Write your own horoscope – a Youroscope

“Gradually I discovered that a golden thread runs through all the teachings and makes them work for those who sincerely accept and apply them, and that thread can be named in the single word belief... Why belief works miracles is something that cannot be satisfactorily explained; but have no doubt that there’s genuine magic in believing.”
Claude M. Bristol: The Magic of Believing

You should write your own horoscope (why would you trust a total stranger – and probably a pretty weird one at that – with something as important as your daily horoscope?!?). Call it your Youroscope. Whenever I suggest this, I have two reactions: people who have never tried it think it’s one of the most ridiculous things they’ve ever heard (writing your own horoscope – how silly is that?); people who actually do it write later with to me with tales of incredible, even miraculous, happenings. Here’s my Youroscope for today. Please read it and then I’ll make a few observations.

Joe’s Youroscope for today

The sun will rise in the east, a sign of amazing things out on the horizon. A long-time “someday maybe” wish will finally crystallize into a “very soon absolutely” project, but it will not happen spontaneously so block off time to make it happen. You will not receive one single important email today, so don’t waste your most productive hours checking for it. The seeds that are being planted now will yield a generous harvest, but make sure you have a plan for cultivating those seeds in the months to come. Someone you don’t know in a place you’ve never been is working on a project that will engage you in a significant way, though neither of you are yet aware of this. Take a long walk this evening – throw a big question up to the sky and see if you don’t have an answer float back down to you. Send an anonymous gift “from out of the blue” to someone who is in need of it. Stick to the yellow brick road and don’t be tempted into the poppy fields: Core Action Value #9 is Focus and today’s Promise [from The Self-Empowerment Pledge] is Resilience. So put on your hard hat, pick up your lunch pail, turn pro, and go do your work.

It’s not a to-do list:I don’t know how anyone can make it through life without having a to-do list, but that’s not what the Youroscope is. Rather, it’s an overarching description of your ideal day, including factors that are beyond your control – like the “fact” that someone I’ve never met in a place I’ve never been is working on a project in which I will someday be directly engaged. There’s work to be done, a friend to be made, and when the time is right it will come to me from out of the blue.

From out of the blue: There are certain words that have a disproportionate impact on the subconscious mind, for better or worse. Take the word “accountability” for example. Tell someone that you are going to hold them accountable for something and pay careful attention to their facial expression – you will not see a big smile, and that’s a guarantee. But tell someone that they’ve received something wonderful and unexpected “from out of the blue” and watch them beam. That’s why those words – from out of the blue – often appear in my Youroscope. They help me think bigger by reminding me that I don’t have to do everything myself, that there is help somewhere out there in the blue, and they help me to be more resilient in tough times by expecting that the help I need will come when I most need it “from out of the blue.”

Reinforce personal commitments: Every day I choose one of The Twelve Core Action Values to work on – today I’ve chosen Core Action Value #9, Focus. And every day, I make a commitment to that day’s promise from The Self-Empowerment Pledge – today’s promise is Resilience. And I am reminding myself to follow the advice from Steve Pressfield’s indispensable book The War of Art by turning pro. By weaving these commitments into my Youroscope, I impress them into my subconscious. To-do lists are of the left-brain, Youroscopes are of the right-brain – when the two work in tandem, you achieve a whole-brain commitment to the resolutions you’ve made for yourself on this day.

Make it public:Making your Youroscope public by pinning it on the bulletin board, reading it out loud at a staff meeting, or (as I have done today) putting it in a blog or a newsletter is a great way of keeping yourself on track. I know that if anyone in the Values Coach office gets an email from me today at any time other than my designated email window over the noon hour, or if they see me working on anything other than that “someday maybe” wish that I want to be a “very soon absolutely” project, they will gently (or not so gently) remind me of the commitments I’ve made to myself in my Youroscope.

Creating Memories of the Future

I absolutely believe that you can remember the future more clearly and more accurately than you can remember the past (prove it to yourself: try to remember your second birthday – now visualize where you will be this afternoon at 5:00). But it’s not enough to just remember your ideal future – you have to work to create it. Writing your own daily Youroscope is an incredibly powerful tool that will help you remember, and then build, a better future for yourself.