Hexagram 58: The Joyous

The situation you are about to meet should not take you by surprise. Your concern now should be what comes next in your development.

You feel that the final result is close, very close: your most cherished wish is about to be fulfilled. A little more, and what you have wanted for so long will happen.

The near future will bring you great joy, and joy is what this sign is about.

That raises a fair question. If everything is so good, why consult this sign at all?

Because fate likes to set traps exactly when things are going well. Do not be fooled by the complete success you have reached. Look at the other side of it.

A person feels pure joy only at the moment of reaching a goal they have worked toward for a long time. Later, other feelings creep in, and those are not so sincere or direct. The further you move from that moment, the more outside influences cloud your emotions.

You begin to see what you have achieved as the best possible result. That gives it real weight, but it also closes the road to further development. You may also grow jealous of other people's successes and keep measuring their achievements against your own, which does little to develop the good qualities in you.

So this sign points to a goal successfully reached, and at the same time warns you against too much self-admiration and against dragging this situation out.

People around you

Try to be generous with the people around you. This means generosity of mind above all, a willingness to share what you yourself know. Do not shut yourself away, even if you feel fine alone.

Your joy and your confidence will last only as long as you part with the best of what you have without regret. Only by giving everything away do you gain the chance to receive.

Work

Your work in this period must also mean more than effort for its own sake. If you benefit only yourself, what you do will lose all interest for you, and that will show in the final results.

Your wish

In the very near future, what you have wanted for a long time will come true. A new wish will be fulfilled as well, but for that one you will have to wait.