The sun and Mercury align this afternoon, helping you to think quickly and make strong decisions. Fresh insights could help you to finally come up with answers to the problems that have been plaguing you. However, Mercury is still retrograde, so it’s probably best not to leap into action, no matter how perfect your ideas seem. After further consideration, you might decide you were right all along — but you might also discover that you missed a complicating factor or two. As eager as you are to get moving, there’s no rush.

Some people act like their intentions matter most. No matter how poorly their plans manifest, they imagine that they still deserve credit for being well-meaning. You’re more likely to do the opposite, focusing solely on the effects of your actions, altogether ignoring the factors that motivated you. Today, though, remember that while intention isn’t the only thing that matters, it still counts. If you slow down and move deliberately, with a sense of why you’re doing what you are, it’ll make a difference.

It can be difficult to see your flaws clearly. You understand that everyone’s imperfect and there’s no shame in having room for improvement, but even so, trying to actually confront your own failings is terrifying. Today, though, you have an opportunity to reckon with who you really are, neither downplaying your weaknesses nor berating yourself for small mistakes. If there are areas where you genuinely need to grow or change, you can be honest with yourself and create a plan. Most importantly, though, you can accept yourself for who you are.

The longer you attempt, with no luck, to fix all the problems in your life, the easier it is to convince yourself that you’ve tried everything, that you’re simply doomed to be dissatisfied. But chances are, there are still plenty of possible solutions on the table — they may just be slightly less conventional. Today, give yourself permission to test out ideas that might not work and follow your instincts to unfamiliar places. The results might not be what you expected, but they’ll be valuable all the same.

You tend to avoid planning too far into the future — life is too fickle for that. You worry that pinning your hopes on some far-off goals could prevent you from taking advantage of the unexpected opportunities that pop up in the here and now. But this is a good day for setting intentions and laying the groundwork for the life you want. If conditions change, you can change your plans too, but for now you can ensure that, at the very least, you’re traveling in the right general direction.

The more you fixate on the details today, trying to fit together all the tiny, individual parts of your life, the more frustrated you’re likely to become. As soon as you sort one issue, something else seems to go awry; figuring out the answer to one question only creates more questions. So for now, stop worrying about the details altogether. Instead, focus on the big picture, trusting that if you have your overarching goals and values in place, the small stuff will work itself out.

Sometimes it feels like your insecurities rule your life. They push you to reject exciting opportunities out of a fear of embarrassment, or to run away from relationships when you feel like you’re not good enough. Today, resolve not to let that happen anymore. Remember that you’re courageous enough to risk failure and heartbreak — and that if it happens, you’ll come out stronger on the other side. Your job isn’t to protect yourself from ever making a mistake or seeming foolish, but to live as fully as you can.

You try your best to understand the people in your life, but sometimes it just seems impossible. When your friends make illogical choices, picking partners or jobs that you know aren’t right for them, you struggle to make sense of it. You don’t intend to be judgmental, but deep down you feel that you know better than them. Today, though, you might see the people you love more clearly and finally understand on a deeper level that they’re simply different from you.

Sometimes, life seems dishearteningly random. You want to feel like all your little everyday efforts mean something, like they’re adding up to something greater, but most of the time you fear that it’s mostly a bunch of wasted effort. If you pay attention today, though, you’ll notice patterns and connections; you’ll recognize the ways that your actions slowly but steadily make the world a better place. Although you might wish for bigger, more dramatic results, take time to appreciate the small steps.

If you’re searching for practical insights today — strategies for advancing your career, making money, organizing your time — you might end up disappointed. What you are likely to find, though, are creative breakthroughs: new ways to express yourself, new opportunities for understanding other people. These insights might not seem as useful, at least at first glance, but run with them. The more you make use of your imagination the more headway you’ll make in the practical side of life, too.

It can feel sometimes like the people around you only value novelty. Unless you’re breaking new ground, you seem to get passed over; no matter how good your work is, it gets disregarded. Resist the constant pressure to come up with new ideas and to immediately discard anything deemed unoriginal. Plenty of fresh ideas aren’t actually particularly good, and plenty of well-established approaches still work best. Today especially, you might get farther by relying on the tried and true.

You’re not afraid to make the big, tough decisions — it’s the barrage of insignificant, everyday choices that wears on you. Even if none of them individually are particularly challenging, the accumulated weight of them tires you out. Today, try to trust your instincts. You don’t need to think so hard about every decision, weighing all the pros and cons — if you simply go by feel, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up exactly where you want to be.

While some people try to block out the world and focus exclusively on their own problems, you probably think more broadly than that. You understand that we’re all interdependent, so you take an interest in places and people that aren’t — at least at first glance — directly connected to you. Mostly this generosity of spirit benefits everyone, including you, but sometimes it causes you to spread your energy a bit too thin. Today, try to focus your attention on a few things you care most about.

Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.