Trying to find direction in my life

[Aosoth]

My life is basically a joke. I work a dead end job which is going to hell.I have no friends, no family, basically nobody in my life. I also have no idea what to do with myself where to go from now and often wonder what's the point in trying anything. So I decided to ask the I Ching the following question: "How do I go about giving my life direction?" It answered with hexagram 5 with lines 3,5 and 6 changing into hexagram 41. Seems I have to wait for something but what? I'm perplexed.

 

[Tohpol]

"How do I go about giving my life direction?"

5.3.5.6>41

Hexagram 5 is about waiting yes. But it is waiting with a purpose where nourishment will come to you by not acting at this time. Looks like you need to nourish yourself and build yourself up psychically to mange the next phase of your life. You can be assured that your life will change when time is right.

line 3: shows that you are in an emotional pickle. Anxiety, vulnerability and negative thinking is driving you. Everyone gets to this point sometimes. It's a passing phase although it seems like it can stretch on forever. When you are bogged down in negative emotion things tend to get worse. So, you need to make a super human effort here. Do something entirely different - out of the box - to get yourself on the bright side again. But get out of that marshy, dark bog! Predators are waiting to make it that much worse for you...

Line 5: Shows that whilst things seem bleak and tedious focusing on what you do have as opposed to what you don't have will help. That means the simple things: making merry with friends, doing things that give you pleasure (but don't over do it lol) and relaxing the mind - AS A PREPARATION for what follows. This isn't just idle drifting or giving up but having faith in the final outcome. You actually have an enormous amount to give but through hard knocks and circumstances you're in a rut so your light is hidden (very 36) The good news is it will change if you persist and cultivate that hope/faith.

Line 6: This will take you to a new beginning where "friends will come" unexpectedly. These friends may be aspects of your inner self or actual external opportunities. More usually if you attend to the inner world in the correct way then tangible opportunities are more likely to follow; the hope, faith and effort we employ to dig ourselves out of the emotional bog of line 3 will set up new circumstances. But that does often require persistence and endurance.

So, overall, you may be feeling pretty cheesed off with things right now but the I Ching is saying hang in there - there's light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to hold, make a big effort not to be seduced by the negative voices that constantly whisper in your ear that you are going no where and nothing will ever be the same. It's often true that when we feel like we're going down for the third time - assistance arrives.

I've been in your situation and it certainly sucks. What I can tell you is with sincere effort - often the kind of effort people don't see or acknowledge - life does change for the better and in the most unexpected ways.

Happy New Year.

 

[Aosoth]

Thanks, Topal.

 

[Aosoth]

What about the resulting hexagram 41? It's called diminishing and that bugs me a bit....

 

[bradford]

Don't go any further North. You're already in freaking Canada.

But seriously, make better use of your time of not knowing.
Boil it down, decide what's really important and what you can live without.
Find three things you like, and then the one thing that gives you all three.

 

[Tohpol]

Sorry, forgot to mention 41...
What Brad said.

41 is about decreasing. Less is more.