Is Human Design Your Custom Manual Informing Who You Are and What Your Purpose Is?
If astrology and Myer Briggs procreated, their baby would be Human Design.
If there is one thing I love in life, it is personality tests! Firstly because it’s fun to explore yourself and secondly, there is an element of relief that comes with being aware of and accepting your quirks. We’re told that we are all unique, so why do we keep expecting everyone to show up and perform in the same capacity?
*Enter Human Design*
Your Human Design is based on the birthdate, time and place you were born. According to Human Design, each time and place has its own energy and you can measure who you are based on these energies, allowing you to have greater insight into what you were brought onto this earth to do. There are five energy types: Generators, Manifestors, Manifesting Generators, Projectors and Reflectors. Whilst I won’t deep dive into every energy type, you can by listening to this podcast with Melissa Wood-Tepperberg and Human Design expert, Jenna Zoe. What I will elaborate on is my energy type, my human design chart experience and the insights that I have drawn.
As I mentioned, I am a personality test junkie. Before I was approached by The Expansive Space, I already knew I was a Manifesting Generator, as is 34% of the population. What I didn’t know however, was my personal body graph, which is essentially an energetic blueprint that maps your dominant chakras.
The Expansive Space offers two Human Design services, the first being a copy of your blueprint that you can go through privately, and the second being an interactive session where they walk you through your blueprint together and tailor the session to a goal you are manifesting. I chose to partake in an interactive session with the co-founders, Sarra and Tori, because I always learn best through conversation and collaboration.
My blueprint was a 36-page (this sounds like a lot, but I promise it was very digestible) document that deep dives into your body chart, your energy type, your strategy, your inner authority, your signature and not-self theme, your definition, your profile and your manifesting style. Now what does this mean?
Energy Type: How Do You Best Use Your Energy?
When was the last time you performed an energy audit and thought about how you use your energy? I have found myself struggling this year to really categorise myself, my interests and what my “niches” are. In the world of social media, and broader professional industries, we are instructed to become experts, to master something to be recognised for a specific skill or trade. This is where Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule (the concept it takes 10,000 hours practicing something to become an expert) holds true. If I’m entirely honest, this has become a concept that has jaded me to some degree, as I am, at my a core, a multi-hyphenate that cannot be categorised or pigeon-holed. I am more than the well-read, health-conscious, young woman I present myself as here. I am also fashion and travel obsessed. I am a free-spirit that prioritises laughing more than anything. There are so many dimensions to me and I cannot be “niched”.
My Human Design confirmed my understanding of myself that I cannot be niched. In fact, it revealed to me that I am my own niche. No one will ever have the same combination of interests as me with the same weightings, because that is what Manifesting Generators are, they are “multi-passionate doer[s]”. As my blueprint stipulates, “your career will not look linear, so don’t expect yourself to fit into a box…You’re most powerful when you’re doing something that lights you up.” So instead of focusing my energy on my niches or categories, I’ve decided to allow myself to do what lights me up and it feels fantastic!
Your Strategy: How You Create Aligned Opportunities
Prior to commencing my session, Sarra and Tori from The Expansive Space asked if I would be comfortable to share something I was manifesting and wanted from my life in the next 12 months. If you’ve spoken with me recently, you’ll know that my goal is to move to New York to continue to grow my personal and organic olive oil brand on a global level and to ultimately learn more about the American market. I also truly love New York! It is the city that excites me the most and that I feel the most me in. With this goal in mind, the insights and recommendations gathered from my blueprint were applied to this objective.
In my blueprint, my strategy is “to respond + inform”. This means, that I thrive when opportunities present themselves to me, rather than me chasing them. In other words, my “energy is naturally magnetic and always pulling things to [me].” This is something I feel personally, and have always know that doors open for me when I connect with others and share my energy. A recommendation highlighted in my blueprint was monitoring how I feel when opportunities arise. I have found myself recently doing exactly that. When I am conversations with others and making important decisions, I scan my body and particularly tune into my stomach to see how relaxed or tense it is. This is where I store most of my apprehension and being aware of how my stomach and body feels has allowed me to tune into my gut instinct and make decisions that feel right, rather than what should feel right. Next time you’re in this position, take a moment to take in how your body is feeling and act based on how you feel! Your gut never lies.
