February 11, 2003 | 11:33 AM

Ooooooooh�another scarily accurate long term astrological influence.

This influence will cause you to imperceptively give up some of your old and outdated patterns of defensive behavior. You will now find it easier to overcome things which have been the cause of great concern or fear in the past. Your open and conciliatory attitude might now make you want to settle problems existing in one of your relationships. We often find it difficult to forgive those who have hurt us in some way, but if we can, this enables us to create an inner peace which can help us to deal more calmly with the challenges of everyday life. This in turn makes us more receptive for any positive messages between the lines which often remain unnoticed.

Although this influence does not usually cause spectacular events, you should nevertheless be careful not to let favorable opportunities slip by. This influence can help to promote positive changes in many areas of your life, but especially where you have suffered from feelings of incompetence or experienced great difficulty. You will feel more in tune with many different aspects of your personality, helping you to see problems in a less critical light. Although hardship can make us more mature, it can also be a clear sign that we are devoting our energy to things which are hindering rather than helping our spiritual growth. You may now find it easier to let go of such things, which will allow you to be more at peace with yourself.

99% of life�of relationship, friendships, what have you�is based on circumstance. What�s easiest and most available. And we convince ourselves that these things have real meaning when they don�t. If you had made another choice�say gone to this school as opposed to that one, or moved in with these roommates as opposed to those other people, everything would have been different.

Romantic relationships are mostly based on who happens to be hanging around at any given time. And sometimes I feel friendship is like that too.

Oh don�t listen to me. I�ve got a permanent sneer on my face today.

I�ll feel much much better once Cabaret rehearsals start and I have something positive to obsess about.