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My Chevy got stolen in San Francisco on a January night some years ago. The thief broke a window and smashed his way into the steering column with a tire iron to get to the ignition wires. Eventually the cops recovered the car and returned it to me. But no repair shop could ever completely […]

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” said Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff. “It’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” While your crisis is nowhere near as pressing as those faced by Obama’s team, Aries, I recommend that you adopt a similar attitude […]

Maybe you shouldn’t mend your supposedly “evil” ways if your “evil” ways are about to mutate into a fascinating new approach to goodness. Maybe the very quality that has threatened to cause your downfall has now become the key to your upgrade. And maybe the thing that has made you most nervous about yourself about […]

If you put a corn chip in guacamole, take a bite, then dunk the chip in the bowl again, you’re doing what’s known as double-dipping. Scientists say it transfers about 2,750 bacteria from your mouth to the guacamole. I advise against that kind of behavior in the coming week, and I suggest that you protect […]

I’ve been asked by the leaders of the Piscean Support Group to pat you on the back — and add a tender, friendly kick in the butt while I’m at it — in celebration of your recent promise to leave your safety zone. They’re a bit worried that you’ll be so enamored of the new […]

 “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” said George Orwell. While that’s true for many of us most of the time, I’m betting you’ll be an exception to the rule in the coming week. You will find it easier than usual to escape from the trance of everyday life. […]

Beware of people who act like polite jerks or tone-deaf music critics or emotionally numb lovers. While they may be able to teach you a lot about what you don’t need, they’re not worthy candidates for enduring relationships. Now let’s turn our attention to the question of who exactly does belong on your future team. […]

My friend Riley was the first member of her family to attend college. None of her hardscrabble Irish forebears had ever pursued higher education. In her senior year, Riley began having nightmares of her relatives trying to stop her from finishing school. In one recurring dream, her great-grandfather burned all her textbooks. In another, a […]

“Everything is gestation and then bringing forth,” wrote poet Rainer Maria Rilke. “To let each impression and each germ of feeling come to completion wholly in itself, in the dark, in the inexpressible, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own intelligence, and await with deep humility and patience the birth-hour of a new clarity: […]

The world is once again falling deeply in love with you. Let’s hope that on this occasion (unlike what happened the last two times) you will accept its adoration in the spirit in which it’s given. Let’s hope that if the world offers you the moon, the dawn, and the breeze, you won’t reject these […]