Feng shui can beautify and harmonize your home environment. This ancient Chinese practice of arranging objects in space in ways that facilitate energy flow promises to increase peace and prosperity among inhabitants.
However, did you know it could also help you manage psychological distress? Improving your physical environment can soothe your internal storm.
Best of all, you might not have to spend any money — taking charge of what you already have may do the trick. Are you ready to get started on your journey to feeling better? Here’s how the practice of feng shui can benefit your mental health.
Decluttering Can Ease Anxiety
According to classical feng shui theory, decluttering creates wide open spaces for energy to flow. Too many objects interrupt the flow of chi or vital energy, leading to various unpleasant symptoms, from poor physical health to financial woes.
You can feel clutter’s effect on your energy. How often have you looked at a towering pile of dishes in the sink or a desk hopelessly littered with papers and thrown up your hands? Once your cleanup duties threaten to take more than an hour to rectify, it’s hard to figure out where to start. You may begin in one area, only to notice something else that requires your attention. Before you know it, you’re exhausted and still have a mess.
However, decluttering can ease anxiety and it does so through genuine physiological mechanisms. Excess clutter overwhelms your visual field with stimuli, causing your brain to work overtime as it constantly scans the environment for threats.
As hard as it may be to begin, start small. Make a list, cleaning one small area at a time as you ignore everything else to maintain focus. Each chore you finish provides you with a sweet dopamine boost — your brain’s reward chemical — encouraging you to keep up your efforts. Before you know it, you’ll have a home you’re proud to show off to others.
Adding Nature Elements Helps Ease Depression
Feng shui organizes itself around the five elements found in nature:
- Earth
- Water
- Metal
- Fire
- Wood
It also encourages using plants to invite the energy of growth and action into your home. Fortunately, adding natural elements like houseplants can also benefit your mental health.
How? Research shows even gazing at pictures of natural scenes helps ease stress and increase focus and concentration. Immersing yourself in it is even better. How can you balance these elements in your home? You could add a small fountain in your living area — running water also encourages chi flow. If you have a blank wall in your living room, create a greenery wall with moss and flowers – artificial blooms will ensure it says green and cheery all year long.
Creating a Place for Everything Eases Compulsions
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? OCD is a mental health condition that can result in repetitive behaviors that interfere with your daily functioning. It stems from unwanted thoughts and ideas, such as fears of germs. Understandably, such worries grew worse during the pandemic.
It’s not healthy to wipe down your kitchen counter 20 times in a row to ensure you killed every last bug. However, creating a place for everything can help ease compulsions by reassuring you everything is as it should be.
Getting insistent about always hanging your keys on the same hook can ease stress. Think about how frantic you felt the last time you couldn’t find something you desperately needed as minutes ticked away. It might take you a while to get the knack — according to science, it can take many days, not just 28, to build a new habit — but the payoff is worth it.
Taking Control of Your Environment Encourages Agency
What is a sense of agency? It’s the deep core belief that your actions can make a positive difference in your life. Without a strong one, anxiety and depression can catch you in their grip. You might even turn to drink or illicit substances to cope with the stress of living like a leaf adrift on the wind, caught in the clutches of capricious fate.
That deep sense of satisfaction you feel when you finally tackle a towering pile of dishes in the sink is your sense of agency returning. It says loud and proud, “I can do it. I can be the change I want to see.”
Feng shui is about harmonizing your environment, which requires you to look critically at your surroundings and evaluate what you need to change. For example, you might have a pile of laundry cluttering your money corner. Taking it to the laundromat and replacing the mess with a tidy bonsai tree might not score you a winning lottery ticket. However, it could ease enough psychological stress that your brain cells are free to think of a new way to cut your expenses or pad your income.
Will you meet the love of your life tomorrow if you place twin rose quartz stones in your marriage corner? Perhaps if you believe — but the crucial part is directing that energy and adjusting your mindset.
Incorporating Feng Shui to Bolster Your Mental Health
Feng shui can help you harmonize your home. Can it heal your psyche?
Science suggests practicing feng shui can benefit your mental health in the above ways. If you want to improve your well-being and beautify your pad, why not experiment this weekend and see how you feel?
Cora’s passion is to inspire others to live a happy, healthful, and mindful life through her words on Revivalist – wholeheartedly convincing them that everyday moments are worth celebrating. Cora has spent 5+ years writing for numerous lifestyle sites – hence her sincere love for both life and the beauty of style in all things. Keep up with Cora on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.
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How the Practice of Feng Shui Can Benefit Mental Health
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