Imagine what it would be like to live in a world where people were free to make aligned decisions for themselves. Through our Human Design authority, we can learn to do just that. I really believe that we can create a better collective experience when we are all more aligned with ourselves and our designs. But, what is the difference between mental decisions, fear-based decisions, and your authority? Sometimes, it can be tricky when we have all these different inputs to discern.
Your authority is not a mental decision, it’s not a pros and cons list, it’s not logic based, it’s simply a way to make aligned decisions. It is feeling into your body and how your authority speaks to you. So where does that leave the mind exactly? The mind is great. It helps us to understand things, to conceptualize things, to process data, to store information, to hold onto beliefs. The mind does so much for us, but one of the things that Human Design talks about in terms of how we’ve evolved over time, and how we’re continuing to evolve, is that the mind used to be more of a decision-making asset to us than it is now.
In the 1700s, Human Design says we went from seven centered beings to nine centered beings (and we’re actually still in this transition until 2027), and the mind really reached its highest status at this time. Since then, we’ve begun to evolve past that, but we’re still very much conditioned to use our mind instead of our authority, because in the grand scheme of things, our authority is a pretty new concept.
The mind is like a highly skilled horse and buggy driver who was very well-respected back in the 1700s. If you had somewhere you needed to be, you could trust this person, they could drive a horse and buggy like no other, they knew the roads and no one could drive a horse and buggy better than them. However, we are no longer in the 1700s. Now, if this same horse and buggy driver found themselves in the middle of a busy highway, they’d probably panic. Our vehicle has changed. We’re no longer in horse and buggies. We are in fancy cars, self-driving cars, even, right? The roads have changed. Our world has changed. But this old well-respected 1700s mind of ours is still convinced that it is the best and it will be making the decisions for you.
At this point you might be wondering how to get out of the horse and buggy. Here are 3 ways you can start experimenting with your authority right now:
1. Try some stimulation free time
If we’re always getting input from other people’s energy, if we’re spending time with them, if we’re constantly on our devices, keeping ourselves really busy and distracted, it can be hard to get that connection going with ourselves. Information overload can keep us from hearing our inner authority and in a state of overthinking, confusion, and questioning ourselves. Schedule some time in your day to sit with yourself. Meditate, journal, get out into nature, or just play!
2. Listen to your body’s intelligence
When you’re first experimenting with your authority, and your mind tries to get involved in your decisions, treat that part of you with the respect that it deserves, because it believes itself to be the best for the job. It is trying to contribute. It is trying to make sure that you make good decisions. It’s up to you to say, I respect your input, but let’s try something new.
Your authority has an expanded view. Let’s say you get this opportunity and you’re excited because this is exactly what you wanted. BUT – your authority is saying no. And you’re like, what the heck? This is exactly what I wanted. What are you talking about? I’ve been trying to manifest this and it’s here. It’s on my vision board. Why are you telling me no? This is where I really believe that our authority has a bigger perspective on our life than we do, because you might be losing your mind thinking why on earth is my authority telling me no when this is exactly what I wanted? But your authority knows that if you say yes to this opportunity today, and it knows something even better is lined up for you, and you say yes to this thing now, you are not going to be able to make that quantum leap. You won’t have the time, you won’t have the energy, you won’t be able to take on this opportunity that is so much more exciting for you.
If you feel like things aren’t coming to you, if things feel out of alignment and there’s not a lot of movement, clear space. If you are too full energetically, if you don’t have space for opportunities, for invitations, for things to respond to for urges, for surprises, for any of these things to come in, they’re not going to come in. There’s no room. Whether your authority leads you to something bigger and better, or creates an opportunity for growth through a tough lesson, learning to trust where it is guiding you will help you make the most aligned decisions for yourself without having to involve the mind.
3. Build trust with yourself
Notice your authority and build a relationship with it to the point that you understand what your authority is guiding you towards. Then you can decide whether or not you are going to listen to that. When you’re in the process of building trust, you might not go with your authority every time, because maybe you’re just not comfortable with it. Maybe you don’t understand it. That’s okay. I recommend experimenting and seeing how it works in your life, how it feels and what relief it brings or not. Experimenting is, in my opinion, the most important thing that you can do. Learning Human Design is one part, but you need to embody it and you need to try it out for yourself to actually get the impact. You need to see how it works in your own life. You probably need to screw it up a few times before you’re going to get it right. Give yourself the space to experiment, to just see what happens without having pressure, expectations, or a timeline of when you have to have this figured out, there is no rush.
Start off with setting an intention, “I’m going to experiment with this”. You are not committing to doing this for the rest of your life at this point, you are just deciding to do an experiment, to try it out, to see what it’s like. From there, you can make a decision with your authority or not and see if this is something that’s helpful for you, if it’s a tool that feels good for you and is contributing to your life. I encourage you to look back over past decisions and see how you’ve made them and see how they’ve turned out. Journal or keep a note in your phone about the different decisions that you can remember, and if you used your authority or if you didn’t. Another thing I recommend is to keep a decision log. Notice if you can feel your authority versus your mind when it comes to decisions. Do you have that connection to your authority? Do you understand what your authority is saying? Are you getting any input from it? Write that down. The next part is, are you going to listen to it or not? The more that you can see what your authority is saying, and if you decide to listen to it or not, the more you can really build trust over time. You might choose to make the mental decision anyways, because that’s what you’ve been doing your whole life. Or you might fully dive in and start going along with your authority right away. Keep track of how these decisions turn out. Did they feel like they brought you more alignment, more peace, more ease? Or, do you feel like they brought on difficulty and frustration? This is that beginning piece of building a connection with your authority.
It takes some courage to listen to your body in a world that so strongly prizes logic and rationale. We want reasons. We want pros and cons lists. We want things to make sense. These logical mental decisions aren’t as useful as we think they are. When you make a mental decision, afterwards, you’re left with more mental calculations and gymnastics. Your authority does not give you reasons, it’s a knowing and requires a deep trust of yourself and your body’s intelligence. Authority can really help to free us from the overload of mental decisions because you’ve spent time building trust with it, the decision just simply is what the decision is. And then it’s quiet. It’s not the mind going over all the different possibilities and options and what would have happened if you said or done xyz and what would have happened if you didn’t.
Mental or fear based decisions often sound and feel like rationalizing things or having a million excuses and reasons things could go wrong. There is no trust. Your authority and those decisions feel much different in your body. They feel a lot more clear. They feel a lot more peaceful, even if there is some excitement or healthy fear because our authorities are designed to push us to do things that expand us. Whenever you are ready to start experimenting and expanding, you can check out the many free resources I have available on getting started!
