Hexagram 24: 復

The worst is over. You can feel it. Whatever was declining has hit bottom and is starting to reverse. Health returning after illness, understanding after estrangement, momentum after stagnation. This is fragile. Handle carefully. Here's what the text knows about reinforcement through rest: the moment things start improving, your instinct in hustle culture is to pour energy into them, capitalize on the reversal, scale up immediately. Wrong. The return is just beginning. Thunder is still underground. Movement must be strengthened by rest or it dissipates before it accomplishes anything. The seven-day cycle maps to actual project experience: one sprint, one week, one complete revolution of work-rest. Everything in six stages, the seventh brings return. Problems cycle, energy cycles, progress isn't linear. If you're aware of this pattern, you stop panicking during the down-swing and stop over-committing during the up-swing. The lines show different qualities of return. Line one: caught yourself early, just slight digression, turn back before it goes far. Good. Line two: you have inner strength, good company, everything serves to further. Line three: dangerous instability, constantly reversing, but haven't habituated to evil yet—there's still time. Line four: you're in bad company but connected spiritually to good influences. Return alone. Line five: noblehearted self-examination, no excuses. Line six: missed the moment entirely. Blind obstinacy. Misfortune from within and without. Here's the key insight: return is natural, but you can miss it. If you're not paying attention to cycles, if you're obstinate about your current direction, if you refuse to acknowledge when the turn happens—you'll find yourself still declining while everyone else is ascending. Don't be line six. Be line one or two: aware, responsive, moving with natural patterns rather than fighting them. Treat the beginning tenderly. Rest. Don't force. Let the return flower.