April 14

Who you are

You have no interest in hints. If you want something you ask for it, and if you disagree you say so in the meeting rather than the car park afterwards. This makes you restful to work with once people adjust, since nothing you say has a second meaning hiding underneath it, waiting to be discovered by somebody next week.

People raised on politeness hear your flatness as coldness, and it takes them a while to understand that you are not annoyed, only finished speaking. The ones who stay tend to stay for decades, because your plainness turns out to be a form of respect. You assume everybody can handle the actual information, and most of them turn out to be able to.

Your gifts

• No hidden meanings. What you say is the whole of what you meant, which saves everyone guessing.
• Fast to the point. You cut a long discussion down to the decision that has to be made.
• Consistency. You describe a person the same way whether or not they are in the room.

Your shadow

Brevity can be a hiding place. Saying the fact and stopping lets you avoid the harder sentence about how you feel, and the people closest to you sometimes get information where they needed warmth. You also assume everyone shares your tolerance for bluntness, and you have hurt people badly while believing you were simply being clear.

Your soul work

Your soul work is adding the second sentence. After the fact, say what it means to you, even clumsily. Directness that never risks anything personal is only efficiency, and the people who love you deserve rather more from you than accuracy.

Days you get along with

Your sign

The zodiac begins with fire. Aries carries the gift of the start, the courage to go first, and the lifelong lesson of learning to finish.

Someone else

Look up another birthday

Check a friend's day, or your partner's, and send it to them.