Material Success and Happiness Through Yoga Principles

by Swami Kriyananda
(J. Donald Walters)

Copyright © 2005 Hansa Trust
All rights reserved.

Lesson Seventeen
The Importance of a Harmonious Environment
The Principles
During my first or second year at Haverford College I had the bright idea that it might help me, while studying for an exam, to take a job baby-sitting for an evening in a neighbor’s home, removed from campus distractions. After the parents went out, I spent a half hour or so romping with their two boisterous children, and then I had the house silently to myself.
To my surprise, something kept me from concentrating on my studies. The atmosphere seemed to discourage any serious focus. I looked around me. The home was pleasant enough; I noticed, however, no serious reading matter in the living room: only a few popular magazines scattered on the coffee table, but no bookshelves or books anywhere, and no indication that the couple thought seriously about anything. The vibrations seemed superficial. I’d come there with a purpose, but found it necessary to exert unusual will power in order to concentrate at all. I did manage to study, but only with difficulty.
I use this illustration to call attention to something I consider important in the workplace. Perhaps everyone has experienced it at times: namely, places may possess vibrations, which reveal the consciousness of the people who have lived in or frequented them. The strength of those vibrations depends on the intensity and duration of the awareness that was focused there. The vibrations, even of holy shrines, may have become overlaid in time by other vibrational layers: worldliness perhaps, or tourism.
Centuries of focused devotion produce powerful vibrations, particularly if the feeling expressed has been deep and sincere. It is possible to “excavate” intuitively in such places by a kind of spiritual archaeology, and thus to descend through centuries of other vibrational layers that have accumulated there. I remember doing just that at Capernaum, on Lake Galilee in Israel. Meditating there, I felt all at once the living presence, two thousand years ago, of Jesus Christ and his disciples’ youthful enthusiasm.
At Delphi, in Greece, which was for many centuries the primary place of spiritual pilgrimage in the West, I was thrilled by the ancient spiritual vibrations that still permeate that holy place long since the days of pilgrims who came from afar. I was amused also to pass a group of American tourists as they exited a shrine just as I was entering it. Strangers, evidently, to silent awe, they were chatting volubly together about trivial matters back home.
It is quite understandable, for this reason, why certain holy temples in India forbid entry to non-Hindus. They do so not to preserve any secrets, but rather to preserve the sacred vibrations of devotion. In certain temples—at the Vishnupad Temple in Gaya, for instance—the vibrations are so strong they override the worldliness even of worshipers who go there to pray for earthly boons. (At least they do pray there!) Wherever great saints and yogis have deeply meditated, their power remains embedded, so to speak, in the very stones.
The vibrational aspect of different places I’ve visited has become, for me, the most fascinating aspect of traveling. I make it a point wherever I go to “feel” the vibrations, instead of merely gazing at the tourist attractions. Indeed, as places of tourist interest those places are, for me, less of a draw now than as places to be felt. Often, the places are deeply imbued with the vibrations they’ve gathered over centuries, owing to the consciousness of the people who lived, worked, played, or worshiped there.
Here are a few more examples of a phenomenon that will, I hope, help to convince you of a feature of your own workplace that deserves serious attention:
I’ve noticed more than once when traveling from California to Mexico a change in the vibrations as I crossed the border in either direction. In Mexico, I was immediately impressed by the slower, more relaxed vibration of what Mexicans themselves describe as “mañana (tomorrow)” consciousness.
When crossing the border from the state of Nevada into California, I’ve noticed a certain “lift” in the atmosphere. Nevada gains much of its wealth by gambling, and has, in consequence, developed something of a taking consciousness, not one of giving or of wealth earned by hard work. Entering California from that state, I’ve been repeatedly aware of a higher, more creative energy even as I crossed the state line.
Again, going north from California into Oregon I’ve noticed even while crossing the border a diminishing tension in the air, a feeling that people wanted more to live in harmony with Nature than to conquer her.
The vibrations in India are highly spiritual—a fact on which many Westerners have commented. Even in Calcutta (or Kolkata), one of the noisiest, dirtiest, and most crowded cities in the world, I am thrilled by the deeply devotional vibrations in the air. It is the city I love best in all the world.
I remember also arriving at the airport in Delhi. I’ve had the same feeling there repeatedly, but this time it was many years ago, late at night. I took an airport bus to Connaught Place, at the center of the city. Around me in that rattling conveyance were Western travelers, but no Indians. The darkness outside prevented me from seeing anything of the countryside. Thus, there was nothing, visually speaking, but the bus itself to remind me that I was in India. Yet, as I closed my eyes, I actually felt a joy welling up out of the ground—the enduring legacy of thousands of years in that land of great yogis and rishis who, in deep meditation, left their blessings in the soil. This legacy will never be destroyed by any amount of modernizing.
America, too, despite the karmic wrongs it has committed (as have all nations), has basically good karma, which will see it through the hard times that, my Guru often said, would soon come upon the world. In fact he told us that America and India will lead the world, in future, toward a more balanced material and spiritual way of life. Students of this course will add their positive energy, I hope, to that wave of good karma.
Let me finish these few prefatory remarks with two more brief but relevant stories:
One day while I lived at Mt. Washington (the international headquarters of the organization my Guru founded), a group of us monks went in a pickup truck to the mountains for a day of skiing. When we returned, I lay in the bed of the truck with my eyes closed, meditating. Suddenly I sat up and exclaimed, “How peaceful it feels!” I opened my eyes and saw that we had just driven in the gates of the grounds on Mt. Washington.
Another time, many years later, at Ananda Village I had a similar experience. I had just come back from a trip overseas, and was strolling with a friend down the dirt road below the property on which my home is located. On our return, I was paying little heed to where we were. Suddenly I exclaimed, “How peaceful it feels!” Looking around, I saw that we had just crossed the boundary onto Ananda land.
