Alright, so I decided to mess around with the I Ching the other day. Things felt kinda messy, you know? Like starting something new but hitting a wall right away. So, I thought, why not? Let’s see what the old book says.
I got out my three coins. Nothing fancy, just regular pocket change. Did the whole routine – shaking them in my hands, focusing, tossing them six times. Wrote down the lines, figured out if they were changing or not. Took a bit because I always have to double-check how to get the lines right.
Ended up with number 3. Just plain number 3, no changing lines this time. I had to look it up, ’cause I don’t have these memorized. Found it was called something like ‘Difficulty at the Beginning’ or ‘Sprouting’.
Okay, ‘Difficulty’… figures.
That actually hit home. I’d been trying to get this little side project going, just a small thing I was building in the garage. And man, everything was fighting me. Wrong parts ordered, tools breaking, just one stupid setback after another. Felt exactly like trying to push a sprout through hard soil. Frustrating.
So, reading about this hexagram, it talked about things being tangled up right at the start. Like a plant trying to grow but its roots are all twisted. It said not to force things too hard right now. Patience was key, apparently. And maybe getting organized, finding helpers if needed.
What I did next…
Honestly? I didn’t suddenly find all the answers. But reading that description kinda calmed me down. It was like, okay, this initial struggle is normal. It’s part of the process when you start something new and raw.
- I stopped trying to rush the project that evening. Just cleaned up the mess in the garage.
- The next day, instead of jumping right back in, I spent some time just planning. Made a proper list of steps, double-checked the parts I needed before ordering again.
- I also reached out to a buddy who knows a bit more about one tricky part I was stuck on. Didn’t ask him to do it for me, just asked for his take on it.
It wasn’t magic. Things are still slow going with the project. But thinking about that ‘Difficulty at the Beginning’ thing helped me shift my attitude. Instead of getting mad at every little problem, I started seeing it as just untangling the knots. Step by step. It feels a bit less like hitting a brick wall now, and more like navigating a bumpy path. Still bumpy, but moving. So yeah, that was my little run-in with I Ching number 3.
