FOCUSING OUR EFFORTS USING OUR ‘STRATEGY’
While the teachings of the Human Design ‘Strategy’ offer us guidance to create greater flow in our lives, this is not an effortless process. To integrate and come into alignment with our Strategy takes hard work and commitment to ourselves. Here Fiona shares on where the work lies for each of the four Human Design Strategies.
Audio Episode!
by Fiona Bicknell, July 2024.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00
OK, episode number three of our Human Design recordings, musings.
I'm going to talk a little bit today about the Strategy. Following on from an article that I put up last week about how Human Design can help us find more flow in our days - and in particular it is the Strategy that is the aspect of Human Design that provides us with the guidance to create more flow - but there is a part that I I want to kind of focus on here and talk about that is around effort and work because I think we hear the word flow and we often think things become effortless.
I actually just, this idea came to me because I got an email yesterday, a newsletter, that was advertising a program that said something along the lines of like "join hundreds of others in effortlessly manifesting all that you seek or all that you want in life". Something along those lines.
And, it’s true that in some areas of life, or in some ways, we can experience effortlessness in the way that we make things happen. UM. Oh, actually, I don't believe that, but I would say it's true that we can be in a space of flow in the way that we make things happen and there can be ease to the way that we make things happen and create things for ourselves. It is not without effort. It just might be that the way, like where our efforts are focused and placed, where we put our energy and attention might just be different than, kind of, the societal norms that we've been taught.
And so in the creation of of the things that we want in our lives, let's say manifesting what it is that we want in our lives, it might feel like things come with more ease and there's more flow, but there's still work involved. But that work is just directed into different areas.
00:02:12
So I'm going to go through each of the Strategies to articulate this point a little more clearly and give a little further insight into where the work is for each Strategy and how that might differ from what it is that we've been taught.
And I think, just generally speaking, the belief system that many of us have living in Western society is that; in order to make something happen, we have to kind of go out and make it happen. We have to take action. We have to strive and we have to earn it. There is a lot of, or I come across in my practice and have experience for myself, a lot of conditioning around, “I don't deserve something until I've shown that I'm worthy of it”, or until “I've shown that I've worked hard for it”. And you know, there’s lots of messages of “life is tough" and “you get what you're given”, and maybe that's not it - “you get what you work for”, like “hard work pays off” - all of those sorts of things. And I'm not necessarily saying that they're not true, but I think, yeah, that the the overarching kind of theme or the overarching belief system that many of us live by is that it's not a fun process, it's not a fulfilling process and and yes, reward comes at the end, but it was really hard to get there.
UM. And yeah, I I do believe in hard work. I am someone that believes in hard work very much so, but I think there's a difference between being devoted and committing to something and putting in the work for ourselves and for the people that we are in connection with because we are passionate and because we care versus moving through life in a way that we feel that we have to struggle because that is just the way that life is and it is hard.
I think there's a very different feeling that goes with each of those approaches and it is the first one that, I believe is attainable for all of us, but yeah, it doesn't come without some hard work.
00:04:33 / MANIFESTORS
So OK, I'm going to go through each of the Strategies and just give a a top line of what the Strategy is for those of you who aren't familiar with the Human Design Strategy and then give a little bit of insight into where the work lies in each Strategy to make things happen.
So I'll start with, I always that - I have gate 62 as my Sun for anyone that knows this and it all about patterns and details, this is how my brain works. So whenever I talk about Human Design, Energy Types or Strategies, I go in a specific order. Please know there is no hierarchy to any of the Energy Types to any of the Strategies. Every like everyone is designed perfectly as they are and all gifts are amazing and perfect and lovely. I just happen to go in this order because it's the way that things live in my brain so please know that just because I always run through things in a particular way, it doesn't mean anything about their importance.
So starting with the Manifestor is the Strategy "to inform”. So Manifestors are actually the only energy type that do have a Strategy that almost like, kind of aligns a bit with the societal messaging that we get. Like you want to make something happen, you go out and you take action and you make it happen.
And this strategy of “to inform” comes from this pressure that Manifestors have on the voice. They are here to be the people to initiate. They are here to be the people that get things started, that kick things into gear. It's like they light the match. And that is their ideal role within the collective, therefore, they are not designed to have to wait for anything outside of them to initiate them, because they are the initiators.
