It's been said that you attract things two ways: by fear and by focus. The person who fears losing his lover will undermine himself in a way that drives his loved one away. A person who seeks to graduate from a university as a doctor can place a picture of himself on a bulletin board with the words, "Dr. Allen Smith" underneath. Both work to achieve the goal, but one is positive and one is negative.

There is a lot of talk about intention in feng shui. In fact, intention is a hallmark of the Black Hat Sect school of feng shui. The Black Hat Sect believes that making feng shui changes without intention is only slightly effective, versus 100% effective if they're done with intention.

Intention is not as well publicized in traditional Chinese feng shui because the thought is that feng shui is what it is and is not a by-product of intention. My opinion on this matter is that you can have great feng shui and have the worst possible attitude. (But, chances are, even with that great feng shui and poor attitude, you're probably unhappy.)

That's because good feng shui can exist all around you in terms of the house facing a beneficial direction, having a view of a river or lake in front, a good house position in the environment, good flying stars in important rooms, etc. So it doesn't rely on how you are thinking about it to work. However, those who have good feng shui outside of them, and positive feelings and energy inside of them, will most likely have the very best feng shui of all.

The traditional feng shui view of intention
In short, the traditional feng shui view of intention is that when feng shui is right, you are harmonizing with the energy of the earth and your mind set isn't important - but it helps. Therefore, if you're making a change and you aren't mindful as you make it, it will still happen regardless if you have the intention or not. Feng shui (energy) works and is present in the environment whether we think it is or not -- just like the microwave works whether I believe in it or not. That being said, there are times, according to traditional feng shui, when feng shui is affected by your outlook.

The chi killer
Children and animals always seem to know if someone is honest or trustworthy. Chi works a lot of the same way and is part of the problem with intention. Sometimes the intention turns to desperation with greater and greater emphasis and emotion attached to the outcome.

When someone is desperate to win the lottery and is trying to put a fountain in their wealth sector to ward off bankruptcy, the desperation can drive chi away. That makes having the right mindset an important contributing factor for good feng shui. This mindset is one that is neither dependent, desperate, or aloof. It is a fine balance to maintain, but an important one.

The mindset that draws chi
When you're making feng shui changes, you must practice expectant detachment. This is a state of mind that has positive intention but that is detached from the dependency of the outcome. So, if you've wondered why your feng shui isn't working for you as well as you would like, you have to ask yourself are you doing it positively, intently, but yet detached from the outcome? If so, you are on your way to improving the effectiveness of your feng shui. If you MUST have a new job or your MUST have a big windfall to pay the mortgage, etc., your desperation will most likely prevent the manifestation of that outcome.

What it all means
To sum up, feng shui works with or without intention because it is always there and ready to go to work. Of course, this assumes that when feng shui enhancements are being made they are being made correctly (lighting goes in the south, not the north, plants aren't going in earth sectors, etc.). But, good feng shui can be driven away by desperation. And the most effective feng shui is when the person making the enhancements practices detached expectation.