Episode 323: How Human Design Reveals the Patterns You’ve Been Missing
You’ve counted. You’ve journaled. You’ve tested and “done the work.”
So why do your patterns still feel… confusing? Why does self-awareness still leave you stuck in the same loops?
In this episode, I’m talking about how Human Design helps reveal the patterns you've been living in — the ones that never made sense until you saw them through this lens.
We’ll unpack:
Why your patterns aren’t problems — they’re invitations
What changes when you track through energy, not just effort
How Human Design gives language to the cycles you've been trying to name
This isn’t about fixing yourself — it’s about understanding how you actually work, so you can move forward with clarity, not confusion.
Listen to the Episode:
Mentioned in the Episode:
Connect with Naomi:
Connect on Instagram
“There’s a big difference between tracking symptoms and recognizing patterns. Symptoms are the surface. Patterns are what create the symptoms.”
Read the Transcript:
If you’ve ever looked back at a journal or log or tracker and thought — ‘I’m doing everything everyone says to do but has any of it mattered? Why am I back here again?” — you’re not alone. This episode is for anyone who’s been doing ‘the work’, putting in the effort for a while… and still feels like they’re missing something.”
Hello my friend — welcome back to the show!
I was so happy to return to the show last week and its so fun hearing from you, and connecting with you again!
Thanks for coming back for another episode! This episode is part two in, I’d say a 9-part series on rhythms and patterns.
Today we’re diving into something that I see over and over again with women — especially the ones who’ve already done a lot of healing work, including myself.
You’ve tried protocols – the Whole 30s, the cleanses, the sugar detoxes – maybe you even did a sugar detox with me back in the day! You’ve done the functional lab testing. You’ve spent your money on all the supplements.
You’ve meditated, practiced breathwork, journaled, tracked and reflected.
And let me be clear – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things. If you haven’t listened to the last episode, Episode 322 yet, go back and listen to it for my take on these things… But the reality is, that somehow, even though you’ve diligently done all of these things, you’re still frustrated and battling the same struggles, the same symptoms, and the doubts? They just keep creeping back in.
And if you’re anything like me or my clients, you’re thinking: What am I missing?
So let’s name the truth here: Self-awareness isn’t always the problem. Sure, it can be, but you know what – if you’ve been here with me for a while, on Episode 323 of this show, I’m fairly certain self-awareness isn’t a problem for you. I’d say that over-efforting in the wrong direction is.
There’s a big difference between tracking symptoms and recognizing patterns.
Symptoms are the surface. Patterns are what create the symptoms. Human Design has given me a language for a lot of things that I just couldn’t name, couldn’t explain. One of those things for me is that as a Projector, one of my innate traits is that I’m a pattern-spotter. I pick up on things that no one else notices and they’re patterns. I can’t NOT notice patterns.
And while most of the wellness world wants you to micromanage your symptoms, what actually makes a difference, and what “getting to the root cause” actually means is understanding the systems underneath. Symptoms are the surface. Patterns are what create the symptoms.
This is where Human Design can change everything for you. It certainly did for me.
Because Human Design doesn’t hand you a new set of “rules” to follow — it gives you a map of your energetic operating system. Not someone else’s – YOURS.
Because in addition to micromanaging your systems, most of the wellness world also teaches only one way to micromanage your systems.
All the things that you’ve been told to do, that’s been quietly running your show…the protocols to follow, the daily habits to do, even the “mindset” and “manifestation” work – your journal might be full, and your protocols are seemly “perfect” but the reality is that you’re still battling the same battles – because you’re doing them based on someone else’s energetic operating system – not your own.
Let’s take a look at a few ways that this can look like.
As I mentioned, and you may already know, I’m a Projector. A pattern spotter, I see the big picture, and efficiency is my game. As such, I’m known for borderline obsessively managing my calendar, sometimes down to the minute. With that was someone who used to be very uncomfortable with saying “no.” My calendar was often double-booked and overbooked because of it.
