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Have you ever wondered why some people are so much better at sticking to commitments and seeing them through than others?

The answer lies in the Heart Center!

The Heart Center is one of the nine Human Design energy centers. On the body graph chart, it’s the small triangle on the right side of the chart, just under the G-Center, situated between the Solar Plexus and Throat Centers.

This is the energy of ego, willpower and self-worth - all curiously important themes when it comes to our health and self-care - how we take care of ourselves.

Today we’re taking a deep dive into the Heart Center to explore the relationship between willpower and wellness, and how we can find the balance between them.

We’ll also look at why some of us can or can't follow through with commitments and why we do or don’t have the will to see things through.

As with the other energy centers, you’ll either have the Heart Center defined or undefined in your Human Design.

The Heart Center is a motor center, so if you have it Defined, you generate this energy. You’re strong-willed, have a strong sense of value and worth, have an ego, and you're motivated to pursue your desires with determination.

Side note: while there may be negative connotations to having an ego, this is not a bad thing if the energy is expressed in a positive way.

The energy is consistent in you, and you can influence others with it.

However, if you're not careful with how you utilize this energy, it can lead to over exertion and burnout.

Oppositely, if you have an Undefined Heart Center, you are the one who could potentially be influenced by external Heart energy, i.e., another person’s Heart Center energy.

You’re vulnerable to absorbing and amplifying the will of others. But it isn’t consistently available to you, and it’s not your energy.

Heart Center energy is directly tied to your desires for success, material wealth and the need to prove yourself, which is why, if you have this center Undefined, you may feel like you have to prove yourself over and over again.

There are several ways that Heart Center energy can impact your physical health, but today, let’s consider its physical connections.

Overuse or neglect of your willpower can be directly tied to stress, fatigue, burnout and then all the related problems and conditions that result from that.

Taking a functional approach means peeling back the layers to find out what’s the root cause of your health complaints. And when you peel back the layers far enough, it always comes down to stress.

The root cause of all root causes is some form of stress.

So, could a misuse of your Heart Center energy of ego, will, and competition be one of the root causes of whatever stress you’re experiencing? Could it perhaps be a reason for anxiety, fatigue, and/or burnout?

As with every energy center, there are two sides to how the energy is expressed – you’re either in alignment with it or you’re not. And when you’re not, it’s called the shadow expression – the dark expression of that energy.

The shadow side of Defined Heart Center energy might look like becoming egotistical. It might look like your competitive willfulness pushing you beyond your capacity. It can look like the constant need to prove yourself. It can look like overly relying on your willpower in ways that cause harm to your health and well-being.

All of these things can unnecessarily create stress that looks like a physical tension in your body, poor sleep, stubbornness about things that can result in harm to yourself and others.

Here’s the thing – although you may have a Defined Heart Center, you can still have an Undefined Sacral Center – the center of lifeforce energy, and an Undefined Root Center – the center of drive embodied by your adrenals; i.e. stress hormones.

So, a mismanagement of your Heart Center energy could result in you pushing yourself to the point of burnout because you were too egotistical, too willful, and too competitive to let yourself rest. It can take a physical toll and definitely have physical ramifications and the potential to crash and burn.

The key is to keep your ego in check and understand the limits of your will – there has to be a sense of balance in how you use this energy synchronistically with how your other energy centers are designed.

The shadow expression of an Undefined Heart Center can look like not valuing yourself – poor self-esteem and a lack of self-worth. It can look like not valuing yourself and believing that you’re not good enough – not worthy.

There is also the potential of a false sense of willpower when you absorb and amplify external Heart Center energy from someone else. Because it isn’t your own energy, when you’re not around someone with defined Heart Center energy it's no longer available to you to “borrow” which makes it inconsistently available to you.

It can look like tending to overcommit yourself and then not being able to follow through on the commitment.

Not only can that leave you drained but also leave you feeling unworthy – another unnecessary layer of stress.

So, here are some practical tips for working with the Heart Center.

If you have it Defined, listen to your body. I know this is such a commonly used phrase it can feel trivial, but it really is important to recognize the signals your body sends you, telling you that its time to slow down and take a break.

Signals can look like having poor quality of sleep, feeling anxiousness, physical or mental tension that can lead to injury and/or burnout. These are all red flags to pay attention to.

How can you build sustainable habits? What are realistic goals that you can set without feeling like you have to prove yourself? Is your ego driving the feeling that you have something to prove?

When you set unrealistic goals, you’re likely going to be constantly pushing yourself to achieve them, but if they’re likely unachievable, are they being driven by a shadow expression of your ego and willpower? This isn’t about not stretching yourself to reach your goals or giving up before you even start – it’s about setting yourself up for success by being realistic about what you can achieve right now.

An example of this is me trying to train for a marathon after a number of years of not running consistently. It’s not that I can’t do it ever, but to go from zero miles a week to running the 30-40 miles a week it takes to properly train for a marathon is not realistic.

To attempt it without any natural progression leading up to it is an example of ego, competition and will and can lead to injuries, fatigue and overtraining, which then can mess with my mental health and sense of self-worth.

Along these lines, it’s also important to create boundaries around your efforts to prevent and avoid burnout.

