I used to be an indecisive queen, continually feeling lost and unsure about how to make aligned decisions. For creative souls trying to live a deeply purposeful, creative life, this can be especially difficult. Most people are raised to make decisions from their mind, rooted in logic, fear and ‘shoulds’ rather than attuning to the wisdom of their body and soul. Human design is a fantastic tool for finding clarity and alignment with more ease. In this post, we’ll explore how using your human design authority is the way to start making big life decisions with ease and alignment.
The Beast of Decision Fatigue
If you think about it, we’re faced with countless decisions every single day. In fact, we face up to 35,000 decisions every single day — from little choices like what to eat or wear to bigger ones like who we want to spend our time with.
Society puts a lot of pressure on us to make the ‘right’ decision, perpetuating the myth that there is only ever one ‘right’ decision for any given option. This manifests in societal conditioning, such as hustle culture and overthinking, that can lead to intense self-doubt.
If you’re someone who struggles to find clarity quickly, there’s nothing wrong with you! It likely means you aren’t following the way you’re individually designed to make decisions.
All About Human Design Authority- The Ultimate Decision Making Tool
Human design is a self-awareness tool that can illuminate so much about yourself. But one of my absolute favourite tools within Human Design is AUTHORITY. Your authority is like your unique inner compass for making aligned decisions. When you follow your human design authority, you can trust that your decision will lead to the best overall outcome*.
You can look up your human design chart for free here to find out what your AUTHORITY is
*An important note about the ‘best overall outcome’ is that it may not be the outcome you initially expected – it’s the outcome that will be best for you overall in the long run
A Quick Overview of Each Authority:
- Emotional: await emotional neutrality before committing to a decision
- Sacral: trust gut responses in the moment.
- Splenic: follow your quiet, intuitive whispers—these can be subtle or loud; either way, you’re meant to follow them.
- Heart/ Ego: practice doing what you want to do – this isn’t selfish, this will create the best outcome for everyone involved
- Self (Projected): speak unfiltered to a trusted, impartial sounding board; you’ll know your truth when you say it aloud
- Mental (Environmental): make decisions from environments in which you feel at ease.
- Lunar (Reflectors): wait a whole month to make big decisions, regularly tapping into how you feel about those decisions throughout the month until you come to a cumulative sense of what is right for you
Read all about human design authority in this post.
How I Use My Authority In My Own Life
I used to have a really frustrating time with making decisions that actually felt good. I tended to find myself either overcommitting myself or saying no when I wish I had said yes. This was a really frustrating and disheartening experience, until I found out I have emotional authority… then it all made sense.
If you have emotional authority it means you’re never meant to make significant decisions on the spot; instead, you’re meant to allow yourself to reach a place of emotional neutrality before deciding. This means not committing to things from an emotional high or low.
A great way to handle this is, when someone offers you something to respond to (if you’re not feeling emotionally neutral in the moment), that you simply say “what a great idea! sounds great – can I sleep on it and let you know tomorrow?”
When I started doing this, I was able to actually recognize what offerings and invitations* were in alignment with me, but also to not say no to things that I wish I had said yes to!
*As a Projector with emotional authority, this is an aligned approach
How to Experiment With Your Authority
- Learn about your specific authority
- Make an effort to observe how clarity uniquely shows up for you
- Practice using your authority for low-stakes, small decisions at first (like what you’d like to eat this week, or what you want to create)
- Reflect or journal on what feels like a yes versus a no in your body (and how those feel differently)
- Remember that (according to human design) no one is meant to make decisions from the mind
No One is Meant to Make Decisions From The Mind
Conversely to how most of us were raised (to follow ‘logic’ in decision-making), no one is actually meant to make decisions from the mind. When it comes to making decisions, following and trusting your authority will lead to the best overall outcome. It may not be the outcome you expect, but it will be the outcome that is meant for you.
Remember, you can start small by playing with your authority on low-stakes decisions first, to cultivate evidence in your mind that this is something you can use and trust.
Book a reading to explore your unique design in greater detail. Prefer to dip a toe in the water first? Start with this free guide!
Other Posts You’ll Love
ALL About Authority (In Human Design)
How To Use Human Design to THRIVE In Your Life & Career
How To Practically Use Your Human Design (Step-by-Step Guide!)
Uncovering Your Soul’s Purpose Using Your Human Design
