Holiday Stress? It May be Your Decorations

With Thanksgiving 2011 in the history books, a lot of people are going to be breaking out the Christmas decorations. Be careful, though. Apparently you can ruin your holiday with poor decoration placement. 

A woman named Robyn Bentley calls herself the Feng Shui Diva and is a self-proclaimed expert on the proper placement of household items. She says that more people claim illness around the holidays because of stress and says that stress is caused by improper decorating techniques. Here are a few of her tips.

1. No Red Lights on the East or South Side - According to Robyn, illness energy exists on the south and east sides of our homes and red lights add "fire energy" to the house. She says no one wants such an intense element surrounding their home, nor a house filled with illness so she says to use silver, white and gold lights instead.

2. Don't Create an Obstacle Course - If you have to squeeze past the four foot light up dancing and talking Santa Claus to get into the kitchen, it could create a hazard and increase everyone's stress level. You might want to put Santa in the corner of the room, Robyn says so you don't disrupt the "chi flow" in your home.

3. Turn the Lights Off - If you have a Griswold-like Christmas light display on your home, unplug it at bedtime. If you don't want to run outside on a cold December night, have an automatic timer set to turn the outside lights off when you go to sleep. Robyn says that light makes your body think it's daytime and more likely to resist sleep.

To learn more about proper item placement in your house, click HERE.