Emotional Authority

Around 47%-50% of the population will have the emotional solar plexus as their inner authority. There are three awareness centers in the human design system. Mental awareness (ajna), physical awareness (spleen), and spiritual awareness (emotional). If someone has this center defined, they have an emotional authority. This is the top of the hierarchy for authority because it is the center of spiritual awareness. Emotions are how we tap into the other side, into the universe, and into the unknown. Human emotional abilities are one of the things that set us apart from other species, not only our ability to feel, but our ability to observe how we feel.

Every type, with the exception of reflectors, can be emotional authorities. This is a motor center, and will therefore act as an emotionally charged battery.  It can sometimes feel like a buildup of emotional energy, or an overwhelming tiredness from processing your emotions. Now, you may not feel like you are an “emotional” person. Typically we label emotional people as being people who are easily emotionally affected by external circumstances. The people who tend to feel like they are more emotional may actually have an undefined emotional center and be picking up on and amplifying the emotions of others. When you have this defined, your external circumstances don’t really affect your emotional state. Your emotions are an inside job.

If you have an emotional authority, it will operate on a specific wave pattern. You will have emotional highs, emotional lows, and emotional clarity. Emotional clarity will come with time, which means you need to give yourself time to make decisions. There are a few different wave patterns for emotional authorities based on the channels that define the emotional center. Get to know your pattern so you can predict when the clarity will come.

Making Emotional Decisions
When you have an emotional authority, your emotions run the show. When you are presented with a decision to make, your emotions need to feel into all of the possibilities. As you can imagine, if this is a big decision, there can be lots of feelings. As you ride your emotional wave, you will feel foggy, unclear. The trick is to wait for emotional clarity.

My motto is When in doubt, wait it out. If I am unsure, I give myself more time. You may still find yourself thinking about the decision, but it can be hard to grasp on to complete thoughts because there is so much happening. Your emotions need to feel into the different options and see if you are emotionally available for every aspect of the different options. Emotional authorities are not designed to make big decisions quickly; even small decisions can sometimes take time. 

The moment of clarity feels exactly like it sounds: all the sudden, you just know. You may not have known you were even contemplating making that decision, but all the sudden you know what to do. Recently I woke up at 3am after several days of contemplating a large business investment, and knew exactly why it was not aligned and what my next step was. As a child, I remember having a few days where I felt off and then telling my mother I wanted to try out a different gymnastics team. I didn’t consciously know I was thinking about that decision, but as soon as it came to me, I had clarity. 

While you are riding your emotional wave, you may need to move some emotional energy. Remember, this is a motor center, which acts like a battery. If it feels like it is overflowing with feelings, confusion, and fogginess, move your body. One of the few times I truly enjoy cardio is when I need to process emotional energy (yes, I have cried while running on the treadmill at the gym, and yes I got weird looks!). Sometimes it is journaling, going for a walk, dancing, singing, or going for a drive. When you are deep in an emotional wave, you may need to do extra activities to help move that energy. This helps you to get out of your head, and let the emotions flow through you. 

Small Decisions 
This is something that confuses a lot of people. How are you supposed to wait for emotional clarity when you are making small decisions? Especially if your emotional wave lasts two or three days, it can be difficult to try and apply this to small decisions, like what you want for dinner. Please, I beg you…. don’t wait three days to figure out what you want for dinner!

As an emotional authority myself, I have figured out what I call “the mini wave” for small decisions. In my experience, the effect that the decision has on your life will generally determine how long the wave is. For smaller decisions, I will feel back and forth until I know. Deciding what I want for dinner may sound like “Let's get pizza, wait no. I think we have leftovers…. Mmmm no. Pizza. Yes. I want pizza.” There is a back and forth motion. You need to feel into the options, and you may feel your body moving back and forth. You may not be sure on what you want until you have compared it to something else. This small mini wave can take a few seconds to flow through, but there is still a wave-like pattern that occurs.

Big Decisions
For bigger decisions, there are more factors to take into consideration! There are more things for you to feel through. Give yourself time, give yourself space, and give yourself more time. If you are presented with a life changing opportunity, the initial reaction may very well be excitement and “yes, yes, yes” energy.

Do not make emotionally charged decisions. I repeat, do not make emotionally charged decisions! Instead, be honest and say something along the lines of, “Thank you so much for this opportunity. My initial reaction is very excited, but I’m going to sleep on it and make sure this is fully aligned. Can I check back in with you in a day or two?” Then you get to go be excited, and be overwhelmed, and be grateful, and be sad, and be reflective over your growth, and feel all the feelings! 

Don’t give yourself too long. The longest wave I have ridden was 5 days, because I was being stubborn and didn’t want to hear the aligned answer. If you notice your wave lasting more than two or three days, check in with yourself. Do you know the answer, and you are trying to wait to see if you get a different answer? Are you getting in your head and overthinking it? This can be a good time to talk it out with other people to get a different perspective on how you are feeling, especially if your emotional center does not connect to your throat center. This can make it hard to hear, so using someone else’s circuits to “hear” your emotions can be very powerful.

Do I always need to wait?
Your emotional wave is constantly flowing and moving. If you get in tune with it and start to track it consistently, you will be able to tell how it flows. You may be emotionally clear when a decision is presented to you. Maybe you realize that you want to start practicing breathwork. You have gone through your ups and downs around wanting to get started, and then one day one of your favorite people announces a 30 day breathwork program. In this case, your emotions are already clear. You aren’t foggy; you know. In this case, if you are truly clear, you don’t need to wait for anything else.

Interested in a beginners guide to interpreting the details of your human design chart? Check out DECODED! 

Interested in a nervous system regulation tool based in Human Design, Rapid Resolution Therapy, with a dash of magic? Check out MESSY!