From Chaos To Clarity

However, it can also make you a controversial and polarizing figure--a plus if you're looking for a career in arts and entertainment; Nevertheless, many people with Uranus in Aquarius are drawn to these situations precisely because this is where their revolutionary concepts and unorthodox approach are needed most. Aquarius Uranus . Electrifies: Aquarius Suns when it's in sync with the higher self. Gadflies: Capricorn and Pisces Suns because it always makes them one of those things that's not like the others. Enlightens: Aries and Sagittarius Suns by debunking myths. Overthrows: Taurus and Scorpio Suns when it becomes a lightning rod for controversy. He took a cooking class to develop his foodie side. Not everything happened overnight or all at once. Over the next few years, he expanded his interests and his world widened. He checked back in five years later for an update. My life is anything but boring, he said with a smile. My mind feels like it's back online once again. My diet is better, but most of all I love my life. I'm doing so many exciting things I hardly have enough time in the day. I didn't know `mental stimulation' could feel so good! Mental stimulation, however, doesn't just mean doing some crossword puzzles. Why not start where they want to start and go from there? Does this mean the goal should not be abstinence? Different people have different goals.

And people's goals change over time. Abstinence probably makes the most sense initially for many people, for any number of reasons including: If a person has the goal to moderate his use of alcohol, it can be helpful to start with a clean slate and break from old habits (by learning new ones). Even the self-help organization Moderation Management (which gives guidelines and support to people who wish to moderate) suggests an initial period of abstinence before embarking on this path. CRA takes up this idea of a trial approach in the practice called sobriety sampling, where therapist and client negotiate a window of time for abstinence (a week, a month, whatever they can agree on that seems doable). This works with ambivalence: get your feet wet, start to see that you can do this and don't have to fail again, see what it is like being abstinent. It's a fine way to start, and often leads to an ongoing recommitment to abstinence goals incrementally, avoiding the overwhelming prospect of changing forever. Galvanizes: Gemini and Libra Suns by getting them to champion rights and causes. Is anyone's guess with: Cancer and Virgo Suns because they turn things around. Sometimes good because they get results, sometimes bad because they often have to upset the status quo to achieve anything. Opposes: Leo Suns. You see others as erratic and volatile. When Uranus is opposite your Sun sign, you don't connect to its energy naturally, so you always get thrown for a loop until you do. The best way to harness this energy is to roll with it. Be open to whatever unfolds. That unexpected twist may turn out to be a disaster, but given Uranus's propensity to turn on a dime, it could also be the best thing to ever happen to you. URANUS IN PISCES It's necessary to exercise your mind in different ways in order to keep all your mental faculties operating at a high level. There are a number of mental functions neuroscience has mapped that everyone uses daily. Memory underpins most all of the brain's functions.

Not only is memory the basis of the self, it's the foundation for almost everything you do, from getting dressed to eating, talking, walking, working, and going home. Memory is what makes you human. When memory goes, this foundation collapses, and soon all of the activities a normal person does go along with it. Even getting out of bed requires memory, and in advanced Alzheimer's the person can't even do this. This again points to the central role of the hippocampus, for the hippocampus is the control center of memory, the central processing center that creates and organizes new memory. When the hippocampus is robust and healthy, with low inflammation and high neurogenic capacity, new memory is formed easily and quickly. Cognitive health, brain health, and hippocampal health go together. In our own clinical experience, most people want to attempt abstinence and they just need encouragement and help to problem-solve their way to the goal. Others state that they want to moderate, yet when allowed to set their own goals and work them through, they often come to realize for themselves that moderation doesn't seem to be a viable path because they can't control their use to the extent that they want to. When they come to this decision voluntarily, it is a powerful choice, because it is a choice and they are choosing. Some people really can moderate, though the data would suggest that the heavier, longer, and more consequential the use was initially, the less likely moderation will be successful. We do not consider it to be a laissez-faire setting. It is not a default option for people who do not want to deal with abstinence. We tell people all the time: true moderation is not easy to achieve. And in outpatient treatment, we encourage limits to how long people try moderation before rethinking their goal. What is the relationship of self-help to treatment? Self-help and professionally provided treatment are really different buckets. It's frustrating to foresee how things will play out, to give ample warning, and for people not to believe you. It would be one thing if you were wrong, but you're often right. Afterward there's regret and promises to listen to you next time, but when next time rolls around, the pattern continues.

