I asked Yi what I should focus on now and got 38 unchanging. Huang defines it as diversity and Karcher defines it as diverging. I think I am being advised to seek harmony in my life and embrace diversity, as well as maybe to avoid conflict. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Seeker,

Looking at 38 on LiSe's page, I'm wondering if it may be suggesting that you sift out what's yours and what's not yours, ...boundary issues, (like checking with Yi does - sifts out of the myriad of possibilities which ones are relevant to the question being asked).

Could it be something like rediscovering who you are - what are your personal values as an individual rather than the ones you espoused (as it were) earlier?

Rinda

This hexagram is usually associated with estrangement/alienation but I think the more fundamental issue of 38 is "being oneself in relationship" or "individual freedom/space in relationship".
If individual freedom is stressed too much the partners might drift apart, with alienation as a possible result.
The other extreme is a smothering relationship in which one or both partners sacrifice their individuality for the "we".

In theory the truth, or in this case rather the good, should be somewhere in the middle. In a kind of dynamic balance between "I" and "we".
To actually find that middle may not be so easy, however ...

Martin,

That's exactly what I was trying (albeit clumsily) to say...

Rinda

That does seem to be a theme in some of my readings. I metnioned in previous posts that I gave up a lot of myself and adapted to what my husband wanted. I have been working on finding myself again, returning (I got 24 a few times too) to the person I was and want to be. I have reconnected with some old friends and my relationship w/my family has gotten a lot better. They all say that for the last few years it was like they didn't know me, that I was very cold and distant, and now I seem much more myself again. So, I'm hoping that it is just saying that I need to continue with that.

When you mentioned relationships, though, and what belongs to you and what doesn't, I thought of X. Could it instead be saying I need to decrease my thoughts of him because he doesn't belong to me. I don't think so, because my other readings on him have been positive, but I am not always clear headed when it comes to him. Actually, when searching the forum archives, I found an interesting quote that made me think of him, "you cannot lost what truly belongs to you, even if you throw it away". I asked what to focus on, would Yi instead tell me what not to focus on???

Oh, an interesting coinkidink. You know Yi sometimes mentions 7 days in the lines? I had been thinking about whether or not to send an ecard to him for his birthday (its in a couple of weeks, the day before another friend of mines, which I guess is why it sticks in my head), and I suddenly realized his birthday is 7 weeks, almost to the day, from our last conversation. I will ask Yi about it when it gets closer, but I just that was kind of interesting. Anyway, thanks for the response. Help always greatly appreciated

Well, I asked for clarification and got 54. Do you suppose it is telling me to focus on the here and now or focus my thoughts at home. Someone pointed out to me that the Diversity is associated with Dwelling and Lises interpretation of 54 is live where you live. There are all kinds of things this could point to. It could mean the divorce and my changing family, it could mean focusing on the changes I am making to my home itself or maybe the repairs that need to be done after the hurricane. I did just get a letter from the homeowners association stating they have to be done in 30 days, real understanding of them considering how many people had damage and the waiting lists for all the repair companies. Or it could refer to something I am totally not seeing. Seeing as they both talk about adapting, maybe there is a clue in that??? I'm going to meditate on this some more, but any ideas are always helpful.

Just a hunch ..
38 and 54 have the same lower trigram, Lake, the youngest daughter. So maybe the Yi is asking you to focus on what that trigram represents.
In general qualities like joy, pleasure, lightheartedness, also femininity.
More specific perhaps the young girl (or younger girl, I don't know how old you are ) that you once were.
How did you feel then? What has happened with that girl, how did you change?
Is she still there, can you feel her inside?

As I said, just a hunch ..

Yes, she is still here. I have recently reconnected with one of my best friends, we've been friends since first grade (I'm 37 btw), and she is just beside herself that the real me has returned. We have been estranged the last 8 years because she did not get along with my husband, and he despised her. He convinced me that she did things (that I now know she didn't) and thus fostered huge resentment. She wants to send X a thank you card for bringing back her friend

I did a meditation on this earlier and I think what you have been saying is part of it, but I got something else too, actually a lot more. I don't know if this all comes from 38 (54 wasn't mentioned) or if some of it was just advice I needed, but there was a lot to it. It was not a simple answer.

If I take this as oppisition, then it says to focus on my oppitision, which I think is twofold. One, my husband is oppisition at the moment because we are getting a divorce and he is fighting me on some issues. Everytime I get near him, no matter how good I feel, I end up being irritable and bad tempered, even when he is being cordial. I think part of this is to focus on that and get rid of it, foster a harmonious attitude and stop letting him get under my skin. Also, focus on doing whats needed to get the divorce finalized.

Second, focus on those things holding me back or taking me out of where I live. In the meditation I got told that I am focusing on anything but the here and now. I am constantly analyzing and reanalyzing the past 8 years and trying to figure out how this happened to me, but the thing is, it happened. It is in the past, and while it is good to note the mistakes so they are not repeated, dwelling on it isn't healthy. I have to accept it and move on. It's difficult because I never saw myself as someone who could be preyed on or manipulated. Its a huge shock to my self-image.

I am also consistently thinking about X and wondering if he will come back, and some of my questions are geared towards that. But if he is anything, he is part of the future. He is not in my life now, so it is not living in the present to focus on him. Theres an old saying, "if you love something, set it free, if it comes back, its yours, if it doesn't, it never was. Goes along with that other saying I found here in the archives about not being able to lose what truly belongs to you. Its hard, I miss him so much. But I really need to stop focusing on whether or not he will come back. He either will or won't, and if there is anything I need to do, Yi will tell me when its time.

And then you gave me another idea with the reference to the youngest daugther. I wonder if that is referring also to my daughter. She is the only, but still, it fits. She certainly needs my attention now. I have been trying to focus on her, but maybe part of this is a gentle reminder to continue doing that.

And yes, focusing on qualities like joy and pleasure and the things that bring those qualities into my life. I try to stay positive, some days I success and some days I don't. There are moments when I just feel very lonely. I have asked Yi how to end that feeling and I basically got that I just have to live through it; there is no shortcut.

Thanks for the help everyone, very appreciated.