Alan Ball searches for stability. He wants to find a firm, unchanging structure for his life. But his efforts to achieve this ideal are often vain, because unconsciously, he is also inhabited by the opposite desire. Every time he reaches what he believes to be a good balance, he realizes he wants something entirely different. He should become aware that the concepts of stability and balance are difficult to apply to life. By definition, life is movement, change, and perpetual instability.

You were born into a family where there was little love or support. Maybe your father was absent physically or emotionally, depriving you of the patterns or models which are usually helpful in structuring a personality. Because you lacked a certain sense of security which could be provided by a paternal presence, you were forced to protect yourself against negative influences and find your own system in order to grow and feel secure. Although this system was quite useful to you as a child, it has now settled in to such a degree that it interferes with your evolution. Psychological defense mechanisms and crutches which were once useful now encumber your mind or inhibit your developmental efforts. As a result, in certain situations, it is difficult for you to assert yourself, and you tend to remain an awkward or passive observer. Because your authoritarian urges are mainly directed at yourself rather than others, you sometimes feel guilty about your behavior. You judge yourself severely, and sometimes punishes yourself by setting difficult tasks for yourself. Gradually, you should build up a strong inner discipline and acquire the strength to face the problems of existence in a detached and mature way.

The person’s sensitivity can conflict with the person’s determination and attitude, which can create moody, fluctuating, and uncertain behavior. Usually, the person has a feeling they have to make superhuman efforts to succeed, but their unconscious sensitive side often disapproves of their conscious endeavors and stealthily works to defeat them. This can cause crucial omissions, mistakes, and gaps which effectively sabotage the person’s plans. In relationships, the person often builds up contradictory images of the other, which can make any bond, even if it is pleasant and positive, irritating.

Alan Ball is affectionate by nature, and love plays a decisive and central role in his life. He is a charmer who needs to love and be loved. Aware of his personal magnetism and the power it gives him, he will make subtle changes in himself in order to attract positive attention. He is sophisticated and pleased to savor a lifestyle he sees as a consummate art.

Alan Ball has a great potential for creative, constructive accomplishments; however, it is sometimes difficult for him to gain access to this part of himself. He is confident in himself and life but may tend to be nonchalant. He sometimes needs a little stimulation to get himself rolling and take some initiative. His optimism and inner certainty do not always drive him to give his utmost efforts to achieve a goal. The communications skills he possesses are an advantage as well as a handicap. He makes use of his theatrical gifts, convincing eloquence, and ability to listen. The best careers for him would be teaching, communications, philosophy, the legal profession, theater, and public relations.

You have an innate awareness of the void and the vanity of existence. Sometimes you are disoriented and deconstructed by an unknowable, unconscious force and you tend to ignore or disparage the superficial pleasures and pains of daily life, preferring to dive into the depths of human experience as deeply as your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual capacities permit. Grappling with your “fundamental nature,” with the deepest and most primitive part of yourself, you are sometimes aghast at the discovery of the sheer power of the life instinct and feel an imperious need to cope with it. This special consciousness you have been endowed with is somewhat beyond the bounds of conventional schools of human understanding and thought and may be a source of identity problems for you at the outset. It is not easy for you to recognize yourself in any social or narcissistic models or identify with any existing roles or attitudes, so you sometimes find yourself forced to construct and assert your own identity on a basis which may impress others with its intensity, if not its eccentricity.

Alan Ball is winning and attractive. He has an appetite for intense emotional experiences, especially in terms of his relationships. Enjoying the power of his personal appeal, he easily controls his emotions and only rarely reveals the true depth of his feelings. Because his instincts take precedence over his sensitivity, he is capable of becoming jealous, possessive, and even rather harsh, without meaning to. More of a flirt than a voluptuary, he is attentive to desire. As a result, his love life will sometimes be casual and complicated.

Alan Ball is a cheerful, expansive, pleasant associate to have. He is extremely generous (sometimes to a fault!) and gives of himself and his belongings unstintingly. This positive psychological outlook is the result of a happy childhood and especially an extremely beneficial maternal influence in infancy. He is quite likely to be a professional success; his vision of the world is perfectly adapted to prevailing opinion, and his urges and desires for personal expansion usually elicit a positive reaction from society. By old age, his good reputation and prominence may have earned him fame.

