You know you have a second brain in your gut, right? (If not, read this.) During the past three weeks, I have been beaming telepathic instructions toward this smart part of you. Here's an edited version of the message I've been sending: "Cultivate your tenacity, darling. Build up your stamina, sweetheart. Feed your ability to follow through on what you've started, beautiful. Be persistent and spunky and gritty, my dear." Alas, I'm not sure my psychic broadcasts have been as effective as I'd hoped. I think you need further encouragement. So please summon more fortitude and staying power, you gutsy stalwart. Be staunch and dogged and resolute, you stouthearted powerhouse.

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Assume that your drive to experience pleasure isn't a barrier to your spiritual growth, but is in fact essential to it. Proceed on the hypothesis that cultivating joy can make you a more ethical and compassionate person. Imagine that feeling good has something important to teach you every day. For inspiration in practicing this approach, tune in to your EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPE.

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT. The oracle below is from my book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.
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In an article about storytellers in the Los Angeles Times, Leslie Berger profiled a high school teacher named Luigi Jannuzzi. "He once saved the life of a student who was choking on a Life Saver," Berger wrote, "and thus discovered his own gift of gab: He told the kid a joke so funny that his laughter popped the candy out of his throat."

Make up a story in which your sense of humor saves someone's life.