• Balancing Yin and Yang in your home
• A third of your life being relative to your environment
• Looking at your house with fresh eyes
• Things within your house being mirrored back to you

About Patricia

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Episode Transcription

Nicole Smith
Welcome to Take Control with Nicole. As business owners we experience firsthand the fine line between our personal and business lives. During our conversations, we will look at simple hints and tips to create time, reduce overwhelm, and help you to navigate through your journey to where you want to be. If you’re looking for smarter ways to work, and create space and time freedom in your day, then you’re in the right place. All right, let’s go

Nicole Smith
Hello hello, and welcome back to another episode of Take Control with Nicole. Now today I am speaking with somebody who lives in another country from me, she’s all the way over in Ireland. Patricia is the creator of powerhouse Fung Shui and author of The Happy Home a guide to creating a happy, healthy, wealthy life. She helps entrepreneurs make their homes and businesses magnetic to money, luck and blessings, showing you what they don’t teach in business school, what lies beneath the lines and your top secret tools for success. Patricia has seen firsthand the power of the mind, surroundings and inner healing, cleaning and aligning everything so it works holistically. She loves entrepreneurship with 15 years of experience running and growing three successful startups of her own. She has also helped 1000s of people across the globe, embrace Fung Shui and creates lasting changes in their business homes and lives.

Nicole Smith
Well, hello, thank you so much for tuning in. And joining me here today. I know the time zones are all fun and games.

Patricia Lohan
Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m excited,

Nicole Smith
Wonderful. Fung Shui is one of those topics, it’s always interested me and I’ve kind of been on the sides of it all and never really fully understood what it’s all about. So I’d love for you to tell us what it’s about.

Patricia Lohan
I absolutely love it. I think that’s a lot of us. You know, being in that place where it’s like, I kind of know and I’m always a bit interested and like hmm. So I love to describe Fung Shui as acupuncture for your home. Yeah, for those of you who may have ever done an astrological reading or had their natal chart read of their for themselves and their astrology. And that’s what Fung Shui is about. I actually do, we create natal charts for people’s homes, based on the year that the the their house is kind of born built. So it is an energy work practice for your home. And, you know, by default, your home is also then a huge mirror back into your business as well. So, you know, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and I absolutely just love being an entrepreneur. I love helping entrepreneurs just you know, find the thing that’s going to help them that’s probably the least logical thing. You know, it’s like the logical next step is go sort out your email campaign or something

Nicole Smith
Fix your marketing technique,

Patricia Lohan
It’s like, it’s your birth astrolology, right? But actually, like, you know, let’s have a look at your physical environment, what you’re working in, how is it supporting you, and then let that support you and guide you. Because it’s, it’s very much anchored in five element theory and Chinese medicine. And that idea of balancing the yin and yang energy and having that sense of flow, harmony and balance in your life, which obviously, your business is an extension of your life. And so if we start with your home, then it filters into every aspect. And we see just beautiful growth and flourishing in people’s lives and businesses.

Nicole Smith
I love that. And especially over the past few years, you know many of us have transitioned. I’ve worked from home for a number of years, but many people have transitioned to the working from home model and maybe not taken a moment to really think about how the family life. So I’ve got two kids six and three. So there’s things around with kids toys, all the stuff and different spaces and how that can have that impact on our personal selves and then flow through the business. So yeah. So how did you decide this was what you wanted to do and help people. Like it’s absolutely fabulous. And I love that.

