What do businessman Donald Trump, Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, and Virgin Atlantic Airlines Tycoon Richard Branson have in common with fashion designers Donna Karen and Tommy Hilfiger? 

Here's a hint...it's the same thing that Borders Books has in common with Nike. And with Intel, Citibank, Coca Cola, Lucent Technologies, Mercedes Benz, Merrill Lynch, Hyatt Hotels, Motorola, Universal Studios, Proctor & Gamble, and Shell Oil.

The answer is Feng Shui. They all use this art and science of placing things in your indoor environment to increase prosperity. When asked why he uses Feng Shui, Donald Trump replied, "I use Feng Shui because it works."

You don't need to build hotels or run an airline to use Feng Shui. Anyone can use a few simple Feng Shui improvements to increase prosperity.

Chinese in origin, Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) is not limited to Asian cultures. It is a serious way of arranging your surroundings to bring positive attributes into your life that is now universally practiced. And one of the things we all want to attract into our lives is prosperity.

In Chinese, the words Feng Shui mean "wind and water." Contrary to what you may have heard, Feng Shui is not a religious or superstition, but rather a design system for arranging your surroundings in harmony and balance with the natural world. Our surroundings have a powerful effect on what we attract into our lives. When the energy around us is blocked or unbalanced, our prosperity, health, and relationships can be adversely affected. Feng Shui improvements unblock the flow of positive energy, remove negative influences, and allow you to attract the prosperity and abundance you deserve.

There are three basic concepts to understand about Feng Shui before you can begin using it to bring prosperity into your life:

Chi is energy and the invisible force that makes you feel good in some locations and not-so-good in others. Positive chi is essential to attract prosperity. Feng Shui improvements unblock chi by rearranging the furniture and objects around you and putting them in the appropriate places in your rooms.

The Five Elements are the shapes, colors, and textures that make up the objects around you. The Feng Shui elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood each bring different attributes into your life when located in the correct place.

The Bagua is the map used to chart the rooms in your home to determine where to locate the objects around you. The modern bagua is a grid corresponding to the nine critical aspects of your life:

Here is how to use the bagua map to determine where to place objects in your home to attract prosperity:

• Stand at the front door to your home looking in
• Draw the floor plan (be sure to include all structures attached to your home, including the garage, deck, porch).
• Divided the floor plan into 9 equal areas, as shown in the diagram above.

Look at your map and find the wealth/prosperity area in your home-that is, the upper left hand corner. What room occupies that area? If that room is neglected, cluttered, or empty, your prosperity will be restricted and negatively affected. If that room is clean, neat, and filled with objects and items that make you feel prosperous, that is exactly what you will attract into your life.

Here are some specific ways to improve this "prosperity place" in your home:

Is your kitchen in the prosperity place? Food is associated with wealth in Feng Shui, so display a bowl of fruit on the counter to symbolize prosperity. Keep the kitchen scrupulously clean. The more burners you have on your stove, the more prosperity you attract.  Either hang a mirror behind the stove to reflect the burners, symbolically doubling them, or place a shiny teakettle on the stove to reflect the burners.

Is your bathroom in the prosperity place? Keep the toilet lid down and the door to the room closed so you are not symbolically "flushing your wealth" down the toilet. Add an object that is either red (the Fire Element) or Brown (the Earth Element) to symbolically "sop up" the excess water that could be washing away your wealth.

Is your garage in the prosperity place? Clear the clutter so you can actually park cars in there. Store only those items that you actually use. Paint the walls or decorate them with the colors red or orange (the Fire Element). Near the door that connects the garage to house, hang posters or prints with images that feel wealthy and prosperous.

Is your living room or family room in the prosperity place? Display your valuable objects in this room to symbolize wealth, such as crystal, valuable collections, fine art. Add healthy plants in beautiful pots to symbolize flourishing wealth. If you plants die, replace them immediately with healthy ones to keep your wealth growing.

Is your dining room in the prosperity place? Food and guests are associated with wealth. Hang a mirror that reflects your dining room table and you will symbolically double your wealth. Keep valuable items like crystal, silver, and china in the room to represent the continuing accumulation of wealth.

Is your porch or deck in the prosperity place? Choose high quality outdoor furniture for this space, and keep it here in all seasons. Grow red or purple flowers in red ceramic planters during the growing season, since plants and flowers represent abundance. Hang a wind chime, flag, or bird feeder to attract chi to your home.

Is your bedroom in the prosperity place? Hang artwork that depicts water, such as rivers and streams. Water represents the flow of abundance, so be sure that the water image in your art is flowing into your room. Art that shows water flowing out represents prosperity leaving your home.

What's in your prosperity place? Use Feng Shui improvements in your prosperity place, and you will bring the wealth and abundance into your life that you so richly deserve.

Carol M. Olmstead, FSII, is a nationally-recognized consultant, author, and lecturer specializing in practical, real-world applications of Feng Shui. As a Certified Practitioner, she provides residential and business/office consultations and conducts workshops and training. With residences in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Washington, DC, area, Carol understands a wide variety of regional Feng Shui issues and has helped hundreds of clients across the country. She is author of The Feng Shui Quick Guide Workbook. To subscribe to Carol’s monthly e-newsletter with free Feng Shui tips, success stories, and other Feng Shui advice, check out her website: www.FengShuiForRealLife.com.