The greatest thing about feng shui is that it works because it’s based on the proven ways that people react to different stimuli in their environment. It’s not only logical, but it’s also intuitive and incorporates psychology, cultural anthropology, and biology.
Sure, Things Can Affect Us Differently
Obviously, we’re all different, so there are going to be certain things in each of our environments that affect us differently. For instance, the color yellow might be too bright for me and maybe I associate it with construction zones, but for others, yellow indicates cheerfulness and makes them feel joyful. Whatever they are, these personal stimuli are very important as they direct us in how to make our spaces our own.
But We All React to Many Things in the Same Way
Aside from these personal stimuli, we know that as humans, there are certain universal stimuli that we all react to, regardless of our personal preferences. These reactions have been ingrained in our genes (and naturally selected) over years of evolution and typically involve our survival and reproduction as a species.
As an example, in feng shui, we believe that diagonal lines, light, and movement in our environment are three stimuli that produce a common reaction in humans. Diagonal lines attract the eye and invite us to follow the trajectory, light indicates the penetration of a secured area, and movement alerts us that danger is approaching. These visuals draw the eye towards them and away from anything else - we have a reflexive response to pay attention to them, either so that we can be assured we’re safe or because they’re attractive.
Aside from those mentioned above, there are several key universal stimuli that can affect how we act and feel in our spaces. And being able to identify them and understand how they impact us can help us to know what is working for us in our environments and what we need to adjust.
Read the next post, How Our Environments Affect Our Reactions to Stimuli, to learn what these universal stimuli are and how feng shui impacts our reactions to them!