Episode 309: The Undefined G-Center: Identity, Direction, and Embracing Change
If you've ever felt like you don’t have a clear sense of who you are, struggled with direction, or found yourself changing based on who you’re around—this episode is for you.
The Undefined G-Center is often misunderstood. Instead of being a flaw, it’s actually a gift: the ability to flow, evolve, and take in life’s experiences from different angles. But when conditioning creeps in, it can make you feel ungrounded, lost, or like you need to force an identity.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
What it really means to have an undefined or open G-Center
The beauty (and challenges) of fluid identity
How conditioning around “having a clear direction” impacts those with an Undefined G
Ways to embrace your natural ability to evolve without losing yourself
If you’ve ever felt pressure to “figure yourself out” or “stick to one path,” this episode will help you reclaim the power of your adaptable, open-hearted nature.
Listen to the Episode:
Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 308: Self-Worth and the Undefined Heart: Breaking the Cycle
Episode 201: Exploring A Self-Projected Authority with Nadia Gabrielle
Connect with Naomi:
Connect on Instagram
“Put yourself in spaces and places that feel safe to be fluid with who you are, curate an environment where you’re not pretending, you’re just being.”
Read the Transcript:
Have you ever been asked, “Who are you?” and had a hard time answering the question?
I'm not talking about giving the typical responses that you’re expected to give – “I'm a daughter, I'm a friend, I'm a mom, I'm a wife.”
I'm talking about answering the question, “Who are you?” in a way conveys who you are as an individual.
How about this: Have you ever felt like you were being shady, because you change depending on who you're with or what environment you're in?
I'm raising my hand to these questions because I have answered yes to both and felt bad about it – bad in a sense that I felt like I was lacking because couldn’t give a straight answer to who I was, and bad that I felt “shifty” because I am different depending on who I’m with.
But what if I told you not to feel bad if you can't answer the question, “Who are you, and to not feel shady when you change depending on who you’re around. In fact, these things are amongst your biggest strengths!
Today we're talking about the G-Center. It's the diamond-shaped energy center that's smack dab in the center of the Human Design body graph chart.
The G-Center represents the energy of identity--who you are, direction--where you’re going in life, and love.
If the G-Center is the first Defined Center in your Human Design, then it’s your Authority--you have a Self-Projected Authority and because the Self-Projected Authority is only possible for one Type, it also means that you’re a Projector.
But a Defined G-Center isn’t only limited to Self-Authority Projectors.
If you have this center Defined, you have a consistent sense of self. You know who you are, and you know what direction you’re headed in.
I’ve always had a deep fascination with people who have a Defined G-Center because I don’t have it. And I’m so curious as to what that’s like – to definitively know who you are and where you’re going in life.
Because having an Undefined G-Center, as I do, means that your identity can be fluid, meaning, it shifts. It's constantly evolving, adapting to the external energy around you that you’re vulnerable to absorbing and amplifying.
This means that your identity, your sense of self, changes depending on who you're with or where you're at.
And if you have this center completely Open, meaning you don't have any Active Gates in your G-Center, then your receptivity to external energy, to adapting to the personalities and environments around you is amplified even more!
So, having an Undefined or Open G-Center can leave you feeling a bit aimless—you’re not sure what direction to take or maybe you want to go in all the directions!
It can make you feel a bit like a chameleon, because your identity shifts and adapts to your environment.
And you might be someone who craves external validation.
When I learned about the G-Center, and what it means to have it Undefined, everything clicked for me. It felt as if my entire life suddenly made sense.
Because for a long time, I felt like I was lacking…..something…what I know can contextualize as a fixed sense of self-identity and life direction.
But this “lacking” is the gift and the beauty of the Undefined G-Center. Because what it comes down to is flexibility.
The Undefined G-Center is the gift of flexibility because it’s the ability to deeply experience different environments, identities, relationships—different versions of us and because of that, the capacity to have deep empathy for others. And what a beautiful gift to have.
But society has conditioned us to believe that there’s only one way for us to be and that we must have 3, 5, or even a 10-year plan. And not having those things can make you feel that you’re not a solid, steady person.
So, we struggle, we feel lost, and perhaps always in search to “find yourself.”
You have no idea how much I relate to this.
And when I learned about the G-Center, lightbulbs started going off and I started recalling specific moments where I struggled with knowing who I am.
I’ve been practicing as a health coach for a decade now—10 years and my time has flown by!
When I first got started, right out of nutrition school, I didn't know anything about starting my own business, so I took a lot of business programs, and those programs typically started off with developing your branding.
When you’re a service-based solopreneur, you are your business’ brand. Your personal brand and your business brand are one in the same! You’re the face of it all!
And those business programs often start with developing your brand which, in my case, as a service-based solopreneur, meant answering the question, “Who are you?”
