My Tangle with Stillness
Alright, so let’s talk about Hexagram 52, Gen, Keeping Still, the Mountain. This one hit me hard a while back. I wasn’t looking for profound wisdom, honestly. I was just stuck. Like, really stuck. Felt like I was banging my head against a wall, trying to push things forward in my life, maybe work stuff, maybe just personal goals, doesn’t matter which.
Everything I tried just seemed to fizzle out or blow up in my face. You know that feeling? Pushing, pushing, pushing, and getting absolutely nowhere, maybe even going backwards. I was getting really wound up, frustrated, blaming everyone and everything. My mind was racing all the time, trying to figure out the next move, the next solution. It was exhausting.
So, I decided to consult the I Ching, something I do now and then when I’m properly stuck in the mud. Pulled Hexagram 52. Gen. The Mountain. Stillness.
My first reaction? Annoyance. Seriously? Stop? I needed to move, to fix things, not sit around like a lump. It felt like the universe was telling me to just give up. That really rubbed me the wrong way. Didn’t seem practical at all.
But okay, I decided to actually try it. Not just think about it, but do stillness. Easier said than done, let me tell you.
- First, I tried meditating. My mind was still buzzing like a trapped fly. Couldn’t sit still for more than five minutes. Total failure.
- Then, I tried just stopping my usual frantic actions. Put down the phone, stopped sending those emails, didn’t chase that thing I thought I needed right now. That was hard. Felt like I was wasting precious time.
- I started just observing. Like, really watching things. Watched the trees outside my window. Watched people walking by. Didn’t judge, didn’t plan, just watched. It felt weirdly unproductive.
Slowly, very slowly, something started to shift. It wasn’t like a big lightning bolt moment. More like the noise in my head started to quiet down, just a little. By forcing myself to stop the external actions, the internal chaos started to settle too. It was like letting muddy water sit until the dirt settles to the bottom.
And here’s the kicker: Once I actually stopped pushing, stopped trying to force things, I started to see the situation more clearly. I realized some of the things I was chasing weren’t right for me anyway. I saw blockages I hadn’t noticed because I was too busy running headfirst into them. Stopping wasn’t giving up; it was creating space. Space to see, space to breathe, space for the right path to show itself, maybe.
It wasn’t about becoming passive forever. It was about knowing when to stop. Like the mountain, just being solid, present, not getting swept away by every gust of wind (or every frantic thought). It taught me that sometimes the most powerful action is inaction. Finding that stillness in the spine, in the mind, even when the world outside is churning.
So yeah, Hexagram 52. Didn’t like it at first. Fought it. But actually practicing that stillness, even clumsily? It eventually helped me get unstuck, ironically enough. It’s about finding that quiet center so you’re not just reacting all the time. Still working on it, honestly. It’s a practice, not a one-time fix.
