Home   >   Feng Shui for living   >   Face facts

Face facts

By on April 29, 2010

Photos © Elena Derevstova

 

Feng Shui explores how the structure of your home affects those living in it. The structure of your body affects who is living in it, too. Your corporal home itself is designed to serve a multitude of functions, down to a level of precision that can be mind-boggling. While palm-reading has gained recognition, facial analysis has not quite hit the mainstream. However, there exists a wealth of statistical research to support the connection between facial structure and instinctive behaviour.

 

Your face is literally your interface with the inner and outer world, its structure in direct proportion to the structure of your brain. The brain filters information from the quantum soup surrounding us (there is not a single concrete reality out there). Because your lens of perception is different from that of other people, what you see differs from what they see. You wouldn’t expect photographs of the same setting with both a wide-angle and narrow-angle lens to look the same, so why should the world look the same to people whose eyes are angled or spaced differently? Optics would dictate that what they see should be different – and different perspectives lead to different priorities and therefore different courses of action. What you do feels right to you because you see what you see and think what you think; what others do feels right to them because they see what they see and think what they think. ‘Other’ is not ‘wrong’ – it’s different.

 

An important example to acknowledge for all those living in Japan is eyebrow placement. Eyebrows are not just decoration; they impact perception, and therefore behaviour, quite profoundly. The Japanese have higher eyebrows than the average Westerner (as a rule – there is a spectrum within each race). Raise your eyebrows and you’ll notice your perception is different – you see more in the upper range of your visual field, which means that more information is coming in – and you need time and space to process that. People whose eyebrows are naturally set higher prefer to have more personal space in which to process in general, particularly in new situations: they are less inclined to rush in, tending to stand back to scope things out. The practice of bowing and other formal protocols provide safe, respectful space and time for the exchange of information before deepening involvement.

 

This seems quite alien to us lower-eyebrow people who, in order to facilitate acceptance, right off the bat aim to have a casual and friendly demeanour with a handshake or pat on the back. We believe ourselves to be casual and friendly, yet people with higher eyebrows can see this as brash and disrespectful; they believe they are respectful and polite with distance and formality, yet we can find them standoffish and stiff. These behaviours are natural extensions of the biological lenses through which we see the world, and judging them will not make people more like you. The terms ‘highbrow’ and ‘lowbrow’ demonstrate a judgment of such behaviour without recognizing their roots. Accepting differences as built-in and inevitable can reduce judgment and increase understanding. 

 

Rather than simply learning to go through Japanese protocol when greeting (although that is a great thing to do), understanding the reason for this preference can go a long way to giving individuals the respectful ‘hello’ that they seek. Keep in mind that high-eyebrowed Westerners are likely to want the same distance, respect, and formality, albeit expressed differently than the culturally agreed-upon rituals of Japan. And if your eyebrows are high, remember how comfortable others feel when you move in to make a connection. Suggestion for everyone: observe, discern, (don’t judge) and act accordingly!

 

Mark Ainley is a contemporary Feng Shui consultant based in Vancouver. A former resident of Tokyo, he consults internationally for home and business owners. To contact him, write him at markainley@gmail.com or visit www.markainley.com

About Mark Ainley

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.senseofspace.com and www.markainley.com.