So despite all my best efforts to “manage my stress” – the meditating, the breathwork, taking Melatonin to help ease my sleep problems – by the way, all those things and things like it take an incredible amount of energy in and of themselves to do on a regular basis – nothing really helped because despite doing all the things to manage my stress, I was still – at least energetically, saying yes to things that I wanted to say no to, or tried to say no to, and eventually my body couldn’t sustain all those things, especially when they were all compounded together.
When I learned that I was a Projector and what that meant and how my energy moved, and paired that with the Functional wellness approach of addressing root causes, I peeled back the layers and was able to spot the patterns that explained why I was constantly exhausted despite doing all the commonly recommended things to do to “manage stress.” It’s not that what I was doing was “bad,” the problem was that they just addressed symptoms.
I needed to address my pattern of saying yes to things I didn’t want to and couldn’t sustain. That was the pattern I needed to break in order to honor how my Projector energy flows.
Another example is a Generator client that I worked with. They struggled with anxiety and overwhelm, and all the typical things that come with it, and on top of that, they were extremely frustrated with all of it which added yet another layer of feeling guilty for being frustrated. It was a vicious cycle to be stuck in.
In our work together, we peeled back the layers and my Generator client was able to recognize a pattern of overriding their gut instincts.
Remember, Generators have Defined Sacral Centers. It's the defining part of their Human Design that determines if they’re a Generator or Manifesting Generator. And this particular Generator also had a Sacral Authority, making their gut instincts all the more powerful.
Yet they were able to notice that they had a pattern of overriding their Authority – their gut instincts with logic – making decisions by weighing the pros and cons instead of what their gut was screaming to them. Why? Because they’d been conditioned and felt that they had to justify every decision they made. And not following their Authority - their gut instincts - was the pattern that a lot of the stress – anxiety, overwhelm, insomnia, general dis-ease was rooted in.
Then there was also my friend with an Emotional Authority. Unlike Sacral Authorities who can make immediate decisions when following their gut, Emotional Authorities need time to make decisions.
Impulsivity isn’t for them. They need emotional neutrality to find clarity.
Yet this friend of mine fought that instinct. They had been mistaking the instinctual need they had for time to process things as procrastination and avoidance. And the people around them, myself included, didn’t help because we pressured them to make on the spot decisions (raising my hand with an Splenic Authority here). My poor friend spent years beating themselves up for “not being decisive.”
But these aren’t character flaws. The challenges in these situations, mine included, were unseen patterns based on each person’s individual, unique energy.
Your Human Design is your blueprint on how your energy flows, so you can finally stop guessing, stop battling, stop outsourcing your wellness — and start understanding why the same issues keep resurfacing. Start noticing and understanding your patterns. You aren’t, and you haven’t failed — no one gave you a lens that matched how you function.
Now, can I lay another thought on you? I don’t think patterns aren’t problematic either. I think that what’s problematic – and painful is trying to solve your problems through someone else’s blueprint; someone else’s Human Design.
What Human Design offers — especially when layered with strategies from functional wellness — is context.
Context that explains: Why your energy dips at different times Why certain “healthy” wellness routines end up making you more tired Why decision fatigue is real (and not something to mindset, meditate or manifest your way out of) Why things that “work” for other people feel unsustainable to you
Once you see your pattern, your choices start to feel different.
And that’s when clarity builds. That’s when your wellness becomes less about fixing, and more about recognizing.
So if you’ve been listening and nodding your head, and perhaps even feeling seen because you’ve been stuck going in loops of a vicious cycle…can you consider that maybe it’s not because you’re doing anything “wrong” but because your lens has been off?
This is your permission slip to shift how you look — not just what you do. This is your permission slip to stop outsourcing your wellness.
This is the kind of work we do inside Find Your Flow — my new program where we use your Human Design to build wellness rhythms that actually fit you.
No more outsourcing. No more over-correcting. Just clarity and confidence in your own system.
You can find the link to join in the show notes for this episode that you’ll find at www.livefablife.com/323 for Episode 323.
And if this episode sparked something for you, share it with a friend — that helps more women find this work.
As always, thanks so much for listening – for your time, energy and attention.
Trust your rhythm and I’ll see you back here next week as we continue our series on rhythm and patterns.
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
