Spatial Design for Greater Inspiration

Releasing Unused Resources with Environmental Psychology, Feng Shui, and the I Ching

In this e-book, you will learn:

The impact of your work environment on your business
Humans and their workspace as a cybernetic system
The “kink” as a disruption in flow
Applying the process of profit creation to physical spaces
Unlocking unused resources through the I Ching and Feng Shui
The Sunflower Strategy

We (author Julia Dold and publisher Stephan Landsiedel) wish you a wonderful time reading and exploring these ideas!

Introduction

You may be wondering why there’s an image of a pickle jar. I was advised to present my work in a way so simple that both children and seniors could grasp it.

Question for you: What makes a pickle sour?

Answer: its environment. Place a fresh cucumber in a vinegar solution, and after a few days it will become sour—regardless of whether the cucumber “wants” that or not.

So it is with us humans: our environment constantly affects us, whether or not we’re aware of it.

Imagine you were actually pickling cucumbers. Before doing so, you’d likely think about what flavor you want.

If you like it spicy, you’d add a chili pepper. If you like sweet and sour, you’d add sugar to the vinegar. Right?

Next question: When you created your workspace (office, website, business cards), did you think about what, exactly, you wanted to achieve in your business? Have you employed the effects of your environment to help you accomplish your goals?

The Impact of Your Work Environment on Your Business

When you enter a room or pick up a business card, you perceive its design both consciously and subconsciously. Consciously, you can handle roughly 40 stimuli per second, whereas your subconscious can process up to 20 million external stimuli per second.¹

It registers not just the shapes, color of the walls, or font on your business card but also the intangible “vibes in the air.” Even if you lack formal color theory knowledge or ignore color schemes, your subconscious can sense disharmony or inconsistencies in the design. It then sends an internal alert: “Something’s off here!”

Intuitively, you hit the brakes and reconsider whether to do business there.

Meanwhile, a thoughtfully designed concept—respecting shapes and colors—tends to draw people in and open doors. Simply incorporating your brand’s shapes and colors into your surroundings can cultivate trust in prospective clients (provided your corporate design itself is well-crafted). A tasteful environment enhances communication and leads to more productive outcomes, letting you close deals with less persuasion.

Humans and their workspace form a cybernetic system.

Your workspace resonates with you directly—it’s a mirror of your personality. All the components you use—your rooms, website, business cards, and flyers—interact in a cybernetic system.

Interactions between you and your environment occur constantly. You shape your workspace, and then it shapes you. You can consciously exploit that interplay to your advantage—for instance, by choosing colors that promote personal growth and make it simpler to fulfill your goals, or by selecting palettes that encourage confidence, trust, tranquility, and a surefooted presence.

There’s another reason to look closely at the “human-environment system”: your workspace is a visible, material expression of your inner world. By carefully examining it, you can glean valuable insights into yourself and your business. Where are you stuck? Where do you see a chance for improvement? Many people fear their shortcomings unnecessarily; precisely in those “weaknesses” lie the as-yet-unrealized resources. Once you bridge the gaps, things begin to flow.

The Profit Creation Process

Profit is always generated by completing a process:

Impulse. A sudden idea—maybe in the shower, on a walk, or reading—inspires an author to write a book. It’s pure energetic thought.
Elaborating on the idea. The initial spark triggers a process; energy begins to flow. The author gathers information and immerses themselves in the subject.
Manifesting content into form. The idea becomes tangible when the author completes a manuscript.
Bringing the product to market. The author shares the manuscript with a publisher, who resonates with it and decides to publish the book.
Spreading the product. The book is released to the public.
Promoting the product. Through skilled marketing—like featuring it at a book fair—the publisher spreads awareness.
Customer reception. The book arrives in stores, and readers open themselves to the product.
Materializing the concept. The product speaks for itself, generating sales. The buyer pays, yielding income.
The author is paid. Profit is the outcome, reflecting the value of the book’s content—a completion of the process. If a single link is weak or missing, profit cannot emerge. That kink in the hose interrupts the flow.

Imagine watering flowers in your yard, moving from one plant to the next—suddenly the hose bends, stopping the water flow, even though the spigot is still open.

You can only fix it by locating and correcting the kink. Now apply that to your business: if something’s off, you likely seek new approaches.

Maybe you roll out a fresh ad campaign. If your diagnosis is correct (i.e., you actually need more promotion), you’ll succeed. If not, even the best marketing won’t help. The right impulses can get your enterprise moving—easily.

Applying the Profit-Creation Process to Your Spaces

A spatial analysis of your business helps identify weaknesses and set the wheels of profit creation in motion. For instance, you could overlay the above circle onto your office blueprint.

The plan you see here belongs to one of my clients (an entrepreneur with an engineering firm). His struggle was: plenty of prep work (prospecting, quotations), few jobs, even less personal time, dissatisfaction with revenue and profit.

His question: Why, after so much effort and activity, does his profit still disappoint? He wanted the root cause and a fix.

To address his question, I did a spatial analysis of his business.

As you’ll notice, points 1, 3, and 9 lie in “wet areas.” Feng Shui sees restrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens as places of unstable energy, partly because water drains energy from the environment. The toilet, specifically, is for bodily cleansing—removing what’s unneeded, for clarity.

