Hello Everyone,

Thanksgiving is a national holiday here in North America that is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of our harvest and past year. Last week we had our Thanksgiving celebration, and I have to say, I am very thankful for Human Design!

The concept behind Thanksgiving is similar to the other celebrations around the world. There are many ways cultures come together to show thanks during the fall season.

The Chinese celebrate an August Moon Festival, also known as Woman Festival. The Romans celebrate Cerelia in honor of Ceres (the Goddess of Corn). The Koreans celebrate Chu-Sok, which goes on for three days! The Vietnamese celebrate Tet Trung Thu, the Indians Pongal, the Jewish Succoth, the Africans Kwanzaa.

Regardless of the date, rituals, and customs, harvest-time celebrations are all about food, family, and friends. Gratitude for the people in our lives and the abundance in our lives is a feeling that we share with each other in order to grow closer and to appreciate.

Often families will reunite physically during this holiday. By sharing these feelings in the ritual of eating traditional foods, we bond by taking time away from our hectic daily routine and come together, incorporating whatever family or religious traditions as are particular to our tribe.

For those of us who are in our Human Design Experiment, participating in this holiday can become a real test of our commitment to ourselves. In order to resist the very strong conditioning patterns that set in motion since childhood around our family and loved ones, we need to cultivate awareness.

But what do we need to be aware of? Without knowing your design and the mechanics of it, it can be infinitely harder to become awake to the forces around you and within you.

We all have our particular Strategy and Authority. If we follow them in front of the people close to us (especially those who established authority over us as children) they often feel, they have the authority to question our behaviors. Sometimes, they'll demand explanations for our decisions, and consciously or unconsciously put pressure on us to be like them.

There are so many ways that we can fall back into the not-self strategies of our mind, and it’s way of protecting the openness in our chart. Thankfully, if we have had the opportunity to take a Living Your Design class, we can recognize the signposts of our open centers’ sensitivity. If we know the designs of our relatives and friends, we can also witness their the patterns of behavior and learn from the experience, rather than be further conditioned by it.

Human Design allows us to understand, accept and love each other in a way unavailable to us before Ra brought it forth into the world. It is truly unlike any other system on the planet in its ability to describe the mechanics of how we operate as a form.

Human Design gives you the possibility of transforming tolerance (as can be the case when families gather together for the holidays) into a true appreciation of yourself and the other for your vast differences and uniqueness. Knowing the mechanics of yourself and others gives a grace that brings you the gift of awareness and so much closer to the potential of your uniqueness and reduces the resistance you experience in your life.

However, it is in the actual following of your Strategy and Authority that you wake up to what you are. Over time, the experience of being a witness to your life instead of trying to control it, can truly help you to shatter the hold of your conditioned mind. Releasing your attachment to the mind's machinations decreases the amount of resistance you encounter in the form of anger, frustration, bitterness and disappointment.

Over time, consistent adhesion to following your Strategy and Authority allows you to experience more of the peace, satisfaction, success and surprise that is the signature of your Aura Type’s functioning in the world.

So my wish for myself and for you is to simply enjoy the movie. Watch with as much awareness as you can. If you haven’t yet had the benefit of a Living Your Design class, right now might be a good time to check in with your authority. Learn how to live your design and watch the transformation of your perspective.