If your Heart Center is undefined, how can you recognize when you’re absorbing willpower from others? The ability to recognize this is key!

How can you establish boundaries to protect your sense of value and worth? How can you release the need to prove yourself?

Establish boundaries around external expectations and rethink how you define success and support your self-esteem.

Whether you have the Heart Center defined or undefined, find ways to incorporate rest and rejuvenation on a regular basis.

Remember the energy of the other centers -- the Sacral center, the Root Center – it’s not just relying on Heart Center energy to will you through something. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Sacral or Non-Sacral being (meaning having the Sacral Center defined or undefined, find ways to rest and take breaks.

Practice grounding exercises and develop mindful habits to practice self-observation. These can look like a daily meditation practice or journaling to reflect on whether you're using your willpower in a healthy way.

This can look like alone time. Alone time allows you the chance to be with yourself and not be subject to influence from external energy.

This can look like doing things that boost your self-worth - not needing validation from others.

I recently made an Instagram post on seeking external validation which I’ll link to in the show notes that you can find at www.livefablife.com/296 for Episode 296.

This can look like going back to the basics and following your Strategy and your Authority. Your inner Authority is your intuition. Follow your Authority and allow it to guide you so you can learn how to trust yourself versus seeking external validation. This is how you increase your self-worth.

Not aligning with your Heart Center energy, however it’s designed, will have an impact on your physical health.

If you're overexerting yourself, if you are going beyond the limits of your willpower, pause and anticipate what your body’s stress response will be.

Are you killing yourself trying to stick to the latest fad diet? Say you’re trying to be a vegetarian or vegan, but while you’re giving it a try, your body is suffering and you’re hungry all the time because that lifestyle isn’t fit for your bio-individuality. It doesn’t support your constitution.

But you're trying - trying to will yourself to stick with it. If you have an Undefined Heart Center, that will only last for so long. It’s not sustainable and when you end up not being able to follow through, what kind of impact will this leave on your self-esteem and sense of value and worth?

In my case, I trained for marathons for years. It started off as something new to try and test my limits to see what I was capable of. But I didn’t recognize the cues for what was and wasn’t sustainable. On top of that, I developed a bit of an ego to try to keep up with other running friends I’d made or beat someone’s race time.

That resulted in a lot of physical injuries, adrenal dysfunction, and mental fatigue and total burnout.

So, questions to consider:

Am I trying to keep up with someone else? Whether at your job of being in competition with a colleague, or something else?

What is that competition (which is often one-sided) costing you? What’s driving that willpower? Is it your ego?

Are your goals realistic? And do you have the sustainable willpower to meet them?

I said practical tips so here’s some practical things you can do:

First, support your physical health which in turn can support your drive and willpower. And you can do so by making sure you’re eating nutrient-dense foods – foods full of the nutrients you need to support your vessel. Without a strong vessel (your body) your willpower will only get you, so far!

Second, incorporate relaxation techniques daily! This can look like breath work, taking a nap, whatever calms your nervous system.

And thirdly, practice self-observation with non-judgement. Some questions to ask yourself could be:

Why am I doing this? What’s my motivation? Is this something I want to be doing or am I being driven by ego and competition? Am I doing this because I want to beat someone else? What am I trying to prove and to whom? How is this impacting my sense of value and self-worth?

I have an Undefined Heart Center and as such, my willpower is inconsistent. I understand this – now; that my will can only make things to happen to a certain point; that energy will only take me so far. At some point, I won’t be able to keep up. So, am I doing this out of ego? Am I running myself into the ground because of an unsustainable drive of competition and a false sense of ego and worth?

And when I not when I'm not able to meet those unrealistic expectations, whether internally set or based on external influences, how will it affect my self-esteem?

Will I feel that I wasn’t good enough because I wasn’t able to finish…a marathon?

Do I feel that I'm not worthless because I ended up eating animal protein and giving up on a vegetarian diet?

Do you know someone who’s tried to do something over and over again, yet can never seem to follow through with it? I’d be curious to know how their Heart Center was designed. It’s a really, really important part of our design.

When taking a functional approach and peeling back the layers to uncover the root causes of your health complaints, I always say to look at how your energy centers are designed because that will paint a picture of the stress you’re experiencing, and stress is the root cause of all root causes.

Is your stress due to internal or external influences; or is it a combination of both?

How does your Heart Center energy factor into it?

Are you balancing your willpower and what kind of impact will it have on your long-term health? When it comes to our health, we’re here to play the long game. And not living in flow with your Heart Center energy can have long-term ramifications, not just physically but on your mental and emotional health as well.

So, pull out your body graph chart and take another look at your Heart Center. Is it Defined or Undefined? What are the active gates in? The active gates indicate how that energy is meant to be expressed.

If you want to learn more about the Heart Center, check out my program, “Energy Management and the Nine Centers.”

If you want to take a personalized approach, check out my Human Design Playbook offering – it’s how I do Human Design readings. It’s 100% personalized for your unique Human Design and comes with your own personal podcast episode dedicated to your Human Design – both that you refer back to over and over again.

The Heart Center is powerful and not talked about as often as the other centers, so I hope you found this conversation insightful!

As always, thanks so much for listening and I'll see you right back here again next time! Bye for now!