A&A Ep. 89
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Karrie: [00:00:00] Welcome to Awakened and Alive After 40.
Dominique: If you're searching for inspiring and easy to apply Enneagram and Human Design content, then you've come to the right place. We're your hosts, Dominique.
Karrie: and Karrie, two friends and coaches who are passionate about sharing our knowledge and insights on these two powerful self awareness systems to help you step outside the box and into a life that is true to who you really are.
Dominique: We're so grateful to have you here. Let's jump into today's episode.
Karrie: Hello, welcome back to the Awakened and Alive After 40 podcast. Dominique and I are super excited today to talk about our topic, which is feeling pressure in our lives. It can be pressure to do more. It can be pressure to work more, earn more, to give [00:01:00] more to our loved ones or our communities. And this is a really interesting and important topic in our view, because it's something that we all can relate to, and we all might have our different flavor of why or how we're feeling pressure in our lives. This really can relate back to what our Human Design chart says about our pressure centers, and the main one we'll be talking about today is the Root Center, which is the bottom square in your Human Design body graph.
Dominique: Yeah, I'm really excited for this because you have a defined Root Center and mine is undefined, so it's open, white. There's a lot of differences between having open or defined center. So I'm excited to chat with you a little bit more about this as well as share with our listeners, because it's just such a different experience, I feel like. For myself, when I [00:02:00] think about pressure and how I've experienced pressure growing up, a lot of it was pressure around doing things. As a projector, that's another area that was problematic for me because I was constantly pushing, but didn't have that consistent energy. So I hit burnout quite a bit as I was trying to check everything off on the to do list or catch up with everyone that was around me and keep up with their own energy levels. But I also have come to find that Human Design has really offered me this beautiful, permission slip, and so many ways to be okay with why I feel the way I feel when it comes to even focus on getting things done, and my ability to start things, but not necessarily complete or finish things. This also ties in to what I believe can look like ADD, and I've been [00:03:00] diagnosed with it. This was an area that just gave me really permission to be okay with feeling pressure to do things but not finish or to be okay with not having constant connection to that energy. So I'm curious, Karrie, when you feel into your Root Center with it being defined, I want to just hear more about it. And one thing that I'm curious about too, is how do you do with crisis situations, because it is said that people with defined Root Centers can really keep the calm and collected energy when there is chaos or some sort of crisis. I just want to hear what your experience is like with that defined Root Center.
Karrie: That's interesting. I didn't know that about times of crisis and people with defined Roots because when I think about hypothetically a crisis happening, I don't see myself as being necessarily that way. But in my life I haven't had a lot, thank goodness, of major crisis in my life. But when I have had times of stress [00:04:00] or changes where I had to pivot really quickly and unexpectedly, I was really able to ground into focusing on exactly what needed to be done in the most logical prioritized way. So an example i'm thinking of is when I was living in Spain, and we found out very quickly that our visas were not being renewed and we weren't going to be able to continue working there and we had less than a month to plan our international move back to the United States. This was during COVID. And this was during the time when there was a huge car shortage, and so you couldn't rent cars and renting a car was essential to both our trip in Spain to get to the airport and our trip in the States to get from the airport back to where we were staying. And we just we couldn't find cars. It was impossible. We had to do a lot of problem solving and a lot of focused work. My partner, I think he has a defined Root, but he is less likely to want to reach out for help, and I [00:05:00] was willing to really reach out to all of the people in our community to try to help us in this situation, and that's how my problem solving started to manifest itself, because my profile is 1/4, so I have this 4 line where I really do connect with my community in a really solid way. And I was like, we need help right now, the two of us cannot do all this on our own and problem solve. And he was like, wow, your ability to like ask for help is really great, which relates to his Enneagram type as well, that he is not great at asking for help. But anyway, that's a long answer to one example of maybe how that defined Root Center came into play in my life.