Patricia Lohan
It picked me! I did not pick this. And I wouldn’t change it for the world though. And so I do truly believe that like our, souls are part of us knows what we’re meant to be doing when we’re much younger. And at 15, I got my first books about Fung Shui. So this is been like a passion of mine for a long time. And I, you know, Fung Shui is my home, my bedroom because I was allowed to do that, my parents are not into this now. But they did have their own business at the time. And I made them hire a Fung Shui expert to come and look at their business. Like when they had a hotel. And so they that was super fun. And they were just kind of open, I’d be like, I think we should do this, find this woman and she came and Fung Shui their business. And that was another part for me of just like I just knew deep in me, there was something to this. And so that really stuck with me in many places, we moved house a lot growing up and with that I kind of could maybe feel the shifts in, in our lives, you know, people ask me like, how do you know if a house is bad Fung Shui, and I’m like, you look at what’s going on in their life. It’s actually the life, it’s a mirror your house and your home or a mirror. Like if money’s not flowing, it’s not you. It’s not you’re not working hard enough. It’s just a block with the flow and the energy in your home. You know, it’s the same for your health or your relationships. So, fast forward like into my late 20s, I moved away from my family business on to India, had a massive spiritual awakening, and it moved to a new city. And with that, I actually decided to start a business in, like I kind of started teaching yoga and did sound healing and all these therapies that I trained in while I was in India, and I got a new apartment, moving into this new apartment and when I moved in, I said to my flatmate, I’m not leaving here until I’m moving in with my new husband. And she just was like, laughing, she rolls around laughing her head off, she’s like, yeah yeah whatever. So I was like, totally determined. And at that time, I was like, Oh, my God, I’m going to do the Fung Shui. I’m going to set things up, I’m going to prepare my environment, I’m going to be ready for love. Because of that, like my business I’d been had been a probably about a year, nearly a year at that stage when I got into this new apartment and I was like, I’m, you know, I’m happy with, I’m really know I’m connected to helping my soul journey. But I hadn’t been doing like professional Fung Shui, did all that for my bedroom, all the kind of little tips and stuff. And very soon afterwards, I met my now husband, Ken. And when I moved in, when I came to his house, I was like, he Fung Shui’d this place. I was like, This bedroom is Fung Shui, and here’s the second bathrobe, and he’s all these things. And, and then, you know, as we discussed it, and when I moved in here, I said, I want to really dive into it. And you know, when the students ready, the teacher appears like Fung Shui masters came to Ireland, like, seriously that it was so weird. And I was like, I’ve got to do this, I’m gonna do this. And Ken, my husband was like, I’m gonna do too. So he wasn’t my husband at the time, but we both did it. And we came back and Fung Shui’d this house together in what I now teach classical Flying Stars and working with the elements that kind of act Fung Shui energy. Kind of what most people don’t realise what Fung Shui is about, we did that. And I’d like a six figure windfall. Within weeks, my business exploded, like it was just like, I was walking down the street, people would be like, hey, will you come kind of session with you or I read, you’re do Fung Shui and you come do Fung Shui on my house, and I was like, what is just happening. And that was kind of the start of it, you know, we just, you know, people, and it was when this energy because I was working with clients, one to one. And I was working with them, helping them to really clear anything from their system, their history, helping them really come into alignment with themselves and connect with their soul’s destiny. And it was amazing work. They were doing amazing. But then they were going back home to the same environment. And it was this crazy thing there where I would be then working with clients and be like, tell me about your bedroom. What’s going on your kitchen? Can I come see your house? And they were like, okay, because you know, they see my clients for a while they’re like we love you come to our house. And then I walked in, I’m like, this is why you’re not moving on. This is why this isn’t working. This, and it was just written all over the walls, literally all over the walls. And so that was kind of my whole thing. And I just kind of really switched the switch on it being like, if we don’t have your home sorted, there is no point in doing clearing your money blocks and clearing your beliefs and your history like it’s actually pointless because your house is like stuck back where it was in the old version of you. So as we started to do the Fung Shui that really just evolved magically and into you know, creating this online programming community and doing it very differently to how I would have like been taught it not like the actual practice, but the way of integrating that kind of inner work and outer work, with a community has just been, like really, really magical

Nicole Smith
I love that! You know it’s very very true with our clients like if they have all these fabulous intentions of changing and evolving the way that they operate in their daily lives and their businesses, until they actually look at those foundations and implement those things that we’ve spoken about, and you know, evolve how they’ve been working to where they want to be working and make it the normal, you won’t experience the full, full value, or the full experience of what it’s like to actually transition and take that shift across.

Patricia Lohan
So there’s like, it’s very, I just was, you know, because I was like, looking at your website and was like, yeah, it’s similar. Like, you’re kind of like Fung Shuiing people’s business, their systems, you know, it’s like getting, you know, getting it like organised getting it sorted, like rebalancing it. That’s what I’m doing what someone’s home.

Nicole Smith
Yeah. So powerful. As you say, those little impacts, you don’t realise until you’re not doing it the old way anymore. Like, how did I live like that for such a long time? And it was now, like, in the box, you know, and all of a sudden, the world opens up?

Patricia Lohan
Yeah, and I think like, you know, there’s like, comfort in the discomfort. You know, like, for me, you know, when I say to people about joining our programme, I say to them, like, you gotta want change, and you have to change as well, you know. So people will come in and do the work. And I don’t know if it’s worked. And I’m like, have you evolved with it? Have you changed, like, if you’re still, like complaining and being a victim, like, it’s not going to help you because you’re just continuing in the same cycle, like, you have to do the work, you have to be willing to follow the steps I tell you, but also continue it and do the inner as well. So it’s a dance.

Nicole Smith
That’s it, yeah. We are our own, you know, owners of the way that we do and we look and we change, right, and it’s a choice it is. You’re either happy to just stay here or you want to do the work and invest the time and energy to transition. So yeah, I love that. This is really exciting. I’ve just as I said, have never really dived into Fung Shui before. And it’s a really interesting concept. It seems something that everyone really should be thinking about.

Patricia Lohan
Yes! Oh, my God, I know, there is an ancient Chinese philosophy that goes like this, 30% of our destiny is basically kind of, spirit, divinely orchestrated. 30% is up to us, like our willpower, like the how we work, our will power that ability and willing to change. And 30% is impacted by physical environment. Yeah, so 30% like, basically a third of it, you know, so it’s like these 333. And then the 10 is just like defined spirit, wisdom, guidance. Yes, love. And so there’s space there for that magic. But the other side is that like that, that third of your life and what’s going on in your life is basically um yeah, what they that’s what the philosophers say about the, how potent it is on our environment. So it’s like, you just spend 30%, we think that it’s all about how hard you work and what the energy you put in and that that would, actually it’s not.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, I know I’ve spoken to people before, and even me, I have different spaces that I work in for different reasons. You know, like when I’m really sort of in depth focus I’m at the desk in my study. I’ve actually recently shifted her around probably about six months ago. And again, that I did as soon as I did it, put some of my things that make it nice, I felt a lift and I felt just so wonderful in here. And when I’m doing more sort of other creative work, I’ll pop over somewhere else and got more space and so I’ve always been that person that feeds off the outside, that gives me internal energy. I’ve also noticed that you know, when you do have clutter around, it’s harder to see the space because your physical space is full. And then when you clear it out, and it’s all beautiful and organised like I just redid my pantry over the weekend. Ah, it was joy. I now I was literally standing there now. So I’ve got a big walk in one. And I’ve organised it all put all the stuff out re, oh and everytime I go in there, it’s just like, it’s beautiful.