One would think you'd refrain from saying anything at all, but you can't. You have an almost masochistic commitment to telling the truth. And it's not because you need to be right. It's because relating what you see brings relief. It's like getting your feelings off your chest. People with Uranus in Pisces often hold oracular positions, but this isn't exclusive to crystal ball gazing. Many of you go into medicine, finance, and the sciences. When hippocampal health declines, so does cognition. This is a quick overview of the mental functions you want to preserve and improve: Short-term memory, long-term memory, and working memory. Short-term memory is like a scratch pad that holds information for about twenty to thirty seconds. Most people can hold seven items in short-term memory, plus or minus two. Long-term memory can hold vast amounts of information for a long period of time. Working memory lets you act mentally on several things together. For example, having in mind a list of errands and crossing them off the list mentally as you accomplish them during the day. Attention and focus. Attention can be broad and global, or it can be tight and focused like a spotlight. If you are paying for and expecting treatment, a program's providers should be trained in evidence-based approaches, not just offering something that your loved one could get for free every day of the week outside. Self-help is helpful for some, and not for others, and there is somewhat limited evidence about a basis on which to judge who will benefit from it and who will not. We encourage our clients to get involved in self-help, based on evidence that it increases odds of reaching abstinence goals and maintaining change;

We recommend self-help, most of which is 12-step based, not because it's the only thing that works but because at the very least it offers a new, nonusing social environment and is one of the only forums where adults can freely confide all the terrible and wonderful things they are thinking, feeling, and experiencing, and be accepted rather than judged. Some of our clients are profoundly changed by 12-step involvement. At the same time, we know that for some, the pressure to join a 12-step group is painfully problematic. Without any intent to bash, and fully recognizing that individuals and groups vary, we list some of the issues that sometimes come up: a) the requirement to identify as an addict with a disease, which can feel burdensome and even cultlike to some, b) the practice of counting abstinence days, which can make it feel intimidating to admit use, and demoralizing to start over, c) depending on the meeting, a certain negativity toward professional treatment (therapy or medications), d) overly intrusive sponsors who are directive and harsh in their involvement, and e) a sense of religiosity that turns some people off. Perhaps the most problematic 12-step tenet has little to do with actual 12-step concepts, and more to do with group psychology: the common perception that people are in denial if they are not interested in this approach. Many people have legitimate concerns or reasons for not wanting to be involved, but end up feeling burdened with the insecurity that they are not really doing it right if they are not attending meetings. We have seen family and friends also carry this burden, as many place great expectations on 12-step attendance and are confused and frightened when their loved one doesn't take to it. You have an uncanny ability to read trends, diagnose symptoms, and decipher data. Do this with charts and graphs and everybody follows you. Try doing it in plain-speak and you'll come up against the same problem as Cassandra--which only goes to prove what prophets have said all along: people want the message, but not the truth that comes with it. Pisces Uranus . Electrifies: Pisces Suns when it transcends the norm. Gadflies: Aries and Aquarius Suns because it can't help sounding loopy. Enlightens: Taurus and Capricorn Suns by revealing the hidden meaning. Overthrows: Gemini and Sagittarius Suns when it whips up a storm. Galvanizes: Cancer and Scorpio Suns by making them cutting-edge. Is anyone's guess with: Leo and Libra Suns because it turns them into whistle-blowers. We need both functions, but complex tasks need more attention and focus to accomplish. Emotion regulation. This requires good mental ability and memory as well as emotional integration.