Dominique: I have to throw in as well, because you have the 19-49 connection that connects your Root to the Emotional Solar Plexus. That connection is all about relationships, intimacy, coming together. So that pressure that you may have felt at that time [00:06:00] gave you this feeling of needing support from others, which ties into the 49 on the Emotional Solar Plexus and that stemmed action, and so that's another beautiful connection. When we look at the Root Center, this center is what grounds us, it connects us to the 3d physical world. Like you mentioned pressure center to do things, to get things done. When we look at the Root Center and it's time to take action, it either goes through the Spleen, which is to the left. It goes to the Sacral Center, which is just above the Root Center, or it goes to the Emotional Solar Plexus, which is to the right. And these are the centers for action. Spleen is going to be action more in the now. It's instinctual. If you got to get away from danger, you're going to just do it. You're not going to sit there and think about what the best way is to go about things. You're just going to respond, react. The Sacral Center, that's going to be for work energy, nurturing, and then the Emotional Solar Plexus [00:07:00] is that creative energy, that feeling energy, that connection with others. The Root Center keeps us grounded, but it also pulses on and off, whether it's defined or undefined, because undefined, you can connect with others around you. That gives you temporary definition, but like for you, Karrie, you have it constantly on. That energy always is there for you, but it's still pulses on and off. Sometimes you may not feel that quick reaction or knowing that something is right for you. You're going to have to sit with it, especially with defined Emotional Solar Plexus, ride the wave, trust in timing. That is the biggest thing about the Root Center is trusting in timing and waiting for one of these other centers that I mentioned, Spleen, Sacral, Emotional Solar Plexus to give you more guidance for the action that needs to be taking place next.
Karrie: And I think it's important to recognize that [00:08:00] we can feel pressure, no matter if we're defined or undefined in the Root Center, from so many different ways. And when we start recognizing that that pressure is occurring in our life, it allows us to respond to it differently if we choose to do so. So like, for example, with social media, I think we're all feeling more pressure to live life a certain way or to curate our life in a certain way that meets these standards that we've come to see regularly on social media as being the better way to live. Our conditioning, definitely leads to different levels of pressure we may experience, and then that can create self imposed expectations within ourselves. And so recognizing when am I feeling outside pressure versus internal pressure can really be helpful as well.
Dominique: Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you bring up the conditioning side of it. I believe that defined, undefined, all of it is prone to conditioning. However, open centers, the undefined centers are maybe a [00:09:00] little bit more prone to conditioning and holding onto that because in those areas you're absorbing and amplifying other people's energy. For myself, having an open Root Center, that is something that I have had to work through over the years to decondition for not always having to be on or prove myself or push through things. It's also one of those areas where it's an adrenaline and stress center so it's an area with my nervous system work I've had to really work on grounding myself and connecting to the earth because this center, again, is that grounding center. It's what starts the whole process of, if you want to call it manifestation or creating your reality because of that stemming into the action that's needing to be taking place, but you can easily burn out if you're living from a place of feeling pressure to get [00:10:00] things done to prove yourself, or to feel free of something that is holding you back. That's been my thing with my to do list. I've always felt this pressure to get things done so I can be free, so I can finally relax and go enjoy myself. I wouldn't allow myself to do anything fun until I finished my list. When is anyone's list ever done? There's always more and more and more. So, needless to say, I prioritized a lot of pressure to do, and that led to burnout over the years as well.
Karrie: Yeah. I think a lot of us can relate to that pressure to finish and do things before we can earn fun and rest. Speaking of conditioning, looking to our Enneagram type is another great way to recognize some of our conditioning and how that plays out in our personalities. I just wanted to speak briefly about just a couple of the Enneagram types. I think every Enneagram type is susceptible to feeling pressure and a lot of that is related to their [00:11:00] core desire and their core fear, so what they're trying to avoid feeling or what they're trying to move toward feeling more of is going to directly relate to how they experience pressure. So for example, I'm Enneagram Type 1. Type 1s tend to want to be seen as good and doing the right thing and so they have really high expectations of themselves and perfectionistic tendencies, and they expect this of others as well and so they're always putting this pressure on themselves and others to do things right, to do things the best way and the most perfect way possible. As we know, that is really not possible. And so these expectations are rarely met, so 1s live in this perpetual state of frustration. Another example, Type 2s, they really feel pressure of wanting to serve others because they subconsciously see this as a way to earn love and attention and affection from others. So they put this pressure on themselves to constantly put others before themselves, and so they can [00:12:00] really have a blind spot about not giving to themselves and not sort of putting their own oxygen mask on first before helping others. One last type that may really be susceptible to pressure is Type 3, because they really want to be seen as successful. And so the expectations and perceptions of other people can give this pressure to them to want to accomplish and succeed because they want that admiration for their own success. These are just a couple of examples, but like I said, every single type is susceptible to this and it does go back to each type's core fear and core desire.
