I’ll come right out and say it: 2012 has been difficult so far, and it’s only week number 2! How can that be, I think! I mean, really, I love New Years! I love all the things that come with New Years–starting afresh, getting things done, making lists, prioritizing, planning, the whole shebang! And yet this year, I feel like I’m swimming against the tide, and Mars isn’t even Retrograde yet! I’ve even had dreams I’m swimming in crystal clear waters upstream with fires raging all around me. Could it be due to the Mars Retrograde Shadow that’s been in effect since November 20th? I do wonder. Everyone seems to be swimming against their own personal tide that is not helping them. While home visiting the fam (where it rained the entire time!), with both my parents sick and stuck in the house with nowhere to go, I got sick and recovered twice. Returning to New York, a week later I am sick yet again!

And it’s not just that. I’ve come to some realizations that I’m just not making the headway I thought I was in certain areas of my life. And all my attempts to move forwards seem to be blocked some way or another. I’m trying to take it all as a cosmic sign that I should be slowing down, and in fact not moving ahead where I think I should move ahead. See, even as an astrologer, it’s hard for me to take my own advice sometimes!

So I’m trying to remember in this pre-Mars, soon to be Mars Retrograde phase, that sometimes, very often, we don’t know what’s good for us. And if you really try and swim against the stream, you’re just going to exhaust yourself and make yourself sick, like I have. I’m going to try and be more Zen, if I can. Forget about “do-ing” for the next couple of months, and try to “be” instead. “Being” doesn’t actually require “do-ing” at all, which is something I sometimes forget!

Have a listen to my “Swimming Against the Tide” mix tape if you’re feeling a little flummoxed yourself!