And therefore, their Strategy is to use their voice to inform - it's to let people know this is the direction I'm moving. This is what I'm creating. This is what I am calling in essentially, and the more confidently they can speak on these things the the more they create the right momentum and the right energy to attract the support, they need to bring those things to life.
And as a Manifestor myself, this is easier said than done.
A lot of people, like when I was studying with Human Design America, I remember a lot of people in class being like, oh, the Manifestors have got it easy. They just like, say what they want and it happens. And that's not quite the case. When we get to a place that we're in alignment and we've let go of limiting beliefs and we have confidence in what it is that we're calling in and we've learned to tune in to our higher self to listen to what it is that is most in alignment for us to initiate - then things do start to flow, but it's not as simple as just I say out loud what I want and it happens.
And so so for Moanifestors, this is where the work is - in determining what it is I am informing on. How do I get to a place where I am informing on what is actually in my highest good and I'm informing in a way that comes across with confidence and holds the right energy to create the momentum for it?
So the work is really here. Is really and so like ridding ourselves of subconscious, limiting beliefs, ridding ourselves of conditioning, and that is hard work. That is not a simple thing to do. So I'll use myself as an example, that when I have a specific goal for myself my my mind wants to always be strategic. My mind wants to figure out all of the ways in which, like all of the actions I can take to get to that place. And what I've learned to do through learning my Human Design is to slow things down and stop and do an assessment of. “OK, I want this thing. This is where I want to head. Let me first tune in and do what I need to do to make sure that desire is actually coming from a place of truth for myself, that it's not coming from my ego, that it's not coming from my conditioning, that it's not coming from what I believe I should want, but it's truly coming from a place of like this is what wants to come through me.”
For Manifestors they have what we refer to as creative urges. And that creative urge is like, it's almost like you don't really have control over what it is that you're going to create. It's whatever wants to come through you is what you are designed to initiate on. So the first piece of work is in making sure that we are not setting our goals from a place of ego.
So that's my first step. When there's something I want to create, it's like, OK, how can I first of all, be sure that this is coming from this place of what wants to come through me versus what my ego wants to see happen for myself.
Then the second step is - once I've aligned, once I feel very confident that what I'm creating is coming from a true place - the second step is to make sure that I have self belief that I actually believe that I'm capable of creating it. And that I believe that it's going to do good for other people that I believe that it is a worthwhile thing to put my energy towards. That I believe that it can be successful because if I speak on things or if I inform and use my Strategy in a way that doesn't carry confidence, the energy is off. It doesn't. It isn't. It isn't received with the authority that a Manifestor is designed to have, which oftentimes just doesn't then create the momentum that you're looking for to really get things off the ground.
So for the Manifestors with the Strategy of “to inform”, your work is in really, truly learning to listen to what wants to come through you versus what your conditioned mind seeks to create from a place of ego and then looking at what limiting beliefs might stand in the way of me having confidence in being able to speak on this thing and inform on this thing in a way that's really going to create the right momentum and the right energy to get it going.
00:11:16 / PROJECTORS
OK, next is Projectors. Projectors have a Strategy of “to be invited”.
And I guess a bit of a myth around this Projector Strategy is that people often hear it and understand it as. “OK, so I just need to sit and wait for an invitation”. And if you look at the language used in the original text from Ra, who was the founder of Human Design, that is what he says - wait to be invited. But the thing to know here is there is nothing passive about it. That waiting period is essential for the right foundation to be created for the invitation to arrive. And so in that waiting period, where the Projectors work is, is in making sure that they are setting themselves up to create that right foundation.
And I often talk about this as a bit of a, I use the language ‘drip feeding’. So a Projector often will carry a shadow around being seen. There can be a deep fear of being seen for Projectors. I know that we all have this as humans. This is, this can be true for everyone. For Projectors, it is often heightened.
Projectors carry a greater need for recognition and understanding than the average person. And there can be a lot of fear around not receiving that recognition. There can be a lot of fear around being misunderstood in a greater way than the average person, and therefore, there are deep, deep fears around being seen because that is potentially - “if I am seen and then I don't receive that recognition or if I put myself out there and then people don't understand me”, it's like that is, that is the deepest fear of a Projector that is crushing because it stops you from being able to do what it is you want to do in the world because they have this deep kind of inherent knowing that the way that they operate, the way that they move through the world is through invitation. So people have to understand them to be able to share their gifts. People have to want to receive their gifts in order for them to be able to offer it.
So for the Projectors the work is in setting yourself up to be seen.
