People typically come to me after they’ve seen enough in their design to get them excited or curious enough to want to actually try this thing out. Maybe you’re burnt out and learning that you're a Projector is a shattering moment of realization. Maybe you’re a Generator who knows there’s a better use of your energy out there, something that makes you come more alive, than what you’re currently doing.
But after being seen, after hearing the truth of how you were meant to thrive…you look around at your life and think, so now what?
How do I implement this thing?
It’s my firm belief (observing hundreds of people) that following the path of living your design will bring up everything within you that needs to be acknowledged. Everything sticky, crunchy, that was shoved in the closet. Everything that needs to be “healed,” though I don’t believe healing has to be hard or ever reaches a neat conclusion. Living authentically, as yourself, with no one and nothing telling you how to do it requires self-knowledge, trust (in self and Life), and conviction.
And it isn’t a linear path that can be strategically mapped out…as much as we might wish it was.
To set some expectations, it’s said that it takes seven years to really break up the conditioning that we’ve gotten habitually stuck in to find our way back to “what really feels like me” - and that’s if you engage with the process. Meaning, it’s not that a magical timer goes off seven years after the first time you hear about design or pull up your chart.
As different as each person’s unique path experimenting with their design might be, I’ve seen that there are three basic non-negotiables for everyone. It’s where I started, and what I continue to come back to (daily, sometimes). My own awareness keeps getting more refined, and my understanding of how my design wants to live through me expands.
Here they are:
1. Restore your energy
2. Benchmark your baseline
3. Know (and grow) your capacity to feel what is true for you
1. Restore your energy - refill your reserves
This goes for all types! While it’s tempting to point to Projectors or nonsacrals as the ones suffering the most from burnout - and it’s true that nonsacrals have a unique position in that we’re in the minority ~30% of the planet - I have also met countless sacral beings who are also tired AF.
And (unpopular opinion) but I haven’t met a single client who was fully rested. They might be doing a great job balancing their workload and implementing tons of self-care, but when I ask: “on a scale of 1-10, how full is your personal energy bucket?” …I have never heard anyone have a consistent 10.
So no shame here. Just because you’re a Generator with “consistent life force” doesn’t mean that life force doesn’t also need to replenish sometimes. In fact, you sacrals know more reliably when you do need to tap out when you’re connected to your gut.
It takes time to heal from depletion.
And the depletion you feel deep in your bones probably didn’t start with just you. What you saw modeled by your parents, your epigenetic inheritance from ancestors fleeing danger who had no choice but to strive to survive, all affect your genetic inheritance (the red part of your design).
We are all human. We are all living creatures that need rest.
Imagine a farm where you’ve grown crops year after year, without letting things rest fallow, without replenishing the nutrients in the soil with cover crops and compost. You can’t grow life there.
Similarly, if you’re physically exhausted, it will be difficult to observe your strategy and authority in your life. Taking an authentic step that feels edgy or scary might feel impossible if you have been underslept or overcaffeinated for five or ten years, or a lifetime.
It can be a bitter pill to swallow. I get it (said the woman who was forced into medical leave and bedrest for several months). No one likes being told to slow down and go back to something as simple as rest.
It took me two years to be able to exercise again after pushing myself into complete adrenal depletion (early menopause, insomnia, heart palpations and trash mental health). It takes three months for the cells in your endocrine system to turn over - so at least three months to see anything begin to change in the endocrine system (of which, the major glands related to all the major centers in human design - the pituitary, sex organs, adrenals, etc). One of my health guides, Unique Hammond, reports seeing her body continue to find more vitality after over seven years of being on the Bean Protocol. (That whole seven year cycle thing again 😉)
If you don’t have energy (life force) period, then how will you have the energy to experiment with your design?
This is the foundation for the other two points:
2. Benchmark your baseline - track what “you” feels like
Nearly everyone has undefined (white) centers where we are inconsistent and feel others' energy. (Even if you’re in the small percentage of fully or almost-fully defined designs, you’ve still got splits to bridge and 38 undefined gates like everyone else). It’s where we’re open to getting hooked on what isn’t ours, or want to grasp for some stability.
In my own life, I spent years trying to “keep up” with other Generators and MGs with consistent sacral energy. As an open ego, I was always chasing worthiness through work, trying to prove I was good enough.
But neither of those things are me.
As scary as it was, when I unplugged from being in a work environment where I was around this constantly (with seemingly “good” results), I felt so much clearer.
Do you know if the energy you’re running on is really yours?
I’ve had clients tell me months or years (!) after our initial sessions they *thought* they knew what their baseline felt like or that they didn’t need much alone time... only to discover over time they actually had no idea.
I share this not to make you doubt yourself, but spark curiosity: what happens when you take away outside influence? What do you really want to do (or not do)?
3. Know (and grow) your capacity to feel what is true for you
There are countless ways to tap into your knowing. Clients always want me to share specifics here, and I will shortly, but I want to start with:
The kind of knowing I’m referring to here is different from a mental knowing.
Human design is all about freeing yourself from overthinking & mental swirl.
I’m talking about how you know something from your experience. Somatically, visually, sensorily. How do you know you don’t click with someone? How do you know what’s beautiful? How do you know it’s time for a change? …Not the reasons why you have the answer that you do to those questions, but what’s the place from which you know the truth itself?
There are 7 authorities (the loudest center or “voice” in your design) x 6 cognitions (the primary way your body will sense information) - so at least 42 nuanced ways of knowing. For example, I have taste cognition and splenic authority - I either like things or I don’t (it’s to my taste or not), and my knowing comes through in an instant through my primal spleen, like an animal instinct.
(If it appeals to you, this can be a great area to research in your design - how your cognition layers together with your authority).
Ultimately, it’s about a calm, well-resourced physical body and nervous system that has the capacity to feel and track what’s going on for you in a balanced way (you’re not chronically stressed and hypervigilant, or on the other end of the spectrum, depleted and sluggish). Get the foundation in place and you’ll naturally have the bandwidth, space and energy to feel what’s true for you. The same way a plant naturally grows towards the sun.
Some ideas on growing your capacity - everyone’s journey is so unique, and different tools might resonate at different times, or no longer resonate after a while. The biggest thing here is to tune into what’s right for you, and (see above) track how a modality affects you. Some things that worked for me, that absolutely do not have to be what you do: yoga, yoga nidra, breathwork, various kinds of mindfulness practices, plant medicine, MDMA therapy, brainspotting/EMDR, somatic therapy, network chiropractic, acupuncture. Daily things like walks, yoga, baths, journaling.
From this foundation of rest, benchmarking, and growing your capacity to feel what’s true for you - you’ll likely find yourself naturally in your own human design process.
Without needing to worry about if you're DOING it right.
Things like strategy, authority, and your aura, are like a map of how you work. The three non-negotiables I mention here are like making sure you’re in shape and well-supplied for your trek up the mountain so that you can explore the map.
To your process,
Victoria
PS - If you'd like some 1:1 guidance, you're welcome to reach out for a session or mentorship.
