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Back in my running days, I hated running on the treadmill. It didn't matter if it was cold outside or if it was pouring rain, I always chose to run outdoors rather than hopping on a treadmill, because running on a treadmill is literally nowhere. That's what an energy leak feels like--constantly moving but never recharging and that's what we're talking about today - energy leaks.

Energy leaks happen when you use your energy inefficiently, when you expend energy unnecessarily that leaves you drained and depleted.

So, what might that look like to you? For me, it looks like overcommitting myself or overbooking my schedule.

It looks like saying yes to things that I don't want to do and doing things that deep down don't feel natural to me that leaves me feeling resentful, bitter, angry, frustrated, disappointed.

It’s resistance that comes from not living aligned, according to how our individual energies flow. Energy leaks are wasteful, inefficient uses of our energy.

When we look at energy leaks through the lens of Human Design, one example of it looks like not following your Strategy.

I’m a Projector, so my Strategy is to Wait for Invitations. When I don't wait for invitations and say, give unsolicited advice, I'm wasting time and energy giving advice that no one asked for that then falls on deaf ears, which leaves me feeling bitter.

Another way to look at energy leaks through Human Design is through the energy centers.

Energy centers are, like, open windows--great for bringing in fresh air, but simultaneously letting in a lot of noise.

In Defined Centers, energy leaks look like imbalance and overuse. For example, if you have a Defined Root Center, you’re motivated and driven. But remember, that’s not Sacral lifeforce energy, so if you’re not careful to balance that drive and avoid overuse, you can still deplete yourself and burnout.

In Undefined and Open Centers, the white centers on your Human Design chart where you absorb and are influenced by external energy--these are unsustainable areas of energy—and when you no longer have access to that external energy but still depend on it, it leads to fatigue and burnout, in other words, energy leaks.

Energy leaks look like not “going with the flow.” I know that phrase has come to be thought of as “not going along with the crowd”, but in this context, it's about not living or aligning with the natural flow of your energy and how it’s designed. Because when you live in alignment with how you’re designed—that’s what “going with the flow” looks like.

While we don't have time today to go through all nine of the energy centers, I do want to look at three of the energy centers and what energy leaks in relation to them look like.

Let’s start with the Head Center, sometimes called the Crown Center and is a pressure center—mental pressure. Undefined Head Center energy is inspired by external sources. Most often, the ideas are endless and come with the pressure to act on all of those ideas. But that’s not necessarily what you’re designed to do. But if you try to put it all into action, it’s going to drain and deplete you – unnecessary energy leaks—inefficient and wasteful use of energy.

Let’s look at the Sacral Center, specifically, the Undefined Sacral Center, which means in this instance, speaking directly to Manifestors, Projectors, and Reflectors.

Energy leaks associated with the Undefined Sacral Center look like over-committing--saying yes to too many things which becomes problematic because you don’t have the lifeforce energy to sustain doing all the things. It’s not “going with how your energy flows.” When your calendar is overscheduled with not enough downtime, it’s going to run you ragged--an energy leak--an inefficient use of your energy.

Another thing with the Sacral Center is that people who have it defined know when “enough is enough” – when they’ve had enough of something and know when to stop, whereas non-Sacrals-- Manifestors, Projectors, and Reflectors—aren’t designed with this, and pushing yourself beyond your capacity creates energy leaks--inefficient use of your energy.

And thirdly, the Solar Plexus, the center of emotions. When it comes to energy leaks, this is a big one because Undefined Solar Plexus energy is prone to absorbing external emotions--taking on someone else's emotional highs and lows.

So, when you, Undefined Solar Plexus person, feels all “up in your feelings,” consider if what you’re feeling is your emotions, or are you absorbing and amplifying someone else's? It could be a case of expending a lot of emotional energy that’s not yours—an energy leak.

So, this begs the question, “How can I recognize my energy leaks?”

It always comes back to self-observation. Here’s some questions that can help:

1. At what point do you feel most drained during your day? If there’s a consistent pattern, what’s that pattern related to? Don't over complicate this, keep it simple, but notice at what point of your day feels most draining, and what’s the circumstances around it?

2. What commitments do you resent? Why? Are they things that you just really don't want to do or that you feel pressured or obligated to do?

3. Are you extending yourself trying to keep up with others?

I’m a non-Sacral—I have an Undefined Sacral Center, and I grew up in an environment where every other immediate family member has a Defined Sacral Center.