I’ve devoted quite a lot of space till now describing things that may not seem relevant to this lesson, but that will, I hope, help to clarify points I want to make here. My purpose has been to convince you of a point few people may think about: namely, that places develop vibrations according to the consciousness of the people living, working, or worshiping there. This fact leads me to emphasize the importance of the vibrations you infuse into your workplace, which can either contribute to your success, or obstruct it. Those vibrations deserve to be taken quite seriously, and not ignored as they usually are.
If the over-all “feeling” where you work is harmonious—and harmony is assisted by neatness and cheerfulness—it will encourage everyone who works there to concentrate on his job. If, however, the feeling is one of disorder, restlessness, or gloom, the vibrations will discourage efficiency and will dampen people’s enthusiasm. Success thoughts should be objectified in the very decor, which can help to uplift or depress the workers’ spirit, and can thus aid in creating good vibrations. The vibrations will be enhanced by appropriate sounds, colors, shapes, and designs. If all these factors suggest a sense of dullness and confusion, they can produce vibrations of failure. It is possible to aid deliberately in the creation of good vibrations even if the space you’ve inherited comes with disharmonious vibrations infused in it by its previous occupants. A harmonious decor will assist toward developing a harmonious consciousness. Although it is consciousness, actually, that produces the vibrations, a harmonious decor, and harmony also in the other features I’ve described, will encourage an uplifted consciousness.
Several of the Ananda communities in America were run-down housing developments purchased because that was all we could afford at the time. They were rebuilt, and today they are, in fact, model communities. Though the vibrations of those places were low, our vibrant, positive energy soon drove out the slovenly energies.
Rebuilding with positive energy places that have become decrepit will reduce the initial expenses, especially if you have people who are able to do that work, or if you can get it done cheaply. If you can afford a new place, however, this may well—in terms of developing the vibrations you want—be the best solution.
Harmony in the workplace depends first of all on the consciousness infused into it. A harmonious consciousness objectifies itself naturally as outward harmony. Pleasant sounds and colors actually help to induce a more dynamic, energetic state of mind. Success depends to a great extent on clear thinking, which is enhanced by outer harmony.
Most important, of course, is, as I’ve said, the predominant consciousness in the workplace. It is this which becomes reflected in such things as outward appearance. That consciousness can, however, be deliberately enhanced by outward appearances. Thus, to promote a general atmosphere of efficiency, important for promoting success at every level, there is much that can be done not only by admonition, but through improving the decor, the arrangement of the furnishings, the level of noise, and by a number of other factors that we’ll present in this chapter. It is important to understand also that non-attention to these factors can create an opposite sort of atmosphere: negativity, arguments, laziness, anger, and other emotions which cannot but impact negatively the very work flow.
When I was a schoolboy in England, fighting was kept under control by a simple rule: A boy’s impulse to strike someone had to be deferred until a formal match could be arranged in the gym, complete with boxing gloves and seconds. Thus, the bellicose energy of young boys wasn’t suppressed, but the cooling-off period (encouraged, though not always with success!) between the challenge and the actual moment of battle was sufficiently often long enough to cool off angry tempers.
I am not suggesting that a similar solution be adopted in your workplace. That rule in an English school was designed for rambunctious boys. In offices, physical fighting is rare to non-existent. Arguments and harsh words, however, are fairly common. What I suggest is that, wherever possible, a separate room be set aside for activities unrelated to the actual work. If an argument seems to be brewing, people could be required to go to this room and “talk it out.” The room could also be a place where people go for their “coffee breaks” or moments of relaxation and simply chatting. The important thing is not to disturb the vibrations where work is done. The workers themselves can be encouraged to limit their activities at work to more serious matters. By “serious” I hope you understand that I don’t mean grim! Cheerfulness is important to enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is essential for real creativity.
The above suggestion depends also, of course, on the kind of work that is done. If your business is manufacturing, and if it employs many workers, the situation may not permit having a special room set aside for any separate purpose.
In the case of a manufacturing plant, you may want to think also about infusing your products with uplifting vibrations. Modern mass-production is efficient, but from a vibrational point of view it is hardly ideal. Things will not change, of course, so long as they facilitate the production of cheaper goods. Realistically, then, the assembly-line method will be with us at least for the present, despite the fact that it tends to dull the workers’ consciousness as they sit there all day, doing a single movement, like tightening a screw, as the conveyer belt passes by. This system works, a fact which will be its supreme rationale until some better and workable system is found. Someday, perhaps, the general level of affluence will induce people to buy things that have been produced also with loving care, and not only with the mind-numbing motions that are required on the assembly-line. I sincerely hope so.
Even now, however, such care can be infused into designing a product. Shapes and colors can still be mass produced that are pleasing to eye and heart, and not merely functional. Such products are attractive, even on display in mass-appeal department stores. I’ll buy such things only if I need them, of course, but it is always good to find beautiful things at low prices. Love needn’t be missing altogether from any workplace, even if such feeling is expressed only in the design department, behind the scenes.
There are many people—let’s face it—who will work mechanically in any case. They’ll at least be more cheerful if their take-home pay pleases them. And this kind of pleasure is the most likely result of modern manufacturing methods. Better this, usually, than old-fashioned, inefficient, but for all that still-plodding labor. Mass production methods, moreover, please also the customers in their correspondingly lower prices.