I always struggled with this, and it was tough for me to even get past these early lessons, yet if I skipped over it, I didn’t get the full value of what was being taught.
My struggles weren’t that I didn’t know who I was. I struggled with answering the question, “Who am I?” because my answer was always, “Well, it depends.”
And then later when it came to crafting a one-year, three-year, five-year plan, I’d give up altogether because…”Well, it depends!” How was I supposed to know where I’d be in a year, three years, let alone five years! I didn’t – and still don’t – know what direction I’m headed in and couldn’t – and can’t – commit to such plans!
And you know what? It made me feel guilty. It made me feel scattered—that I didn’t have my act together because I was so directionless.
At times, I also felt like a fraud because my personality changed depending on who I was with. I wondered if I was being “fake” because I’m one-way with this person, and another way with another group of friends, and yet another person with family, and let’s not even talk about colleagues at work.
In the shadows, I felt like I was a fraud because I shifted who I was.
I distinctly remember moments of having to pause and think, “Okay, which friend-group am I with right now?” Because I had to remember who I was “supposed to be” with this group.
There’s a couple of ways of looking at this.
First, some of this can be attributed to conditioning, because most of us didn’t know about Human Design until recently and weren’t able to contextualize these chameleon-like traits that we have.
We’ve been conditioned that in order for us to be successful adults, we have to have our life planned out—that one-year, three-year, five-year, or even a ten-year plan!
There’s an expectation that you should know where you want to go in life. You should pick a career and stick with it. You only have one true purpose in this world, and you need to find what that purpose is, pursue it, and stick with it. This is societal conditioning, and it can leave Undefined G-Centers feeling unworthy. It leaves you feeling unstable because you don't have a clear direction of where you’re going--professionally or personally.
But ultimately, what this is about is holding yourself up to someone else's standards, to someone else's expectations.
This is along the same theme that I talked about in the last episode, Episode 308 on the Undefined Heart Center and holding yourself up to someone else’s expectations.
Undefined Centers are where you’re most vulnerable to conditioning—of absorbing and amplifying energy that isn’t yours--and ultimately what conditioning comes down to is holding yourself up to someone else's standards, to someone else's expectations.
It’s taking on someone else's dreams, someone else's goals, someone else's identities. And this is the gift of Human Design—of becoming aware of this and then peeling back the layers and unbecoming who you aren’t so you can return to who you are.
So when you’re asked, “Who are you?” it’s not, “I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a daughter, I’m a friend” and it's saying, “I’m Naomi. I’m a curious person and I love to learn and get into the weeds on things that pique my interest. I love people but don’t like being around them too often because I’m a homebody and love—and need quiet, alone time. I like being “in the know” of things and being involved in things that are cutting edge, ahead of its time, and this is not confused with being trendy because once everyone else is into it, I’ve likely moved on to something else.”
I don't want to offend anyone but when I see an Instagram profile and the bio reads, “Wifey to” or “Mommy to” I’m like, “You are more than that. Those are roles that you have, but who are you?”
And when you have an Undefined G-Center, you can be a lot of things!
So that’s the other way of looking at it. There’s recognizing conditioning and then there’s understanding that with an Undefined G-Center, your identity is fluid—it’s flexible and adapts to your environment. The magic and beauty of the Undefined G-Center. We can be whoever we want to be.
It’s a nuanced distinction—to recognize when you’re operating from a place of conditioning versus when you’re in alignment with your Undefined G-Center.
Do you feel pressured to take on a certain personality when you’re with a specific person or group of people?
An obvious example of this is when you’re with your family, especially if it's family that you don’t see very often—like only around the holidays. And it’s hard because they expect you to be a certain way but maybe you’ve evolved and changed. Maybe you’ve been doing some deconditioning—possibly from them! While the holidays are expected to be a time of joy and celebrating being together, there’s a tension of succumbing back into the conditioning that you broke free from---of living or measuring yourself up to someone else’s expectations.
I think the pressure to take on certain personalities also happens on social media. Social media didn’t exist when I was growing up, and I remember when I started my health coaching practice a decade ago, it was a huge mindset shift to go from someone who was a consumer of social media to becoming someone who used social media as a business. It’s still somewhat of a struggle today.
But now there’s a lot of people who’ve grown up with social media; it’s been around for their entire lives and they understand the concept of “locking in on your niche” or being “on brand” but what happens when you grow up, you evolve, you change? I see people repel who they are and/or not accept exploring it because they’re afraid that if they change, they'll lose their following which can also mean losing some of their livelihood.
Can you see how life-changing it can be for someone who has an Undefined G-Center to learn what it's about and how their adaptable identity is their strongest asset?
