As doctors and airplane pilots know, checklists prevent disasters. But even when you're not responsible for a life-or-death outcome, a list can be the difference between success and failure. The fiery Aries moon and Mars say, "Lead with passion, and wing it!" and responsible Capricorn influences say, "For best results, also use a checklist!"

ARIES (March 21-April 19). What you chase will run from you. What you learn about will draw near to you, insomuch that it wants to be understood. Your strategy of astute observation will be most effective.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Your potential is unknown and unknowable. For this reason, it will be important you commit to the work at hand with unself-conscious devotion. There is not a moment to waste in doubt.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Those who accuse others have themselves something to be accused of. The innocent will stay out of it, wishing everyone resolution. Trust people who are too busy to point fingers.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). Sometimes, you rate yourself based on how clean your house is. Of course, you are not really your home environment, but you can't help but identify with it as you give such special care to your surroundings.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). There are things you forget because they have little bearing on your experience, and, strangely, some things of equally small impact are unforgettable. Those you must learn to forget so progress won't be hindered by the inconsequential.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Your general habit of minding your own business usually serves you quite well, but today it will help you to be a little nosy and competitive. Are you offering something to the world at too high or too low a price?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Small decisions are more significant than they seem and, when repeated by you or copied by others, can have an exponential impact. This is why you take great care today with purchases and other choices.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). If thunder did not send its booming scold through the heavens, it would not be thunder. And we could scarcely call it lightning that did not tear the sky with terrifying power. Embrace your stormy phenomenon as part of your package.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Many of your aims are so on track that you rarely think about them anymore. You've developed these goals into daily habits and now they are just part of who you are. Do the same for a new, challenging ambition.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). There may be some confusion about who is accepting which responsibility and exactly what it entails, but don't get caught up in that. Patiently figure out what the best thing you can do is, and then do it.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You are learning to recognize your many forms of resistance. Sometimes, it's a hesitation inside you; sometimes, it's a tantrum you feel like throwing. You'll be enlightened by the curiosity you bring to your resistance.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). What you're thinking of as your personality may actually just be a series of decisions you made. You can go on making similar choices or you can change the script. You are totally in charge now, and you feel it.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (Nov. 25). Your cosmic birthday gift is a brightening of your mind, a quickening in your spirit. You'll readily turn and apply the energy to work and relationships, where it will inspire immediate improvements. Dare to hoard your gifts sometimes, too. You're allowed to savor your you-ness. In fact, you're better for it. Virgo and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 11, 8, 31, 28 and 5.

COSMIC QUESTION: Expounding on yesterday's question about gratitude (see archives). "Every time I start a gratitude practice, the habit never sticks. Maybe I'm just an ingrate. Can you help this ungrateful Capricorn?"

It is often called for to be thankful for things we don't actually enjoy, thus faking emotions we are not having. There are things we believe we should be grateful for, such as food and shelter, that are frankly hard to appreciate until we have experienced the contrast of their opposite. If you want to be deeply grateful for those things, then make it a point to experience people who do not have food or shelter, or circumstances in which you are thusly deprived, and you may find that your heart opens to gratitude for those basics.

You can also start with the things that already give you joy because just as gratitude gives joy, it also derives from it. True thankfulness is more closely aligned to enjoyment and pleasure than it is to duty. This has sensory-level beginnings. Arguably, savoring something with your senses is in itself an act of gratitude. Perhaps, dear Capricorn, you are not lacking in gratitude so much as sensory delight, connection or awareness. More on this tomorrow.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Sassy Sagittarian Christina Applegate has used her superstar status to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research. Her Right Action for Women foundation is dedicated to the kind of breast cancer screening that once saved her life. The star of the popular Netflix show "Dead to Me" has her moon and Mars in soulful, emotionally available Pisces, an ideal placement for actors.

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