The consciousness with which a person works is, as I said, the most important ingredient of success. Not all work demands creative consciousness in the actual doing, but even uncreative work can be done with focus and efficiency. Offices where disharmony and disorder prevail are the opposite of efficient. How can success-consciousness be the rule, where people must spend minutes in finding the things they use daily, which ought to be at their fingertips? How can they concentrate, where distractions are constant? And how can they work with calm attention in places where the very colors are restless and even depressing?
Sound also exerts a very important influence on the mind. Music in the workplace has proved helpful in many situations. It can help even by obscuring the disruptive effect produced by people talking on the telephone, or discussing business matters with one another—sounds that are necessary to most workplaces, but that distract others who are trying to concentrate on their own work.
Shop owners often delegate to their salespeople the decision of what music to play for the customers. This form of delegation can be a serious mistake. Often the sales force consists of restless youngsters, hopefully committed to their work, whose taste in music reflects a general disinterest in anything serious. The music recordings they play are often loud and annoying to customers whose preference, usually, is a calmer atmosphere. Personally speaking, I should add that restless music has actually driven me out of a shop. When people are shopping they may want to take time in making their selections. When eating in restaurants, too, they enjoy and digest their food better in a calm atmosphere. When selecting books in a bookstore, they need not only a thoughtful, but perhaps even an uplifting atmosphere. The music played in all these places should be selected with other considerations in mind than the frequently restless tastes of the salespeople.
There are places, of course, where restless music can help in energizing people. A carnival atmosphere is suitable for places where people like excitement. The thing is to understand that the sound selected for a store ought to help in creating vibrations that will promote whatever activity is to be encouraged.
Returning to the subject of decor, I have been in offices—especially in India—where files are stacked up to the ceiling, conveying a “fuddy-duddy” impression. In such a place the workers, when confronting any problem, must tend to think, “Now let me see—it seems to me this problem came up years ago. When was it? Oh yes, back in ’76. How did we handle it then? Ye-e-es, yes, we must have gone at it in something like this way.” And so, hemming and hawing, they proceed with abstracted eyes and minds. Tradition rules supreme in such places, and fresh ideas are almost studiously shunned.
If many people work together in your workplace, it might save the firm money to hire an efficiency expert, to suggest ways of improving the work flow. If that person is really good at his job, he may be able to take into consideration such things as sound, color, and lighting. Considerations like these, however, will probably not be specialties of his.
As regards lighting, keep in mind that it isn’t easy to work with energy in poor lighting. A wise employer will spend the necessary money to provide good lighting.
Tungsten lighting has been found to be tiring on the eyes after a time, and therefore to have a dulling and even sleep-inducing effect on the mind. Full spectrum lighting can be a good investment; do at least consider it. A friend of mine, on the other hand, has made a long study of this particular subject for his work, and has offered me the following suggestions. He recommends using new fluorescent lighting. Ideal, he said, is a combination of two tubes, one of them with “cool white” light; the other with “warm white.” Halogen lights are excellent also, as a supplement. He recommended 75-watt spotlights for detailed work, and 150-watt floodlights for work requiring manual skill in assembling things.
Color can be very important. Some colors are soothing, some, energizing; still others have a depressing effect. It has been found in hospital rooms, for example, that a soothing shade of green can have a healing influence, and is certainly an improvement over the usual, antiseptic white. Pure, bright colors energize the mind, whereas muddy colors tend to dull it.
A bright cherry red is cheering, whereas certain darker reds can have an aggravating effect, and may even upset some people emotionally, especially if they themselves have a tendency to get angry or emotional. There are quiet red shades which, when balanced harmoniously against other colors such as a golden yellow, can help to influence the mind to be wakeful and relaxed. In my home in India there is a room on a mezzanine where a darkish hue of red mixed with a little blue on the arms of the chairs and a sofa is offset against a golden hue for the backs. This color scheme helps to energize and also to relax the mind.
A bright orange should be used with care, for it is the color of fire. A pure orange can uplift the mind, but a more violent shade will draw attention—excessively, usually—to itself. The colors in the workplace need to help in energizing people, but should not be distracting.
A soft yellow helps to stimulate mental activity. Usually, yellow is best in a golden shade rather than in a lemony hue.
Green is, as I’ve suggested, a healing color. It is also relaxing, and therefore a good color, possibly, for restaurants. It will be less helpful in shops where one wants to encourage customers to pull out their money and buy! And although green may be good in real estate offices, it may be excessively calming in places where the staff itself needs stimulation.
Blue—you may have noticed that I am going through the colors of the rainbow—is calming and expansive to the mind. Blue, therefore, is a good color for intellectual work. Lighter shades of blue are more activating in their effect than darker hues.
Indigo is a dark blue, and may be good for spiritual work, for psychological or philosophical counseling, and for inspirational activity. Indigo is less helpful, however, where outgoing energy is required.
Violet, finally, is excellent for reading or writing poetry, and for studying or writing works of spiritual inspiration. It offers less support to outward activities, however, for it tempts the mind inward.
A soothing off-white, not too glaring, is an excellent basic color, and goes well on ceilings especially, where it reflects light clearly.
Neatness is a “must” in business offices—except, possibly, where newspaper work is done. In newspaper offices, a certain amount of excitement, accompanied even by a little disorder, may help in reporting the jumble necessary for producing exciting, last-minute news items.
It helps for the furniture in a workplace to be pleasant and uplifting to the spirit. Solid colors are more soothing than patterned fabrics. Avoid especially any patterns that are jarring. Tiger, zebra, and leopard designs spring to mind. A friend of mine in America had a cat for a pet. She bought herself a dress with a leopard pattern. The moment her cat saw it folded up and laid over the back of a chair, it froze in terror, then backed carefully away out of the room as if fearful of being attacked! A strange reaction, surely, considering that it had never seen a leopard! Perhaps what distressed it was a suggestion of emotional disturbance in the pattern. “Busy” patterns of any kind can induce a certain uneasiness in the mind.
