Ah, how such a headline tickles yourcuriosity, beckons and seduces you' in its wily clutches! It isirresistible. It is a treasure chest divided into 12 neat compartmentsto pigeonhole people according to the star signs they were born under.Packaged by cosmic psychologists, they help us poor, miserable humanbeings to 'know' what we are.



So, an aquarian believes he has afar-sighted understanding of human behaviour and relations. A pisceansees himself as a poet with a musical ear. An arian: creative andspiritual. A taurean: energetic and business ­minded. A geminian:practical and realistic. A cancerian: independent and painstaking. Aleon: self assured, a born leader. A virgo: understanding andsympathetic. A scorpion: dignified and reserved. A sagittarian: boldand optimistic. A libran: highly imaginative, avoids arguments.

It'sfascinating, isn't it? To delve into oneself and see the image that'sbeen so conveniently built up. But it's self defeating too - in thisformat. It's isolationist. You pick up all the stray strands and tieyourselves into knots. What you may fail to realise is that if, forexample, a capricornian keeps behaving like a capricornian, he willcontinue to encounter the same problems.

The fact remains thateach of us possess all these qualities, and more. It's just that wehave allowed only a stream to trickle through instead of that vastwaterfall of powerful energy locked into our personality. It's beenconfirmed by a scientist who reports that the average man uses onlytwenty percent of his brain power.

But, it's human weakness tounderestimate oneself - the result of self ­ignorance which, in thiscase, is not bliss, but distress. Non-belief in oneself is likeslamming a door.

It isn't difficult to sort yourself out. Justsit down for a few minutes and ask yourself: why on earth should I notbelieve in myself? You will find that there is no reason. It's onlyyou. Your perspective of yourself. Even the most timid, mostself-effacing person has gone through one glorious moment when he hasexperienced a sudden, sharp feeling of happiness, of knowing that hehas everything, that he can do anything. Then, it's gone. Why? Becausejust for that instant, the veil of non-belief lifted and a chink ofsunshine peeped through before timidity took over and dropped the veilonce again.

The trick is to hold on to this chink of sunshine andallow it to widen, until you are flooded with light. Down the ages,sages have seen 'the light of self-realisation'. But because it doesn'thappen to every one of us, it's been packaged as a cosmic experience, avisit from god, etc.

But you need not become a rishi to unlockthe sunshine within you. Being fit will automatically do it for you.Exercising and eating right picks up all the loose untidy strandswithin you and meshes them together to serve you at an optimum level.This sharpens your sense of appreciation of not only the outside worldbut the limitless potential within you.

Remember, nobody can appreciate you the way you can.

Othersonly mirror what you project. So, if you are awed by this Goliathworld, see yourself as a David. Unconquerable. Standing at theepicentre of the universe, as Dostoievski puts it: "a citizen ofeternity". Listen to the words of Dr. Alexis Carrel, a Nobelprize-winning scientist: "Man is made on the scale of the terrestrialmountains, oceans and rivers." It is you he is referring to.

Weknow of a highly placed executive. Once, he was on drugs - a defeated,hollow shell of a man. But while at a meeting where the discussionranged from the eternal man, god, life, he suddenly came alive. He toldus. "I don't know what it was, but I felt light, as though if i flappedmy arms like wings, I would be able to fly!" The veil of non-belief inhimself, had indeed, lifted. He has not let it fall back.

It'slike a professor of psychology put it: "The average man fails becausehe does not learn to find and consolidate his powers. For example, therays of the sun falling upon a piece of paper have little effect. Butif they are drawn by the magnifying glass to focus on the paper, theycreate an intense heat to burn a hole in the paper."

Fitness isthe magnifying glass that allows the rays of the sun to pass through itand into you. This way you will recreate you own world. Be in controlof yourself, your actions, and in doing so, you'd have rewritten whatis in the stars.