How to Welcome Opportunities

The ancient Chinese practice of Feng Shui puts a great deal of emphasis on the entryway to the home. It is considered the “mouth of chi” where all of our opportunities come to us. This may seem like a bit of a stretch to skeptics and western thinkers. However, when I recently reviewed my old Interior Design textbook from years ago, I saw that it presented some of the exact same concepts as this 3,000-year-old practice.

It stated that choosing the right entryway was the most important part of the design of the building; and it should be chosen after a great deal of study and care. A poorly designed entryway would hamper the success of the business or negatively affect the occupants of the home, which is also a primary Feng Shui teaching.

The book went on to say the entry should be strongly differentiated from the immediate surroundings –making it easily identifiable from the street — and it should make a graceful transition between the street and the inside. If it was not easy to see and people had a hard time finding it, they would arrive grumpy and out of sorts, which would negatively impact the occupants.

It talked about how people need 15 feet to adjust from the outer to the inner domains. How the experience of arriving at a front door after enjoying a fragrant and attractive garden was considerably more enjoyable and helped make the transition. If the transition was too abrupt, there would be no feeling of arrival and the inside of the home would fail to be an inner sanctum.