to India. I thought I was going for a month and traveling the rest of the world. I actually ended up in India for just over a year. 

I was in Nepal, and it was quite interesting how, you know, everything started to line up. Teachers started to kind of stand in front of me and I was really soaking up the whole experience there, opening up physically through yoga and then mentally with meditation and learning very very different types of healing modalities that were able to help people.

They were so beneficial for me that I wanted to then learn them so I could help other people. And that was really the start of a huge new journey for me.

Learning about the healing and attracting process

When I decided to come back home to Ireland and move to a new city I kind of didn’t go back to the west of Ireland where I’m from. I decided that it was too small, and it will be harder for me to try and set up a business where I was so well known for the restaurant which is still obviously running. I thought, “Well, I’ll move to Dublin.”

So I moved to a new city and started teaching yoga classes; started doing practice therapy with clients; ended up setting up a very successful healing practice; helping people get unstuck, essentially. Releasing trauma; releasing anxiety; releasing stress; helping them move forward in their lives and seeing amazing results. It was just amazing. I was really loving it. 

But always I found that there was still a hurdle that they still didn’t quite jump over. If you know what I mean. They would leave my sessions and they’d be like “I feel amazing and everything was great.” and although it’s a constant struggle something not still quite right for them.

For me the first thing I did when I moved to Dublin, I knew I wanted to call in the right relationship for me, and I had, you know, left that one in Ireland, and I’m now back and I wanted to, you know, to find the right person.

So I set about doing some inner work and also creating a space that was attractive for love. So I Feng Shui’d my bedroom for love, and I attracted my soulmate.

Oh, that’s amazing.

In doing so I just reignited that passion for Feng Shui and I came across an amazing teacher and my now husband who is my soulmate – my amazing partner. He also had an interesting Feng Shui. We both trained together and instantly our whole lives transformed.

And for me, working with my clients, I started saying, you know, “What’s going on in your house? Let’s have a look at your environment as well.”

Changing your environment is essential when it comes to Feng Shui for office layout, or any kind. 

And that was where I just went, “Ah. This is it.” This, you know, it’s like your inner world, your outer world, your environment, if it’s not supportive of you being able to flourish and grow.

And as that unfolded it was pure magic. That’s where the interest came from. Myself, personally, my career shifted so positively – more clients, more abundance and more opportunities – just massive things just started to shift. And then clients were like selling their houses, getting new jobs, making more money, having, you know, meeting soulmates. So you know all different amazing things. I was like “I’m hooked”. You know I was like, “This is amazing.” 

And part of me was still, like, loving the whole entrepreneur side. I love being an entrepreneur. You know, it’s part of my DNA essentially. So that’s when I was really working myself. Like the first thing I did what we were in our house. I Feng Shui’d my office for success, and for abundance, and for new clients, and for all of that, and that started to roll in really really really amazingly – this is what I want to do. This is how I want to work with. I can really connect with people, you know, working with clients who have staff, or who are, you know, trying to get their business set up, because I’ve done it now. Because I heard the evolution of my business and I can totally resonate with that.

So that’s where I’m kind of at right now is working with entrepreneurs – who, especially as online entrepreneurs like yourself, we’re at home. We’re working from home and if our environment is not supporting our home office or where we’re working, it’s really difficult for our businesses to grow and evolve and flourish especially in conjunction with the amount of work and effort that we’re putting into them.

Decluttering your way to success and love

Oh my gosh, I’m sitting here just thinking about everything that you just said. And… Ok. So, I have a couple of questions for you.

Go for it.

I know that some of the listeners are thinking… I’m married to my soulmate as well, but I didn’t Feng Shui my bedroom. Oh my gosh, I said it properly, I think!

Yes.

I actually made a soulmate spec sheet and wrote down everything that I was looking for. But, what is one thing that somebody can do? I know there’s so many different elements…

For…?

For Feng Shui’ing your bedroom.

So for listeners who are looking for love, the first thing I want you to do is… DECLUTTER! Like, take out anything that’s under your bed. Get rid of everything that is related to any past relationships is out of your bedroom as of everywhere like that.

