Bring Some Feng Shui Into Your Ride
Frazzled moms bustling about tending to work and kids and other household duties aren't the only drivers who need some peace of mind behind the wheel. We all can use a little more serenity when we drive, right?
Maybe feng shui can help soothe our nerves, bring order to our in-car chaos, and maybe even get us back to what we're supposed to be doing behind the wheel: drive.
It's at least a good start, so we'll take a minute to check out what Ford has to say on the subject of bringing feng shui into our family rides. Not surprisingly, the automaker relates the concept to the 2013 Ford Fusion, its redesigned mid-size family sedan.
First, they've put out a handy diagram, "bagua," in feng shui terminology, that shows how energy, or ch'i, flows, in this case, in our vehicles. Check out the nine areas of the environment involved in free-flowing ch'i: career, knowledge, helpful people, wealth, health, relationships, family, fame, and children/creativity.
While we're not quite sure why children/creativity seem to reside in the trunk area, it's a fairly intuitive placement of career in the engine area. Ford enlisted the help of Detroit feng shui practitioner Catherine Hilker, who also owns Creating Sanctuary, to give consumers some practical tips on adding feng shui to their cars.
We've added a few thoughts of our own.
- Keep it simple. Clutter is clutter no matter where it is, home or car. If you spend a great deal of time in your vehicle, shuttling the kids around, driving long hours in a daily commute, you want your ride to be clean and well organized. A clutter-free car helps relax you, keeps you from being too stressed out. At least, that's the theory.
- Name your car. Many of us already do this, sort of a holdover from our first car, maybe, or a tradition in the family. But Hilker says that naming your car creates a connection, always a good thing to have to help bring about good feng shui.
- Add a ch'i enhancer. No, this isn't a joke. Hilker mentions wind chimes, but it could easily be something else. Just don't make it anything distracting. After all, you're in the car to drive.
- Add color to suit. This is a good one that ties right in to Ford's recently announced ambient lighting available in the new Ford Fusion. Change your color to suit your mood. Who can't get behind that?
- How about an icon? Maybe you remember your dad having a St. Christopher statue affixed to the dash or medallion of some sorts. The idea is to place something in the vehicle that reminds you to be a better, safer driver.
Bottom line: You don't have to be an ardent practitioner of feng shui to realize the benefits of cleaning up your messy car and keeping it spotless, or, at the very least, less cluttered.
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This article originally appeared on Family Car Guide.
