Feng Shui as Environmental Friendliness

As we celebrated Earth Day this past week, I was reminded of how Feng Shui is really the original system of Environmental Friendliness. The ancient Chinese Taoists understood how the ways of Nature were reflective of a supreme intelligence that humankind is part of but often ignores. When following the essence of Feng Shui, you are reconnecting yourself to the natural laws that govern Nature, of which you are a product.

As commendable and necessary as the drive to improve the environment is, true charity begins at home. What is your relationship with your home environment? It most directly reflects who you are choosing to be in present time, thereby affecting the future you create. The home is the one place in the world where you can make a choice - what are you choosing to surround yourself with, and in what conditions? It is your responsibility to educate your environment to set the energy you wish to sustain you - if you don't, you will be at the mercy of forces of seeming happenstance.

If you wish to have a positive impact on the larger environment, there are many steps you can take at home to help you ground that approach in your reality. In addition to the standard suggestions often printed in articles (such as 'use non-chemical cleaners'), some Feng Shui-friendly tips are:

- Have plants in the home. Flowers and plants bring fresh air into the space and stimulate your being with natural beauty and balance. Having natural products helps to restore balance to a space filled with man-made items.

- Have all five elements represented: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. These elements are found in varying degrees in all natural matter, and as such you need them all represented for your home to be essentially grounded.

- Balance the straight lines of modern architecture with gently curving shapes. Straight lines do not continue for long in nature before they bend; our bodies are not designed to be surrounded by the energy dynamics straight lines create (corners and edges, which leave us feeling 'in a corner' and 'on edge'). While we do need the occasional straight line to provide a horizon to focus on, too many straight edges can bring about an overly linear way of processing information. Living in a space with a blend of shapes helps to put one in a more naturally flexible frame of mind.

- Use incandescent lights and soft lighting (dimmer switches are great). The new supposedly environmentally friendly bulbs not only give off glaring light and limit depth perception in the same way as fluorescent lighting (because they cast no shadow), they also contain dangerous levels of Mercury! Don't use them. Candles also give a natural, flickering glow that provides attractive mood lighting.

- Eliminate clutter! If you are concerned about pollution in the outer world, eliminate the unnecessary from your home space. If you haven't used something in the past year, it is time to consider donating it to charity or disposing of it in a similarly beneficial way. Dispose in the most appropriate manner of old papers, magazines, and other printed material that no longer serves you. Being surrounded only by what you need and love will help you feel more connected to your surroundings.

I have three times taught Feng Shui in the open air, and it was a remarkable experience to communicate this information in the environment that inspired it.

May your home support you as wholesomely as Nature itself does.