A chaotic and cluttered landscape of life creates difficulty in balancing, managing, and appreciating your journey through. for most people. There are some, though, that seem to actually thrive with chaos and clutter. They love to ride the top of that wave.

Feng Shui probably originated in the primitive mind that realized that it was always good to have an exit, a way to go out the back. To be trapped with one's back to wall in the face of danger was a good way to get killed. We have an innate fear of being trapped, for good reason.

It is a primitive and superstitious notion that has persisted in the East. I have a DIL from China and a friend from Taiwan. The way that they tell me Feng Shui is practiced in their culture is more like a superstitious ritual. For instance, when they get ready to lay to rest their dead, it is the tradition to hire a practitioner of Feng Shui to determine just where to do this. This is not unlike the tradition in our society to bury a body with the feet facing the East.

It is my opinion that the manner in which it is perceived in our modern society is just as much superstition and nonsense. It is just another Eastern idea to sell to the Western public in a time when so many Americans are just overwhelmed with material possessions. We are awash in throw away, flash in the pan, overly valued, and useless consumer products. Is it any wonder that so many look for some magic way to arrange them or a way out the back door?

I have said this before, and I am going to repeat it here.

I believe that any entity that can transcend time and space as to be a bodiless and floating "spirit/force/shui" and cannot find it's way out of a room because the sofa is in the way or the window is in the "wrong" place is really one useless entity.

But, of course I don't at all believe that entity exists any more than I believe in Santa Claus or that bunny.

However, what I do know is that having a nice feel of flow in a living space is something that I find of great value. The lack of clutter and the ability to walk clear across the room without having to step around obstacles feels good, to me.

I feel that it makes a difference to my life.

I feel that it makes a difference in the way air flows.

I feel that it makes a difference in the way sound flows.

I feel that it makes a difference in my peacefulness.

These are all things that I feel to be true, for me. There is no magic arrangement of the sofa. If it is where it makes my life complete and simple, then, it is the right place. If that changes, I will move it.

I know that some of you are thinking that the "feel" that I speak of is what some would call the flow/spirit that is part of Feng Shui. I don't see it as originating from any other entity other than ME.

That is all just plain old common sense, not magic arrangement of things as per some ancient superstition. It makes me feel good to have order and to not feel trapped in my space. Some people thrive in the opposite environment, a big ol' mess of clutter. Those people feel as if they are being held up and in place by the plethora of things that surround them. Without it, they feel vulnerable. I am the opposite. Instead of feeling as if I want to armor myself, I feel the need to have an escape out the back.

So, to answer your question---I think that it is mostly nonsense and is just another "magic bullet" to sell to Americans, much the same as all of those diet books and bogus pop psychology self help books.

Maybe if you were part of the culture where this idea has been embedded for a very long time and it has left remaining cultural residue, it might mean something to you. But, for us in todays modern America, it is just another feel good idea to sell to Americans. I used to work at a book store and I saw so many of these books come and go, just like the diet books. They all promise a magic bullet to our overly consuming and over whelming relationships to material possessions that so many are burdened by. Is it any wonder that we want to escape out the back door?

Forget the magic of Feng Shui and just turn your attention to common sense. It requires no expert, no books, and the only criteria to judge it by is how good it makes you feel. If you are comfortable, much of life will flow more easily. Remember that you are the flow and the flow is YOU. You are in control, not some ancient superstition from the past.

It's quite a cottage industry, mostly promoting things that have bupkis to do with the original practice. The emphasis on traffic flow and decluttering helps some people.

I found some really, really OLD books about it, and if read in the light of ancient Chinese culture and how to best site a farm, village or house to avoid dying of earthquakes, home invasions, floods or disease ... it makes a lot of sense.

• The farmstead on a gentle slope, facing south with a hill blocking the north wind.
• The farm or village on the side of the river bend that is least likely to erode in a flood.
• The bedrooms not directly above the rat-infested warehouses.
• The farm or village not under a "dragon" (a certain kind of rock outcropping known for landslides during earthquakes), but in a safer spot.
• The gates and doorways arranged to slow down the incoming bandits, and stop one malaria-carrying mosquito that flies in straight lines.
• Avoiding building near stagnant water mosquito breeding areas.
• The kitchen and the pit toilet far enough apart to keep the flies from carrying feces from toilet to food prep area.