In business terms, the three areas the company needed to clarify were:

Point 1 – The Impulse. The start. My first question to him: “Does the service you provide still resonate? Does receiving an order spark joy? Do you do it enthusiastically?” He replied, “I used to love it. Now I work like a robot. I still provide this service because I need the income.” You may know enthusiasm is your main fuel—when you lose that spark and everything feels cumbersome, it’s time to reevaluate your endeavors.
Point 3 – Manifesting content into form. This pertains to clarifying the essence. If the entrepreneur doesn’t truly stand by the concept, then no powerful final product arises—and the client senses an “off” vibe, so they don’t buy. Even a sleek package can’t fool them on a gut level. Result? Offers were made but never accepted.
Point 9 – Completion. The beginning equals the end. Only a solid, healthy seed produces a solid, healthy plant. The profit is inherent in the idea. To spark mental clarity, we employed “spatial acupuncture,” a harmonious holographic impulse. He attended my seminar, identifying a few more urgent topics. He learned to notice impulses and trust his intuition. A potential analysis revealed which talents he had and which mental blocks hindered him. Coaching boosted his confidence and faith in his abilities. He refined his service until it felt truly right. Now more open and flexible, he sees diverse paths to success. His enthusiasm returned, and he easily achieves his desired profit.

Releasing Unused Resources with the I Ching and Feng Shui

“Happiness is understanding how everything connects.”

Sten Nadolny
German writer

To uncover my clients’ growth potentials and remove obstacles on their path to success, I use two tools: the I Ching and Feng Shui.

The I Ching (Buch der Wandlungen or “Book of Changes”) is an ancient text explaining “being.” It illuminates the origins of the cosmos and the principles that shape all circumstances in life. Though the I Ching comes from old China, it presents a universal “world formula.”

No wonder this Book of Changes has endured for millennia (since approx. the 3rd millennium BCE) and ranks behind the Bible as the second-most-printed book in the world.

Many influential figures have drawn on its wisdom—among them Carl Gustav Jung (Swiss psychologist and founder of Analytical Psychology) and Joseph Murphy (renowned Californian author, philosopher, and psychologist).

Like Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, or Karate, Feng Shui also stems from the I Ching. The Chinese characters for “Feng Shui” combine two I Ching trigrams (three-line symbols): Feng (wind) denotes reconnecting with the primal life force that created everything on Earth, while Shui (water) represents the human self or soul. Thus, Feng Shui is about shaping a person’s environment to reconnect them with that vital source.

The I Ching offers deep insight into occurrences and their causes—even subconscious ones. Feng Shui, meanwhile, supports personal development by adjusting the environment. It dissolves energetic blockages in a person’s surroundings and mind. Well-placed impulses revitalize processes so they can unfold naturally.

The Sunflower Strategy

Have you ever watched a sunflower? From a tiny seed, it can shoot up in short order to a height of three or four meters. Its strategy is brilliant: the plant continuously turns toward its energy source—the sun. On sunny days, the bud follows the sun’s path from east to west, then returns at night or dawn to face east again. When the heavy seed head can no longer move, only the leaves and smaller buds track the sun’s motion.

If we desire sustained success, we need to operate by nature’s laws. Nature is self-contained and endless, free of stress; she rests and regenerates, storing energy for bloom and harvest. How can we replicate that and become just as productive?

1. Live your own nature. Be authentic. You’ll flourish long-term if you’re genuine and express your abilities. The sunflower doesn’t daydream about being a rose or an apple tree; it simply lives—unlike many of us. If your vision matches your essence, you’ll achieve your goals smoothly and enjoyably. I often find people don’t fully know their capabilities. Using an I Ching-based potential analysis, many hidden talents surface. Only known potential can be fully utilized.

2. Exploit your environment’s power. Feng Shui aims to craft an environment where your personality can flourish naturally. In your workspace (rooms, corporate design, website, flyers, business cards), you deliberately harness suitable forms and colors to supply the right energy—like sunlight for plants—helping you fulfill your objectives. Employ your surroundings’ influence wisely for professional success.

3. The Sunflower Strategy: Turn toward your power source. You have a significant advantage over a plant: you can think, choose, and act. Moving “with” nature’s flow is the simplest way to your goals. By activating your strengths and letting your workspace support you, you unleash valuable energy. Your excitement grows, your motivation thrives, and you tap deeper into your unconscious mind. What’s more normal than living with success and joy?

Success = Human + Environment + Sunflower Strategy

Success is the most natural thing in the world…

…when you’re authentic and living in alignment with nature’s laws.

Julia Dold

About Julia Dold: A civil engineer, Feng Shui, and I Ching expert, she views your workspace as an incubator for success. When a self-employed professional or business owner aligns their environment (rooms plus corporate design) with nature’s laws, it directly influences positive business results.

An I Ching-based potential analysis reveals a client’s thought patterns, behavior, and hidden potential. A spatial review of the business uncovers weaknesses in profit generation at that moment, their core causes, and thus specific remedies.

Through her unique approach to spatial and corporate design, plus her self-developed “space acupuncture” method, Julia provides the necessary impulses for sustained success. Serving as coach and seminar leader, she inspires self-reflection, enhanced awareness, and deeper insight into external events regarding one’s inner self.

These insights bring clarity, highlight optimal solutions, boost motivation, awaken fresh strengths, and unlock new possibilities. For those who want to ease their path to success, she created the practical workshop “My Workplace Reflects Me—Designing My Own Success.” In this program, participants assess their workspace and learn how to energize their business development by shaping that space consciously. The workshop gives them practical tips they can apply right away.