Dominique: That's fascinating, because as you were just sharing that, Karrie, I'm thinking of the connection from the body graph standpoint, the Root Center to the Spleen. Those are fear gates quite often, perfectionism. The Root Center to the Sacral Center, trying to do things, nurture others before yourself, or prove yourself. And then, like I mentioned before, [00:13:00] the Emotional Solar Plexus, again, creativity, connection to community and people. So it's just so fascinating as you share that connection with the Enneagram. I think the main takeaway here is that we are not designed to earn rest. That is our given birthright. If we're constantly working from this place of feeling pressure to do things before we can enjoy time with loved ones, we can enjoy time with ourselves, we can be creative, more in play mode, then we're eventually going to be hitting burnout. Ultimately, when I think of the Root Center, one of the questions that I think is really helpful for anyone, whether it's defined or undefined, is to ask yourself, what are you trying to get done to feel free ? If you're feeling like, man, I just keep going, going, going, I'm not allowing myself to stop and rest, you're starting to become aware of that. What are you trying to get done? What [00:14:00] story are you telling yourself? Then I like to ask myself, what's the worst thing that could happen if I don't get this thing done right now? Quite often it's like, well, it'll be there tomorrow. It's one of those areas where we feel like the worst thing possible is going to happen if we don't do this thing, when in reality, it's like I was saying, that never ending to do list that I feel I always have, there's always going to be something more. It's not going anywhere. World's not going to end. But you certainly will be feeling a whole lot of physical possibilities with burnout and manifestation of other ailments that can come up from not allowing yourself to rest when you need it and deserve it. It's nothing that you have to earn.
Karrie: Hey there, friend. Have you signed up for the Awakened and Alive newsletter yet? If not, we want to invite you to get on the list so you don't miss out on the exciting new offerings we have [00:15:00] planned for 2024.
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Karrie: Something that has been really helpful to me, it might sound a little bit silly, but it can be really impactful is you know that picture of the universe, and it's points to this tiny little speck that says this is Earth?
Dominique: Yeah. Yeah.
Karrie: It just allows my perspective to zoom out mhm and see how trivial many of these pressures that I'm feeling or placing upon myself really are in the grand scheme of things. I don't know if it's just me, but that really helps relieve a ton of pressure on myself when I take that big picture perspective.
Dominique: Yep, I agree. And you mentioned the big picture perspective and right away [00:16:00] that makes me think of the Gate 52 on the Root Center, and it's called the Gate of Perspective in Quantum. It is that whole zooming out to see the big picture so that you can also know where to put your focus, what is most valuable to you. Again, core values, knowing your core values is going to greatly help you on knowing what to take action on. With that Gate 52, it's always looking for the opposite side on the Sacral Center, which is the Gate 9 and that's a Gate of Focus. First off, it's just, yeah, that big picture zooming out. What is of greatest importance to you and realizing that, like you said, that these things are so minuscule that we can get so bogged down with and overwhelmed with. So I really love that visual and that reminder. We've talked about a few episodes back, how manifestation really works, and the Root Center is that starting point for creating our reality. If [00:17:00] we're thinking our thoughts and our words being released, if you want to call it quantum field, then what is coming back to us is stimulating the Root Center. It's all about timing and getting clear on what you want. We have to know what we want through our core values, through identifying what is important to us, not anybody else. Rewriting those stories and beliefs. And then this is where the Root Center can come in and give you that big view of what you want, to give you the ability to start creating through the Gate 53, which is what I have, Gate of Starting. You help me, Karrie, with the opposite end with the Gate of Completion. I noticed that tremendously when we work together, how I can much more easily move through pressure to get things done because of the energy that I feed off of when I'm around you.
Karrie: Well, same for me because I am terrible at getting things started. Once something is in motion, I am great at keeping it going. But [00:18:00] that initial surge to start something is not my strength. And so that's why, yeah, we have been a great team.
Dominique: Yeah. And that's beautiful. Like you've got that big picture view, you know what you want, but then that challenge of starting. And this is why knowing your loved ones' charts and seeing where these little connections are coming into play gives you so much greater understanding of each other, more compassion, more love. Like I get excited now when somebody is different from me and I see how we compliment each other. And just to be aware, we've talked about the Emotional Solar Plexus, mine's undefined. Me being aware of that now, I can comfortably be around people that I was not comfortable with in the past, because it was overwhelming and I didn't understand how the emotional energy worked. It's just really such a lovely thing, learning your Enneagram type and all the different components of that to better understand how the ego structure works, [00:19:00] conditioning, and then through Human Design, just we're all energy, right? Energy feeds off of each other, and it's a beautiful thing just to be able to build that greater love and compassion for one another through these tools.
Karrie: Thank you for listening to this episode. Your support is so appreciated.
Dominique: If you'd like to have a question answered about your Human Design or Enneagram type in a future episode, you can submit it through the link in the show notes. We'd love to hear from you.
