Rolling With The Punches

I watched a video on Youtube recently about the Monkey forecast for the Year of the Water Tiger 2022. For those not au fait with Chinese Astrology, we are currently going through a Water Tiger year, and I am a Metal Monkey. The Monkey and the Tiger are enemies, nemeses so the speak. They are also opposites which means that they actually overlap in lots of characteristics. My mother is a Tiger so I know all about this. I love my mother very deeply, but we fight and disagree about almost everything. It's a difficult relationship to sustain with the clashes, but the other person's viewpoint is crucial when big crises arise. They see what you don't and vice versa. They are indispensable.

Your nemesis year happens when you are (or about to turn) 6, 18, 30, 42, 54, 66, 80, 92 years old. So far, they have been growth years but the pace can be exhausting, leading to the following year (of the Rabbit / Cat) being a recovery year. Indeed, at the tail-end of my last Tiger year (2010) I contracted glandular fever and the following year was spent recovering from it. The Tiger year before (1998) I was watching a primary caregiver succumb to cancer and she finally left us at the end of that Tiger year, and I spent the following year on mood stabilisers and in psychotherapy. The Tiger year before that my parents had just separated and we had to live with elderly extended family until my mum was able to get her own house. What I do remember was lots of instability and anxiety.

Unsurprisingly, I have been quite anxious about how this year is going to go. It has already thrown me a couple of curve balls (striking at work, pension cuts, etc). I usually consult astrology on a fairly regular basis to see what's coming up and what I need to work on. I have been apprehensive about doing that this year, because the forecast is usually along the lines of 'batten down the hatches, a storm is coming and it will wipe you out!'. I was actually surprised to hear that although this will be the case in a lot of respects this year, actually this is a very good year for Monkeys. We have a lot of stars working in our favour, more than any other sign. It will be a tough year as unexpected barriers will keep popping up to challenge us. But, we will have enough resources and support to not only get through it but to thrive.

There was an expression that the astrologer used that I thought was brilliant. She said, 'Monkeys, this is the year you learn to roll with the punches'. I thought about what that really meant, and I found it very insightful. The majority of the time, we see barriers as blocks; as objects stopping us from going in the direction we want to pursue. But, what if the barriers are telling you that you need to go off piste for a little while and develop in other directions? What if you actually commit to learning about how the barriers can actually develop you? Instead of putting all your energy to hit an immovable object and keep bashing your head against it, you learn all about that object and the skills that are needed to overcome it; and learning about yourself all in that process? There's a very different conception of agency there. It's like being tied to a huge weight in the sea leaving you to be bashed about by the waves. But, you are unlikely to drown. Someone will eventually find you and the weight will be removed. So, take that rare opportunity to meditate on life and yourself, and keep the faith. It could end horribly, but the chances are it won't. Roll with the punches, they are trying to teach you something you haven't yet learned to the necessary degree.

That's my motto for this year. Things are going to come at me, but it's how I respond that is crucial and, particularly (I have learned from previous Tiger years), how I expend my energy. My aim is to be empowered, not disempowered, from everything that comes at me. To not see myself as a victim of some sort of cruel fate, but as water adjusting itself to get through the cracks to get to the other side. The only way out is through. Monkeys cannot beat Tigers. They can tease them mercilessly and get a few one-ups on them, but they can't beat them. They are too fierce and will go in for the kill if provoked. The truth is, Tigers go for larger prey anyway. So, fight alongside the Tiger. Learn its lessons and ally yourself with its mission for the year. Tigers draw their strength from adversity, and take their time to regain ground on battlefields and territories they have lost. They wait and pounce at the right opportunity. They also play the long game. They are mavericks, and use innovation to move forward bit by bit. Be more like the Tiger. It's going to be punch after punch after punch. But, roll with the punches and learn the lessons. If you do, you'll come out of this year in a better frame of mind, body and spirit than how you entered it.