In a similar manner, decluttering your space from any failed business enterprise will work as a Feng Shui for an office layout technique.

That’s huge. OK. Yeah. I don’t even want to know what’s under my bed right now. It’s honestly just probably toys that somehow migrated to my room and then got kicked underneath there.

Feng Shui for office layout: Think about expansion!

And then my other question is…

So I am one of those entrepreneurs who’s working out of home. This was supposed to be my home office and then we unexpectedly had twins.

Right?

Yeah! So it sort of became a partial office/playroom, and my desk is in a corner.

OK.

I am looking at a corner. Is that a bad idea?

Yes. Can you turn that desk around, where your back is to the wall and you’re able to face out? Because that will give you more expansion. You know, if you’re jammed into a corner, or your faced in the corner that’s the only amount of space and vision you have for your business to expand.

This image, courtesy of Travis Isaac via Flickr, it’s a great example of Feng Shui for office layout. There’s artwork, the desk it’s in a power position…

So if you could like turn around, shimmy around, have a wall to your back, see your door and just have a space in front of you, you know, space. And that will allow for growth and expansion for your business.

I think I know what I’m doing today.

Hahaha!

Aw man, seriously. I’ve been working on a challenge with my Facebook group this week and they have exploded with decluttering. It’s like every single inch of their homes are being decluttered. They’re like deleting 5000 e-mails and clearing up their wardrobes and finding things from 2001 under their bed and I’m like “Get rid of it all!”

Oh my gosh.

Get energized!

I just threw out a concert T-shirt from 1996 this week.

Sweet. Well, well done.

Working on the Feng Shui for an office layout, classifying objects and organization is quite important.

If you are listening to this podcast in the future like way into the future. Today is July 15th, 2016. So yes this T-shirt is 20 years old. OK? I was in high school. I’m not going to put what in high school I was. But let’s just say this T-shirt has definitely seen brighter colors, and a lot more white than it did when I threw it into the trash. It was painful though!

And then last week I actually took all the stuff off the one remaining piece of furniture from my marriage to my ex. And that piece of furniture is leaving my office and my home this weekend.

Oh my gosh, yes.

What a relief.

Yeah, well done.

And this is embarrassing. It’s definitely not positive productivity. But we had two plates left in the cupboard from that marriage as well. I don’t get angry very often, but I had a lot of stored anger, and I just wanted those plates gone.

I triple bagged one of them – triple bagged – and then took it into the garage and threw it at the ground. It wasn’t as… Like fulfilling as it could have been if it wasn’t bagged. So it didn’t get that whole big shatter. 

Hahaha!

It sort of just went “Clunk!”

I thought you were going to say you threw it across the wall and just like… “WAHH!”

That’s essentially what I did. But it lost the whole effect when I bagged it because I didn’t feel like picking up the pieces.

Oh my gosh. Ok. So, I am cleaning out all the kid’s stuff underneath my bed, and I am turning my desk around today. My husband will love that because we share an office. Now he won’t stare at the back of my head when he turns around anymore.

Brilliant. That’s it.

Feng Shui for office layout, online!

And I do have another question. So in our brief chat before the show you are living now in Bali, right?

Yes.

So how does that work? Because I know there are so many listeners who would probably love to travel the world and live that, you know, traveling entrepreneur lifestyle. 

What type of barriers did you face as far as citizenship or registering your company and just making that work for you?

Yes. So, what kind of barriers do we face. So first of all, we didn’t know where we were going to. We did know we were traveling and we had a few countries that we want to go to. So we were in India initially. And then secondly we went to Bali, and we just tried it out. As we are digital entrepreneurs, we’re still actually registered in Ireland for taxes. We need to be out of Ireland for a full year. So it depends on the country that you’re living in. So we need to be out of the country for a full year not to be registered for taxes there.

So actually we’re still connected like business-wise in Ireland, so for us to actually work as digital nomads it was fine. But now I’m on holiday, back in Ireland right now. But we’re finishing up a few things and we are going to apply for visas to be able to actually work in Bali because we have had people inquire about doing Feng Shui consultations. 