Patricia Lohan
I know it’s so fun. I think like this is the this is the nice thing is that like you can come in to Fung Shui so many different levels, like the first, you know, I mean, you talked about your kids stuff, you know, like, but we have kids and their stuff all over the place. And, you know, for me, I would say to people, I’m like, that’s okay. That’s called life, you know, that is actually called life. And, you know, please don’t have like crazy anxiety and worry about that affecting your Fung Shui. Like kids are great Fung Shui, they move around, they’re busy, they basically are great models for just like getting what they want.

Nicole Smith
My three year old in a nutshell, yep.

Patricia Lohan
They’re just like totally, like, moving the chair around the place, having fun, like, they are great, like, just like pure love, you know, that is great, just like pets. And so their toys in a toy room or on the ground or so I’m just like, as long as they’re playing with the stuff and it’s being moved. It’s okay. You know, my biggest concern is that, you know, if you haven’t tackled your pantry in three years, and there’s loads of stuff that’s out of date, and stale, and you know, all that stuff. That is called, that’s creating and stagnancy in your home. And it’s like a mirror of where you’re at, the things are not moving, you’re not shifting, you’re not growing, you’re not evolving. Yeah. Whereas the kids stuff on the toys, or, you know, the dishes on the counter from a day ago, like, it’s, you know, eventually it’s going to get clean, but you, you know, it’s not there forever. So don’t beat yourself up. You know, that is, I’m really big on this. Because my husband is like, really, really, like neat and OCD and organised with everything. And I’m just not, I really like maintaining our home to be like, tidy and looking good. But just naturally, I It’s like, I still like have to go in and pick up all my stuff after myself. I’m like, oh, you know, I gather and I’m like, how did this all happen? And he’s like, Patricia happened. Like, so it’s not, I think that’s a really important thing, isn’t it, just be really mindful of like, the spaces where, where things are, and life is moving, that’s just life and be gentle on yourself. And when it comes to the Fung Shui for me, it’s way more important to start to kind of look at the places that you have been avoiding. And that you may have just kind of like, oh, that’s that room that’s got all the junk in it. You know, I just

Nicole Smith
We’ve all been there.

Patricia Lohan
We’ve all had, we’ve all had those rooms. And that’s okay to have them for a little bit and be like, I’m in a process of moving or changing things. I just need to do that. But like, if that room just gets totally neglected, and for some reason somebody else needs to hear this today, but, and a couple of years ago, I was working with a client and we’re doing undercover Fung Shui. So basically, she had hired me to Fung Shui her house. And then we she said oh my dad hasn’t been well, I want to do their house. They’re on holidays. I was like okay, okay. Does anyone know about this? You know, so anyways, we’re doing their house. And she got to the area in the centre, which is the health problems through the health area. We’re just walking around and then she opens the door and was like welcome to the junk room. And the main reason for our, for her bringing me in was like her dad had been really sick, hadn’t been well, I want to do something. I’ve noticed a difference, like really great improvements since I did the Fung Shui can you help me as I’m sure. So we we went in and llike the health area of the home was literally full of stuff, just completely clogged full of clutter. And I was like, whose stuff is this anyways, she’s like, oh, that’s my brother’s he’s in Australia. He hasn’t been home for eight years. This is my sister’s from wherever, that’s the golf clubs that nobody’s played. This is, it was just literally filled with stuff that nobody was using. Nobody. It was sitting there just like, I’ve been there for years, obviously years and years. So I just said look like obviously there’s loads of Fung Shui she could have done, but we’re doing it kind of undercover. So I was like, look, the main thing you just like get your when your mum and dad come back to you just have to tackle this space. So they did that space. And she messaged me a week later. And she’s like, uh, my dad just went out and played at 18 holes of golf. He has never, he hasn’t done that in years. Like, it’s just been like, literally, something just changed in him. And I was like, yeah, we just changed his environment. And now we’ve changed his life, like change your life. So it’s, that’s just even the surface of the work that I do. But for that, that idea of that there’s parts of your home that represents parts of your life and your business. And it’s mirroring that it’s really important to become so much more conscious of your physical environment and how it’s impacting you, your bank account, your relationships, your career, like everything.

Nicole Smith
Yeah that’s um, that’s an amazing story. And I love that the, so there’s obviously different areas in the home that represent different. Would you be happy to share a little bit about how that works?