But because they are not designed to be too forceful - they're very receptive in their energy - I always suggest that that being seen comes through, it's it's a drip feed. It's a little bit at a time, a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. So it's looking for all of the mini invitations.
So let's say there is a client that you want to win. And maybe it is rather than like just reaching out and being direct - “hey here's my pitch” - it's more like every time you maybe cross paths with this person or this company or this business or whatever the client may be, you share just a little bit more and a little bit more about who you are and what you have to offer. And you do it in a way that is very receptive. You wait for something to respond to you, wait for the opening to drop something in. You really tune in. This is the gift of the Projector. Having this ability to tune in to the energy around them and understand like the subtlety of who is ready to receive what and when.
So the work is in setting yourself up to be seen and taking every little mini invitation and every opportunity to show a little bit more of yourself and a little bit more of yourself and a little bit more of yourself and it's going to feel uncomfortable. And this is why it is hard work because it goes against what you probably want to like naturally want to do. But how can you be invited if someone can't see what it is that you have to offer?
00:15:25 / GENERATORS AND MANIFESTING GENERATORS
OK. Moving on to our Generators and Manifesting Generators, both of which have the shared strategy of “to respond”.
This really connects to having an open aura. The aura is very warm and welcoming and inviting, and you magnetize things towards you and you're constantly coming into contact with this energy outside of you and your Strategy, or your greatest way of creating success for yourself, bringing your goals to life is by operating in like conversation with this energy around you. It's a constant dialogue with everything that you're coming into connection with, everything that you're coming into contact with.
And so again, there can be a little bit of a misinterpretation of this Strategy in the same way as the Projectors sometimes say like “oh, I just have to sit and wait for things to show up”. I hear the same thing for Generators and Manifesting Generators that this Strategy “to respond” - “Does that mean I just have to wait for something to respond to?”
And the shadow tendency here is to get into the head and to try and like ‘figure it all out’. The amount of times I hear Generators say to me, oh, I just need to, I just need to sit down and figure it all out. Oh, I just need to put some time aside to sit down and figure it out.
And there's this tendency to want to jump into the head at all times and like, OK, I've gotta figure out what I need to do and the work is in coming to understand that there is nothing to figure out. That your path to quote-un-quote “figuring things out” is by looking at what what energy is already presenting to you to respond to.
So let's say let's take that same example again. Let's say you're looking for a new client but you feel like there's nothing showing up. There's nothing for you to respond to, and the mind might have a tendency to go. Oh, God, there's no opportunity. I have to figure something out, or I have to like figure out how I'm going to bring this opportunity in. But nine times, well, actually, I'm not even going to say nine times out of ten, I'm going to say ten out of ten - 100% of the time there is there will be something there for you to respond to. It's just not what the mind is looking for.
If the mind thinks, oh, I need a new client. Therefore the what I'm responding to should be someone coming to me saying I want your services. Well, no, there might be 10 steps before that, and the first step might be as simple as someone invites you to a new workout class. OK, cool. There's something for me to respond to. If my body says yes, if my Authority tells me yes, I go to that class, maybe you meet someone there who asks you what you do. OK, cool. And then that gives me something else to respond to. And then maybe they say ohh I have someone that's looking for XYZ and that's something else for you to respond to. Like it may just be that it's going to come about in a way that the mind can't see. And This is why I always try and suggest to Generators and Manifesting Generators to really practice, can they bring awareness to when they want to try and figure it all out in the mind? And can you put work into learning how to get into the body out of the head and into the body more and just connect with everything that's showing up in your life that is giving you an opportunity to respond, regardless of whether the mind sees it as being something connected to the end goal or not?
That's not the point, and there's this really beautiful quote from one of my favorite poets. His name is David Whyte. And for anyone that's done a reading with me who is a Generator or Manifesting Generator, you have probably heard me share this quote.
He says - and I'm going to get it wrong because I'm trying to remember it off the top of my head right now - but he says
"a life’s work is not a series of stepping stones, onto which we calmly place our feet but more like an ocean crossing heading in a direction, where there is no path. Only being in conversation with the elements.”
Ohh I've definitely messed it up, sorry
“And looking back, we see nothing but the glimmering trace, the wake that we leave the glimmering trace of the wake that we leave behind us.”
Sorry, I totally butchered that, but I hope you you kind of get the concept, that yeah, the path is not, like there is no pre-prescribed path, that just isn't the way the energy of a Generator or a Manifesting Generator works. It’s that you are in this constant conversation with the elements. You are constantly just engaging with all of the energy around you.
