Mercury transits Gemini from May 11 until May 28, 2020
You decide how you view the world each day. Choose to make it inspired! -Prince
Mercury is the planet of communication and deals with the transference of information and data, in all its forms - physical, chemical and instinctual. In the body, it rules the respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems. It Influences our speech, sight, arms and hands. It rules the sign Gemini which it currently transit. Gemini is the sign of duality, relations, opposing forces working together, masculine and feminine energy. It is smart, charismatic, and dynamic. It’s mutable air and it’s concern with day to day activities that expands our knowledge and increases our abilities. It manifest in the nervous system and the lungs. Mercury in Gemini influences how we process and communicate what we think, learn, perceive and feel to the outside world.
When Mercury is balanced we are able to understand the instinctual messages from within and our communications with other entities. We also feel free to express our talents, thoughts and feelings. However, when imbalanced, we may find it hard to express ourselves and hard to understand and communicate with others successfully which can make us feel inadequate and misunderstood. When we are not able to fully express ourselves to others, it can manifest as social anxiety. Social anxiety is the fear of being judged negatively by other people which leads to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness, embarrassment, humiliation, and/ or depression. The energy of Mercury in Gemini provides opportunity to gain clarity and bring resolution to whatever social anxieties we may be experiencing this cycle.
Social anxiety cripples the lives of many people and can make it impossible for them to speak in public or even interact with others in large social settings. While some people experience it to this kind of devastating effect, many more find they have social anxiety to a lesser degree which can make them feel unconfident in the work place or among friends. It can then prevent them from fulfilling their potential in their careers or in their love lives. Often social anxiety comes down to a feeling that they are somehow inadequate or that what they say isn’t worth as much as what others say or others just won’t get their opinions. People opt not to speak because they worry that what they say will be ‘stupid’. At the same time they worry that they might stutter or stumble over their words and so not get their point across properly. They fear people will figure out that they’re nervous and get bored waiting for them to t-t-t-t-talk…
One quick and easy way to improve the clarity of your speech as well as your vocabulary is to talk more slowly. The slower you talk the more time you’ll have to think about the next thing you’re about to say. It will also help you to project your voice more and you’ll instantly sound clearer, deeper and more confident. However, if you’re in your own head and worrying about stuttering or stumbling over words, you’ll find this hard to do as you naturally speak more quickly when you’re nervous. Ironically, it’s worrying about getting a stutter that will give you a stutter. So how do you get out of your own head enough to slow down and speak more confidently?
Hypothesis testing is a technique that test the results of doing whatever it is you’re anxious about in the hope that you find your concerns unfounded. Interestingly though, it may be useful if you say something stupid or stutter outrageously. The reason for that is that you’ll be able to test the worst-case scenario and learn in the process that there’s nothing to be worried about. Take for example, when teaching gymnasts to backflip on a crash mat, students are encouraged to purposefully land badly on their neck or back in order to teach them that they will be okay and eliminate the fear (because again, it’s being worried about backflipping that will make you pull out and hurt yourself mid-way).
One way you can test this is with strangers. Strike up conversation in a shop, bar or a coffee shop and don’t worry at all about what you say or how you say it. In fact, try talking as strangely as possible about as dull a subject as possible. You’ll never see them again so it doesn’t matter and it’s just an experiment. What you’ll find though, is that they treat you just as anyone else. Politely and without drawing attention to your faults. That’s human nature. Most people are too busy worrying about how others see them to be able to judge anyone else. They are usually worried about how you’ll react to what they say.