How to fool astrology

About two years have been spent by me in believing that the signs of the zodiac have some meaning in our lives. It started out with personality first. Meeting a new person was OK, but I would feel that I had actually met them only once I knew when their birthday was according to the Roman calendar. Once I came to know of it, either by chance or by deliberation, my mind would go "Oh... so that is who they are and that is why they are the way they are". One of the advantages is that remembering birthdays became extremely easy for me. But I think that more often than not, the knowledge of their zodiac sign has tampered with my acquaintance with this person and biased me. Sorry folks, I hope you are not upset.

Not always, though. Sometimes I had more interaction with the people than I could infer from their sun sign. That was lucky; I actually got to know them. But a person who was elusive or who did not seem keen on interacting with me was usually "explained away"- "She's an Aries"- or "Oh, Capricorns are bound to be vain", or whatever.

At some point the urge to defeat this habit arose in my mind. I have stopped asking people for their birth dates- but even then ended up knowing some (time does pass after all and peoples' birthdays keep happening). But now I think I have caught hold of the ultimate weapon against astrology. When you see a horoscope for the coming week (or for the week that just passed, doesn't really matter), in case your eyes jump to your own star sign the first thing, follow your eyes and read your "forecast". Then compare it to what actually happened last week. Quite accurate, isn't it? Now move to another star sign that you "sympathize with" and read that as well. Hmm... actually much the same, isn't it? It happens often enough that every star sign's forecast roughly matches what happened to me last week. I am then able to dismiss the horoscope as "nonsense" and forget about star signs for a couple of minutes. I lose interest in the horoscope.

This new habit is helpful. Every time I am sitting in the bus, my mind occupied less than it would like to be, drifting away into comparisons of people's behaviour, I am able to tell myself : "This is bullshit. Stop now." Amazingly my mind actually listens.