But back to the nuance distinction between conditioning versus alignment. Of course, it all comes back to self-observation.
Do you feel yourself changing to fit in?
It’s tough because Undefined G-Centers are meant to change to fit in! It’s our chameleon superpower!
I was thinking about this, and “authenticity” has become a commoditized word. We all want to shed stereotypes—not a word to be confused with “archetypes”—and return to who we truly are. But the Undefined G-Center’s fluid identity IS authenticity for them!
So, to recognize the nuanced distinction is to observe when or where you feel pressured to be a certain way. It’s a subtle, energetic difference—a differentiation. I urge you to follow your Authority to help you recognize and understand this differentiation between adaptation that happens in alignment versus when it happens out of uncertainty and expectation. I think that the root cause of anxiety is uncertainty, so are there any feelings of anxiety present?
Take a step back and practice self-observation to check in with yourself. “Hey, what's going on here?”
And then, check in with Authority. Your authority will always guide you—its your intuition.
It’s why I always say that the most important skill you have in your health is following your Authority, to know what’s correct for you.
And following your Authority can help you make that distinction—that differentiation--- of when you're operating from a place of conditioning. Once you recognize the difference, then you can game plan on how to bring yourself back into a place of alignment.
To do this, give permission to explore, without attachment. Notice when you act or behave in a certain way with a person or a group of people and notice—self-observe--if you’re taking on that personality out of pressure or if it’s a natural shift.
Put yourself in spaces and places that feel safe to be fluid with who you are, curate an environment where you're not pretending, you're just being.
As you shift between different people, spaces and places, let the environment guide you, but don't let it define you.
I’m not just a 1 / 3 Splenic Projector. I’m not just a coach, a friend, a daughter, a relative. I’m a person who’s been shaped by life experiences, by the many different people, and spaces and places that I’ve been in community with, that I’ve lived with, that I’ve worked with, that I’ve associated with.
All of these things have shaped me into who I am today, and I’ll continue to be shaped by the people, places and spaces that I continue to encounter and exchange energy with.
I’ll let it guide me but not define me.
And that’s my message to you, my Undefined G-Center friend--work with it, not against it. And by that, I mean stop looking for the ONE answer. Stop looking for your singular true purpose. Stop looking for the one direction that you're “supposed” to take or the ONE person you’re “supposed” to be.
Lean into exploration and discovery and constantly practice self-observation along the way. Surround yourself with and put yourself in the people, places and spaces that feel good to you.
You know that you’re vulnerable to absorbing external energy—it’s not “if” it happens, it gonna happen so make sure it's the energy you want to absorb and amplify!
Be around a Generator who’s doing what they love because they’re likely to be exuding contagious joy—positive vibes, and who doesn’t want to be around that?!
When I'm around my Generator friends, they make me feel so happy that I just want to hang out with them more and I adapt my identity to be happy too!
So, make sure that you’re with the people you want to be with, in the spaces and places that feel good. Being influenced isn’t necessarily bad if it’s the kind of influence that uplifts you!
Trust that your Authority will lead you in the direction that you're naturally meant to head in.
I always like to end the episode with some reflection prompts for you to ponder as you practice self-observation with non-judgement.
So, my Undefined G-Center friend, ask yourself: Where do I feel most like myself? Who are the people, and where are the spaces and places that make me feel good--that make me feel like I’m not pretending, I'm just being? How do the people and the spaces and places I’m currently with and in, how do they influence my energy? What identities feel forced versus what feels natural? Being, not pretending.
This is deep stuff—it’s a lot to think about.
And on that note, we’ll end here, and I’ll thank you as always, so much for listening and sharing your time, energy and attention with me--and I hope that I’m a person and that this show is a space that feels good to be around and that you feel better about yourself.
Now I’ve been receiving a bunch of requests for topics for future episodes—which I love.
So, if you have a topic on Human Design or health, or where they intersect, you’d like to hear more, send me a message and let me know!
If you’re not yet on my email list, I send an email out every week spotlighting the newest episode, latest news, and things I’m ruminating on. You can respond to those emails.
You can leave a comment on the show notes here at www.livefablife.com/309 for Episode 309.
Or you can find me on Instagram at @livefablifewithnaomi
And with that, I’ll see you right back here again next time--bye for now!
Naomi Nakamura is a Health x Human Design coach who’s creating a healthier society through aligned energy.
She blends a bespoke mix of Functional Nutrition and Human Design to help others shift into alignment to leverage and correctly manage their energy to support their body, mind, and spirit.
She believes that when we embrace our authenticity and lean into our bio-individuality, we naturally live a life of freedom, empowerment, and optimal health.
Naomi resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and can often be found exploring the area with her puppy girl, Coco Pop!
Connect with Naomi on: Instagram
| Pinterest
