How’s Your Fortune This Year? Hexagram Meng’s Sixth in Fifth Place Reveals: The Simpler You Are, the Better Your Luck

How’s your fortune this year?

This question pops up every single holiday season.

After asking, people go all out with rituals—buying lucky mascots, wearing fortune-changing beads, picking an auspicious day to start work, piling on the ceremonial vibe.

And the result? Things still go wrong when they’re meant to.

Then they say, “Oh, I’m offending Tai Sui this year, Mercury’s in retrograde, I’m just having bad luck.”

Let me be honest with you—

Your fortune has very little to do with what beads you wear. It has everything to do with what kind of person you are and how you live your life.

If you’re anxious, stuck in internal conflict, obsessing over gains and losses, and calculating every move every day, your fortune won’t be good.

If you eat well, sleep well, don’t get tangled up in overthinking, and don’t fight against how things are, your fortune can’t be that bad.

This isn’t something I made up. It was said thousands of years ago by the **Sixth Line of the Meng Hexagram (Youthful Folly)**.

What Does the Sixth Line of the Meng Hexagram Say?

The line text for the fifth line of the Meng Hexagram is just three characters: **童蒙，吉 (Tong Meng, Ji / Childlike Ignorance, Good Fortune)**.

It means being as pure and innocent as a child brings good fortune.

It sounds simple, but these three words hold a truth many people never figure out their whole lives.

The position of the sixth line (Six in the Fifth Place) is fascinating. It’s the fifth line, the ruler’s position, the most honorable spot in the entire hexagram. But it’s a Yin Line—meaning someone in a high position who doesn’t put on airs.

You’d think people in high places are all deep, scheming, and calculating, right?

But the Sixth Line of Meng tells you—no. When you’re in a high position, you should actually be like a child: simple, pure, and not playing mind games. That’s how you get good fortune.

Why?

Because the simpler you are, the more willing people are to help you. The more calculating you are, the more people will guard against you.

Look at little kids—why does everyone love them? Because they’re simple. When they’re happy, they’re happy; when they’re upset, they’re upset. They don’t hide things, and they don’t scheme against you.

Adults are different. Adults beat around the bush when they talk, weigh every option when they act, calculate value when making friends, and even think twice before smiling to see if it’s appropriate.

Isn’t that exhausting?

Exhaustion is one thing. The key point is—the more you calculate, the narrower your path gets.

Why? Because no one’s stupid. When you play mind games with people, they can feel it. They might not say it, but they know. Next time there’s a good opportunity, they won’t come to you.

But people who seem “silly,” who don’t calculate, who say what’s on their mind—everyone wants to hang out with them, and everyone thinks of them when good things come up.

That’s how opportunities show up.

This is what “童蒙吉 (Tong Meng Ji / Childlike Ignorance Brings Good Fortune)” means.

It’s not that “fools have fool’s luck.” It’s that simple people walk an ever-widening path.

The *Xiang Commentary* explains it even more clearly: **“The good fortune of childlike ignorance comes from yielding and gentleness.”**

The good fortune of being childlike comes from being gentle and humble. When you go with the flow of things, don’t fight against them, don’t force outcomes, and don’t struggle against the natural order, that order will naturally carry you forward.

Why the More You Try to Fix Your Luck, the Worse It Gets

I have a friend who’s super into “fortune.”

Every year at the start, he gets someone to cast a hexagram for him to see how his year will go. Then he does whatever the fortune teller says—avoids what he’s supposed to avoid, counters what he’s supposed to counter, wears what he’s supposed to wear.

And the result? Every year he thinks his fortune is bad.

Why? Because he’s always chasing after things.

One day he hears e-commerce makes money, so he opens a shop right away. The next day he hears social media makes money, so he starts filming videos. The day after that he hears stock trading makes money, so he opens a brokerage account.

He chases every trend, does every supposedly profitable thing. Every venture starts with excitement and ends in disappointment.

Then he says, “Ugh, bad luck this year. Wait till next year.”

It never occurs to him—it’s not that he has bad luck, it’s that he’s too impatient.

He always thinks there’s some shortcut, some trick, some “fortune-changing” secret that’ll turn everything around for him overnight.

He doesn’t want to take it slow, doesn’t want to do one thing steadily and well. He’s always looking for something “better,” always “waiting for his luck to turn.”

And the result? Year after year, he gets nothing done.

This is a classic case of **the more you try to change your luck, the worse it gets**.

Why? Because you spend all your energy “studying fortune” instead of actually doing things.

Fortune isn’t something you wait for—it’s something you build by doing things. When you do things well, fortune naturally comes. If you spend all day studying fortune instead of working, how can your luck be good?

There’s a line in the Hexagram Judgment of Meng: **“It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me.”**

It’s not the teacher chasing the student to teach them—it’s the student who actively comes to learn. The same goes for fortune: it’s not fortune that chases you, it’s when you do things properly that fortune naturally comes to you.

If you’re always chasing fortune, praying to this thing and that thing every day, fortune is like a cat—the more you chase it, the more it runs away.

If you ignore it, go about your business, and live your life steadily, it’ll come rub up against you on its own.

What Kind of People Have Good Fortune?

After all that, what kind of people actually have good fortune?

I’ve observed a lot of people around me, and from what I’ve gathered, people with good fortune share three common traits.

**First: They don’t overthink things.**

People with good fortune all have one thing in common: they don’t dwell on things.

It’s not that they’re not smart—it’s that they don’t overthink unnecessarily.

When something comes up, if they can fix it, they fix it; if they can’t, they accept it. They don’t ruminate over and over, replaying every possible outcome in their head.

A lot of people’s “bad fortune” isn’t actually bad—it’s something they’ve “thought up” themselves.

