Predictions: Year of the Dog

We have now entered the year of the dog, and spring is – not close – but on the horizon. Thank heaven. This winter has been real. Not a lame winter like years back, but consistently cold, and then raining and snowing, and then there was one warm day and everyone got this strange flu that wouldn’t quit that now require public announcements on the MTA intercom that say: “If you have not washed your hands recently, please do.” I honestly don’t care if writing about the weather is petty. If you’re paying attention, it’s the small things like light and air pressure that make the difference in the end.

So. I speculate on pronouncements in the year of the dog. Being once a pack animal, the year has potential for collaborations, as well as a good amount of social growth, or even healthy competition. But it is also important to identify your loyalties, and who, in turn, has your best interests in mind. There is work to be done this year, but the environment is set to your favor and you are ready to put your mind on your work. Watch where you are trying too hard to please. And what are you trying to gain in that desire to please? Whose affirmation do you need and what does that confidence represent for you? Maybe your desire to please someone else is something you are working to understand and master within yourself.

Notice where you need let go and play. Truths and neuroses get worked out in play and in sleep. Without fear or prejudgments, it’s time to play into our passions as well as our fears. It’s time to be a little silly, to loosen up, because rigidity is not going to bring the same kind of discipline that we need right now. We are social creatures, like a pack of wild dogs, we must work through the differences together in play. With lightness.

Notice where you bite. Where you may be a little bit too comfortable, and if you play a little bit too hard. Often when we are children we don’t know our own strength, but I think in many ways, we struggle with these same issues as adults. Having grown up, it would seem that we should know how to talk about little hurts that we give. But it grows harder as mistakes and wounds are scarred over. Can we be strong and vulnerable this year?