And we do consultations online and that’s mostly my work now – it’s online. But while we’re there, we’re meeting people we’re very open to all of these kind of things and we’re pretty much the only Feng Shui consultants on the island. So they’re like “Oh, can you work?” and we’re like “Actually, not right now. But we will be coming back and we’re going to do it then.”

The barriers I suppose, were for me first of all, was that I had set up very in-person practice, so I wasn’t working online. And I had a therapy room; people came to see me, and I had an office. So I had to let go of all of that.

Then I had a lot of equipment because I did a lot of work with sound healing so I had to sell all that. And then you know our house in Ireland, everyone was like, “You’re crazy. You’re leaving your home.”

So we finished it out and we’ve been able to rent it out. And that gives us kind of a little bit of a stability for like rental and to have that covered.

So apart from that, that was kind of our main barrier. And also, Ken had to give up his job, because he quit his job, which was really huge. He always wanted to do that. But we have to… It could have been… It was a bit strange that he had been working like 9 to 5 for the last 25-30 years to then moving into space where he like had no job to what was really growing, and he has done is really working on a whole new project for himself and to be doing loads of training. And it’s really started for him.

So I think the opportunity for him to move was, you know, life in Bali is lots more reasonable. We have an amazing standard of living there. We have a pool, which is a big deal. If you’re from Ireland, it’s a big deal to have a swimming pool. In the States, maybe not as much or in hot countries, but in Ireland it’s huge. So we’ve like a pool, we’ve got a cook, we’ve got a cleaner, you know all the things that you could have here in Ireland but would be a lot more expensive.

So we’ve been able to give ourselves the lifestyle that we absolutely love. And we surround ourselves with other digital nomads or digital entrepreneurs because there are some really cool co-working places in Bali that you’re able to kind of connect in. And there’s people doing the same thing.

Because, you know, the online entrepreneur is via Skype and it’s very difficult to get in-person contact, especially in Ireland, like we were just talking beforehand. It’s a tiny country. So the percentage of people doing what we’re doing is much smaller.

So having like a hub of people, maybe like 30 or 40 people, constantly in this co-working space that you can go in, drop in, drop out, meet people doing that has been really really amazing. Because we wanted a change in our life. We wanted to travel and that’s how we just made it happen. Obviously, there were some crazy sacrifices – like Ken quitting his job the giving up our home. Renting that out and me kind of letting go of all those clients to kind of go “OK. Now I’m doing it online, and it’s going to work.” It kinda has to work, you know? There was no choice.

There is all so huge and I’m hearing so many similarities actually. Yes I am in America, but I’m not in a big city. I’m in sort of the middle of cornfields in Ohio.

Ok.

And there’s a lot of blue collar around here. My husband was blue collar for 20 years, including going through the military, and now he’s an entrepreneur as well -He’s a video game developer. So even for him, like not doing the whole eight hour shifts, or 12 hour shifts, whatever he was doing, and being able to work on his own schedule… It’s mind blowing and completely revolutionary for him. 

Nobody’s telling him when he can eat lunch or, you know, when he can have an approved restroom break anymore.

Yeah.

And that’s huge for him. As far as the housekeeper and the chef, oh my gosh! I can’t wait until I can get there. I can burn macaroni and cheese out of a box.

I have to say, I love cooking. I really do love cooking, but it’s like, you know, it’s time consuming, and I really love my job. I love my work. So it’s about getting into a better balance that my lunch is ready. She comes maybe two or three times a week. She’ll cook us some lunches and some dinners, so it means we don’t have to go out to dinner all the time. We don’t have to go battle the grocery store because she’ll come, bring everything, cook it and put it in there and then we have like a happy medium, you know? That we can… There’s great yoga for me. There’s amazing yoga. There’s great community as well, that kind of like, you know, spiritual they’re interested in very similar things as myself and Ken. So yeah, having the cook has been amazing. With time, you know?

What happens to me is I take my laptop out to the kitchen with me, and I start working, and then the next thing I know I start smelling burning. Because I was so…

Engaged in it.

