At one point, feng shui wasn’t widely known outside of Asian communities. Now, it’s become a household word, making its way into television talk shows and home improvement media. We’re entering a different era of feng shui. As it’s becoming a household word and achieving popularity beyond those who are academically interested and people who want to become professional feng shui consultants, there’s a growing number of people who want to apply feng shui to renting, building, and simply living in their home.
Some aren’t interested in hiring consultants, and others don’t have local feng shui consultants to ask for help. They just want to find a place with “good” feng shui and live there. If you want tips on finding a good place to live or improving your space, these tips will be helpful for you. First, we’ll delve into the history of feng shui, and then we’ll explore how to create harmony and balance in your home.
What is feng shui?
“Feng shui” means wind and water. Clear water and gentle winds make an environment inviting, healthy, and prosperous. Healthy, because air isn’t stagnant and water isn’t polluted. It’s prosperous because crops are bountiful, businesses are flourishing, and people are living together in harmony. In ancient China, villages and towns were built in places with clean water and hidden from harsh winds. When these towns flourished, other people started to want their homes to be near clear water and ventilated by gentle winds. No one wants to live where the air is stale, the winds are violent, and the water is stagnant and dirty.
In Hong Kong, feng shui is part of everyday life, but its popularity isn’t just limited to Hong Kong. It’s also prevalent in Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Chinese settlements in Europe and North America. For thousands of years, feng shui’s principles have advised Chinese people on where to situate homes, build towns and businesses, and bury the dead. In every stage of life, feng shui is a trusted guide. It was practiced in ancient China as far back as 4,000 years ago. It wasn’t called feng shui back then, but people used the same principles to select places to settle and live.
Based on experience, common sense, and trial and error, the Chinese found that settlements built in places where water was clear, and winds were gentle were associated with prosperity, good health, and harmony. With time, experiences and common sense became systemized into guidelines that aligned with a culture that already saw land and living things as energy carriers. Now, let’s get into how to create harmony and balance in your home.
Always start with the outside.
Always begin with the big picture, the outside. Suppose the surrounding neighborhood and land have problematic feng shui. In that case, no matter how beautiful your apartment or home looks, the negative energy carried into the environment will have a harmful impact on the building. Land has the strongest influence on the feng shui of a place. It affects our feelings, activities, and thoughts and should be the first consideration in choosing a place to live. You can change your wall colors or your floor plan, but ou can’t change your surrounding landscape.
It would be best to look for exciting features in the land. What arouses your curiosity and draws your eye? If you live around land that’s interesting, you’ll be more curious and creative about the world and more inclined to try new things. If you live around land that doesn’t have various features, you’ll be less drawn to trying new things and participating in new ventures. It would be best if you also looked for life on the land, like grasses, flowers, plants, and animal life. If the land doesn’t nourish plants or animals, it won’t nourish you either.
Assess the ‘people energy’ of the neighborhood.
A neighborhood carries background energy, and the nature of the energy depends on the types of land use, buildings, the architecture of the buildings, street patterns, and the mix of residential and commercial use. Some neighborhoods have fresh, uplifting and nourishing energy, while others carry fearful, aggressive, and suspicious energy. As a buyer or renter, you won’t be able to design or change a neighborhood, but you can choose one that’s conducive to your well-being and health.
Before you choose a place to live, take a stroll around the neighborhood and get a feel for how the land is used. It would also help if you noticed the feel and look of the buildings in the neighborhood. Look at the appearance and shape of architecture. Some buildings radiate peaceful energy, while others radiate unfriendly and abrasive energy.
Examine the inside space.
Once you’ve determined that there are no negative energies around a building, you can start evaluating the feng shui of the inside. You could examine the floor plan, walk through the space, and see if the space fulfills your needs. For example, the main entrance shouldn’t line up with large windows or doors at the back of the home, and there shouldn’t be too many floor-to-ceiling windows because they allow harmful energy to enter and beneficial energy to leak out. Walking through a space allows you to tune in to the details of how the space is configured and how each room is laid out.
It would help if you never sign a rental agreement or purchase based on a virtual walk-through. You need to physically be in the space to get the feel of the energy inside the space. You could also bring a tape measure to plan how to use a space efficiently and see what size and type of furniture will fit the space.
Examine the design features and interior architecture.
Interior architectural features include things like wall features, fireplaces, light fixtures, and built-in furniture units. On the other hand, design features include paint, wallpaper, tile and kitchen and bath fixtures. For example, a fireplace should never dominate a space because fire energy is domineering and volatile. A strong fire presence can lead to arguments and emotional flare-ups. Also, light fixtures should never hang too low because they can be an obstacle or injure the resident.
The same can be said for ceiling fans. They have spinning blades, and it’s not desirable to work or sleep under them, especially if they hang from low ceilings. Wallpaper patterns shouldn’t be too busy or dark because dark colors bring heavy energy that absorbs life and light. Your paint colors shouldn’t be too dark or busy either. The safest color for walls is a pastel or neutral color because dark colors bring intense energy.
Before you freak out about where you’re currently living or reject a potential living space, it may be best to make a list of the areas you consider to have adverse feng shui, rate the negativity severity, and estimate the necessary effort and cost needed to fix the area. In most buildings, problems can be fixed. However, if your space is directly under hanging rocks, perched on a cliffside, or where a road runs straight toward, it may be helpful to consider another space. Use these tips to build a good home for yourself and your family. Protect yourself from harmful energy, but never direct it toward others.
