It’s that time again, kids. MERCURY RETROGRADE. It’s a time to look inward and finish up tasks. It’s a time to listen to Radiohead and contemplate who we think we are and where we’d like to go. But hold up, it isn’t time to go there (to our ultimate destinations) just yet!

Mercury retrograde gets a bad wrap because modern society isn’t very well-versed in the power of receptivity. Merc Rx isn’t intrinsically a bad thing, but… if you fight it… it will win. Reality forces us at this time to slow down and recap; if we can manage to embrace that, we harness the potent power available in vulnerability & surrender.

You know how, on an airplane, you’re supposed to put your own air mask on before assisting a child? There’s a good reason for that and it isn’t selfish: you aren’t going help anyone if you’re unconscious.

In the wild, mothers will sacrifice a child readily if it means she will live. Selfish? No. If she dies, all the children (including the potential for future children) will die with her. Real selfishness is actually altruistic—in order to truly serve anyone else, you must serve yourself first. Making yourself the best possible version of yourself is the highest and best way to give the absolute most back.