And and there is always, always always something for you to respond to. That is, that is how your energy operates. There's always something there for you to respond to. The the work is in practicing to take yourself out of the head. To be able to get into the body and feel into what what is presenting for me? What's my next move? The next move is a feeling. It comes from a feeling or it comes from your Authority, which will be a feeling.
00:20:55 / REFLECTORS
OK. And then finally, our Reflectors. So Reflectors have a strategy of to operate in line with the Lunar cycle. And actually I would argue that maybe Reflectors are the ones that have, there is the most work required to get in alignment here because it, it’s a lot of de-conditioning. It's it really goes against how we are taught to operate from a societal, patriarchal lens or standpoint.
UM. Yeah.
Reflectors have no defined centers in their chart. Every energy centre is undefined or what we refer to as open. This means they are incredibly receptive to the energy around them, but it also means there is there is no fixed and reliable source within the body that they can come back to and rely on. Like you know, Generators, they have their Sacral to rely on, people with Emotional Authority have the the Solar Plexus to rely on and Manifestors have their throat, and they have this drive on the voice to rely on, and then all of us that have an Inner Authority - which is everyone except for Reflectors - we'll have a really a a strong defined energy center that is our most reliable energy source that drives us and gives us guidance and and helps us determine direction. Reflectors do not have that because their energy is not fixed.
And so their most reliable source comes from outside of them. And this sets them up to have a Strategy of really operating with outside energy and in large part that outside energy is planetary transits, it's the energy of the cosmos, in particular the energy of the Moon and the cycles of the Moon.
And yeah, we can recognize that, you know, we are all affected by the moon. Yes, 100%. But this is heightened for Reflectors.
And the way that reflectors can pay attention or they can get a little bit of additional guidance is that they want to pay attention throughout a cycle of the Moon as to what signs are reappearing and reappearing, and it will feel like just like a gentle little push towards something. It will be something unexpectedly popping up in a conversation or bumping into someone on the street or like little coincidences that are a little bit too uncanny to not pay attention to.
Uh, so I would say that the work for Reflector is, the biggest piece of work is placing trust in your, this like deeply energetic ability of picking up on energy outside of you. Trust what it is that you're feeling into, trust what it is that you're picking up from others. Trust what it is that you're picking up from your environments. If there's something that you feel that you know to be true but you can't explain why you think it is like it's learning to actually trust that you are correct that, that you can place more trust in what you feel sometimes than even what the mind has to offer you, and there's a lot of undoing in that. There is a lot of de-conditioning in that.
And and another big piece for Reflectors is to learn to ask for the space that they need.
And there's yeah, that's not an easy thing to do when we live in this society that is so fast-paced and where people place value upon your ability to be quick in your decisions, we've somehow decided that if you have an answer on the spot, it means that you are more valuable or you're better at what you do somehow, which there's just no truth to it.
For Reflectors, it is we get the best out of them when we give them the space they need. And something that they kind of need to learn to do for themselves, that can be hard work, is learning to advocate for themselves in this way, learning to ask for the space they need, learning to ask for other people's trust in their process. When it looks very different to the way we've been taught, we we should make our decisions and process things and move through the world.
And so I would say that is where the work is for Reflectors, is letting themselves slow down, letting themselves trust these signs and synchronicities, and letting themselves trust in the energy they pick up from outside of them that maybe won't have rational explanation.
00:25:56
And those are the four different Strategies. And yeah, if you want to go deeper into your Strategy or if you you're looking for some guidance to help you actually put this in place, the FOUNDATIONS reports on my website have ah yeah, I go into each Strategy. I think it’s probably around four or five pages each, and then there's journaling prompts and integration questions to help you look at how you can really integrate these teachings into your life as well.
And then please know I'm always available to answer questions if if there's things that I've shared here that don't feel clear, or if it's sparked something for you that you want to go deeper, then by all means feel free to reach out or you can book reading on the website so that we can dive into your chart in more detail.
Well, but yeah, I think that's it for today. I hope this feels useful in some capacity. I hope that it leads you to creating, bringing more of your visions to life, I will leave it there. OK, I'm sending love.
Dive Deeper.
To learn more about your unique chart, our FOUNDATIONS reports - written by Fiona Bicknell - offer more than 100 pages of insight into the foundational elements of your design. One-to-one private chart readings are also available to be booked at the link below.