Before something even happens, they’re already imagining the worst possible result; when someone just makes an offhand comment, they’ve already analyzed a hundred layers of meaning behind it.

When you overthink too much, you get tangled up inside. When you’re tangled up, your face falls, your energy weakens, and even opportunities will walk right past you.

Look at people with good luck—most of them are carefree. If the sky falls, they’ll sleep first; tomorrow’s problems can wait till tomorrow.

It’s not that they’re laid-back—it’s that they know overthinking doesn’t help. What’s meant to happen will happen, and worrying about what won’t happen is useless.

Not overthinking is the best way to “boost your luck.”

**Second: They don’t calculate every little thing.**

I used to have a coworker who was extremely shrewd.

He had to calculate everything—what’s in it for me if I do this? Is that person worth being friends with? Is it worth it for me to pay for this dinner?

He calculated everything so clearly, he never lost out.

But guess what? He worked at the company for five years and never got promoted. Good things never came his way either.

Why? Because everyone knew how shrewd he was, so everyone guarded against him.

His boss didn’t dare give him important tasks, afraid he’d scheme for his own benefit; coworkers didn’t dare get too close, afraid he’d take advantage of them; when there were collaboration opportunities, he was never the first person people thought of.

Do you think his fortune is good? He thinks it’s bad—thinks he’s unrecognized for his talent, thinks the company treated him unfairly.

But really, he narrowed his own path.

No one’s stupid. People can tell if you’re shrewd. If you calculate everything, everyone will be on guard around you. How can your path not be narrow?

On the flip side, people who seem a little “silly,” who are willing to take a loss, who don’t nitpick over every little thing—they end up with more opportunities.

Because everyone wants to work with them, everyone wants to help them. Their path gets wider and wider.

This is the truth of “童蒙吉 (Tong Meng Ji / Childlike Ignorance Brings Good Fortune)”—when you’re simple, the world is simple to you. When you’re complicated, the world is complicated to you.

**Third: They don’t complain.**

You can tell how good someone’s fortune is just by how often they complain.

People who are always saying “Why am I so unlucky?” “Why does this happen to me?” “The world is unfair” definitely won’t have good fortune.

Why? Because complaining is negative energy. Complaining every day is like brainwashing yourself every day—“I’m a loser, I can’t do anything right.”

After a while, you actually become that person.

Besides, no one likes being around people who complain all the time. If every word out of your mouth is negative, people will avoid you. Opportunities follow people—if everyone’s avoiding you, how can opportunities come?

People with good fortune run into bad things too. But they don’t complain about it.

It’s not that they bottle it up—it’s that they think complaining is useless. Better to find a way to fix it. If you can’t fix it, accept it. Once you accept it, you move on.

When you move on, new opportunities can come in.

Wen Laoshi often says a person’s fortune is like a room. If you dump garbage in it every day, the room will smell. If you clean it every day, the room will be clean.

Complaining is garbage. The more you dump, the messier the room gets, and the good things can’t get in.

Complain less, do more. When the room is empty, good luck will naturally move in.

What to Do If You Think Your Fortune Is Bad This Year

If you feel like your fortune isn’t great this year, I have three “fortune-changing” methods for you.

You don’t need to buy anything, and you don’t have to spend a cent.

**First: Simplify your life.**

Throw away some useless things.

Cut off some unnecessary relationships.

Pay less attention to gossip that has nothing to do with you.

Overthink less about things that haven’t happened yet.

When you have fewer things, your room feels more spacious.

When you have fewer worries, your mind feels clearer.

When you have fewer relationships, your energy comes back.

When life is simple, your whole state changes. When your state changes, your fortune naturally changes too.

**Second: Do one small thing well every day.**

Don’t think about reaching the sky in one step, don’t think about turning your luck around overnight.

Start with one small thing. Do one small thing well every day—tidy up your desk, eat a good breakfast, finish today’s work.

Just one thing.

When you do small things well, your confidence comes back. When your confidence comes back, you’ll want to do a second thing, a third thing.

As you keep going, you’ll notice—hey? Things seem to be going smoother.

Fortune doesn’t get better all of a sudden—it’s built up one small thing at a time.

**Third: Stop asking “How’s my fortune this year?”**

Seriously.

The more you ask, the more unsure you are. The more unsure you are, the more likely you are to panic. When you panic, you’re more likely to make bad decisions.

Stop asking.

Instead of asking others, ask yourself.

Just ask yourself—am I a little better this year than last year? Did I make a little progress today compared to yesterday? Did I do this thing a little better than last time?

If the answer is yes, that’s enough.

At the end of the day, fortune is just the sum of all your choices and actions.

If you choose the right direction and do the right things, your fortune is good. If you choose the wrong direction and chase after random things, your fortune is bad.

It has very little to do with anything else.

A Few Final Words

The Sixth Line of Meng says “童蒙吉 (Tong Meng Ji / Childlike Ignorance Brings Good Fortune).”

A lot of people think “childlike ignorance” means being stupid, or knowing nothing.

That’s not it.

True “childlike ignorance” is choosing simplicity after you’ve seen complexity. It’s choosing sincerity even after you know all the tricks of the world. It’s choosing kindness even after you’ve seen how cruel people can be.

This isn’t stupidity. This is a choice.

Being simple because you have no other choice—that’s not childlike ignorance, that’s “困蒙 (Kun Meng / Bound Ignorance)”—trapped in ignorance with no way out.

Choosing simplicity on purpose—that’s childlike ignorance. Because you have options, but you choose the steadiest, most down-to-earth path.

People like this won’t have bad luck.

Because the greatest way is the simplest.

When you walk on the right path, the path will naturally carry you forward.

How’s your fortune this year?

You don’t need to calculate it.

When you simplify your life, your fortune will naturally get better.