Inner Authority: How You Best Make Decisions
This is your guide on how to best respond to situations and make decisions that you are happy with. According to my blueprint, my inner authority is to “wait for clarity”. In other words, it is best to wait a day or two to make big decisions, and then for smaller decisions act in the moment. At times, I can get excited and impatient and want to make a decision then and there. Sometimes, I need to give myself the space to sit with a decision and not act from an emotional high or low.
Signature + Not Self Theme: How You Know You Are Living or Not Living In Alignment
Prior to delving into my blueprint, I was asked how I have felt when I haven’t achieving my desired goals or met my own expectations. My answer was “stuck”. I’ve noticed in these situations where I am doing something, should it be work, attending an event or doing something out of obligation, rather than genuine desire, I can feel resentful, frustrated and unmotivated. These feelings are indicators that I am doing something incorrect and not being true to myself. I have recognised, in these situations, I have the power to be confident enough to say no to something that doesn’t make me happy and not act out of place of “I should do this”. Instead of “I should do this” or “I have to do this”, I now ask myself, “do I want to do this?” When the answer is yes, I feel satisfied, which is my signature theme.
To me, there is nothing more invigorating than doing something you love! It completely lights me up from within and I feel endless opportunities come my way. I know that when I am in this position, I feel more connected to others and I am able to help and inspire them to achieve their goals too. Something I have started saying to myself this year to push me to take more risks and enter this satisfied space is that I would rather the risk of uncertainty, than the misery of certainty. Feeling satisfied and aligned is worth risking the comfortable, stable monotony of obligation and routine.
Definition: How You Best Process Things
Whilst I can happily work by myself, I thrive when I am connecting with others, which was very telling that I best process things when “collaborat[ing]”. I learn best in conversation with others, and love to listen and learn from anyone I come into contact with. Even talking through my blueprint with Tori and Sarra allowed me to fully understand, process and feel more connected to my characteristics.
Profile: How To Align With Your Purpose
The sixth component of your blueprint is your profile, which are the archetypes of your personality and what you are here to do in this life. These numbers are presented in a fraction, with mine being 5/1. The first number is is your Conscious Personality, meaning you are mentally aware these personal characteristics. The second number in your profile is your Unconscious Body. These are qualities that you may not be consciously aware of, however this is what your body needs.
My Conscious Personality is “The Problem Solver”, where I am a “natural leader” that has “a gift for breaking through old ways of seeing things and offering practical, innovative solutions.” This is something I am very aware of. I have always been a leader and am often the first person people go to when they have a problem, need advice or assistance reframing a situation. Being an entrepreneur, I face obstacles daily and instead of allowing myself to be disheartened, I use this personality profile to rise to the occasion and think of new creative ways I can tackle the problem presented.
My Unconscious Body is “The Investigator”, where I am “constantly curious.” I’m “driven to understand how things work. Understanding things can give [me] a sense of security.” I discovered this about myself recently, after becoming aware of how inquisitive and more critical of information I am when compared to others. This isn’t because I am distrusting, rather, I need to be aware of the facts and feel confident in my knowledge, to believe and speak on a topic. This may be one of the contributing reasons I started my newsletter in the first place. I am constantly asking questions and researching, which is why I wanted to share my knowledge and insights with others.
Manifesting Style: How You Manifest
We all have different methods of manifesting our dreams and according to my blueprint, mine is “non-specific”. This is a style centred around manifesting a general idea or feeling instead of being fixated on a particular journey or outcome. If I’ve learnt one thing this year, it’s that when you make plans, the Universe laughs at you. You cannot become too attached to them. I’ve realised that everything has it’s own timing and sometimes, “the universe is bringing me something even better than what I could have imagined”, which is a mantra I share with my friends and coincidentally found in my own blueprint!
Now what will I do with all this information you ask? The blueprint provided by The Expansive Space lists tips, challenges and journal prompt that I have been actioning, so I can continue to reflect on my approach to my purpose and make steps towards living in alignment. If you are interested in your human design, you can book a session here.
Now that is all for this week! If you have had experience with Human Design, I would love to hear about it I the comments below.
Sending you lots of love always,
Yianna X