Today’s task:
Find new uses for your waste. And get rid of the extra fluff.
I was inspired by Episode 18, Regeneration Rising – Akwese Majolie on Regenerative Food Systems in Cameroon, for today’s post, along with wanting to wrap up the information about human design.
Akwese is a powerful young leader making waves in the space of agricultural entrepreneurship. Hearing her passion for serving farmers in Cameroon was impressive, to say the least. I feel like she’s an example of someone who pounces on opportunity, and it was a good reminder of the power of scholarships and servant leadership.
Today’s task, in following with the content of the podcast episode, has a dual focus – we’ll discuss the incarnation cross and the channels for human design, and also the importance of eliminating waste within your own financial systems and why finding good uses for waste that you may not be able to get rid of is actually a sound business decision.
On Cradle-to-Grave Design
One of my favorite concepts is cradle-to-cradle, which is the opposite of cradle-to-grave. According to Wikipedia, the phrase “cradle to cradle” itself was coined by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s. Culturally, it makes sense that this term would come about at a time when environmental consciousness pervaded society and environmental activism was pretty mainstream.
The idea of cradle-to-cradle design is that when thinking about a product, you’re thinking about every stage of its lifecycle and ensuring that the least amount of waste is created in the process, and that any bi-products have a home. This could mean designing a product in a way that you can easily repair it or replace parts as opposed to creating something so cheap that it’s better to just throw it away (cradle-to-grave).
When we think about this concept as it applies to farming, we can look at the process that an eggplant goes through, all the way from seed to harvest to selling at market. Each of the ways that waste may be created (or minimized) during germination, post-harvest handling, transportation, and more. A book I haven’t yet read but have heard great things about on this topic is called The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency, and Maximize Value and Profits with Less Work, by Ben Hartman.
Applying Cradle-to-Cradle to Your Finances
One of the things I did earlier in the challenge was identify any unnecessary expenses and eliminate them. This included recurring expenses, such as subscriptions, and any other thing that came up.
Another suggestion that I have that I haven’t yet pursued is to create 2 savings and 2 checking accounts – one for bills, one for spending money, one for savings, and one for emergency savings. The idea here is to know exactly where you’re money is going before you even get it, and have your systems organized to support you in reaching your goals.
This necessarily assumes that you know what you’re spending, which isn’t always the case. I know that if I go more than two weeks without categorizing my expenses, I lose all sense of how much money I have in my checking account because of how staggered my fixed bills are throughout the month. Apps that connect with your checking account can help you determine what’s coming in, what’s going out, and allow you to just verify the way that they’ve categorized the expense.
Waste, as it applies to finance, could be anything that’s not accounted for, or anything that’s not in line with your values.
The exercise that I’d like you to do today goes as follows:
- Write down your top 3-5 core values
- Pull up your expenses over the last month through your bank(s)
- Review the two and respond to the following prompts:
- Are my spending habits consistent with my core values?
- Am I putting money aside for my long-term goals?
- Where is there opportunity to ‘cut the fluff’ and put money towards the things that I really want?
- Is there anything about my fixed expenses that can be adjusted that would give me more time, money, and/or freedom to spend doing the things I really want with the people I love?
- What’s the smallest thing that I can do as a first step to make this change?
I will encourage you to even consider the idea that what you spend your money on should be of higher quality, reducing unnecessary spending over time. This is a concept I’ve taken away from listening to many episodes of Máster de Emprendedores. Sergio Fernández talks a lot about this idea of spending twice as much on something as you would normally, which forces you to often have half as much stuff, and then reaping the benefits of having something of much higher quality.
I think a lot about this as it relates to shoes. When I was younger, I was happy spending $10-20 on a pair of shoes that would last 6 months to a year. But as I got older, I realized the importance of taking care of my feet, of having something that actually fits, and of shoes that will last for several years. So now my budget for shoes is anywhere from $100-$200, depending on what style (boots vs. tennis shoes, for example). I only have about 5 pairs of shoes/boots total, but it doesn’t bother me at all. And I find that I always have something for the occasion.
We’re going to wrap today up with the last parts of your human design chart.
What is my incarnation cross?
According to my Soul Map, the incarnation cross is “my personal identity, meant to be lived out fully and authentically”. It represents the path that I’m meant to expand into in this lifetime. The incarnation cross has four gates – 2 conscious and 2 unconscious. Mine is the right angle cross of the unexpected, sun gates 28 and 31.
My purpose: To bring awareness and influence to others, even in the face of uncertainty or the unknown.
The conscious sun in gate 28 means “Struggle”, which basically means that I’m meant to try out different things and challenge myself so that I can see the true value in life. This also tells me what experiences in life are worth struggling for. I smiled when I read that because in traveling abroad and seeing different cultures, I’ve found something that truly lights me up, and is worth the long game of struggling to live and experience. I even think about the way that my sister was abroad for seven and a half years before she could become a permanent resident in Australia.
The unconscious sun in gate 31 means “Democracy”. This is the energy of ‘deep servitude of the tribe’, asking how I can be of service to others. This resonates deeply with who I am and how I see myself, what drove me to create my business and what gives me meaning/purpose in my life.
Moving on to the earth gates, I have gates 27 and 41 in my chart.
There’s also one conscious and unconscious gate here. Gate 27 is that of the conscious earth, which means “Responsibility”. Every single description of this section rings very true for me. My soul map describes this gate as the energy of mother teresa, of teaching the tribe how to grow, of sharing the values of life through education to the collective, of needing to take care of myself before taking care of others, and of empowering others to take power over their own lives.
Does anyone else see how this is directly related to the mission of Mezclada and even the ethos behind this 60-day challenge? 😀
Unconscious Earth in Gate 41: Fantasy
This is the energy of manifestation! Of visualization and making my ideas come to life in the real world. This embodies my ability to imagine things that don’t yet exist. My favorite part about this is “holding your intention is your greatest creative blessing”.
What are my channels?
Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the channels within your chart. I subscribe to Taylor Eaton’s work around wealth and human design, and she had a newsletter go out before with recordings that described the sun’s transits and how that would activate certain sun gates. This makes the energy of those gates ‘supercharged’, in her words, and allow you to tap into different energy as it relates to your money. I think it’s brilliant! So check her stuff out if you’re interested in diving deeper.
We’re going to keep it super high level today, but I recommend taking a deeper dive to look up what all the channels mean in your chart.
The channels are the little numbers inside the centers with the lines that radiate out. Sometimes they have black or red marks going through them, other times they’re blank. The red represents unconscious gates, the black represents conscious gates. Please take note that reflectors don’t have channels because when you have both the conscious and unconscious gates lit up, they make a center defined (and reflectors have no centers defined).
You’ll find your biggest gifts within your completed channels (when both black and red are present). For me, I have 23/43 (Structuring) and 02/14 (Beat) completed.
Structuring – This describes my ability to “turn thoughts or ideas into transformational words”. This makes a ton of sense when I think about my ability to write, especially when working with someone else who has ideas but can’t get them down on paper.
Beat – This describes my ability to “work and save money in response to my soul work”. This also resonates deeply with me because of what I had just described related to my international travels. I’m not afraid of setting financial goals that hold me accountable for generating a certain level of income so that I can apply for a visa, which eventually gets me to a geographic location where I know that my soul will be happy.
That’s all for now! Keep up the good work and don’t lose hope! Breathe deep as you find yourself with family and friends for the holidays.
