Boring Suburbs and Feng Shui

A READER WRITES: “Dear BB - I live in a very dreary, souless part of town and I think this is why i feel very down sometimes. I would love to live in a place with nice scenery and buildings. Then I wonder if I am just a gloomy person and would I be any better elsewhwere. Do you think our environment counts a lot. Do you know anything about feng shui or do you think it would help me to look into that?”

BB SAYS: Certainly, where you live can affect your mood. The long, dark winters make many of us depressed, and we cheer up again in the brighter summers. It all depends on what kind of person you are – some people could never get by without the buzz of city life; others hate all that pollution and noise, and want to be close to nature. I am sympathetic to the view that each era of our lives is best suited to a different type of environment. When we are young, we should live in the centre of great cities, where we can meet people, have adventures and soak up the excitement of big city life. When we are raising families we should live in the suburbs. And when we are older, we should repair to the countryside, where we can enjoy the pleasures of nature and rural pursuits. Decide what stage of life you are at, or what kind of person you are, and act accordingly. Alan de Botton has written a book called the Architecture of Happiness, which may be of some use to you.

However, remember that all our problems are not likely to be solved by changing where we live. Recall the slogan: Wherever you go, there you are!

FENG SHUI:

On the broadest level, Feng Shui is the notion that we should surround ourselves with beauty, gentleness, kindness, sympathy, music, and with various expressions of the sweetness of life – by doing so we ennoble ourselves as well as our environment. Who could disagree with that?

However, alleged masters of Feng Shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people such as Donald Trump which way his doors and other things should hang. Feng shui has become another New Age "energy" scam with arrays of metaphysical products from paper cutouts of half moons and planets to octagonal mirrors to wooden flutes offered for sale to help you improve your health, maximize your potential, and guarantee fulfillment of some fortune cookie philosophy.

But don’t let the fact that Feng Shui is nonsense turn you off it. Human beings love nonsense. Nonsense is fun. Enjoy Feng Shui, even if it is all a big pile of bollocks. Just don’t waste any of your money hiring a “Master of Feng Shui”.