Yeah. Yeah exactly thank you. That’s exactly the word I was looking for.

There’s a big difference between luck and manifesting

So you said that you have manifested cars, apartments, five-star holidays, diamond rings and so much more. I would love to hear more about that.

Yes. Like honestly you know some people think, “Patricia is just lucky.” And honestly I would say that, first of all it comes from doing a lot of inner work. Getting clear about what you want. And also, what really was a turning point for us was doing the Feng Shui and actually making our house be a supporting home for us – for all aspects of our life.

And for people who don’t know what Feng Shui is, it’s 4000 year old ancient art of placement. It’s not necessarily about mirrors or moving furniture or knocking walls. It’s acupuncture for your home. So it’s about making sure that the Chi and energy is flowing through your home, your office, your environment, so that all of the things that you want can come through very easily.

So all of those things that you listed out were on my vision board. Only last night I did a training on how to Feng Shui your vision board. Because often times people make vision boards and they get loads of magazines, I mean they flick through them, say. “I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that.” And then they just plaster them onto a wall. And honestly for people who have done that, I’m like “Well done. You’ve actually taken the time out to make a vision board. But what if you stepped back and took some time to think about what you really wanted first and looked at it from a very holistic perspective?”

So, for example one lady I worked with – I saw her vision board and it was all single women. It was single women and single pregnant women. And I was like, “Well, do you want a partner? Do you want a partner to make this baby?” or you know, and it was… she was like, “Oh! I didn’t even notice I didn’t have any men on it.” And it’s like the imagery that we have on the vision board.

Manifesting with a vision board

So I shared a story recently about like manifesting. And Ken has his vision board going, and wanted a sailboat. We both really really want to get into sailing. We’ve never sailed. Never, ever sailed. We have this picture of the sailing boat on his vision board. My sisters are big into it. My sister’s father-in-law has a sailing boat so when we go to Australia we will be easily able to do it, but it’s part of our vision to be able to do this and go to the Greek islands and sail around them. We see… We kind of discuss what we’d like to happen in our lives and we have clarity around that.

So, the other day he rang me and said, “Patricia, you’ll never guess what. We’re home for the summer.” And a friend of mine has just rang me. And he used to be the main head trainer of sailing like the main trainer in Ireland for like 20 years and he’s at home. He’s retired. Nobody wants to go out sailing with him and he’s just after being saying “I hear you’re home. Do you want to go out sailing with me? Because I would love to teach you. Yourself and Patricia.”

So like it’s like, what we want is happening. You know we need to have sailed before we can get the boat. And sailing lessons just came to us.

Wow. That’s amazing.

Yeah, it is. And because it’s about clarity about what we want. And it’s just this is… just my hot topic because I was working doing the training last night about having a bigger vision rather than goals.

Goals are great. And they’re great to kind of, “OK I’m going to accomplish and then I’m going to do it.”

But what I find is… Like for example, I ran the New York Marathon in 2008. And I did all this training for the New York Marathon. I didn’t really think about what really was I doing all this running for. I’m doing it because I want to. I love running. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel healthy, and it’s really enjoyable. And you know doing the marathon is a great accomplishment.

But once I did the marathon, I kind of quit running, because I hit the goal. And I missed the whole point of doing the exercise. If you know what I mean. Whereas if I had a vision of holding space for myself to be fit, healthy, happy and I’m just like, you know, going for a jogs really doing things, exercise, that really fills my soul and make me feel great – That would be so much more likely to happen, and to be a continuous thing as opposed to just do the work and then it’s done and I’m not going to do it again.

So the milestones is part of the whole big picture?

Yeah, exactly. And having this bigger vision. So that’s essentially how I manifested everything.

I’ve had ski trips to five star resorts. I won trips to beautiful weekends away. I had like my engagement ring up on my vision board.

Well, like we had talked about getting married and on my vision board I had like wedding dresses and I was like, “I hope this isn’t freaking you out.” And Ken was like “We know we want” so you know it wasn’t that’s scary for him. So I was like “Oh, I don’t really know what kind of ring I’d like.” And when I went, so I was like “OK. I’m going to figure out what kind of ring I like.” and I got some pictures and I put two pictures up on the vision board.

