Chapter 2: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others

The following is a description of your basic stance towards life, the way others see you, the way you come across, the face you show to the world. In Chapter 3 you will read about the "The Inner You: Your Real Motivation", which describes the kind of person you are at heart and where your true priorities lie. Read this chapter and the next one and compare them - there may be significant differences between them, in which case "the inner you" may not shine through and others are in for some surprises when they get to know you at a more than superficial level. This chapter describes the costume you wear, your role in life, while Chapter 3 talks about the real person inside the costume. You are a natural diplomat, reasonable, tolerant, fair, always willing to listen to varying viewpoints, and ready to see the other side of an issue. Even if you strongly disagree with someone, you will try to find points of similarity and agreement rather than emphasizing the differences. You often avoid taking an extreme or one-sided stance on anything. You have a strong desire for harmonious and pleasant relationships, and express a spirit of cooperation, compromise, friendship, and fairness. You very much want to be liked and because of your need for approval and acceptance, you are easily influenced by others' opinions, especially when young. You so much want to please that often you will suppress your own intense or unpleasant feelings in order not to offend others. Sometimes your politeness is interpreted as being phony or wishy-washy. Your need to create harmony extends to your physical environment and personal appearance as well. You appreciate beauty and have a natural sense of balance, symmetry, and proportion. You do everything in good taste, with a sense of style and art. From your home furnishings to your choice of clothing, everything must be aesthetically appealing, not simply functional or utilitarian. You also feel that relationships are an art, one that especially interests you and one that you are usually quite skilled at, for you possess tact and acute awareness of other people. Marriage is very significant to you and finding the right person to share your life with is extremely important. Being part of a close couple seems natural to you - you are not an independent loner. Having a partner increases your self-confidence. You do have a tendency, however, to become overly dependent on your partner and perhaps not to develop a clearly defined identity outside of the relationship. Finding the balance between being yourself and blending and uniting with another is a challenge for you. Others see you as an agreeable, smooth, harmonious, and "nice" person. Though there may be much more to you, this is the sort of face you show to the world. You possess personal charm and an understated, noncombative manner. Your motto could be "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" for you usually take a friendly, cooperative approach rather than a strong, forceful, I'm-going-to-conquer-the-world attitude. To others, you appear capable, mature, and down to earth. Even when you were young, there was a certain practicality and responsibleness about you that inspired people to rely on you. You keep your cool in most situations. Your emotional instincts, feelings, and intuition play a big part in the decisions you make and how you interact with the world, and generally your feelings are quite accurate and helpful to you. Also, establishing emotional rapport with the people you meet on a day to day level is rather easy for you. You appear somewhat sympathetic and concerned, so that others are drawn to you, especially when they need guidance or help. You often come across to others more abruptly or even antagonistically than is necessary to achieve your aims. And naturally if people perceive that you are trying to compete with them or run them over, some of them will put up a lot of resistance to you and your objectives. You might be more successful if you tone yourself down a bit and show some consideration, without completely sacrificing your own needs and wants. Astrological influences analyzed in Chapter 2: Libra Rising Saturn Trine Asc. Moon Sextile Asc. Mars Quincunx Asc.