For most of my life, I believed that I had a brilliant mind trapped inside of a stupid body.
Human Design helped me realize that my body is actually wildly intelligent- she just isn’t willing to submit to my mind’s faulty agenda, because she knows that hers is so much better.
I believed that I was “bad at art” because I struggled to directly manifest my mind’s vision into the physical realm.
Something shifted when I realized that my mind does not need to direct my creative process. I began to trust that the way my body moves is precisely the way she needs to, in order to translate my higher knowing and awareness. I cultivated skillfulness by learning to follow pleasure. My mind can try to provide suggestions, but ultimately my intuition is the driver.
“The mind makes an excellent servant, but a terrible master”
Most of us have it backwards. We are constantly trying to force our bodies to conform to what our mind wants them to be and do.
Perhaps your mind wants your body to be thinner. Maybe it wants your body to work harder and move faster. Your mind may try to bully your body into persevering through things it has not consented to: showing up to social engagements you’re a no to, engaging intimately before your body is ready to open, staying in unsupportive relationships, working jobs that aren’t a match…
Meanwhile, we are also conditioned to shame and repress our body’s desires. Perhaps you shut down your attraction and turn on when it emerges in response to someone who doesn’t fit your mind’s preferences. Or, you neglect to take the vacation you so badly need, because your mind is stuck in scarcity.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Human Design reveals how you are uniquely designed to connect to your body’s wisdom, and make decisions accordingly.
Through disciplined practice and experimentation, you begin to trust that it is safe and effective to prioritize pleasure. You release attachments to what your life looks like externally and how others perceive you, as you redirect your attention inwards towards how your life feels.
So, the mind has been deeply conditioned to distrust the body. It thinks it knows best and it is fiercely determined to stay in the driver’s seat.
This is one reason why it can be so valuable to study Human Design. Once you start to see all the ways your mind is totally unequipped to perceive reality clearly, you cannot unsee this. By taking an honest look at the conditioning you have accumulated through your openness, you realize all the ways your thoughts are distorted by harmful societal norms, unhelpful coping mechanisms and outdated ancestral patterns of behavior. This is how you begin to convince your mind to get on board with the notion of surrender.
At first, your mind might protest and try to propose an alternative solution.
Your mind might say “I admit that I’ve led you astray in the past, but I know I can do this! Please don’t fire me, I’m the right fit for the job, I just need more practice! I can just replace my unhealthy belief system with healthier perspectives and then stay in charge!”
Maybe your mind thinks that if you deconstruct your internalized racism, sexism, ableism, etc... then your mind can be trusted to see clearly and make aligned decisions. Perhaps it believes that it can solve the problem by replacing all your self-deprecating thoughts with self-loving thoughts and affirmations, letting go of judgments and consciously focusing on acceptance.
Mindset work and mental reprogramming is valuable, but there are limits to how far it will take you. This is where Strategy & Authority (and embodiment practice) comes in.
Are you intrigued by these teachings, and also resistant? Perhaps you notice a sense of relaxation in your body as you read these words, meanwhile your mind is hard at work trying to intellectualize what I am saying. If this is the case, I would love to work together.