Annie Richardson • Counsellor, Somatic EMDR & Human Design Mentor

08/04/2026

The Human Design term "not-self".

Within HD when we talk about the "not-self", it's mainly referring to the Mind as a false inner Authority. So to say, the Mind isn't the place of correct decisions. Inner Authority is the correct place.

Type dose have a signature/"in self" and "not-self"/theme:

Generator : satisfaction - frustration
Manifestor : peace - anger
Projector : success - bitterness
Reflectore : surprise - disappointment

Open Center's do have "not-self" strategies.

The term "not-self" or "non-self" is based in biology and refers to any molecule, cell, or organism-such as pathogens, toxins, or foreign tissues-that does not originate from an individual's own body.

The term "not-self" is a definition, not a judgment-condemn.

"Not-self" isn't "not good" and "in-self" isn't "good".

If not aware of the "not-self" it can lead to many different traps, depending on the context.

If not aware of the "not-self", we tend to identify with it and distortion takes place.

In my experience:
The "not-self" or "conditioning"
isn't just possible within our "openness".
It can take place within our "definitions" as well.

And so the mentioned "not-self" strategies of open center's do apply to the defined center's as well.

Further for the Type Generator, frustration isn't a clear indicator of the "not-self".
Frustration is a natural sacral mechanism, it's caused by getting stucked. Frustration can be transcended with S&A. You still will expirence it, but you are able to transcend it because you entered with S&A.
And so you need to see the cause of the frustration to be able to distinct whether the frustration is "not-self" or not.

So please let's stopp, to use or percieve the term - the definition "not-self" as a judgment-condemn!

Because we all are "not-self" - conditioned, even Ra was.
The "not-self" is part of the Binary. Polarity.

And just as Ra said : Wisdom
"It's not about eliminating conditioning, it's about eliminated the ignorance of the conditioning. You see, any center that is open in you is your opportunity for wisdom. This is your opportunity through that filtering process that once you stop identifying with what's moving through you, you can take advantage of what's moving through you."

Or as Alokanand Diaz says :
"In passenger consciousness self and not-self coexist at all times in the eternal flow of changes."

30/03/2026

I would love your support for my little YouTube channel which I've been running for 5+ years.

I do love my long form content and deeper stories which people struggle with, but I'm also moving into shorter pieces where I, as an open centred being, can just RIFF and get ragey or whatever comes up.

As I say often - ALL IS ALLOWED HERE.

In this episode I explore the mechanics of Gate 37 and Gate 40 in Human Design, often called The Channel of Community, through both a Human Design lens and w...

30/03/2026

Meeting your chart through the head/heart/body - a TOGETHERNESS.

Seven years in this world has shown me this… Human Design doesn’t just land through information; it lands through experience, but experience needs information too.

Most people come to HD wanting answers and I get it, but the shifts happen when you start asking better questions.

What do you feel when you look at your chart?
What pulls you in… what do you avoid?

This workshop is about evolution, creation... Seeing your chart and having FUN with it.

We’re working with it in motion.
Creative. Embodied. Real.

No pressure to understand everything.
Just space to explore what’s actually there for you.

If you’ve been stuck trying to “get” Human Design… this will change how you experience it.

Free link in bio or comment MOTION and we'll send you the direct link to join us .

Let's have some fun!
Annie

22/03/2026

The threshold is here.

Something in me is closing...not lost. Complete.

Autumn always asks this of me…
What am I still carrying that no longer belongs to this chapter?

And this year, I'm listening more and more.

I’ve let things fall away.
People. Expectations. Versions of myself that stayed too long.

Not in force. Not in anger.
Just a quiet knowing… this doesn’t come with me.

There is an underworld to this season.
A soft descent. A turning inward. A shedding without performance.

And I trust it.

Because life isn’t one long stretch of sameness.
It moves in chapters. In thresholds. In seasons that ask different things of us.

For some of you, this is your spring.
A rising. A blooming. A return to the light after time spent in the quiet.

For me… I’m walking into the dark with intention.
With space. With less.

As a Reflector, I’ve learnt I am not here to hold everything all the time.
I am here to move with the rhythm.
To honour when something is complete… and let it go.

No dragging it forward.
No over-explaining.
No holding on out of habit.

Just… release.

Happy equinox 🍂






lettinggo cyclesoflife innerwork shadowseason personalgrowth

15/03/2026

Something has been happening in my therapy room lately.