I was like wandering one day in town and I saw this shop, and I walk in there is like the exact image of the diamond ring that I want. It’s like several diamonds in a ring. I saw it and I thought “Oh my God. There’s my ring.”

And there’s like half price.

Wow

Half price!

When I rang my jeweler friend who lives here in Galway, I rang him and I said “I’m going to send you a photo of a ring that I found. Do you think it’s a good price?” And when he sent me back, he was like “Oh my God. Get him to buy it now!”

I was like asking the jeweler, “Why is this half-price? Is there something wrong?” and he said, “No it’s actually perfect. But I’ve had it sitting here for three years and I just want to get new stock in.”

I was just waiting for another story. But I’m glad it wasn’t what was in my head. That’s an amazing story. Like, yeah. I was just hoping it wasn’t returned.

No, no. He said he had for three years. So no, I love it. It’s great for me. It’s exactly the image of the one that was on my vision board.

All right. I’m looking at my vision board right now and I’m seeing exactly what you’re talking about. Like I have a whole bunch of goals but not the big picture. Oh my gosh yes. All right… So you’ve just rearranged my office.

Yes.

You’ve redesigned my vision board and my bedroom is going to get clean.

Oh my God. I can’t wait to see what happens for you. If you get all of the done…

Neither can I!

Massive. Massive.

And I never thought about it before that sitting in a corner is really just driving me into a corner. It really is.

Yeah.

Wow. All right.

So Positive Productivity, like honestly a good de-clutter and making sure you have space in that for sure.

I actually put that I would reduce my clutter into my marriage vows with my husband.

Wow.

Because, I’m known for my piles, which – I used to have like dozens of them and now I have like one. Which is a big thing because I grew up around piles. My mom and dad both had piles of magazines or newspapers. I mean even my kids have commented on it when they’ve seen it. Sorry, mom, and dad if you’re listening.

But yes, just getting those piles out of my life – like that’s a huge step. But you’ve just completely blown my mind and I would expect that you’ve blown the mind of listeners too.

Contact and final golden nuggets

Where can they find you? Where can they go to get in touch and learn more about upcoming challenges and, yea, your group?

So first of all obviously like my group is there – it’s the #Dream Life and Biz Creators group. So that’s on Facebook.

Also if you want to come and join me at PatriciaLohan.com, I would love to have you there. I have two free challenges – I’ve got the de-cluttering challenge which is ongoing part of the group but also Unleash Your Manifesting Mojo which is seven really quick little videos to get you in alignment. It’s like a step-by-step of exactly what I do to manifest whatever I’m looking for including vision boards and all those different things but it’s the whole thing. 

So please come along and join that. That would be amazing!

That’s so fabulous. And one more time, what is the name of the group?

It’s #Dream Life and Biz Creators.

OK and this will all be in the show notes, but I know that there’s somebody who’s like “I missed it!”

“I want to go right now.”

Oh, I’m so right there. Like, if it wouldn’t be picked up by my microphone, I’d be typing it in right now.

Hahaha, no problem!

Patricia, thank you so much for being a guest on Positive Productivity. It’s been a pleasure having you. Listeners, if you haven’t already, please subscribe, share or whatever you want to do. You know, just let me know that you’re listening.

And also hop on over to influx Academy because Patricia is going to be a guest on my other podcast as well. And I look forward to sharing her knowledge on launches and building leads and everything over there as well. So thank you again, Patricia.

**Note from Kim for readers – I’ve decided it’s better to do one podcast of better quality than two of lesser. Patricia’s second podcast interview will be aired on a future episode of Positive Productivity.**

Thank you so much. It was great to talk and I can’t wait to hear how you get on with all of the de-cluttering and making those changes in your office.

Oh my gosh. Neither can I. Sorry clients! I’m taking the rest of the day off.

All right. Until next time, thank you so much for being at Positive Productivity. And I will talk to you soon.

Thank you.