In hindsight, I can see how I was influenced by their Sacral lifeforce energy and how I was conditioned to try to keep up with others when I simply wasn’t designed to operate that way.

This is why it’s critical to your health and well-being to understand how you're designed and how your energy flows so you can check-in with yourself and ask questions like, “Am I operating in a way that's congruent to how my energy flows? What does that look like?”

For an Emotional Authority, it can look like being pressured to make rushed decisions. For Emotional Authorities, timing is everything and making spontaneous or impulsive decisions is not “going with the flow of their energy: and rushed decisions are misaligned decisions and will most definitely lead to energy leaks—inefficient expenditures of their energy.

For a Projector, it can look like exhaustion from operating like a Generator—like the personal story I just shared.

I have a full-time job in the tech industry, where there’s pressure to be ahead of the curve. And right now, the buzz in the tech industry is AI. The pressure to bring AI-driven innovations is unreal. It’s what the market wants, and the market drives the stock price, and the stock price drives shareholders. And companies that don’t have an AI strategy will be left out in the cold.

Employees in the tech space are being asked to work on highly innovative projects and produce results in accelerated timeframes which means working insane hours. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Sacral or non-Sacral—these demanding, unrealistic expectations aren’t sustainable for anyone.

This is why it’s essential to be aware of how your energy flows so you can pace yourself and give yourself rest when you need it—not “if” you need it, but “when” you need it so you’re not on the sure-path to fatigue and burnout.

Earlier I mentioned how one of the gifts of a Defined Sacral Center is knowing when “enough is enough.”

Well, I'm recording this episode just after spending the morning at the doctor's office. I’ve been battling back / hip / groin pain for the past three months. At first, I thought it was a sports-related injury from one of my workouts. Then I thought it might be related to my menstrual cycle. But at this point, I don’t think it’s either of the two, so I went to get checked out.

Turns out, it’s likely hip bursitis. If I'm being honest, this is a result of not knowing when “enough was enough” because hip bursitis occurs when there’s a prolonged overuse in the hip joint.

And while I say I’ve been battling this combination of pain for the past three months; I’ve battled pain in the area off and on for years.

As I shared, a few episodes ago, I just turned 50 and am only now accepting that I can’t workout the way I used to in my 20’s, 30’s or even 40’s. My body just isn’t up to that kind of intensity anymore. It’s why I started doing Pvolve workouts, because I’ve realized that my approach to workouts had to change.

But as a result of not knowing when “enough was enough” this is now where I am – with hip bursitis—which is an energy leak because I cannot move in the way that I want to.

In hindsight, I think I've been dealing with this for 4+ years now, and for the past four years, I’ve not been able to workout in the way that I want to. Had I been in-tune with this earlier, I could have pivoted sooner, but instead, I’ve spent the past four years in the cycle of injury > rest > recovery > injury > rest > recovery.

And the bitterness, anger, disappointment, frustration that came with it—energy leaks.

And now I'm going to have to go to physical therapy, which will be another thing added to my schedule—an avoidable expenditure of energy. The whole situation is an energy leak.

So, how can you spot your energy leaks? Be mindful of your Not-Self -- the emotion you feel when you’re not aligned with your Human Design.

For Manifestors it’s when you feel anger. For Generators and Manifesting Generators it’s when you’re frustrated. For Projectors, it's when you feel bitterness. For Reflectors, it's when you feel disappointment. Let you Not-Self emotions be your red flag that you’re not in alignment with your design.

Now, I guarantee that right now, you have energy leaks, and I guarantee that despite your best efforts, you will have them in the future—because we’re human.

But we keep taking steps back to recognize the leaks and ask yourself the questions I shared earlier:

“Am I doing this because I want to or because I feel that I should?” “Do I still keep doing this thing that drains me every day because I want to or because I feel like I have to?” “Why am I committing myself to these things that I feel obligated to yet ultimately resent?”

This is how you can spot your energy leaks. But once you've identified them, what are you going to do about them? How do you stop energy leaks?

It's not about fixing what's broken, rather, it’s choosing to align with what nourishes you.

First, know what the leak is, so that you know what you're stopping. Then, know what nourishes you. That’s going to look different for each person. I can't give you a prescriptive solution, because I don’t operate in “one-size-fits all” approaches. What nourishes you can look totally different from what nourishes me. And, what nourishes me today could be different than what nourished me three months ago. We are allowed to—and we will--change and evolve.

