With the end goal being to invite good fortune into your home, the ancient Chinese art of feng shui has a legion of dedicated fans who swear by its methods.
Humans are creatures of order and balance, which may help to explain why we still gravitate towards the idea of feng shui much like we did hundreds of years ago. Sometimes referred to as Chinese geomancy, feng shui is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonise individuals with their surrounding environment.
The concept is derived from an ancient poem that talks about human life being connected to and flowing with the environment around it. In Asian culture, this philosophy is called the Tao, which translates to mean “the way.” Taoism is the way of nature, and all the basic rules of feng shui reflect nature. The essential principles of feng shui include the commanding position, the bagua, and the five elements.
To apply the concepts outlined in feng shui to your home, simple steps like placing your furniture in the correct spot, adding specific elements, and incorporating the right colours can help improve the flow of the space in question – but does it actually work?
The Basics Of Applying Feng Shui To Your Home
If you’d like to feng shui your home, the first step is getting familiar with the commanding position. In feng shui, the commanding position is the spot in a room that is the farthest from the door, but not in direct line with it. Ideally, the commanding position should have a clear diagonal line of sight to the door.
According to basic feng shui, the placement of three particular elements are considered to be crucial for your overall health and happiness: your bed, your desk and your stove. The bed stands for you, the desk is an extension of your career, and the stove represents your wealth and nourishment.
As an extension of this logic, a bagua is the feng shui energy map superimposed on the floor plan of your home. Each of the eight areas relates to a different life circumstance, such as family, wealth, or career. In addition, each of these areas has corresponding shapes, colours, seasons, numbers, and earthly elements.
At the centre of the bagua – a ninth area – is you, representing your overall wellness. As an example of this, the health bagua encourages homeowners to use decor with brown, orange and yellow, and to use flat or square shapes.
The five elements of feng shui – earth, metal, water, wood, and fire – come from the Taoist tradition, and are generally what most Western cultures take away from feng shui principles. The elements are five interrelated phases in life that work together to create a complete system with balance.
To summarise simple ways to feng shui your home, start small by picking a bagua to focus on, and use elements, colours and shapes to channel it accordingly. While understanding the ins and outs of feng shui can be complicated to newcomers, one of the basic principles is that in order to have a clear mind, one’s living environment must be clean and clutter free.
As a basic starting point, think of the entryway as the way you welcome good energy into your home. It’s important to keep the entry to your house uncluttered, and use items such as mirrors and rugs to slow the flow of chi, so that all those good vibes ideally stick around. Lights on either side of the outside door are the ideal to draw positive chi inside. Keeping your windows clean will attract more light, which will improve your mood and energise everyone in the home.
Finally, it is important to declutter your space and get rid of any items that are no longer serving you. Clutter can block the flow of energy in your home and create a sense of disharmony, while a clean home helps to encourage clearer flows of thought while having the space to invite healthy energy in.
When it comes to finding the balance between making the most of their time and having a clean house, it’s all too easy to come unstuck with competing priorities. To get the best of both worlds, investing in a reliable house cleaner to take care of the bigger tasks can be worth their weight in gold – but where do you find one?
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Given the fact that eco-friendly cleaning agents have been demonstrated to be just as effective at tackling various chores as traditional cleaning products, the weekly or fortnightly packages on offer through Goodwings enable Queenslanders to continue on with a healthy lifestyle without sacrificing the cleanliness of their homes.
To find out more about the services on offer with us at Goodwings, get in touch to discuss how we can provide your household with world class cleaning solutions.
