Horoscopes: Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You don’t have to be the best in the whole world to win the hour. Your effectiveness and impact will depend on keeping things in perspective. Don’t let perfectionism stop you from sending yourself into the day.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Your ideal strategy will be the ancient one used by master martial artists through the ages. Give your opponent nothing to resist. Yield to overcome. This is the actionless activity that requires little energy but much awareness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Fast friends are good friends, too. You don’t have to know someone a long time to be extremely connected in a moment. You never know what bright mind you’re standing next to until someone takes the initiative.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). There are many ways to tackle unsettling emotions including working them out physically, socially, intellectually. You’ll connect with a sense of your own essence and a spirit beyond temporal feelings, and bring lightness and healing into being.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). People talk about “someday.” Speaking its name is like inviting it to a party where it never shows up, possibly because it doesn’t really exist. There is only today — plans made today, actions taken today, love shared today.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). When you’re self-conscious, it’s a comfort to believe nobody is thinking about you. But when you’re particularly up or down, the same adage is a disappointment. Today, you’ll blend or shine at will.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). This day is flowing. The moments of getting snagged in the branches or stuck in the weeds are brief, mostly because you are constantly course-correcting to steer the action where it naturally wants to go.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Emotional wellness can be akin to fitness. It makes no sense to berate yourself for your current level. You get stronger when you lift heavy feelings. You can only lift what is possible. It’s better to go up increments.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A word is a portal. Each word you process links to a part of your brain connected to other parts, which is why a single word can tap your feelings or open an entire world. You’ll choose words carefully.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You don’t feel like confronting your fears, so don’t. Life has a way of sorting it out. Whatever worries you now will be a nonissue to future you. To mature is to become a different person over and over again.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’ll argue with yourself, which is very good for developing sound ideas. As the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel proposed, ideas develop through a conflict of opposites, and their eventual resolution into a synthesis.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). There are no difficult people today. There are only people who communicate in ways that require translation or adaptation in order for the others to hear and understand their meaning.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Oct. 2). Your solar return empowers your mission, as ambitious as it is, mostly by fueling the study and practice that is so key to your success. More highlights: You’ll celebrate a relationship that stands the test of time. Your colleagues respect and collaborate with you better. You’ll get obedience from those you most need it from. Scorpio and Pisces adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 1, 4, 33, 2 and 39.