Early this afternoon, Mercury connects with Jupiter, making everything in your life (and especially anything related to thinking, planning, or communicating) run just a little bit smoother. It isn’t that the planets will make your troubles vanish overnight, but that they’ll equip you to tackle any problems with creativity, a sense of humor, and the understanding that while things might not go exactly the way you planned, your efforts won’t be wasted.

You can’t always count on inspiration and serendipity — if you want good results, the most reliable path is to put in the work. At the same time, the people who insist that hard work is the only thing that counts are overstating things. While you’d be unwise to rely entirely on good fortune, the fact is that sometimes you do get lucky; sometimes the right answer to your problems just seems to come to you out of nowhere. Today, don’t be so focused on working hard that you miss the lucky breaks when they arrive.

You’re an artistic and imaginative person, but when there are so many practical matters demanding your attention, it can be hard to justify spending much time on creative pursuits. They seem like a luxury that you’ll indulge in after you’ve dealt with all the boring stuff — but in reality, you often end up without any extra time for the activities you truly love. Today, try to prioritize fun — not at the expense of everything else, but as an equally important part of a full life.

It often seems like everywhere you go, people try to take advantage of you. No matter how hard you work or how much you contribute, it feels like everyone keeps trying to lowball you — and when it happens often enough, you start to wonder whether it’s simply what you deserve. Today though, resolve not to settle for crumbs. As uncomfortable as it might be to demand more — recognition, reimbursement, whatever it may be — it’ll likely be worth it, especially today.

It can be hard to stay committed to your goals for the long term. Even if you knew at the start that it might take a while to see progress, that doesn’t mean you won’t get impatient as time goes on. Today, take a moment to check in with yourself. You might not have results that would impress an outside observer, but you still know that you’ve been working hard, and you can feel that change is happening. Don’t worry about proving anything to others yet: Focus on the progress you’ve already made, even if you’re the only one who notices it.

When you start to doubt your own abilities, it helps to review the evidence: Looking back at your past accomplishments can reassure you that you’ve got what it takes to overcome whatever you’re currently facing. But this strategy doesn’t necessarily apply when you’re embarking on something completely new. There’s no record of past successes to buoy you; you’ve got nothing to go on but sheer faith in yourself. Today, trust that you have the capacity to rise to the occasion and succeed.

It’s easy to be mistrustful when unexpected good news comes your way. If you don’t feel you’ve truly earned it, you’re aware that there’s likely to be a catch. But while your skepticism is healthy, be careful not to be so guarded that you turn down opportunities you fully deserve. If you get a lucky break today, take advantage of it — even if you don’t feel like the worthiest candidate for it, trust that you’ve got the skills and drive to succeed anyway.

It can seem smart to approach all your decisions with caution, even a degree of fear. With so much that might go wrong, you want to be prepared for as many potential negative outcomes as possible. Just be careful that you aren’t so fixated on the risks that they become all you can see. There’s still excitement and joy ahead of you, but you might miss out on it if you’re so focused on avoiding the bad stuff that you become blind to the good.

You’re probably incredibly independent by nature; though your life is full of close, caring relationships, at the end of the day you try to rely only on yourself. While you’re more than happy to support your friends when they need it, being on the receiving end of support makes you uncomfortable. Today, though, you’ll benefit from asking for favors from the people in your life. Relationships are supposed to be mutual; asking loved ones for help won’t strain or weaken your bond, but deepen it.

You put so much energy into your relationships, but it can feel like it all goes unreciprocated. And while you understand that everyone is busy with their own problems, it still hurts — you wish others wanted to connect as much as you do. But today, don’t rush to judgment. Your friends might not express their love in the same way that you do, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care. Keep putting in the effort, and slowly but surely you’ll see results.

Some of the conflicts with people in your life seem essentially unsolvable — your needs or opinions are so fundamentally different that the only answer is to agree to disagree. Learning to accept and work with a bit of tension is a valuable skill — but today, you might find that there’s more common ground than you had realized. If you sit down and discuss your issues with a genuine willingness to listen, you could discover surprising new areas of overlap.

You often view new people with suspicion — the friendlier they appear to be, the more you worry that it’s just a facade. You’ve been proven right on occasion — but you’ve also been wrong plenty of times before, and today, your distrust is more likely to get in your way than anything else. Use your judgment with strangers, but give people the benefit of the doubt when possible. Most people have good intentions, and your day will go smoother if you give them the chance.

It’s easy to imagine that you’d be more successful if you lived somewhere more exciting, or if you were surrounded by different, more interesting people. If you could leave behind all the parts of your life that are dull and uninspiring, you imagine, everything would change. But while there’s a time for embarking on new adventures, right now you’re likely to get better results by prioritizing the things you already have going for you.

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