Patricia Lohan
Yeah, sure. So it gets a bit more complex, I’ll probably just, what I might do is cover rooms and then talk about, there are, so basically there’s different schools of Fung Shui. There’s different schools of Fung Shui and essentially, the school that I practice is basically related to the compass. So it’s compass direction, so I probably won’t go too much into it, because it got very complicated. But when when, Yeah, cuz I’ll be like, What the hell. So what actually, this year in particular, the health area is a little bit trickier. So if you were to kind of look at, like, if you were like a bird looking down your house, and you were like, where, where’s the centre of that house, like, that is the kind of health area of your home, and it’s your health of you the health of your business, this kind of sense of like gratitude and self love and self care. And that was where I kind of targeted for this man, because I was like, okay, well, this is a priority right now. So we looked at that. So every part of your life represent, your home represents a different part, every part of your life. So it’s kind of like how I like to describe it, so imagine if we just even go back to the acupuncture analogy. And when you go to the, if you go to the acupuncturist, he or she will like look at your tongue, we can look at you, your eyes, they’ll also take the pulse. And then they’ll figure out like, where do I need to put the needles to balance you and bring you into harmony? And essentially, it’s kind of similar, like we do the analysis, and then I go, where do I need to put the acupuncture points. But um like a like that, but your body. And so we’re looking like liver meridian, or the kidney meridians or whatever, that each of these organs has a job. So like, the heart has a job to do the blood, the kidneys, they all have their own jobs. It’s the same as your house, like every area of your house kind of has a job to look after different parts of your life.

Nicole Smith
Absolutely. Yeah,

Patricia Lohan
So the health area is right in the centre. So this year for this health area. And it’s important to kind of avoid like red in that area, to keep it clear of clutter um to kind of not be that noisy in that area. Like just and you’re just take this all with a pinch of salt, as in like, you don’t know exactly where it is. But just being kind of mindful of, if you do know, when you walk into your house, and where it would be if you’re looking down like a bird on your house, you’re like, oh, that would be kind of it.

Nicole Smith
So I’m thinking in my home it’s actually, like, so we’ve got a big open plan kitchen-living. And so the kitchen actually is smack bang in the middle, got a very long house. And that’s right in the middle of the house. So and where the entry is, funnily enough, so

Patricia Lohan
Oh my god, amazing. So like, sometimes we naturally kind of feel drawn to doing things, and he cleaned that out and got rid of it. And it’s a bit more organised. Like, that’s great. That’s an amazing step. And, you know, for just that idea of just keeping clear, just for this year in particular is quite an interesting energy in there. And then when we look out the house, from that perspective, we look at all, all the different areas kind of span out. So if you’ve ever done that wheel of life, you know, the big round of life thing, and you look at all the different areas, it’s kind of similar, like every year, there’s like the career area, the health area, the love area, the relationship or the money area. And essentially what I like to say to people on something like this, where it’s like, oh my god, don’t run around trying to find where the areas are, because it’ll be really kind of confusing. But just to kind of, the very first thing I say to people is like, imagine like you’re outside the front of your house for the very first time. And you’re coming in, and you’re like, wearing a new set of eyes, like fresh eyes, this is the exercise. And you come in and you’re like, I’m just gonna look at everything with fresh eyes and not with a, oh, my God, my house is really old or my carpet is worn or this needs to be redecorated. Because actually Fung Shui is not about that. Like, it’s not you know, oh if my Fung Shui would be way better if my bathroom was improved, like I really, I need, I want to do my bathroom as well. But it’s not affecting my Fung Shui.

Nicole Smith
It’s not the cosmetic things.

Patricia Lohan
Yeah, again, if you go to the acupuncturist, she’s not going to give you, he’s not going to give you fashion advice. You know they’re just not going to be likew go to the stylist. It’s not my job. It’s not my job either. And a lot of people think I’m going to tell them like, oh my god, this is how you’re going to design your house. I’m like, no I’m an energy worker for your house. Like, you know, I actually, I hired an interior designer to work with me, because that feels good for me and I can still bring my Fung Shui in with me. And she has done it too so she understands it. So but from that perspective, this fresh eyes exercise is super fun, because it gets you to just look at your home from a place of like is this working. Does this squeak, is door handle there like, you know, for example, door handles represent a grip on your life and your finances. So if you have like squeaky door handles, or this one that keeps falling off, or you know, even your front door, if you can’t get in your front door, it’s hard struggle it’s gonna mirror back a struggle in your life, like it’s things are hard, it’s easy to come by. So it’s like your house is like talking to you. And having this communication and mirroring back what’s going on. So you fix the door, and then it gets easier and your like, oh that was smoother. And it’s like about like, really the fresh eyes exercises is kind of just analysing your house and this is very, like surface high level Fung Shui . But it’s fun, it’s accessible, but also it really kind of like smooth, it can help smooth things out a little bit for you. So any friction points around your house. So we’re talking about the pantry, using your pantry. And my sister lives in Australia, as well. And so her pantry was really huge as well and she had a what was it? It was like a wine fridge or something. So they built this beautiful house. And it was like a wine fridge and obviously was a custom built house. It was a lot of space for everything. So it was like all the things. So, but when you walked into the pantry, it never got fully fitted in. So then the fridge door would jam and it was just like, really annoying. Like, every time you went in, it was just this really annoying thing. And then it just kind of not only is it just you, your own personal energy, it creates this friction point. But then, if we layered on top of the Fung Shui, we’re like, well, what area of the home is this? Is it the relationship area? Is it literally every time you go into this like friction? Or the, I actually don’t know, I can’t remember, I don’t know what area that was. But you know, it’s just the, I remember her saying, oh my god, you know, actually it was COVID and the lockdown, her husband fixed. She’s like, oh my gosh!

