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10.5 > 38 Which steps to take to resolve my professional situation?

emiliana2010

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Hi everybody! :bows:

the end of September is coming closer and with the beginning of October my steady freelancing for this editorial studio comes to an end. That means I will not be paid the usual monthly lump sum but, accordingly to what I will be asked to do, fractions of it.

I asked the I Ching: Which steps should I take to ensure a steady professional situation?
The hex I received is 10.5 > 38

I don't understand the steps to take here! I have the impression that this answer refers more to a general situation then steps. Is it so?
I understand the invitation to be persistently careful and correct, but what should I actually do?

Has anybody had any experience with 10.5 or can anybody enlighten me?

Hugs.
 
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Liselle

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Well, hex 10 literally means "Treading", or taking steps.

So, it's probably not so much giving you specific direction as just saying you have to do something. (This is the grumpy interpretation.)

Line 5 says "Resolute conduct. Perseverance with awareness of danger." Conduct here means "how you conduct yourself," as in behavior. "Resolute" in some other translations is "decisive."

A slightly less grumpy twist :) is that maybe this was just too general a question for Yi to be able to answer usefully. It could be suggesting that you make some specific "decisions," come up with some possible concrete steps to take, and then ask questions about those, and it would give better feedback.
 
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Liselle

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(I added a couple tags, but I don't know why it wouldn't let you do it. All I did was click on the "Add/Edit Tags" button at the bottom of the page. Try it again, maybe it was just a glitch :).)
 
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goddessliss

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Hi em, Make a decision. There is a need to let go of something possibly connected to the past. It's time to take action. - LIss
 

emiliana2010

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Hi Lisa,
thank you so much for your grumpy and less grumpy replay. :)

I've been considering asking a more specific question but I don't seem to manage to conceive a more specific one than "Which steps should I take?" This says it all about my feelings of not knowing which trail I should be prepared to follow.

On a very personal level, I avoid asking multiple questions, thing almost unavoidable if one engages in "What if I do this" which leads to "What if I do that" ecc. But notwithstanding the single question asked, sometimes (many times) I definitely don't get the answer I'm given, like in this case.

The positive aspect in asking a single question only is that I have to rack my brain about one answer only and not a whole list of them.

Also, probing the I Ching shooting from different angles feels to me like trying to squeeze out an answer instead of graciously receive it. :bows: The few times that I've done it in the past always felt wrong, like lacking trust. But, again, this is on a very personal level.

About the tags, I forgot to put them in before posting the thread and once back to editing, I couldn't see the tag window any more.

Aall the best.
 

emiliana2010

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Hello goddessliss,

amazing how you brought in this two aspects: "the need to let go" and "something connected to the past". They powerfully stirred something in me which is still foggy but I know that is the real thing.

All my appreciation and thankfulness to you. :bows: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my post. :)

Ciao.
 

Liselle

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I've been considering asking a more specific question but I don't seem to manage to conceive a more specific one than "Which steps should I take?" This says it all about my feelings of not knowing which trail I should be prepared to follow.

Sometimes a general question is best, but sometimes it isn't.

It might help to think about it backwards, as an experiment. If your question is, "What steps should I take?" what do you think a good answer might look like? Can you envision a hexagram, or any lines, that would be a good answer? (Silly example: If you ask it, "What color is a pumpkin?" it couldn't tell you if it wanted to, because the word "orange" is not in the I Ching. It would of course generate a reading of some sort, because it has no choice, but it cannot say "orange." So you quickly realize that's not a useful question to ask.)

I actually can't think of any reading Yi could give you that would be a list of concrete steps in a job search. Unfortunately! I wish it could! But it can't really say, "Call this person," or "Go to this website." There are ways for it to hint, for example, if someone you worked for in the past might have work for you now, there are ways it could probably hint at that. Hex 26 is one that comes to mind, because its Image is about the concept of history, of retracing the tracks you've left in the sand, which could mean "someone you've worked for before."

CORRECTION! 2013-09-25
This has been niggling at me, and sure enough, I said something without checking first, and it's wrong :( :(. Hex 26's Image does have to do with history, and learning from the past. But the specific "retracing your tracks" idea is Hexagram 10 Line 6.

You did actually give it a chance to give you hints, by asking the question you already asked. And instead, I'm pretty sure 10.5>38 just meant "do something. Take some decisive, resolute steps." It answered your question by parroting the question back to you, which seems aggravating and unhelpful. But maybe its point is that if you just start in, things will begin falling into place. You'll get some momentum. One idea will generate another. With something huge and scary like this, "just getting going" is very difficult. But Yi could actually be giving you good news! That if you just start, things will work out. (After all, it could have answered your first question with doom and gloom, and it didn't do that. It told you to begin. See how that might be a good thing?)

I don't know anything about your field or your skills etc. But once you have some ideas - if for example there is someone you've worked for in the past who you could call - and you wanted to ask about it first, you could then ask, "What if I talk to this person?" or whatever.

After you start, if you really get stuck, another question might be, "What now?" It might hint at the next logical step.

I hope this makes a little more sense. It's hard to explain and hard to understand, because a lot of it is in riddles when you just want it to say, "Do this." I spend an embarrassing number of readings pleading with it to "JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO," and it rarely does. In fairness, a lot of the time it probably can't. Sometimes I'll get hex 29, and what it's telling me is that the question I'm asking - or the situation behind the question - is "too complicated" for it to answer satisfactorily, at least in the way I'm asking. Asking about a smaller piece of it sometimes works better.

The positive aspect in asking a single question only is that I have to rack my brain about one answer only and not a whole list of them.
Yes, but the complexity of the project can dictate the number of questions you need. I don't think there's anything wrong with asking multiple questions about a complicated project that takes a while to complete. (Unless you get lucky, and once you start you know exactly how to continue all by yourself :D) It can be exhausting to do a lot of readings, but take rests. Actually a lot of the time if you look over a reading once, and then take your mind off it by doing something else, and then come back to it again, it's much clearer.
 
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Liselle

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A few more ideas that I found various places. They have nothing to do with the I Ching, just tips on getting things done. Some of them sound really silly. But they might help :).

(1) Tell yourself, "I only have to do this one little thing. Like, all I have to do is get out my resume and set it in front of me (if that applies to you). Or, tell yourself you're just going to think of one person to call. You don't have to actually call them! Just think of their name. (But maybe once you've thought of it, it'll seem really easy to pick up the phone and call them. See? Mental trickery!) Then do it again, with one more little thing, as if that is the only thing you have to do. This way you won't be as overwhelmed.

(2) Set yourself time limits of, say, 10 minutes. Tell yourself you'll work on it for 10 minutes, and then take a break. You can get a lot done in a collection of 10-minutes intervals.

(3) Purposely immerse yourself in the details of whatever task you're working on. Concentrate on making something really perfect. Try to make it really neat and tidy, things like that. The point here is to get your mind focused so much on the details that it then clicks into gear. Also, you're keeping momentum by doing something. Even when you can't think of the next big step to take, you can probably think of a tiny detail to tend to, and you won't stall out as easily.

[Edited to add: I do NOT mean to sound like any of this is easy. It is absolutely not. I have a nightmare of a time with big projects, which is why I've started collecting these tips, in the hope that I might someday actually accomplish something :rolleyes:. The jury is still out.]
 

emiliana2010

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Hi Lisa,

great your exhaustive replay! :) Very clear.
Yes, the answer is so obvious that it bypassed me. So I'll call whomever I didn't call yet, I'll knock at any door I can think of taking care not to step on anybody's toe.

Thank you so much Lisa.
 

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