Alan Ball enjoys captivating people with the elegance and ease of his expression. He is a witty and engaging flirt, an avid player of the game of love. As a result, the history of his affections is liable to be episodic, a long series of chapters about conquests or fleeting love affairs. He may carry on some love relationships by writing letters.

Alan Ball’s birth chart indicates an emotional function which is usually expressed carefully and reasonably. Distrustful of his emotional urges and somewhat wary of his feelings, he tries to rid himself of all partiality and try to get some perspective and distance before making an emotional commitment.

Alan Ball has a contradictory and somewhat enigmatic nature. He is both realistic and idealistic and does not always succeed in accomplishing his aspirations, though he certainly tries hard. In his relationships, he tends to be demanding without always living up to his own standards. He has a penchant for passion, although he is aware they can be painful and destructive. This contradiction makes him feel uncomfortable with himself.

Alan Ball indulges in puppy love romances or allows the circumstances to decide what he wants. His personality is sometimes emotional and ambivalent. He should be careful not to rush into marriage, for he may soon long for the single life again if he hasn’t chosen a partner who’s the best fit.

Alan Ball has a romantic imagination, soaring with idealism, dreams, and poetry. He is emotive and hypersensitive, making him especially vulnerable emotionally, since he is sometimes overwhelmed by his feelings and affects. Although he seeks an ideal soulmate, a partner with whom he could maintain blissful, smooth relations, he is sometimes met with disillusionment. Because his rather excessive sensitivity and his need to merge with the other are deep and powerful enough, they can submerge his judgment and discernment, so he sometimes forms extremely intense bonds too quickly with individuals who are not appropriate partners in many ways. When he meets someone, he falls under the enchantment of his dream of ideal love and cannot keep himself from delighting in a reverie of future romance, placing the other on a pedestal. Early on in the relationship, he yields to another of his characteristic urges and loses himself in the individual who is so dear to him, melding with them, only to awaken one morning and find himself as if in the arms of a stranger, greatly astounded and disappointed. Actually, his psyche is constructed in such a way as to make his sensitivity a function of the environment, in many cases; it follows the flow of momentary emotions and impressions. Before he takes on any major commitments, he should make a conscious effort to evaluate the relationship realistically, and see whether the person really reciprocates his intense love, for he may merely be in love with the mirage of an ideal partner. His tendency to believe in his illusions may mark him as an easy prey for people with bad intentions. It would be a good idea for him to find a different object for his affections, or a form of sublimation, because he tends to be so disappointed by his great emotional investments. The delicacy and subtlety of his imagination procure artistic refinement for him, and he loves the arts, music, and literature, which could all be good sources of emotional involvement and fulfillment. Because his sensitivity also makes it easy for him to empathize with the psychological or social difficulties his peers are struggling with, he might also find it rewarding to commit himself to social work.

You are a complex individual, full of contradictions. Because you sometimes feel vulnerable emotionally, you try to control not only your own feelings and urges, but may also strive to manipulate those of your partners. You aspire to a profound and enduring spiritual unity, but at the same time, the idea of abandoning yourself and yielding to the other terrifies you. This anguish may be a source of rather extreme behavior patterns and a somewhat self-focused attitude which could damage the relationship. Because you are guarded and somewhat secretive, you tend to be suspicious and are especially uneasy about spontaneous intimacy, although you are fascinated by sexuality. Within the privacy of the couple, you will not express your feelings unless you are subject to some tension. Life may be peppered with frequent crises and feuds, arguments and spats which usually act as erotic provocation. This derivation of eroticism from anxiety tends to be one of the fundamental characteristics of your emotional and sexual functioning. As a result, you are likely to be attracted by stormy and complicated relationships.

Alan Ball is somewhat plodding but realistic and pragmatic. Because he is chiefly preoccupied with the practical aspects of things, he is especially apt to develop more efficient production concepts. Although his good judgment and common sense provide him with an excellent ability to handle the tangible world, his thought processes might be relatively impervious to abstract concepts and spiritual awakenings.

Alan Ball expresses his thoughts and ideas carefully, but with a relative lack of spontaneity. He is rather introverted and looks inside himself for the solutions to the problems he encounters in life. Because he tends to mistrust customary thought patterns, his opinion is usually highly personal.

Alan Ball’s intellectual faculties and wit are sometimes slowed down because they are turned outward. Because he tends to be oriented toward others, he rarely tries to communicate with them for the simple pleasure of doing so. Indeed, he sometimes feels misunderstood. Moreover, it seems difficult for him to express the complexity of his inner perceptions.