Nicole Smith
Isn’t that amazing.

Patricia Lohan
My life is different, like so it’s like where have you got these little friction points around your home that you can like start to just make easier like squeaks, leaks, squeaks, leaks, little drips. Yeah, it’s like money dripping away. Drip, drip, drip, drip, Think of it as $50 down the drain every time that drip goes. And it’s so subtle, because water represents flow and prosperity. So it’s just everything mirroring around your house. And it can be a fun thing. And you know, as I said, don’t beat yourself up about like, oh, we need new carpet, or the bathroom needs to be changed or whatever, you know, this is broken. Think about like what I love, especially when my clients say this to me, I’m like, okay, so you need to upgrade the carpet, go to the carpet shop, go look at all the carpets get a sample of the favourite new carpet you’re going to get and then get excited about how it’s going to look as opposed to the ohh the carpet, you know, just really focus on how can we improve, how can, what’s the next level like. As opposed to going down because your house is energy and it’s feeling it and you’re just going to, by putting that like the you know, the friction about the bottle fridge or the door, whatever it is, that’s just going to compound it. So you want to ease the flow ease the energy and have fun. You know, new kitchen. What will my new kitchen look like, a bathroom look, put the picture up and see it, that’s a new thing. And you’ll start to see that kind of thing that, those things will start to flow in pretty easily.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, like I talked about friction as well in now in the processes and the way you operate in your business. It’s those little pain points that it’s like I can deal with it. But I’m like, well imagine if we looked at this and we designed and created something that you actually enjoyed. And you no longer come against those like, you know, frictiony moments in your business. How much easier is it? It’s enjoyable now and it doesn’t have to be a massive evolution, right. Like fixing a door handle is, well that’s a Simon job. He’s got, actually funnily enough that’s on the list. My daughter’s door handle needs to be fixed. So yeah, like those little things, and you don’t have to tackle it all at once either like because that’s just, you know, small changes or fixes.

Patricia Lohan
That’s too much, exactly, exactly. And like I say to my clients when they first join our programme, just like breathe. This is not a race. You’ve been living in this house for how many years already? Like, if we don’t have to do it in a week, you know, we can just do one part at a time. Take your time, do it mindfully, do it with an intention. Do with that that like bigger vision of like why you’re called here. Why? What’s the bigger picture and then it will if that will then reciprocate back to supertone with a friction points if you do it with joy, it’ll just filter back from that place. So it can be a really fun process as well. Because you’ll start to look at your house and be like, wow, like this is full of stuff from the past. Like, I just think that one woman, I remember working, her working with me, like, if I had a client that was like doing all the things for every health, nutrition, mindset, energy, work, and list of things, she was doing it. So she was seeing me we’re doing sound healing, she was doing Qi Gong three times a week, she was eating vegan food, she was going out in nature she was doing, she was literally the entire gamut of like, you name it, like, she was cooking a separate meal for her because her husband wouldn’t do the vegan food. But that’s to the extreme of like, she was everything was like, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. But we got to her house. And her house was literally a shrine to her past, it was so, you couldn’t even, you could hardly get in the door. She was an able, there was no space for new things, was no space for growth, there was no space for birth. So you know, really, so it was just it was it was completely eye opening, walking in and seeing the attic like, full of stuff. Like even though she really wanted to change, she wasn’t able to let go on the physical. So we started to let go in the physical it then starts to help us like go on the emotional as well. And that was just a massive eye opener, there was just so many layers in the house. There was like that stage. So when we start and I like the house part because I think it’s almost easier to build that muscle of letting go on the on the physical than it is on the emotional like why would we want to go and figure out all that it’s harder. And but we can do it kind of by osmosis through our house.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, I just recently, so both of my kids are out of their baby furniture now. And I loved their furniture like, you know, when you first pregnant with your baby, and you’re like, I’m gonna set the nursery up and blah blah blah. Anyway, we didn’t need it anymore. It was just taking up space in the rooms around. And so we finally decided to pop it up onto marketplace and it sold, it literally in a few hours. And at first, like I was ready to let it go. But then it sold I’m like, oh I don’t know. But then I was like, actually, by doing this, a) you know, we don’t need this, it’s going to a beautiful family who’s expecting a new baby, we now have space, we’ve also got some more income that’s coming from the sale, we’re getting a new puppy, so straight over into the puppy fund and all of a sudden the reactions or the results of that, then that next thing we sold, you know, and the, I have really felt over the last actually, that’s really interesting. Sorry, I’ve just made some connections. Since that moment, all other things have been happening. So that release of one can welcome in something else that we’re forward to,.

Patricia Lohan
Oh my God totally. And I love like when you go through things and go through your home and let go of things. Um I remember a client he was doing like loads of clearing, she’s like clearing all the time. But then my kids come home from their dads and they’ve got like all this junk, and they’re filling it up again. And I was like, because you haven’t told, you haven’t written a list of what you want to replace it with. So it’s just gonna, like the universe abors a vacuum, it’s just gonna like move new things. So be really intentional. Like, if you are letting go of something like I’m letting go of this and I’m going to replace it with a new client. Yep, I’m letting this go and replace it with a puppy. I’m going replace it with just like more joy, like whatever it is that you want to fill that space up with, and set that intention. So it’s almost like just an exchange, because that’s all it is. It’s just an exchange in energy.