Here’s a few strategies, by energy centers that you can try to bring you back into alignment from your energy leaks:

For Non-Sacrals - Manifestors, Projectors, and Reflectors--prioritize yourself. Say no. Don't overcommit yourself. Don't say yes to things you don't want to do or feel forced to do out of obligation. Prioritize your rest first and foremost.

This is what I’m focusing on right now. You all know that I use an Oura ring. I love it. But recently, it’s been telling me that my body is taxed—its stress levels have been elevated. Maybe it’s because of the pain I’ve been experiencing. Either way, I know this is something I should pay attention to. How and where am I leaking energy? So, I’m leaning into rest.

For the Undefined Solar Plexus Center, practice emotional discernment. Understand when you’re in your own emotions versus when you’re influenced by external emotions. Learn how to differentiate and then, learn how to let the influencing emotions go. Easy to say and not so easy to do, but I just by being aware, you’re taking a first step towards addressing that energy leak.

For the Undefined Head Center, and I'm going to include the Undefined Ajna Center too, because it's your mental process, release the pressure to take action on all the ideas you might have. Release the pressure to have all the answers—and not just answers for yourself, but answers for other people as well. Just let it go and give yourself a mental release.

For everyone, honor your Strategy and Authority. Your Authority is how you make aligned decisions.

My focus this year is to get really intimate with my following Strategy of Waiting for Invitations and my Splenic Authority and I would encourage you to do the same as well--get intimate with honoring your Strategy and Authority. When you do so, you make aligned decisions, and your ability to make aligned decisions is the key to prosperity in every aspect of your life.

And this goes without saying but use boundaries to protect your energy because when you protect your energy, you're also being more efficient with your time, energy, and attention. At the end of each episode, I always thank you for your time, energy, and attention, and I mean it, because they’re precious things, never to be taken for granted. So, when you put up boundaries, you're protecting your time, energy and attention so you're not wasting them inefficiently. Because inefficiency is how you have energy leaks.

Third, schedule intentional rest time—whatever feels restful to you and puts you into that elusive “rested and digested” state. You can't rest if you don't even give yourself the chance for it.

For some people, it might simply look like time alone, for example, those with 2nd Profile Lines. So, make space for intentional rest and alone time.

And above all else, practice self-observation. It requires going inwards and noticing what you react to, what drains you, how you spend your energy, how you make decisions, how you follow your Strategy. This is what self-observation is—noticing--that's when you're able to identify leaks.

Now, I always like to leave you with actionable tips...

This week, maybe even today, notice and identify one thing that’s draining energy from your life, from your day. What is one energy draining thing?

Next, reflect on it. How does this thing align or conflict with your energy? How does it align or conflict with your Human Design?

Then, take one small step to address it, one small step. Maybe you notice that you’re feeling your Not-Self emotion. If so, take one small action to address it.

For example, maybe there’s something in your workday that feels heavy, that you feel resentful toward, that you dread it. Set a boundary around it. Maybe it’s saying “no” to something. Maybe it’s stopping doing something or starting to do something. It doesn't have to be big, just a small step because taking one small step brings you one step closer to honoring your energy and plugging that energy leak.

And when you take that small step, send me a DM on Instagram and tell me about it--about what you discovered, and it makes you feel. I'd love to celebrate with you.

So, to quickly recap before we close: Energy leaks are common. We all have them because we’re human. The key is to identify the leaks and address them so that you can reclaim your energy and thrive.

Now, if you’d like to dive deeper into how to align with your energy, I invite you take my “Human Design Essentials” program, to learn how to understand your Human Design body graph chart, then take my “Energy Management and the Nine Centers program which delves into the nine energy centers and how to align with how they’re designed in your chart. Both of these programs are self-study programs.

If you want a personalized approach, order a Human Design Playbook from me—this is how I offer Human Design Readings.

Or thirdly, catch up on past episodes. I’m currently going through the process of cataloging all of the episodes and creating tags to make it easier to find episodes on specific topics. I’m working on it and hope to have it available soon!

I’ll have links to everything in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at www.livefablife.com/304, for Episode 304.

Now I want to hear from you. Have you noticed any energy leaks in your life?

Come and share it with me. You can leave a comment on the show notes for this episode, or you can find me on Instagram at @livefablifewithnaomi and share with me there. I'd love to have a conversation with you about it.

So, that's it for this week. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you right back here again next time - bye for now!