But it drifted away from its pragmatic origins, and in a culture where so few could read, got all tarted up with hocus pocus.

Some great answers thank you! I have been reading up on it. And the modern way it pretty strict of what you can use where including what items are made form and thier colour! I may take some ideas from it. Such as having a balanced room as to thwre you place things (no brainer) But wont worry so much about what is the 'right' colour for such and such an area. I will use some symbolism and idea, such as if you want to attract love always have two nightstands and lamps. But to me this is also a no brainer as, if I have the space I'd like it to be more symtrical anyway!

How you feel about your own space is so much more important than a rule book for sure. I am open to all sorts of ideas. But putting this in the perspective of the ancient books you have read about it, it all makes a lot more sense!

lana, what goes on in your home may have a lot more to do with the "energy" that runs through your lives than it does with any perceived, yet unseen force.

You are running the show more than you realize.

You would not be the first person to want to redo the house after your significant other has shared that space with another, other than you. It is referred to as a "fresh start" and can have significant value in how one feels about the home and the relationship. It serves to demonstrate just how personal are our private living spaces. They reflect us, rather than us reflecting them. When you change something about the house it is much like getting a new hair style or a make over. It changes your perception of self.

I do not negate that changing things in your home landscape can make a difference in how you feel when you are there. I don't argue, for one moment that it makes no difference. But, it is all about how you feel. You create your own"energy/vibes/mojo, etc.".

My daughter has a lot of non-Kodak moments in their dining room. It has a lot to do with the chaos of trying to compress family life into a few tired hours in the evening. The dining room becomes the focus of where they get together, and that is not always a calm situation. Changing something in the room or having dinner on the sun porch would not make anything different. It is the structure of their lives, not the structure of their house that makes the most difference. They could, however, benefit by decluttering, thus making it easier to get it all done. Or, they can change their expectations for what is important to get done. All of that is within their own power and has nothing to do with unseen "energies".

Gertiedaub,

Thank you for sharing your opinion. I agree that re-decorating your home could have a positive effect on the moods in the family.

However, the dining room, as well as most of the house had been redecorated years before I learned about Feng Shui. I replaced 90% of the furnishings, window treatments, lighting fixtures and such within 2-3 years after I moved in with my DH.

I didn't put much stock in Feng Shui until then. But when my DS stopped arguing at the dinner table right after I made a few Feng Shui alterations, it really baffled me. I guess it shows how desperate I was at the time. Everything else stayed the same but the change in the attitudes happened overnight.

Of course, I don't expect everyone to adopt my beliefs. I'm only sharing my personal views and experience in response to OP's questions.

Perhaps it was the Hawthorne effect.

It also may have been that there's some not-recognized reactions we have to things like overcrowding, spacial relationships, etc., that made a difference.

Some people play up the mystical aspect. Some people are very particular about following all the charts and using "lucky" objects. That's fine for people who have that mindset ( assuming they don't spend all their money on flutes and mirror trinkets) but it doesn't have to be done that way.
A lot of Feng Shui is about practical concerns like how objects and rooms are used and making them more useful. Even if you don't believe energy is flowing through your home, people do. Clear hallways and less clutter are objectively good. It's good to have "helpful" objects in one spot where you know where they are. People might be less likely to bring a date over if there's a cardboard box of old sneakers stored under the bed. So a lot of Feng Shui works, even if you don't believe in all the reasons for why it works. The compass directions matter in practice because plants won't grow in North light and bright colors look tacky in South facing rooms even if you don't believe directions correspond to elements.
A Chinese-American friend who does traditional medicine and acupuncture for a living gave me a Feng Shui book as a housewarming present. She actually doesn't believe in some of the metaphysical side and jokes that "Feng Shui can be summed up as toilets are evil". But she says some of the design principles came out of early living conditions where people could die from food stored in hot places, beams falling on sleeping people or intruders breaking in through unguarded entrances. The underlying principles are sound.
FWIW the book saved me from removing a built in bookshelf wall in my apartment most of my neighbors remove when renovating the kitchen. If you remove it the toilet becomes the center of the living space and Feng Shui suggests that is very bad. Who wants to look in to a bathroom from the kitchen table? I don't know if wealth flows down toilets but I don't want a toilet as the center of my home.