Nicole Smith
Love that. This has been a very eye opening conversation. I’m loving it. And I’m sure every other people who are listening online are making those connections for their own personal experiences. And yeah, once you’ve actually felt and experienced something, it’s easier to replicate it again and again and again.

Nicole Smith
Just interrupting this episode for one little message. If you have been listening and love what you hear and want to come in connect, we have a Take Control with Nicole Facebook community right over there on Facebook that I would love to invite you to come and join us. We are a supportive community. We are looking to really take action in our businesses and change the way or evolve the way we’re working right now. So I invite you to come on over and join our community and connect with us all. Community is the essence of everything in business being able to really build those relationships that you can nurture and grow and support and celebrate each other. Oh, how fabulous. I hope to see you over there. pop on over to Facebook. Take control with Nicole. See you soon.

Patricia Lohan
And yeah, so we’ve spoken about the house meridians, is that the right word. The acupuncture design, what other areas I guess, can we use to really like optimise it in our personal and business lives? Yeah, so for your business, like I would say your workspace is like really, really crucial. And that is a place that like, I want you to kind of like I just love your space. I already I just think you know, it feels really nurturing and nourishing and love your flowers like it just feels like supportive already. So, but for a lot of us, especially for people who’ve just like, I’m just gonna take this little corner, in this little small bedroom, and jam my stuff in the corner. Like what does that say about how you’re prioritising you, your business, the importance of it, you know, there is no CEO of a major corporation sitting in a tiny little side locker desk, like they are the furthest from the door. There’s actually like, lots of gatekeepers to get to them. Yeah. And they have their own amazing space in a really great chair and a good desk and a great view, like they get the priority. And my invitation to you is just to like prioritise that space, like really prioritise that space. Because it’s the place where you and even you know, you’d said that sometimes you move to different places, if you’re more creative, me to 100% like I love my, I love this space for when I’m doing calls because I’ve got great light, my camera and got my good chair. And I just have myself set up. But then sometimes I’m just like in creative mode, I’ll just sit on the like we have a gorgeous view in our living room. And it’s just looks into the valley, it’s really expansive. So I’m doing something creative there, I’ll just pop over there and do it. But for most of the time, this is where I do my calls from, it’s where I talk to potential clients where my, you know, where I’m being created from, like, this is really important. So it’s like prioritisation is number one. And the second thing is like getting some good furniture that is, you know, I’m the boss, you know, so a good chair, they sit on that has a nice strong back that feels supportive. And you know, and then in your space, you want it to be about your business, like you want it to be about your business. So over the years, oh my God, I’ve looked at hundreds, maybe 1000s of offices. And it’s just such a fun adventure because it’s just so fascinating because basically our homes and our especially our actually any space it’s basically, it’s kind of like a mirror of our unconscious. Like unless we really consciously create it. It’s totally unconscious. So I remember doing this one woman’s office, and we get to her office. And like she shows me it and I’m like, I’m really in my head is like I don’t even know, what I’m going to recommend to her, her office is great. Like she had great solid kind of CEO furniture and desks and chairs office situation like so she’s sitting her back to the wall, which is always really great. She can see the door. Like I was like 10 out of 10. Great Fung Shui. And then I was like, what’s that picture on the wall. So there was two aspects of it. The first was it was like a winter scene. So it was like snow. And like that there was no leaves on the trees, it looks really just barren. And we know that well winter in northern hemisphere is like, it’s the time of hibernation. It is not a time of like growth, or flourishing or efficient, like it is not the business happy time.

Nicole Smith
I remember just going into the beautiful old English pub sitting by the fire having my you know, Sunday dinner, Yorkshire puddings. And that’s what I imagine, cold weather