The work in a large office is helped by dividers separating different areas of activity. The dividers should be of a uniform, neutral color. An off-white beige may be effective as a means of promoting calmness and concentration. I have never tried another color, but green might work well also; certainly not blue, nor any of the cooler colors at the other end of the spectrum from red. And red, orange, or yellow will have the effect of intruding too much excitement into a workplace when calmness is required.
The carpets selected are important for their color scheme. Since they’ll mostly be hidden by desks and other furniture, however, solid colors may be best except in areas where they are fully visible: in rooms, for example, where visitors sit, or where staff members relax together.
Pictures should be placed in wall areas where people can look up for a moment and enjoy them as a means of relaxing their minds. Tranquil landscapes have a much more soothing effect than jarring “moderns”—though abstract color designs, if well selected, can also be soothing. It is important, in the case of abstractions, that they not be so bland as to be no longer interesting, in time.
Space is an important consideration in most offices. The attempt to economize by crowding the desks together, with uncomfortably narrow aisles to walk through, may in time be counter-productive.
The ancient oriental Feng Shui and Vastu methods are no doubt excellent; it would be well to give them serious consideration. Those systems are outside the scope of the present lesson, however, because I myself haven’t studied them. The one fault I find with them—which accounts for a certain resistance I feel toward them—is the fanaticism of some of their votaries, who seem almost religious in their dedication! As with many fads, these systems can become emotional issues that obscure common sense.
Finally, the clothing people wear in the workplace is important both for their own morale and for the general look. Where some sort of dress code is required, of course I make no demur. Where factory work is being done, again, how workers dress is less important. Their clothes are more or less hidden by machinery, in any case. In offices, however, and in retail shops and other similar places, if no uniform dress code is required it matters very much that everyone dress neatly and in good taste—not for purposes of showing off, but simply to be pleasing to the eye. Whether the people to be pleased are one’s fellow workers or the customers, do try—out of respect for others, not out of vanity—to dress pleasingly.
The Application
Expense is a major consideration when designing any workplace. Most employers would rather concentrate on what is being produced than on the labor involved in production. To ignore the production end, however, can be counter-productive. Even to concentrate only on efficiency, while forgetting the workers’ morale and energy level, is to cut their output significantly.
Harmony in the workplace certainly affects people’s attitude. Because it is the mind which rules the body, so also positive energy ultimately ensures the success of any enterprise. Deprive the workplace of this feature, and you put your entire work at risk of failure.
I mentioned one or two lessons ago the need for the boss to keep the controlling reins in his own hands. I once had a boss who justified her unwillingness to let other people make decisions by stating, “I have to keep the reins in my hands!” Sometimes the thought occurred to me to reply, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean you must be the horse!” Sometimes it is necessary to let the horse have its head.
Recognize the workers’ importance in any group endeavor. Devote kindly and respectful attention to their needs. Understand that money spent on their behalf may bring you significant returns. If you cannot afford immediately to make every change you’d like, create an agenda. Make a few changes at a time, when and as you can afford them. But do let people see that you are moving in the right direction.
I’ve suggested consulting an efficiency expert to improve your work flow. My suggestion, when I made it, “bled over” into an area that might be considered more properly the domain of an interior decorator. There can be a problem, however, with any expert, for experts often want to draw attention to their own expertise rather than focus on the real needs. I am inclined, in fact, to suggest that you not seek help from such people unless really necessary. Instead, you might ask a friend, or one on whose taste you rely. You could even depend on your own taste if you have the self-confidence to make decisions as to which colors, patterns, and color balances to choose. A word of caution: Don’t let the choosing be a team effort. For many people, even if their taste is individually good, contradict one another to such a degree that the over-all effect is merely to disrupt the harmony.
There was a practice in Japan many years ago. Maybe it is still in use; I don’t know. The idea was that all the employees gathered at the start of the day to sing the company song. This practice smacks, perhaps too much, of flag waving; I confess I myself would be embarrassed to sing a company-boosting anthem. To sing songs, however, that energize people, and that have meaningful words, may be a good idea for you.
I myself have written over 400 pieces of music, about 250 of which are songs, most of which are meant to inspire. I’m thinking now of one of them which the members of Ananda often sing, which might be good for any group of workers at the start of the day. Let me write out the words. You could get the melody—including the parts for choral singing—by writing to the publisher.
Many hands make a miracle:
Let’s all join hands together!
Life on earth is so wonderful
When people laugh and dance and struggle as friends,
Then all their dreams achieve their ends!
Many hands make a miracle:
People climbing together!
Soon we reach to the pinnacle
Of every mountain peak we hazard as one,
We’ll lift our hands to welcome the sun!
We lift our hands to welcome the sun!
We’ve found in our Ananda communities that singing this, and also other songs, together—I don’t like to call them mine, for they were received in divine inspiration—does more to bring people together in unity than any other single thing at Ananda. Choirs from the Ananda Sangha communities often travel, even abroad, and have often performed to standing ovations.
Singing is, of course, merely a suggestion. You may think it a trivial one. Still, you might find it more helpful than you imagine. Moreover, it won’t cost you anything!
Meditation
Visualize a clear night sky full of stars—as many stars as might be seen together through a powerful telescope. Then imagine melodies of joy accompanied by rich harmonies, filling the universe with divine joy and aspiration toward perfection. Sing with the stars! Sing till you feel your oneness with existence itself!
Affirmation
“I will work with the universe to achieve every worthwhile end in my life. 
My efforts and Thy joy are one!”

