7/1/18

Today's Horoscope

All signs:
From the moment you wake up, you will be bombarded by input. From your surroundings, the people you encounter, from social media and emails, from the news. Our waking selves are adept at gathering information, whether we want to or not.
Our brains are going to process that information, and do it as quickly and as efficiently as possible, because that's what they designed to do by evolution. They are going to take every bit of sensory perception, any words and images, and label them and shove them into whatever box they think it belongs in, and make you react in whatever way they have assigned to that box.
The people who manipulate you, the power brokers and the corporations and the advertisers and the special interests groups, they know about the labels and the boxes and the reactions. They know which stimuli elicits the proper response, and they use that to get you to vote a certain way or spend your money on certain things, or to just frighten and confuse you into shutting up and letting them do what they want.
That's why when you wake up in the morning, you really need to wake up. Take your brain off automatic pilot, and really think about why you react to things the way you do, and what you can do to take control of your life back. Actively listen, question what you're being told, use your common sense and employ your morality and empathy to your decisions. If something affects you emotionally and makes you angry or disgusted or upset, chances are that someone is intentionally appealing to those emotions to get you in that state. When you are agitated, you're easier to control and influence. If you find that you're easily upset and agitated, chances are that you've been conditioned to react that way.
Don't beat yourself up over it, it's not that hard to do to someone. It's not just people in power that do it to you. Your friends and lovers, your family, it's everywhere and it's insidious. You don't even realize it's happening. Many times, the people doing it won't even notice that they are using the same tactics to try to control you. It's what their brains have learned from the world doing it to them.
Only you can take back control. Only you can consciously alter the way you react to what your brain is being told. Then you can begin to understand why you do the things you do. You can start to figure out who you really are, and who other people are as well. You can start making smart decisions, and stop living your life in a constant state of anxiety and paranoia and depression. You have to do the work though. Simply following someone else, and letting them tell you how to view the world is the same trap you're in now. Conspiracy theorists and talking heads and cult leaders and theists all have an agenda as well. That's not your inner self talking, that's more manipulation. That's still not freedom.
It's not just going to benefit you. It will benefit the people you love. It will benefit everyone you meet, and everyone you interact with.
You don't like the way the world is going? A better world starts with a better you. A better you starts when you wake up.
The stars suggest that you wake yourself up.