14 August 2011

What's Feng Shui got to do with Mickey Mouse?

Did you know that the animators who created Mickey Mouse deliberately put gloves on his hands? This was to prevent children from being turned off / scared by his claws. He is a mouse after all and mice do have sharp little claws. Its really hard to imagine soft loveable Mickey with these harsh appendages. 

Mickey Mouse image is copyright of Disney


When we see claws, we think vermin or even evil - think of the fingers of the wicked witch. Sharpness and pointedness make us uneasy and we associate it with unsavoury elements. Even the nose of the witch is ... you guessed it, sharp and pointed. It's almost like we have an unconscious aversion to anything sharp and pointy and we've used these elements to signify evil.

It could be because we know sharp, claw-like objects have the ability to injure us and over the years we have developed a uncanny ability to be distrustful of anyone or anything with these features. 

And this is where Feng Shui comes in. One of the key principle of Feng Shui is always to ensure that no sharp corners or objects are pointing right at you as you sleep or work. Think of them of knives being pointed at you. Some people might say that these things don't affect you but I think our body responds to these features without us even being aware of it. There might be a feeling of unease, not being able to concentrate or even disturbed sleep. Sometimes this can even manifest as illness and that could easily be a result of your body being in a heightened state of alert all the time without you even knowing about it. Perhaps, that's why most of us while thinking the Gherkin is cool, feel uneasy about The Shard. There's just something in us that makes us mistrust these shapes. 

So watch out for these corners. Ensure nothing like that is aimed towards you while you need to rest or concentrate fully. If you can't move out the way, try and shield them with plants or put a large vase of water with cut plants to provide some barrier.