小過

62. Small excess

xiǎoguò · Mountain ☶ over Thunder ☳

Attentiveness in small matters — this is not the time for grand gestures.

The Noble One's Path

Thunder atop a mountain. Sometimes it's better to deliberately overdo modesty and caution, than to risk an excess of self-confidence.

The Lesson

Don't overestimate your capabilities right now. Take care to be meticulous in small matters.

A question to sit with

What can I do exceptionally carefully today, even if it's a small matter?

Related hexagrams

In the I Ching no hexagram stands alone. Each one enters into relationships with others, and those relationships show the situation seen from the other side, in its opposite, and in its hidden tendency.

易

The classical deep dive for this hexagram — the Judgment and the Image after Richard Wilhelm — along with the texts of all six changing lines, is in the book. Get the book

卦

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