This will be the first of several reflective articles about my personal feng shui journey.
Exterior Chi: the universe is filled with an unseen force that interacts with our immediate environment creating energy patterns that then work together to shape our own energy. But before this energy can enter our homes and our lives it must first pass through several levels depending on its source. Each level or area affects its type and impact–for example the land surrounding your home and the neighborhood you live in.
My neighborhood is older and originally very community-based. There were new schools being built, senior living communities developed, wineries, parks, crisp and beautiful new homes that tactfully accentuated the rolling hillsides. Everyone knew their neighbors and my neighborhood was filled with young families who, even if we weren’t close, were at least friendly with one another. There’s the Medals with two young children–their mother is a pastry chef–, the Kahermanes with 2 girls and an older son, several families of immigrants next to the Medals, a kindly older couple on the corner, and a very nice gay couple in between who always invited us for BBQs. When we went Trick-or-Treating it was never a suprise as to who lived where and we never had to guess who the newcomers were. Turnover was low, at least at first. It was a nice place to grow up in with children on bikes frequently blocking traffic.
Now however a lot of isolated families keep to themselves, many prefer to associate with their own separate ethnic communities. Plus everyone works–most people are gone from 8am-6pm. 3 families we know still live on the street–the Medals, Kahermanes, and a nice couple on the opposite corner.
Crime began to riddle the neighborhood 5 years ago but has since ebbed. The housing market has plumetted and turnover is high. Houses are not well kept–many are run down with weed choked lawns. Low income extended families now comprise a majority of our neighbors like the family across the street who amazingly have as many cars as occupants. There aren’t a lot of pet owners–we’re the only ones who’ve kept ours for a significant period of time. Not a lot of people walk or jog and children are conspicuously absent. Most nights there is residential quiet punctuated by soft music or someone laughing. I’m thankful there’s a park nearby however where I can walk my dog and see children playing on the swing set.
All of these factors affect the chi that enters my home. It’s depressing, sad, lonely, and isolated energy reinvigorated only by the people who occupy the house. We try to keep a nice yard and most people around us do too but there is a pervading sense of abandonment and carelessness. Trash sometimes escapes garbage bins and I’m left to pick it up wondering why no one else volunteers. I like our neighborhood overall but I’m feel sharp nostalgia for the old days where I could go up to any house on the block and ask for an egg or a stick of butter.