Patricia Lohan
Exactly like, oh, no, like, no one’s gonna really want to go shopping in that or do business in that weather. We just want to talk in and do and be like hermits. So I was like, I don’t think that season is not a good season for a business unless you want to be in that like we could be going through that season. And then she adds on top. She’s like, oh, it was my ex husbands. I was like so there’s a picture here that basically represents something that didn’t work out. You know? Oh, yes, I was like goodbye picture. And then it’s like from that point then I just, we started diving in so deeply with people and their artwork in their offices and in their spaces. Because you know, all of those pictures are impacting your own your subconscious, even if you’re like aware or not aware. So I have like different pieces of artwork in my space that just inspires me that I love. That make me feel good. And remind me. And on this side, I just give an example of like the opposite of the winter scene. So here over here on my wall I have this beautiful fields. And it’s like the trees are growing up. And it’s like the sun beaming through, and it’s like a field of bluebells. And like blue, you never see like one Blue Bell is all it feels really expansive. Its nature, its growth, its flourishing. Like, that’s what we want to be connecting into that energy and that vibration in our offices and our office space. And when we set the space up, there can be different things we do. Like so some offices can be set up in ways that, you know, the desk is up against the wall, it’s not ideal, like that you talked about are, like confusing myself, because I talked to someone earlier today. And it’s like, I just did my Fung Shui in my offices, it’s amazing. But when we set up your desk, and you make some space in your environment, like your office, your desk, if there’s space in front of you, you can see what’s coming at you, you’re not going to be in overwhelm, keep your desk clear as possible. They’ll have loads of stuff in your place. Just be really clear on like, this is my workspace. Now, I have seen a lot of crazy stuff in people’s offices over the years like suitcases, exercise bikes, yoga mats, husbands books, loads of things. And a lot of people I don’t know why it’s because it’s maybe because it’s your the workspace, but lots of paperwork, business cards, books, connected to old businesses, yep. Or old careers. And then it’s like, oh, so there’s kind of like one foot in the past, like, oh, I might need them. No, you don’t, you know, you don’t need them. So it’s really at being really conscious of what’s in your environment. And that office setup. So there is a guide on my website that has loads of more things, but it’s not really consciously creating your environment to support you and what it is that you want. And you know, and just set how do you set it up, you set it up, because by pretending someone, a client is going to come and visit you and then you’re like, well, then I would create it like this, this, this this, and it will be very different to probably how it looks right now.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, that’s interesting, isn’t it, because, you know, my businesses is fully remote. So that’s why I work from home, it’s very unlikely unless they were a friend client, that they would be coming into my home to do any work activities. But it is interesting as well, you mentioned the desk, towards the wall, which is what it was before. So I was faced this way, there’s the wall on this side. And then there’s open space in front of me, which is not ideal, because there’s the living room and all that but when no one’s here it’s okay. But again, I shifted it around. And as I said that energy just felt, I’ve got more depth, created the, you know, the the backdrop that everyone’s familiar with, and then it’s open in front of me. And I do have some of the artwork that I really, you know, means a lot to me on that wall right there. And yeah, it’s such those again, small just rotate. Rotate the desk.

Patricia Lohan
Totally. It’s like small. And that’s the thing. It’s like, it’s nice, because you can come out and start with Fung Shui at so many different levels, you know, just like moving your desk, letting go of something. And then there’s like way deeper layers as well, which is fun, because it’s like a journey and the process with it. Yeah.

Nicole Smith
And we’ll put the link to that guide in the show notes. Because I think that would be really useful for everyone. If you’re still working from home or in the office, wherever you might be just to become aware, we always talk about becoming aware, we don’t know until we don’t know, until we know, I mean. Yeah, we’ll pop that in, download that if you’re listening. Is there anything else you’d like to share or think that it’s important for us to know, to make this just normal in our worlds? For you know, if we’re brand new, and we’re looking to bring it in? How do we

Patricia Lohan
Yeah, I would say to you like the first thing is just to kind of to make it normal is just to start being really grateful for your home. It’s a bit like, you know, if you were going to the acupuncturist and he said to you like, okay, um, how’s your diet, you know, like, and you’re like, well, I, you know, have McDonalds every day. That’s not great feeding yourself with junk food. So before, I would say to you, like, just before you buy something to bring into your house, look at it and be like, does this feel like it’s supporting where I want to go in my life? Is this like, am I creating, am I bringing more junk in just to fill up the space? Or am I bringing something in that’s going to improve and make it feel better? So it’s just that like, it’s every layer along the journey, like I’ve seen, like one of my clients actually said recently with me, she was like, I’ve just become like, I’m saving money because I used to buy so much stuff. And then I have to declutter it. And now I’m so conscious of what I bring in to my environment, and that it’s changed my entire relationship and that relationship with my home. And that’s what this is really about is building this amazing relationship with your home and not feeding with junk foods, like, you know, feed bringing in stuff that’s going to just feel good. Less is more.

Nicole Smith
Intentional purchasing rather than you know, just purchasing because purchasing. Exactly because purchasing but yeah, that’s a fabulous, fabulous tip to to leave us on. Then we talk about purpose or design or purposeful intentions. Absolutely. So we, for all of my guests we look at or we ask three questions, would you be interested and ready to explore

Patricia Lohan
I’m ready to go!

Nicole Smith
Fabulous. So the first one we ask is, what is your go to app that creates ease in your day?

Patricia Lohan
Voxer.

Nicole Smith
Oh, yeah, good one. Yeah. Is that how you communicate with your clients?

Patricia Lohan
That’s how I communicate with like, some of my clients actually, if they’re, open to Voxer, and it’s so handy, and but actually my team yeah, like that is my OBM. I just like, tell her everything on Voxer. And then it all gets done.

Nicole Smith
How amazing is it. I’m such a voice messenger that messager as well. And I use WhatsApp, but similar to voice function. There’s some of my team they use. They prefer Slack, but I’m like, I want the voice function.

Patricia Lohan
We have slack in our team. We have slack, and we have ClickUp. And I don’t know how to get into ClickUp. I honestly don’t know how to get into click up. I don’t know what happens in there, in all is very organised, but it’s not me doing it. And we have slack and I just occasionally, like very rarely go there. They’re like I told I told you on Slack. I’m like, there’s no use telling me on Slacl, Voxer is where I’m at. If you want to find me.

Nicole Smith
Yeah, funny you mentioned that, in my members, lounge community, we’re looking at communication and connection strategies this month and being really intentional and communicating. Okay, so this is my way to communicate with me and your Voxer for you. And don’t put it anywhere else because I’m not going to say that message. This is where I am.

Patricia Lohan
Yep, totally.

Nicole Smith
Oh, amazing. So it sounds like the, okay, so are you an online or paperless to-do list lover, I was going to say sounds like you’re online.

