Man, sometimes life just feels like you’re stuck in the mud, you know? Like you’re spinning your wheels, going nowhere fast. That’s kinda how I was feeling a while back. Just floating along, everything seemed pretty vanilla, but also kinda heavy. Nothing terrible, but nothing really popping either. I was just looking for something, anything, to kinda shake things up, or maybe just point me in a direction.
I remember this one evening, I was just scrolling aimlessly, probably looking at memes, and somehow, I dunno how, I landed on some article talking about this old Chinese thing called the “I Ching.” My first thought was, “Uh, ancient stuff? Pass.” I’m not really into all that mystical, spiritual mumbo jumbo. I’m a pretty practical guy. But something, a tiny spark of curiosity, made me keep reading. It talked about how it’s not really fortune-telling, more like a book of wisdom, a way to get a different angle on your problems. That kinda caught my attention, the “different angle” part.
So, I shrugged and decided to check it out. I found a simple online version – basically, you toss three coins six times. Each toss gives you a line, and after six tosses, you get a “hexagram.” Sounded kinda dumb, to be honest. But hey, worth a shot, right? I just wanted something to occupy my brain for a minute.
My First Jumps into the Deep End
I distinctly remember my first go-round. I had this nagging thing about my job. I liked it well enough, but I also felt like I was just punching a clock, not really growing. So, I typed in my question, something like, “What should I do about my career path?” Then I started tossing digital coins. It felt super artificial. Click, click, click. Six times. And then, boom, a hexagram popped up. It was called “The Corners of the Mouth,” or “Nourishment.”
I squinted at the screen. “Nourishment? What the hell does that mean for my job?” The explanation text was all poetic and kinda confusing. It talked about taking care of yourself, about what you put into your mouth and into your mind, and how you sustain yourself. My first reaction was, “This is useless. It’s just philosophical riddles.” I almost closed the tab right then and there.
But then, something clicked. I read it again, slowly. “What you put into your mouth and into your mind.” For weeks, I’d been feeling this emptiness, this lack of energy. I was eating junk food, barely sleeping, and my mind was just filled with all these anxieties about work, about not doing enough, not being enough. It wasn’t about a new job offer or a promotion. It was about how I was feeding myself, physically and mentally.
That hexagram, “Nourishment,” it wasn’t telling me to quit my job or apply for a new one. It was telling me to look inward. To actually pause and think about what truly sustains me. It smacked me right in the face: I was expecting external answers when the real issue was internal neglect. It was like I was running on empty, expecting a detailed roadmap, when what I really needed was to refuel.
- I started paying attention to my diet. Instead of just grabbing whatever, I actually thought about what my body needed.
- I forced myself to disconnect from work after hours, to stop that endless cycle of checking emails.
- I picked up that old guitar in the corner, something I hadn’t touched in ages, just for the sheer joy of it.
It wasn’t a sudden, dramatic change. It was slow. It was tough. But that little, seemingly unrelated piece of wisdom from the I Ching kickstarted something. It gave me a different lens to see my problem through. It wasn’t about the job itself being bad, it was about my relationship with it, and more broadly, my relationship with myself. It showed me that if I wasn’t taking care of my own “nourishment,” then no job, no matter how good, would ever feel fulfilling.
The Ongoing Journey
Since then, I haven’t become some I Ching guru. Far from it. I don’t consult it every day, or even every week. But when I hit a wall, when I feel that familiar sense of being stuck or confused about a decision, I often go back to it. Sometimes it’s a big decision, sometimes it’s just figuring out how to deal with some annoying little thing that’s been bugging me.
The beauty of it, for me anyway, is that it doesn’t give you a direct command. It throws out an image, a metaphor, a poetic thought, and then it’s up to you to figure out how it applies to your life. It forces you to actually think, to reflect, to dig deep. It’s like a really wise, really cryptic old friend who just gives you a nudge in the right direction, but expects you to walk the path yourself.
It’s not magic, it’s not telling the future. It’s just a tool. A surprisingly effective one, at least for me, to help uncover what’s already rattling around in your own head, but you just haven’t been able to put into words. It helps you see your own blind spots, helps you consider angles you completely overlooked. And for a guy who used to think all that “inner wisdom” stuff was hogwash, that’s been a pretty powerful discovery.
