(from my book, “On Marketing & Human Design”, 2023)

This is the most common Human Design decision-making Authority. Around half of the population falls into this group, which makes every second person in the world an Emotional Authority person. If you have the Solar Plexus Center colored in your chart, you fall into this group. Emotional power is very dominant, so it doesn’t even matter what other centers you have defined.

These emotional waves will always take over the “voices” of other centers. You need to get clear about your emotions when making a decision. Therefore, with Emotional Authority, you need to wait through the emotional wave before making the decision to ensure it is correct for you.

The Types of Emotional Waves

Let’s have a look at how these waves operate, to make it easier for you to learn about yours.

Emotional Authority is determined by at least one channel that comes from the Solar Plexus Center, which is a motor center that operates in waves. The nature of your emotional wave depends on your Design specifics.

The Tribal wave (Channels 19/49 and 37/40) develops gradually, typically increasing in intensity through a series of smaller waves, which eventually leads to an emotional outburst.

It is often triggered by your awareness of others’ needs and your wish to fulfill them. So if you make a decision that is incorrect, you may end up feeling taken for granted.

On the opposite side, if you make a decision that is indeed correct, you can feel recognized and appreciated for your contribution.

To get emotional clarity, you need to wait until the wave reaches its peak. This will help you see if the decision you are trying to make actually aligns with your true feelings. This is also a very tactile wave, so a hug or a soothing touch can bring you back into a more positive emotional state.

The Source wave (Channel 6/59) is the most subtle of these emotional waves. It is often triggered by relationships, so it would be people in your family and close circles who will be aware of your moodiness, while the rest of the world can see you as quite level-headed.

Since most decisions we make do involve others, it is valuable to wait until the wave breaks before committing. It will also give you time for more thorough consideration of the overall scenario.

The Individual wave (Channels 39/55 and 12/22) is generally more neutral, with sudden, spontaneous highs and lows. So you may not be perceived as “moody” at all times and then have these outbursts.

The nature of this way is moving from melancholy, feeling the doom and gloom of the world, to joy, where the world is seen through its beauty and everything it has to offer at your feet. And then it switches back.

So making decisions will be affected by the state you are in, either feeling skeptical and depressed or elated and joyful. Waiting through all emotional states before making a decision brings you clarity on whether you are aligned with it in general.

The Abstract wave (Channels 35/36 and 30/41) is the most intense and, not surprisingly, my least personal favorite. Even though I am not an Emotional authority person, I get to experience the 35/36 wave a lot as my Design Sun is in gate 35 and gate 36 gets activated often with planetary transits. It builds up (usually in the form of expectation)and then suddenly crashes (with disappointment). It is the moodiest of the waves.

Since I am normally an “emotional flatliner,” this puts me in an awful mood, dealing with those desire buildups and crashes. Only since I became aware that my moods on those days are dictated by this abstract wave have I started practicing more detachment from my “what-ifs” and illusions, and holding back from projecting them onto others (or myself).

You can indeed experience more than one type of these waves, and the length of time each wave will last will also depend uniquely on what is involved.

Waiting to get through the emotional wave to the point of emotional clarity can be quite challenging. Since you are dealing with the fluidity of ups and downs, highs and lows, it is very unreliable to make a decision in the moment.

Try tracking your emotional state. You can even create a tracking journal where you score your mood on a scale from minus 10 (depressed) to plus 10 (extremely joyful). This will give you a conscious experience of what your emotional waves look like and how long they tend to take to reach a break.

By the way, often waiting through the wave reveals that you do not even need whatever it was. Or you can look at it in a different way, especially if you are an Emotional Projector. It allows you to be more “exclusive” since you require time, and that “playing it cool” makes you even more desirable.

So when you are invited into anything, taking time to think about it only helps you filter through those who genuinely see and recognize you for what you desire to be recognized for, or those who have their own agendas, nothing to do with you and what you offer.

Spontaneity is a Trap

The Solar Plexus Center is a powerful motor center. It gives the owner energy to take action, and this is why it is very tricky to resist. You are constantly pushed into taking action by this motor, and yet the emotions can cloud that inner judgment.

The bottom line and the strategy for an Emotional Authority person is to avoid impulsive actions and make informed decisions, especially when it comes to important choices in life.

Ironically, most people with Emotional Authority who have not been experimenting with Human Design actually love being spontaneous and making decisions in a moment – a great illustration of the strong conditioning of a motor center.

Yet, very often, that person will later regret a decision made in the moment. Things and circumstances change, their mood changes, and they have to deal with something that they agreed to, but it does not feel right.

The key is to watch, recognize, and really master waiting for that clarity through your emotional waves. Let these waves work themselves out over time. It is healthy and CORRECT for you to “think about it” or to be indecisive, even when you need to make up your mind there and then.

For example, in a restaurant, you can change your mind many times. You should be the last one to order because as you look at the menu, you are feeling through every dish and might need to come back to some of them again and feel differently about them.

In fact, Richard Rudd mentions that people with Emotional Authority are likely to have issues with eating too much because they tend to eat when they feel they want to. If only they wait to follow this feeling through, they will discover if it is genuine hunger or if this feeling will just dissipate and disappear.

Emotional Authority In Business & Marketing

This could apply to choosing your strategies and your tools in marketing, especially with getting excited about buying a particular software. This is where trials and money-back guarantees are so vital for you. Waiting to see if the desire to ACTUALLY use it is still there after a day or two, if it is as easy as you thought, or if it does what you actually need it to do. Trust me, indecision is great for you and will save you a lot of money.

The same applies to hiring a coach. Never do it on the discovery call, no matter how much they are offering to knock off the price if you sign up there and then. Personally, that approach is a red flag for me, as it gives zero control to make a correct decision, no matter what Authority we have. Take as long as you need to feel through your feelings, and if you are still feeling good about hiring that person or a company, go for it.

The beauty of following your Authority on any decision is that you can be sure that even if things do not work out – if you follow your Authority, you will be learning an invaluable lesson from this experience, something that can give you more clarity in the long run.

For an Emotional Authority person, being spontaneous and jumping into things headfirst can only add friction, overwhelm, and the rest of the “funky bunch” of negative experiences that could be easily avoided if only you fell in love with waiting.

Waiting is a huge factor in Human Design for everyone, and we will discuss it further in this book.

Another crucial element to understand here is how important TIME is for you.

Imagine a wave – either a wave in the sea or a sound wave. A wave is essentially something that changes constantly over time. And this in itself explains why being “in the moment” or spontaneous is not for you. It is not reliable.

You need to allow this wave to change, to run its course. There is a build-up, followed by a crash or descent (happy to sad, hope to pain). These waves inspire action. They help you gain awareness of your emotional state at every moment.

Emotional clarity usually happens somewhere at the end of the wave as you go through it. Emotional awareness is not just about one moment; it is about the whole process.

If there is something you have been thinking about for a bit, chances are you have already gone through your emotional wave around it.

If this is something completely new, you need to give yourself a little time before committing. I think this is the wisest approach – and as you practice watching your emotions, you will begin to determine the best waiting period for you.

Remember, there is no right or wrong in Human Design. It is about you experimenting and finding your most natural ways.

By the way, as a side note, your mood will affect those around you, whether they want it or not. So be mindful of your influence, especially of your low wave, as it can condition those in your presence to feel low or even take your mood as a personal insult or accusation.

Living your design isn’t just about deconditioning from external influence; it’s also about showing that taking personal responsibility for how we condition others is crucial, especially with such a powerful energy as an Emotional Center.