What feng shui can and cannot do

People used to ask me whether feng shui could work miracles. It is a fair question. You move a plant, hang a wind chime, paint the front door, and someone you know swears her life changed.

My honest answer is a little longer than yes or no.

What it can do

The aim of feng shui is to set up positive, nourishing energy around you. A home with good feng shui is said to bring balance and harmony, and most of us want what follows from that. Better relationships. More satisfying work. A little more prosperity, and to be happier in general.

Feng shui works by shifting the energy in your surroundings so those balances can start to form. When things do begin to change, some people call it a miracle.

So I would turn the question around. When feng shui begins to work for you, will you notice? Will you be grateful for the change, however big or small it seems?

At its best, feng shui is a catalyst. A turning point. You make a few small changes, you open yourself to the possibility that things can be different, and once you have done that it is hard to go back.

What it cannot do

It cannot take your problems off your hands.

Some of us are looking for somewhere, anywhere, to set our problems down. Feng shui will not solve all of them and produce all your miracles at once. Nothing will.

The work is yours. Take ownership of it. Work out what you actually want. What would the miracle look like, if it came? Then start bringing that intention into your ordinary days, the way you would bring a new habit into your mornings.

I think this matters even more after 50. By now most of us have tried a few things that promised to fix everything, and we know how that tends to go.

One tool in the kit

Use feng shui as one tool among several. When it works it can be powerful and it can change a great deal. But do not put the other tools down: meditation, loving thought, prayer if prayer is yours, and whatever practices help you feel well.

A tidy front door and a quiet mind will do more together than either one does alone.

From the archive. First written for my journal years ago, and rewritten for life after 50.