By Stephanie Volpini-Hann
We are in a global pandemic, and life as we know is going to change whether we like it or not and every area in our life is being affected. Our families are told to use ‘social distancing’ when we are more physically connected than ever and yet a sudden awareness of all the things that we have become disconnected from. The truth is, we need to be practicing ‘physical distancing’ and ‘social and emotional connectedness’ more than ever.
So why not use this as an opportunity to check in with your life using a little mental health mindfulness like Feng Shui? There is not one aspect of our lives that Feng Shui does not touch. What is Feng Shui? It is the energy or ‘Chi’ in a space- life force energy around us. It is in our homes, our work, the land and within each of us. Everything living thing has Chi and every aspect of the Feng Shui Bagua is being impacted right now for everyone in the world.
The Bagua
The Bagua is a map that is used to analyze a physical space for optimal harmony. It is laid out similar to a tic—tac board and each area correlates to a designated area of your space and your life. There are a different practices that have been studied for thousands of years and variations have therefore been adapted to accommodate todays modern world. The two most common are Compass method, known as traditional Chinese Feng Shui and Western Feng Shui however all methods utilize the Bagua Map.
What are the Nine Areas?
Family and Community
Abundance & Communication
Health & Wellness
Helpful People
Creativity & Joy
Self-Cultivation
Fame & Reputation
Career Journey
Relationships
If there is too much or to little chi in any of the areas, we can become off balance in life.
Getting our Balance back in order; Impacts to our mental health and wellbeing
About 20 years ago, while in therapy I often struggled with needing to change my perspective in order to make needed changes in my life, but I often felt stuck. As if the picture in my head was not the life I was living everyday. I needed to find meaning for the choices I was making and I constantly felt like life was spinning around me. This is about the time that I stumbled upon Feng Shui. I became curious as to how someone’s physical living space could impact how they could organize and view their life choices in a way that created meaning and purpose. I share this as a lens from which to view our current situation. The most impactful part of this mindfulness practice is the active meditation journey that takes you through the nine areas of your life to create deep and meaningful connections with your everyday choices. It has been a helpful discovery of finding joy and purpose for many people during times of transition and uncertainty in their lives. Our everyday lives are in chaos and yet we’ve been given time and an opportunity to take a step back and take stock of what is really important to us as a human race.
There is no perfect Feng Shui space, home or life. One can attribute each of the nine areas similar to a volume dial; yet all nine cannot realistically be on 10 at the same time. Sometimes our lives are more focused on work and other times we become consumed in our family responsibilities and it goes on and on but life never slows down until we are too old to do anything about it. We just keep go along, being consumed by things outside our control until a situation requires us to do something different, or until we die. It is almost as if this experience has given us the golden ‘do over’ ticket in every area of our lives with which to be more intentional; within our family and educational communities, to be mindful of how we communicate and share our abundance with each other, in being mindful of our overall health and wellness, to discovering new helpful people along our way, to guide our ability to solve problems and to help our children find joy in the chaos, in our quest for greater understanding and knowledge of what is happening, in bringing awareness to how own actions will impact history, in our greater purpose and journey in life and most importantly, in the relationships we have with each other, within our families, our communities and ourselves. When will we ever get another golden ticket?
Mindfully Aware- Stephanie Volpini-Hann