What if your life wasn’t a race to the finish line—but a painting in progress?

What if every day could feel more like wandering through a mountain path, resting by a flowing river, or breathing beneath an open sky?

In Shan Shui: Designing Your Inner Landscape, author Rick T. Fu introduces listeners to the ancient Chinese art of shan shui (山水—literally “mountain-water”) and shows how it offers a timeless blueprint for modern life. For centuries, Shan Shui was more than painting. It was philosophy in ink, poetry in brushstrokes, and an invitation to wander through imagined landscapes that reflected harmony between humans and nature. Today, in a world of speed, stress, and noise, its wisdom feels more urgent than ever.

This isn’t a history book, nor an art manual. It’s a practical guide to living with balance—using Shan Shui’s principles of mountain (stability), water (adaptability), and emptiness (space to breathe) to reshape the way you see yourself, your environment, and your challenges. You’ll learn to design not only your surroundings but also your inner terrain, so that calm, creativity, and clarity become part of your everyday life.

Inside, you’ll discover how mountains, water, and sky mirror your own needs for grounding, flow, and rest. You’ll explore the idea of borrowed scenery, a Shan Shui principle that expands your horizons by bringing beauty into your daily environment. You’ll practice wandering without leaving—the art of woyou, showing how imagination can refresh you even when you’re stuck in routine. You’ll see how Shan Shui poetry, like brushstrokes, can open new perspectives in your mind. You’ll learn practical design tips for shaping your home, workspace, and even digital devices with balance and simplicity. And you’ll find ways to apply the principles of mountain, water, and sky in moments of stress, loss, or upheaval, so you remain steady no matter what life brings.