Not once or twice - Over and over again.

Different people. Different lives. Different stories.

Yet the same emotional current keeps appearing in the conversation.

Relationships shifting.
Families renegotiating themselves.
Friendships quietly dissolving.
People suddenly seeing very clearly who is correct in their lives… and who simply isn’t anymore.

When I step back and look at it through the mechanics of Human Design, one channel keeps standing behind these moments.

The Channel of Community.
Gate 37 and Gate 40.

You can read my blog on it here, or watch my vlog.

https://www.annierichardson.au/blog/the-tribal-bargain-breaking-open

https://youtu.be/-gaWu871T-w?si=N3CFi7fxihyZFlLl

In this episode I explore the mechanics of Gate 37 and Gate 40 in Human Design, often called The Channel of Community, through both a Human Design lens and w...

08/03/2026

Grace... gate 22 - What does grace mean for you?

64 faces of awakening

07/03/2026

Motion Chart chinwag with Shannon Walton.

We jumped on a live to talk about the motion chart and how it helps support us in understanding our own charts, and that of others by looking at our harmonic gates.

Shannon has a free workshop coming up, which sadly I can't attend as I'll be sleeping but if you can, it might be fun! 10th March 10am MST.

We're also discussing hosting another one specific to the reflector journey next month, so stay tuned.

06/03/2026

The grief of being uncontainable. A short story…

There is grief in not being fixed, because quite often people want us to be consistent, predictable, and available… often the same way we once were.

But we change, we evolve, and the friendships that we have built around the old versions of ourselves may not survive the new versions… and that can really hurt and feel so gut-wrenching… but it can also feel liberating and correct.

The thing is, uncontainable doesn’t mean unreliable… it means RESPONSIVE!

So instead of forcing consistency you may like to consider practising clear communication.

Examples:

“I am in a different season right now.”
“I don’t have the same capacity I used to.”
“This is where I am today.”

Relationships always and often evolve. If it’s a good relationship it will adapt… and if it’s not, maybe it’s a season and it’s OK to let it go without the feeling of I failed.

I'm here for you

Xx Annie

01/03/2026

Each week I am personally walking through the 64 gates of the Human Design mandala.

Each post is a reflection.
What I notice.
What I feel.
What moves through my body and imagination as I sit with a single gate.

I am walking with the wisdom keepers deck and my I Ching cards.
Letting image, symbol, sensation, and lived experience speak first.

This is how I am meeting the 64 faces of awakening.

https://open.substack.com/pub/theheartgrove/p/gate-63-after-completion

23/02/2026

You don’t disappear because there is heat.
You disappear when you turn toward it.

Every time you orient your attention to pressure, urgency, emotional spikes, you start to lose form. Because attention is fuel.

Conditioning feeds on engagement.

From a Human Design lens, this can be an open centre trap.

The undefined solar plexus amplifies emotion.
The undefined will feels pressure to prove.
The undefined throat wants to respond just to relieve tension.
The mind wants to resolve what was never yours.

If you chase the flame, you evaporate.

If you stay with yourself, something else happens.

You feel the heat.
You don’t organise around it.
You don’t fix it.
You don’t explain yourself into exhaustion.

You remain differentiated.

From a therapy perspective, this is regulated non participation.

Not shutdown.
Not avoidance.
Coherent stillness.

When you do not match dysregulation, it cannot sustain itself.

You do not need to extinguish every fire.

Stay solid.

What is not aligned with your energy will burn out on its own.

TRUST!

xx Annie

19/02/2026

There comes a moment in life when you realise you are no longer climbing to prove yourself.

You are climbing so you can turn around.

In this raw episode of Reflector Reflections, I speak honestly about ageing, generational shifts, and what it means to step into elderhood without stepping aside. This conversation was sparked by the 90s Reflectors I’ve been witnessing rise, and by my own reckoning with the truth that I cannot keep up with everything anymore.

And maybe I am not meant to.

Through the lens of Human Design, lived experience, and lineage, I explore the idea of becoming the bridge. Reaching down without rescuing. Offering wisdom without controlling. Listening without competing.

This is not about hierarchy.

It is about mentorship, respect, and remembering how we once held each other across generations.

If you are in your 20s or 30s, this is for you.

If you are in your 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, this is also for you.

We do not replace each other.

We hold the bridge.

Xx Annie