Creating A Success-Filled Hotel Room

Heading out for a vacation or business and staying in a hotel? Traveling season is quickly approaching and the holiday season can occasionally make hotel rooms our home away from home. Make it the best it can be by setting up your hotel for success!

Work can be stressful but add travel to it, and it can increase significantly. I did whatever I could to lower my stress so I had a more enjoyable and efficient trip. I traveled extensively for over 20 years when I worked in pharmaceutical and medical device sales. I was on planes and cars traveling from place to place almost every week. This often meant staying in one to three hotels a week. Most of my friends thought I had a glamorous job. Although I did enjoy it in the early years, as each city was a new adventure, traveling always presents many challenges.

For example, it often means spending countless hours immersed in high electromagnetic fields. Airports literally hum with them, as do the aircraft. These energy fields can be extremely debilitating, draining our bodies of chi, and causing headaches, irritability, depression, and insomnia.

Couple this with time-zone changes, and we end up with the classic jet lag experience. Being blessed with good health, I didn’t become aware of the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields until rather late in my career, when I began to study the art of Feng Shui.

Reduce your exposure to EMFs by unplugging all unnecessary electronics like coffeemakers and alarm clocks. Taking these preventative measures and charging phones away from your bed not only helps the planet from harmful energy loads, but it also makes you feel healthier. EMFs are electromagnetic fields that are invisible areas of energy associated with electrical power and man made lighting.

If you are sensitive to EMFs, depending on the level of frequency, you may experience symptoms including:

• Fatigue, stress, or sleep disturbances
• Rashes
• Pains and aches in your muscles
• Foggy thinking or depression, among others

However, I learned there is a device to prevent jet lag that one can wear like a piece of jewelry. I found that wearing it prevents jet lag, no matter how many time zones I fly through. Now, they make such devices for cellphones and laptops, which I use! Ask me about these if interested.

Hotel rooms present another travel challenge! Even the highest-rated can be filled with dead, stale chi and energy from prior guests. If it’s a large hotel, you also contend with being sandwiched between other rooms and the energies of other occupants. Add this energy and  the sharp angles of some furniture,  bathroom chi, electromagnetic fields, noise, and it’s no wonder so many people dislike travel.

So, what can you do? First, clear the room energetically, using whatever means you prefer to get a fresh start. In basic Feng Shui, you can use tassels to compensate for cutting edges, crystals to adjust chi flow, and you can rearrange the furniture to achieve a more harmonious environment. Check for electromagnetic fields and correct for these. For example, put your alarm clock on opposite side of bed, rather than next to your head.

Once I had completed the above steps, I would light native american sage, say a prayer or mantra, and visualize the space filled with white light energy. If I was staying for an extended period of time, I would write on a piece of paper the intent of my stay, what I wanted to experience and accomplish while I was there, and then I’d put the paper in a red envelope and place it on my bedside table.  An alternate area for it is under your pillow, close to where we manifest our dreams.

If you travel, whether for business or pleasure, it’s good to use Feng Shui principles to make your stay more comfortable. Fortunately, many hotels today have become “Feng Shui friendly” and if you look, you can find ones that advertise they are.

You can also spot one yourself by looking for a well-placed front door and a welcoming atmosphere. Bonus! If staying for more than one night, bring a small bamboo plant. Bringing nature indoors helps keep us grounded and it also relieves the air of toxins. 

If you frequent just one chain of hotels as I did when I traveled, the rooms begin to look identical, no matter where you are. As I began my study of Feng Shui I learned I could enhance my room, my travel experiences, and my Feng Shui luck by taking several small items I could use to personalize my hotel room.

Tips to personalize your room for a stress-free and successful trip:

1. Fragrance can be important. If you use a room freshener or scented candles at home, bring similar items to use in your room. You might even bring a tiny air purifier. Some rooms are not well ventilated and may not even have windows you can open. It’s important to breathe clean air.
2. Bring small framed photos of family members, pets, and close friends. If you have pictures of your house or local landscapes that remind you of home, bring those with you as well. Display them near your bed or on the dresser where you’ll see them when you wake up in the morning.
3. Most hotel rooms offer a copy of the Bible and some also provide copies of the Book of Mormon.  Whatever your spiritual or religious beliefs, bring inspirational materials to use to start or conclude your day. Set up a mini-altar for prayer and meditation. If you use a meditation cushion, bring it with you so you can continue your practice while you’re on the road.  This will help de-stress you and create a feeling of serenity in your rented space.
4. Consider getting lightweight statues of spiritual figures or religious symbols you can easily pack. Set them out in the northwest corner of your room (this is the area for helpful people). You may notice an astonishing improvement in how well you interact with others.
5. Bring one of the following to purify the energy in your room: a small “singing bowl” (used in Feng Shui to purify the energy in any room), a small bell, or a wind chime you can swish. Of course, you can achieve similar results by playing pleasing music on your radio or TV.
6. Consider bringing your own pillowcases, favoring warm colors such as pink or yellow to balance the 5 Feng Shui elements (fire, earth, metal, water and wood) in your room. Most hotel rooms are out of balance.
7. As to balancing the elements, most hotel rooms have plenty of metal (symbolized by the color white). Likewise, they have sufficient wood (the furniture) and water (the black accents and mirrors). However, unless the room decor includes red, orange and yellow or earth tones, the elements of fire and earth are lacking. By bringing travel accessories or decorative items in these colors, you can restore balance and a sense of comfort to your hotel room.  Just add a little red for physical energy.
8. Stop at a local convenience store or gift shop as soon as you can and purchase a few picture postcards of the area you’re visiting. If the city has its own magazine, pick up one of those as well. Is the area known for a particular snack or food? For example, if you’re visiting New England, buy some maple sugar candy or maple syrup. If you’re staying near the ocean, look for locally made saltwater taffy. If you’re in San Francisco, buy some authentic sourdough bread. Take these treats to your hotel room and set them out to remind yourself of where you are. It helps you feel grounded. When I was traveling all the time, I sometimes awakened after my first night in my hotel wondering where I was.  I had actually forgotten what city I was in!
9. Finally, add fresh flowers to cheer up an otherwise sterile hotel room. (Flowers are also considered good luck in Feng Shui.) They represent the element wood (which represents growth) and can bring you new customers, clients and sales, if placed in the east area of your room or the entrance.

If you apply just a few of these recommendations when you travel, you’ll discover renewed enjoyment and energy at each hotel you stay, and you’ll find your time away from home more harmonious and prosperous.

A Final Check:

Remember, being happy while we travel reflects our inner and personal Feng Shui. Ask yourself the following:

How is my physical health and emotional well-being?

Is my body well-nourished by the diet I’m eating and kept strong with physical exercise while traveling?

Have I left my home life in harmony so that I can travel without worry?

Have I attended to the details of all of my travel arrangements, and do I honor time so that I easily make all of my connections without the stress of running late?

Have I arranged to return to a clean and cheerful space?

Have I given myself time upon returning to acclimate and re-enter my daily affairs gently?

Wishing you safe and prosperous travels!