Patricia Lohan
I personally I’m a total paper, like I literally sitting here with three notepads. And I have lists on every one of them because I’m just back from a mastermind, um which yeah, but I’m a total paper person. And even if I’m mapping out any course, or mapping something that I want to do, I draw it all out in paper with colours. And then I will either do a loom video or Voxer or send photos and loom it and then be like make this happen.

Nicole Smith
Amazing. So what you’ve described to me there is that you’ve got the beautiful, you know, harmony of your fabulous skills, and your team really working together. So you’re in your element, and they they go make the magic happen over there. And it’s all beautiful. Yeah, perfect. I love paper too. And I love colour, like I’ve been playing with this orange coloured pen. I’ve got a whole series under here of pens. So you gotta yeah, absolutely. So, so good. What would you do if you created more space in your world?

Patricia Lohan
What would I do if I created more space in my world? I feel like I’d do all the things.

Nicole Smith
Perfect.

Patricia Lohan
Like, I do loads of things, maybe? I don’t really know. Yeah, I feel really fortunate to like travel a lot. Like we travel all the places. We live in Greece in the summer, we have our online business, which I love. It’s completely online. And there’s a lot, like maybe more like not necessarily them. I know it’s it’s coming but like more visiting like the places that I support, like as a philanthropist, like the charity things and it’s just a few places that I want to go to to visit to go to but, and that’s kind of a yeah, there’s the time thing space but yeah, just schedule that in. But most of the time I’m like, I go, I don’t as you said you don’t really start your day until later. I don’t start my day until much later I go do my gym, do my walk the dog. Have fun. Go to the spa. And then I’ll come and be like, okay, now I’m ready to work.

Nicole Smith
Yeah. Oh, I love that. I talk about designing your day and it sounds like you’ve got that nailed. So perfect. Yeah.

Patricia Lohan
And I feel very lucky with that one. It’s taken a while, but it’s been so worth it.

Nicole Smith
Well, that’s the business journey though, right. When you first start, there’s that, you do invest more time and energy and you start to develop, or you know, really focusing on that area that gives you joy, and you bring on your team, then they have all their beautiful skills, and then your time frees up so you can do the things that you want to do. And your business is running in the background and got all the systems and things happening. And that’s beautiful to hear. It’s exciting. Congratulations. Amazing.

Patricia Lohan
Thank you

Nicole Smith
Thank you so much for joining me. Is there anything else you’d like to share before we well, and where can we find you? Ultimately, how can we get in touch with you?

Patricia Lohan
Oh thank you so much. It’s been so great to share with you today. So you can find me at patricialohan.com I’m at Instagram @patricialohan as well or Powerhouse Fung Shui. And Powerhouse Fung Shui is kind of our place where we share all our tips and all of that, and I also, if you come to patricialohan.com you’ll get the business guide, you’ll also be able to check out my YouTube videos I have a few on Fung Shuiing your office, your bedrooms all the different spaces. So there’s loads of resources there to support you. And just those first steps of function way. And actually, I totally forgot. Um I’ve just created a new Fung Shui free mini course. So and it is a walk through my own house. And I share like do’s and don’ts for every room and kind of dive deeper into more of the what Fung Shui is and how it works. So that’s also there. So there’s like the office, actually you can come and see my own office and talk about like and and see how my husband Ken is in like bad Fung Shui? Yes, we haven’t. Yeah. Anyway. So if that’s available as well,

Nicole Smith
That’s amazing. That would be a fabulous start. Because, you know, like me, this is all new to me. But everything you’ve shared this morning, well your evening. My morning. It’s been a real eye opener to, I’m obviously on that journey already becoming aware. And yeah, I believe that’s the right word. So yeah, being able to put some a little bit more information around it is a great thing. So I’m gonna put all of those links in the show notes. So pop on over there, everyone and go and check it all out and get your business and your personal world and your home all beautiful Fung Shui’d . Am I saying that right?

Patricia Lohan
It’s perfect? Honestly, I don’t really, my main priority is people implementing Yes. Don’t have to maintain, like it’s about implementation The pronunciation is okay. You know, it isn’t, it’s just kind of the word doesn’t make kind of logical sense to us. It’s not from our own line from from our language, you know, but at the same time, it is very powerful. And it’s the implementation, but it’s more important.

Nicole Smith
We’re just going to leave on that, because that is just words singing to my heart.

Patricia Lohan
Yes. Oh, my God. Yes. System Queen

Nicole Smith
Implementation everyone. If you take one thing away, implement the changes. Yeah, thank you so much. And I really appreciate you staying up a little bit later.

Patricia Lohan
It’s all good. I’ve really, really enjoyed it. So have a great day. Thank you so much.

Nicole Smith
Thank you. And for everybody who’s listening. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and enjoy creating space and time freedom bye now.

Nicole Smith
Well, there we go. Thank you so much for joining me today. It’s been such a pleasure having you on board. Have we connected on social yet? If not, please come on over say hi, I’m on all the platforms @theartisanssolutions. So I’d really look forward to seeing you over there. And if you enjoy today’s episode, don’t forget to tag me and I’d love it if you could leave a review. And of course, share this with others so others can come and join us next time. All right, then everyone have a fabulous rest of the week and until next time, see you then.