Points to Remember
1.  If the over-all “feeling” where you work is harmonious—and harmony is assisted by neatness and cheerfulness—it will encourage everyone who works there to concentrate on his job. 
2.  Pleasant sounds and colors actually help to induce a more dynamic, energetic state of mind. Success depends to a great extent on clear thinking, which is enhanced by outer harmony. 
3.  Wherever possible, set aside a separate room for activities unrelated to the actual work. 
4.  Love needn’t be missing altogether from any workplace, even if such feeling is expressed only in the design department, behind the scenes. 
5.  The consciousness with which a person works is the most important ingredient of success. Not all work demands creativeconsciousness in the actual doing, but even uncreative work can be done with focus and efficiency. 
6.  Sound exerts a very important influence on the mind. The sound selected for a store ought to help in creating vibrations that will promote whatever activity is to be encouraged. 
7.  If many people work together in your workplace, it might save the firm money to hire an efficiency expert, to suggest ways of improving the work flow. 
8.  Keep in mind that it isn’t easy to work with energy in poor lighting. A wise employer will spend the necessary money to provide good lighting. 
9.  Color can be very important. Some colors are soothing, some, energizing; still others have a depressing effect. Pure, bright colors energize the mind, whereas muddy colors tend to dull it. 
10.  Neatness is a “must” in business offices. 
11.  It helps for the furniture in a workplace to be pleasant and uplifting to the spirit. Solid colors are more soothing than patterned fabrics. 
12.  The work in a large office is helped by dividers separating different areas of activity. The dividers should be of a uniform, neutral color. 
13.  Pictures should be placed in wall areas where people can look up for a moment and enjoy them as a means of relaxing their minds. 
14.  Space is an important consideration in most offices. The attempt to economize by crowding the desks together may in time be counter-productive. 
15.  In offices and in retail shops, and other similar places, it matters very much that everyone dress neatly and in good taste—not for purposes of showing off, but simply to be pleasing to the eye. 
16.  Devote kindly and respectful attention to the needs of the workers. Understand that money spent on their behalf may bring you significant returns. Make a few changes at a time, when and as you can afford them. But do let people see that you are moving in the right direction. 
17.  To sing songs that energize people, and that have meaningful words, may be a good idea for you.

