Synthesized Living: Navigating Emotional Waves
What is an ‘Emotional Wave’?
An emotional wave describes the awareness energy that the Solar Plexus Center releases on a cyclical basis; it’s operation contrasts with the Sacral Center’s physical responsiveness and the Splenic’s only in-the-moment, spontaneous awareness. The Solar Plexus’ waves take an individual across the whole emotional spectrum before retreating back and returning the person to their emotionally ‘sober’ state. Individuals with a Defined Solar Plexus are characterized by this cyclical vacillation between emotional states; these states deliver someone to their inner depth as they internalize what it means to be alive, feel pleasure or pain, exuberance or melancholy, and everything in between.
While all waves originate from the Solar Plexus, they are not all alike. Ra Uru Hu described three kinds of emotional waves, each with differing frequencies, that an individual can experience based on which channels define their Solar Plexus. Distinct to the three wave frequencies is the ‘Source of All Wave Mechanics’ — the origin of the waves themselves.
The Source of All Waves
This progenitor wave is created by the Channel of Mating (59-6). It’s a direct, penetrating wave that breaks through personal barriers in order for intimacy to arise between individuals. Emotions form the foundation of any relationship and here the emotional energy of the Solar Plexus joins with the vital, life energy of the Sacral Center in deep communion. Typically, the 59-6 wave feels natural, like the destined bonding between soulmates where one person completes the other.
Tribal Wave • Need
The Tribal Wave frequency operates via the Channel of Synthesis (19-49) and the Channel of Community (37-40). In line with the Tribal Circuit Group’s dynamics, this wave is dependent on the sensitivity to the needs of fellow tribal members and physical touch, which form the basis of emotional bonds among them. Mechanically, the wave steadily increases across a time period until the right amount of pressure has built up and there is a sudden, explosive release of emotional energy. This frequency illustrates the gradual tension that accumulates from coexisting individuals; it’s a mother tolerating a son’s resistance overtime until she can no longer abide by her child’s petulance and releases the energy by scolding her son. This dynamic is familiar to anyone that has lived in a communal setting. Awareness of how this Tribal-derived wave operates can help assuage the energy’s build up or discreetly dissipate it before it explodes. In fact, touch and emotional intimacy are a solid ways of enabling this — a hug, a hand held, or a reassuring arm around the shoulder.
Individual Wave • Passion
The Individual Wave frequency operates via the Channel of Openness (22-12) and the Channel of Emoting (39-55). In line with the Individual Circuit Group’s dynamics, this wave is dependent on an individual’s mood as they progress through life. Mechanically, the wave is characterized by a baseline, tranquil mood that is punctuated by brief spikes or dips of emotional energy that represent the individual’s excitement or melancholy. This dynamic illustrates the way changes in one’s mood adjusts the energy of the person and those around them — similar to the Individual inspiring others from time to time. Notably, this frequency is mitigated by balancing social engagement with alone time. In fact, being alone is what allows a person to dissipate the conditioning energies or ride out their emotional waves productively.
Collective Wave • Desire
The Collective Wave frequency operates via the Channel of Recognition (41-30) and the Channel of Transitoriness (36-35). In line with the Collective Circuit Group’s dynamics, this wave is predicated upon the relentless quest for personal experience that can be profoundly affected by one’s expectations for an experience. Mechanically, the wave has a rather steep and fast build up that then comes crashing down — it can be the wildest of the wave frequencies and can be proportionally hard to manage without proper awareness of its operation. The rapid climb in energy represents the strong desire within an individual, either for another person or the experience itself, whereas the crash represents the disappointment of the experience not living up to the expectations. The best way to mitigate this specific wave frequency is to abandon expectation and simply accept the experience for what it is. Think of this like a rollercoaster; do not try to expect how thrilling or otherwise the drop in the rollercoaster will be, just ride the rollercoaster and enjoy it for how it makes you feel. Learn to take everything in stride, simply experiencing without expecting, and merely live in anticipation of what may lay around the corner.
Managing Your Emotional Wave Pattern
All of these emotional waves have significant sway over individual people as well as society at large. Just over half the population has a Defined Solar Plexus and emits these waves, while the other portion instead is receptive to the emotionally conditioning energy. Regardless of where one falls, there are three things to keep in mind:
Awareness: One should never identify with the emotions themselves. They are an energy that temporarily surges within you, but they are not you — you may feel angry during the wave, but you are not anger itself. You ride upon the ocean, but you are not the ocean itself. It is advisable for one to practice being aware of their current emotional moods. Instead of just being livid and acting out while in the midst of a fit of rage, pause and recognize that you are currently angry, that this isn’t truly you, and accept this state of being as just a temporary shift in your energies. For many this is perhaps the most difficult step to take because of the extreme potency for emotions to overtake all reason and awareness with their surging and crashing energies.
Acceptance: There is no need to apply reason to your emotions in an attempt to rationalize why you feel the way you do. Simply accept and embrace them as the ‘flavors of life’ that cumulatively allow one to experience life — all of its deepest, melancholic depths as well as its highest, ecstatic heights. Essentially, one should strive to simply move with their emotional waves and not fight them or attempt to find a target of blame for them. The captain of a ship does not bemoan the ocean storms and nor do they fight the waves while navigating the ship. These individuals move their vessels, as you should, along the crests and slopes of the ocean’s tumultuous waves. You are here to ride the storm because this wave is here and will invariably lead you to what you are meant to experience.
Await: Most importantly, on must learn to wait because every emotional wave is only ever temporary. Allow the emotional wave to sweep you along toward that which you are meant to experience, while remaining an aware observer during and within the process. Whether one has a Defined, Undefined, or Wide-Open Solar Plexus, waiting is the best method by which one experiences the emotions and then allows them to pass. Note that for the latter two, removing oneself from the source of the conditioning energies is a key component of this waiting methodology. “Time heals all wounds” as they say, and overcoming or waiting out emotional waves is no different.
In Human Design, the Solar Plexus drives the need for engagement, foments the bonds of intimacy, and underscores the experience of the human condition. Despite its proportional perils, it’s a truly wondrous center that arguably unlocks the ability for humans to truly live full lives alone or with others. It permeates all of society and all of an individual. As with everything in life, awareness of something allows one to better manage it and better reap the rewards of correctly acting in ways that are authentic to one’s unique Human Design.