Here’s another practice of burning paper incense. I have not practiced this, because I have a very fussy neighbour on the left. One important criteria of making feng shui work is “getting along with your neighbours”. Remember I said that energy is important? So please try your best to live in harmony with everything and everyone. Try very hard! For example, even though I do not burn paper incense, my other neighbours do so regularly, and it annoys the hell out of me! Why? They burn their paper incense at my fire escape staircase (how bloody selfish that they can escape from another route, but they cut off my only means of escape), and because they gather in groups, and they even smoke cigarettes whilst burning the incense, it is really smoky and noisy! Not to mention the huge cloud of smoke from the burning! The worst is the burnt paper ashes, it flies onto my common corridor, and into my home! So what do I do? Close my door and my windows. LOL! I tell myself that I need to be sensitive because this is a religious rite. And perhaps the incense papers are offered to “beings in other realms”? Who knows? Better not to offend the neighbours and the “beings in other realms”. I also tell myself that it is ok, I will not lose an arm or a leg washing my own common corridor later. But of course I am super annoyed! So if you burn paper incense, please be considerate and at least sweep your neighbour’s common corridor after. This way, there is good energy all around. Now you are thinking what a silly pushover! But listen to me, – unless you are prepared to quarrel really loudly (like bang the wall, flip the flower pots!!) with your neighbour – no matter how you phrase it “excuse me, but the smoke is very bad and I have asthma”, or “I’m going to complain to town council!”, it will be taken badly, and their reaction is highly unpredictable. And if you plucked up your courage to speak up, then at least make it fruitful and stop the practice permanently? Are you confident you will do all it takes to make them stop? How about you try to live with it, so tomorrow you can still see each other and say “hello, hello”. You decide what sort of energy you want with your neighbours!