Okay, so I decided to sit down with the I Ching the other day. Things felt kind of… stuck. Not bad, necessarily, just like I was going through the motions, drawing from an empty tank, you know? Felt like I needed some kind of deeper resource, but couldn’t figure out where to find it or even what it was.
So, I got out my coins. I like using the coins, feels direct. Did the usual thing, focused my thoughts, tossed them six times. Clink, clank, clatter. Wrote down the lines as they came up. Worked it all out, and there it was: Hexagram 48, Jing, The Well.
My First Thoughts on ‘The Well’
The Well. Seemed pretty straightforward at first glance. Water, depth, something essential everyone needs. Made sense given I was feeling drained. But the I Ching isn’t usually just a simple picture, right? There’s always more layers. I read through the text associated with it. Talked about the town moving but the well staying. About the rope not reaching, or the bucket breaking. That got me thinking.
It wasn’t just about having a well, but about maintaining it and making sure you could actually get the water. And it was about community, something everyone shares and depends on. That hit home because I realized maybe my “stuck” feeling was because I’d been too focused inward, or maybe I wasn’t maintaining my own ‘ropes and buckets’ – my skills, my relationships, my own energy.
Putting it into Practice – Trying to Live ‘The Well’
So, what did I actually do? It wasn’t like flipping a switch. First, I just tried to be more aware of my own ‘water level’.
- I started paying attention to when I felt genuinely refreshed versus just numbly getting through the day.
- I made an effort to reach out. Not in a big way, just checking in with a couple of old friends I hadn’t spoken to in ages. Felt a bit like lowering a bucket into a shared well, seeing what came up. Sometimes it was great, other times just pleasantries, but it was an action.
- I looked at my own ‘maintenance’. Was I eating properly? Sleeping enough? Simple stuff, the basic ‘well structure’. Honestly, I wasn’t great at it. Some days I managed, others I fell back into old habits. It’s work, keeping the well clean.
- I also thought about the “danger” part – the broken bucket, the rope too short. I tried to see where I was maybe overextending myself (bucket breaking) or not prepared enough for tasks (rope too short). Had a situation at work where I volunteered for something I wasn’t really equipped for. Total ‘broken bucket’ moment. Had to backtrack, felt foolish, but it was a clear lesson. The well water was there, but my gear was faulty.
Observations and What Stuck
Living with this hexagram for a bit showed me a few things. It’s easy to take resources for granted, both inner and outer. Like that park down the street I never go to, or that skill I learned years ago and let get rusty. That’s the well, just sitting there, but I wasn’t going to it.
And the community part is huge. It’s not just my well. It’s the well. Thinking about how my actions, my energy, contribute to or deplete the shared resources around me… that was a big shift. Even just being a reliable friend or neighbor, that’s like keeping the community well in good shape.
It wasn’t some magical fix. I still feel tired sometimes. But thinking about ‘The Well’ gave me a different frame. It’s less about desperately seeking some external fix and more about tending to the fundamentals, the deep source, and making sure the tools to reach it are sound. It’s an ongoing thing, this well maintenance. You don’t just fix it once.
