For a quick recap of what cognition is in human design and how to figure out what yours is, check out the smell post, the first installment of this series.
FEELING COGNITION
Feeling cognition is the fifth of six cognition tones.
-
- Smell
- Taste
- Inner vision
- Outer vision
- Feeling (⬅️ You are here!
- Touch (Coming soon!)
Feeling cognition speaks to the “vibes” you’re getting, or the inner feeling you have about something. You can feel into the subtle energies around you. This might just be the overall sense you’re getting from a person, place, object, situation, etc, or it could be emotions and feelings. You might find you easily pick up on the emotions of those around you and might feel affected by them. Having a grounding or cord cutting practice can be really helpful to clear your energy field at the end of the day to help you properly rest and recover.
This doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to “good vibes only,” but it is important for you to be able to discern what’s yours and what’s not, and to give yourself the space to curate the kind of balance you need in your life and environment. You may experience unpleasant situations (this is Earth after all), but at the very least, having a space that is curated just for you and the way you want to feel will go a long way for your well-being.
Your body always holds the answers, and if your cognition is feeling, you might find that it’s even more sensitive to your environment and lifestyle. If something is not right, your body will tell you.
It will be incredibly important to build trust with your body and get really in tune with how you feel in your body.
Let’s bring this conversation over to how your HD feeling cognition can be part of your manifestation practice. We can’t ignore that your emotional state is key to manifesting. Manifestation is primarily about how you feel. When you strengthen your feeling super sense, you’ll have a heightened awareness of what people, things, places, situations are aligned with how you desire to feel. Since your feeling sense is already more sensitive, learning to discern what’s yours and being able to curate your feeling state will help you quickly tap into your desired state for manifestation.
FACTORS INFLUENCING YOUR SUPER SENSE
Human design is a holistic system, so everything interacts with and influences everything else.
The biggest influences on your cognition / super sense will be how aligned you are with your type, strategy, and authority. The more ease and flow you can create for yourself in your life, the easier it will be for you to tap into your super sense (and intuition).
For example, if your type is manifesting generator, but you’re waiting for invitations like a projector, there will be a lack of ease because you are resisting the natural flow of energy in your life. And vice versa – a projector acting like a manifesting generator or generator will experience resistance and challenges because that’s not how a projector type naturally or most ease-fully operates with the energies around it.
Your authority – how you make decisions – also plays a role. As you trust your intuitive decision-making process, you create this feedback loop between your authority and super sense. Your super sense is intuitive information that feeds into your decision-making process, so as you learn to use and trust each one more and more, they both grow stronger and more reliable for you.
Your strategy, which works closely with your authority, is how you interact with external opportunities and energies. Similar to authority, the more you act according to your strategy, the stronger and more reliable it becomes. And again, your super sense provides intuitive information that gets processed through your strategy.
Environment and determination (AKA “digestion”) will also interact with your super sense.
To find your environment and determination in Genetic Matrix (affiliate link – thank you for your support!), make sure you’re in the “design” view of your chart:
There are six determination types in human design, which are not stated super clearly in Genetic Matrix. For example, in the above image, the determination simply says “high.” High what?? If you’re a little more familiar with human design, you might know what this means, but for those who don’t, here’s a breakdown of what you might see in Genetic Matrix versus what it refers to.
| Genetic Matrix Determination term | Determination type |
| Consecutive / alternating | Same terminology |
| Open / closed | Taste |
| Hot / cold | Thirst |
| Calm / nervous | Touch |
| High / low | Sound |
| Direct / indirect | Light |
So, in the chart above, when it says “high,” we know that only the sound determination can be high, so we know that the determination here is high sound.
INSPIRE YOUR FEELING SUPER SENSE
-
- Music – take note of how the music you’re listening to makes you feel. Does it have a specific location in your body? How does the feeling change when you switch the song or genre? Create your own playlists based on certain moods, vibes, and so on. Focus on how you feel and how you want to feel. How do you want to move when you’re listening to them?
- Shows/movies – Similar to music, pay attention to how they make you feel in general, but also tune into finer details like particular plotlines, or specific characters. How do certain aesthetics make you feel? What about genres?
- Crafts, hobbies, etc – How do you feel during these activities? When you see others doing certain crafts, hobbies, etc., what is the feeling or feelings that come up for you?
- Use your super sense to tap into unprocessed emotions. If you find yourself feeling angry, frustrated, sad, anxious, etc., but aren’t sure why, or prefer to ignore these things, you can intentionally re-trigger these emotions by connecting to the things that bring them up. This way, you can give yourself time and space to fully feel them. These emotions come up to bring your attention to something, so giving it the attention it needs will help move these emotions out of your body. Use your judgement here. If there are emotions or things you’re not ready to face so directly, don’t force it. You can still move them through your body in other ways.
- Seek out environments, places, locales, etc., that you feel drawn to (no need to know why right away). When you’re in them, consciously tune into the vibe of the place. What comes up?
- Play with different elements in your environment, for example, sounds, smells, how many people you choose to be around, the colours or decor of a space – what is the vibe around you and how can you curate it to feel how you want to feel?
PRACTICE USING YOUR SUPER SENSE + QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
-
- When do you feel good in your body? When do you feel uncomfortable, stressed, anxious, etc.? Take note of what’s happening around you.
- When do you feel really present and connected to your body? Take note and do more of this!
- What helps you clear out the energy from the day? Do you have a bedtime routine that helps you recenter and get back to your neutral/sense of balance? Psst: Here’s a great IG account for emptying out energy and here’s a great cord cutting practice on YouTube.
- You might find it really helpful to journal regularly, or to have some other way of sorting through thoughts and feelings that are yours, and what you might have just picked up from your environment. Pair this with embodiment practices to strengthen your ability to discern what’s yours.
- If you find certain people or places always impact your emotional state, you can energetically put up a protection bubble. Try this and see if it helps protect your energy when you’re in these situations.
- If you’re feeling stressed, anxious, etc., pause for a moment, take some deep belly breaths, and tune into where in your body this feeling is. What exactly does it feel like, both on an emotional level, and physically within your body? What does it feel like it’s telling you?
- Since feeling is such a physical experience, it can be helpful to physically move energy through and out of your body. Physical movement will be key for this – this doesn’t mean you need to train intensely six days a week (unless you want to!). Simply tune into what kind of movement feels good for you and what kinds of movement you feel pulled to or curious about. For example, have you noticed you feel really calm after a certain type of exercise? Does something like dancing around the house light you up? Do you find it easier to sleep on days where you’ve had movement?
P.S. Click here for more human design articles.