Workbook Ideas
by Joseph Bharat Cornell
The Importance of a Harmonious Environment

Examine your workplace—as if seeing it for the first time. What do you feel when you walk in the door? Do you feel a rise of energy or a lowering of energy? A sense of joy or discouragement?

Look more closely: Do you see a place that encourages focused and creative work? If you are serving customers, does your business welcome them with appealing colors, decorations, sounds, smells, and friendly staff?

1. Use this simple survey to assess your work environment to see where you might make some improvements: 

Is Your Workplace:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Cluttered					                  Clean and tidy

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Disorganized and chaotic			Well-ordered and efficient

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Noisy and irritating				      Calm and harmonious

Are the colors, lighting, and furnishings: 

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Dreary						Cheerful (colors, furnishings)

2. Is the overall energy:  

Low and deadening             Energizing              Over-stimulating and nervous

3. How does your environment affect the attitudes of the staff? Of the customers?

4. Is the environment aiding the success of your business or hampering it?

5. Look at the following list of changes and see which you can do: 

a. Immediately
b. In the coming month
c. As a long-range goal

•	Clear the clutter. Cleaning and organizing can make a profound difference. Open the closets and drawers and clean them out. Clear the surfaces.
•	Clean. Wash windows, clean dust and cobwebs.
•	Simplify. Get rid of duplicate items and things you’re no longer using. Each item should have a specific and current reason to be there.
•	Consider changing or adding colors, using paint or fabrics.
•	Consider adding more light.
•	Add uplifting imagery—art or prints appropriate to the overall energy desired in your space.
•	Play uplifting music that is appropriate for your work environment.

You may not be able to accomplish some of these changes during normal work hours. Plan an all-staff workday on a day when the business is closed. Have everyone wear casual clothing, and serve a picnic—create a fun experience that will help raise the spirits and closeness of the staff and involve everyone in taking responsibility for a better working environment.