Feng Shui: lucky charm for SCI?

Fortune telling and inspirations for the year of pig

Now is the time of the year when many Asians are preparing for the lunar new year. We celebrate Lunar New Year pretty much like people celebrate western new year: many gatherings with lots of good food. In Chinese tradition, each Lunar New Year is named after one of twelve animals featuring in the Chinese zodiac. This year February 5th will mark the start of the Lunar New Year – the year of pig.

A Lunar New Year trend in my home city Hong Kong is all these fortune telling TV shows with reference to the Chinese zodiac. I like watching these shows. During the show, the celebrity fortune tellers make fortune forecasts for the coming year. For example, they will reveal how well or bad people of a particular Chinese zodiac animal sign will do in the year of the pig.

Does your Chinese zodiac animal sign reveal your true character?

I’m not superstitious, so this part of the show does not impress me that much. What I find entertaining is that these fortune tellers always present interesting ways to enhance wealth and resolve misfortune in the new year. One of their common strategies for better fortune is Feng Shui.

Originated in China, Feng Shui is an ancient practice of placement and arrangement of space to harmonize individuals with their surroundings. It is often misunderstood as a superstition because, at least in Hong Kong, many fortune tellers use it as a means to help their clients with changing their predicted future. However, this is not what Feng Shui is meant to do.

The other day on a Feng Shui corporation website, I read a better explanation of how Feng Shui works:

“Our destiny is born with us. We cannot change our qualities, strengths, and weaknesses, but we can design spaces, plan environments, and select the best dates that work with them. Working with our nature ‘not against’ brings out our very best.“

In other words, Feng Shui is not a means to avoid misfortune because whatever can happen will happen. Instead, it is a way of living – it guides you to observe your surroundings and work with your best. At the same time, it prepares you for the worst.

In the following, I’ve gathered some websites, in which people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and organizations of disabilities and accessibility shared their experience and knowledge on Feng Shui. Maybe you will find some inspirations for your ways of living in the year of the pig. ;)

A “Spinal Cord Injury Lifestyle Specialist”

Aaron Baker is a quadriplegic athlete and author. Before his injury in 1999, he was a professional motocross racer. Since his SCI he has been serving as ambassador for multiple sport and disability organizations. He was appointed “Spinal Cord Injury Lifestyle Specialist” at Shield Healthcare, a medical supplies company in the US, where he writes about his life with SCI on their website.

In two of his articles, he talks about his experience of transforming his living space into a better and accessible place to live in. For example, his mom brought him a small tabletop water fountain and music speaker during his stay in the hospital in order to drown out the unpleasant hospital noises which stressed him out. He describes what he did as Feng Shui, and the key: make your living space easy, peaceful and comfortable for YOURSELF!

• Optimal Healing Environment – Part 1: Acute Care
• Optimal Healing Environment – Part 2: Post Acute Home Life

Feng Shui home design: turning your home into a place of positivity and happiness.

Feng Shui home design

This article from the Disabled World website provides the basics of Feng Shui practice for home design. For example, it points out that colors have their symbolic definitions, like red represents happiness whereas green stands for longevity. It also mentions the importance of a clean and organized area as it allows us to feel harmony upon entrance to the home.

• Creating a Feng Shui Home Design

Barrier-free and stress-free life with Feng Shui

This is another article sharing simple ideas of applying Feng Shui to create an accessible living or working space. It introduces the four classifications of Feng Shui, namely Practical Feng Shui, Energy Feng Shui, Symbolic Feng Shui and Personal Feng Shui.

Practical and Energy Feng Shui preliminarily focus on the surroundings. On the contrary, Symbolic and Personal Feng Shui have the main focus on people, and all changes are based on personal interests and choices.

• Feng Shui Your Way to Healthy, Accessibility Spaces

In addition, you may check out this website in which Jayme Barrett, Feng Shui consultant and writer of the book “Feng Shui Your Life”, shares ten steps to transform one’s space and life with Feng Shui. These steps include space clearing, bringing nature indoors as well as utilizing space for stress-free and healthy activities like yoga and meditation.

Finally, just for fun, here’s a video giving a forecast of 2019 with reference to the Chinese zodiac:

What are your thoughts about zodiac, fortune-telling and Feng Shui? What is important for you when arranging your living spaces?