Mercury and Venus align in assertive Aries tonight, making this a good day to smooth out confusing relationship dynamics. It could also be the right time to express your feelings to someone you care about — but tread with caution, since the planet of love is still retrograde. The way you feel now may shift once Venus starts traveling forward again next month, so it’s probably wise to resist the temptation to make big, brash declarations.

It can be easy to make relationships more complicated than they need to be. If somebody treats you poorly, you look for reasons why and come up with all kinds of convoluted theories. Today, though, try to keep it simple. Ultimately, it hardly matters what somebody’s motivations are — what matters is how their actions make you feel. If you’re feeling neglected and misunderstood — or, conversely, seen and valued — you might not need to dig any deeper; your emotions can provide enough of a guiding light for how to move forward.

There are times when it’s necessary to be clear and unambiguous about what you want, when others need you to spell out exactly what you’re looking for. Today, though, trying to constantly clarify your goals and desires might not be worth the energy. At least for now, it hardly matters whether others really get what you’re doing — what’s important is that you’re clear with yourself. Even if nobody else is on board, you’ll still see results as long as you’re personally willing to put in the work.

Sitting around and chatting with the people you love is probably one of your favorite ways to pass the time. It hardly matters what you talk about — as long as you’re sharing ideas and connecting, it’s enough. At least, most of the time it is. Today, though, you might get uncharacteristically bored by mere conversation. Instead, try getting out into the world with your friends. Go somewhere new together, start a creative project, get out of your heads for a while.

While you value cooperation in the abstract, it’s not always easy to manage in practice. People’s egos clash, their goals diverge, their ideas don’t necessarily mesh well. If you’ve been struggling to work well with the people in your orbit, today could bring a breakthrough. As long as you’re willing to listen with an open mind, you’ll be able to find common ground without compromising on the things that are truly important to you; you don’t need to be aligned on every point.

If you’ve been bored lately, it might be tempting to shake up your life dramatically — but for now, there’s a good chance that what you need most isn’t major upheaval, but simply a bit of novelty. So today, try to figure out where you might find it. Even the smallest changes to your routines can be enough to make the world feel expansive and new; simply eating something different for breakfast or taking an alternative route to work can stir up newfound excitement for your life.

Competition isn’t inherently a bad thing; a healthy rivalry can motivate everyone involved to push their limits and do their best work. Lately, though, constantly jockeying for position has begun to feel draining. Today, ask yourself whether it would be more effective to collaborate instead of trying to outdo one another. If you put aside your differences and commit to helping each other instead, you’ll get farther and have ideas neither one of you could have produced on your own.

You’re good at keeping your emotions under wraps, even when they run deep and intense. If you think that someone won’t understand where you’re coming from or won’t feel the same way, it can seem better not to say anything at all — at least, not until they open the conversation first. Today, though, waiting around for someone else to make the first move is going to be impossibly frustrating. If something’s been weighing on you and you’re tired of bearing it alone, let it out.

You try not to ask more of others than they’ll be able to deliver; you understand that if your expectations are unreasonably high, you’ll only be setting your friends up for failure. But today, make sure you’re not asking too little of the people around you. Even if you fear they’ll be unable or unwilling to give you what you need, the least you can do is ask — give them a chance to rise to the occasion, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Sometimes, there’s value in keeping your cards close to your vest. A bit of mystery could keep them interested; if you play a little hard to get, you can make them work for your attention. Today though, playing games is one of the worst things you can do. If you feel enthusiastic, don’t hide it; if you’re interested in somebody, say so directly. Dropping hints is likely to leave everybody confused; for now, straightforwardness is the best way to go.

Part of you imagines that you should go about everything in the most challenging manner possible. Consciously or not, you think that the more you struggle along the way, the better your end results will be. But while cutting corners is almost certain to make things worse, that doesn’t mean unnecessary strain will make them better. Today, give yourself permission to do what comes most naturally. The world will throw problems your way regardless; there’s no reason to go out of your way to take on more.

If you’re feeling indecisive today, it’s probably because you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to make the perfect choice. The truth, though, is that there rarely is such a thing. All the alternatives have pros and cons; all involve trade-offs. So try to stop imagining that you should be able to find a way forward with absolutely no downsides. You don’t have to optimize every decision — right now, choosing the option that’s most interesting, even fun, might be good enough.

For the most part, you’re good at picking up on unspoken cues; even if your friends don’t put their emotions into words, you can still gauge how they’re feeling. But you’re still not a mind reader; sometimes other people are opaque and you can’t figure out where you stand with them. If the uncertainty has been causing you to feel insecure, today could be a good day to have a conversation. Getting things out in the open will make everyone feel better.

Buy Claire Comstock-Gay’s book, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, here.