The Greater Good

The Greater Good - Looking For Outliers

"Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference."

— Jane Goodall

The current, waxing lunar cycle keeps us focused on the process of rebuilding our connection to the world around us without abandoning our own individuality. Venus continues her retrograde motion, keeping us on edge, skeptical, and potentially suspicious of others who we may actually need in some way. We find ourselves on an incredibly steep learning curve this week as we reach the 1st quarter phase of this lunar cycle. We may find that our demand for freedom keeps us stuck if we aren't inclined to allow others the same freedom that we're demanding. When we try to work towards a 'greater good for the greatest number', we may find ourselves more concerned about keeping order and restraining outliers instead of looking for ways to expand our understanding of exactly what is the "Greater Good". While our mission may be to seek a vast expanse of viewpoints, rebuild connections, and expand cooperation, we find ourselves hamstrung by defensiveness and suspicion — skeptical and lacking trust. The more we believe we see and understand, the more we may be inclined to isolate with a feeling of superiority. Mercury conjuncts Venus and moves into a square to Mars later in the week, which expands the conversation but may only end up increasing the frustration if we are trying to get others to go along. We'll do better spending our time trying to understand what others are really telling us rather than changing minds. The more that we can listen with empathy the more success we will have in finding common ground and easing our own frustration.

Perfectionism and literal understanding makes it difficult to hear what others are trying to tell us on Sunday. The more viewpoints we can understand, the more productive we will be. Monday brings a temptation to seek distractions in order to escape the tension. We reach the 1st quarter of this challenging lunar cycle on Tuesday. Even though we're trying to rebuild our sense of connection with others, the restless, shifting atmosphere keeps us coming back to suspicion and judgement. The steepness of the learning curve is especially apparent on Wednesday as we are challenged to expand our perspective rather than maintain order by cracking down on 'outliers'. Conversation heats up on Thursday but may only lead to frustration if we don't believe we are getting clear information. By Friday, we seem to be more inclined to skepticism rather than trust. Nonetheless, intuition is helpful to sort out the details of what we can believe and what we can ignore. Saturday brings increased awareness of our need for supportive associates. If we can't find a supportive environment, we may wind up extremely defensive.

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