Last time, we explored Hexagram 56, which was about engaging in life’s experiences and seeking to match our “outer” and “inner” worlds. Now, the sun is moving into Gate 31 in the Human Design System, which we call “Influence.”

Gate 31 is in the Throat Center, which means it has to do with expressing. It’s a voice, and it’s a very powerful voice, a voice that other people are going to want to hear. When I see people with the 31 in their charts, I often tell them to be very careful who’s around them because even if they’re just talking about things in their own lives, personal matters, people might be straining to listen in. So, when the 31 is in play, it’s about really making your voice count. When you have the gift of this powerful influential expression, you want to use it in a meaningful way. So how do you do that?

Mutual attractions and your readiness to interrelate allow you to express your natural influence. People are drawn to you, and you have a natural inclination and ability to relate with them, which puts you in a prime position to be influential, to provide guidance and instruction. But it’s important that you relate to people from your own independent and present vision of reality. Before you use your voice of influence you’ve got to be very clear in yourself, in your reality as you understand it, and where it’s all headed. Where are you directing people’s attention?

Let’s look at Gate 31 in the Human Design System line by line:

First Line: Opening

The first line is called “Opening: Finding the sincerity to allow yourself to be influential.” Being influential can take many different forms. It can be found even in the simplest of things. But, again, it has to be grounded in the present moment. What is needed in this moment?

This is the utter beauty of the Human Design System: it brings you into the present on your own terms. When you understand your Type and Authority, and how energy moves through you, you find that you’re equipped to deal with anything that comes your way in the present moment.

You express leadership through clear alignment with your inherent aims, but in attempting to establish influential roles, you might align with status rather than ideals. With the 31, there’s always the potential to take over, to take charge of situations. But leadership is a very particular thing. There’s a great degree of responsibility involved in being influential, in being a leader. And if you can’t necessarily see where that responsibility lies, then you have to be really careful about potentially leading yourself and others on a wild goose chase.

Second Line: Acting Independently

Second lines always have a natural connection to whatever’s going on in the world. And here, the line is called, “Acting Independently: Attuning to the correct time to act.” Timing is everything. There is a right time to say what needs to be said, and there’s a right time to act on what has been said. And it’s up to you as a leader, as an influencer, to tune into that timing.

Your independence is influential when you move to your own perception of timing. Second lines have a closer connection to being natural than anything else. And when you consider the natural world around us, you see that nature only knows how to be natural. There’s nothing contrived about it at all. Nature just does its thing. And second lines have that potential attunement to move to their own perception of timing.

Confusion stems from a mental push to be influential that cannot wait for real clarity. There can be a tendency to jump the gun. If you’re not clear on the timing, if you’re not tuned in, you might say things that really don’t need to be included. You might give away all the plans, all the secrets, before the moment when anybody is ready to hear and act on them.

Third Line: Distinguishing

There’s always a potential hesitancy around a third line. You’re never sure if you want to jump in wholeheartedly or just dip a toe and move onto something else. And here, the third line is called, “Distinguishing: Observing any impulse to influence others.”

You need to be clear in yourself to find mutual influence and benefit in all dealings with others. You need to really know why it is that this influence has to come through in the first place. You need to ask yourself: “Am I really involved in this, or am I just saying things in order to shield another motive?” The bottom line is mutual influence and mutual benefit. If you’re saying things just because you feel you need to say something, is it really going to benefit the people around you?

Your capacity to lead is enhanced by inner clarity and associations with worthy influences. Third lines are always trying everything out, and a lot of times things don’t work. So, you might question whether you can even trust yourself. That’s why inner clarity is the first key to being influential. You need to be really clear on what it is that needs to be put out. And then you need to find associations with worthy influences. Find the people that really get you and your experimental way of going through life.

The thing to be careful of is pushing. Yearning to lead often exposes you to the influences of unhelpful company. When you act out of an urgency to take charge, rather than from a place of clarity, you’re likely to attract all sorts of people who aren’t really tuned in, who aren’t going to be helpful in any way.

Fourth Line: Convincing

Fourth lines always have the potential to draw people together. They want everybody to be on the same page. They love consensus. Here, the fourth line is called, “Convincing: All influence is realized according to its openness and purity of intent.” It involves expressing your influence in a way that people can easily recognize, and a way that brings people into common accord.

You are highly regarded in your heartfelt capacity to take charge in all situations. People recognize and appreciate your natural combining energy, your ability to gather people under your umbrella. They feel they can trust and rely on you totally. And it’s a wonderful feeling for fourth lines when people come on board with you.

The other side of this is that you can persuade others in ways that are not necessarily aligned with their actual needs. When you’re not absolutely one hundred percent clear where things need to go, there can be a tendency to fudge it one way or another, to get caught up in your own leadership role and end up missing the object to the whole thing.

Fifth Line: Being Farsighted

The fifth line is always in a position of being a leader. It can see the natural ways in which people can be guided. And here, the fifth line is called “Being Farsighted: Holding the intention to assert influence for bright outcomes.”

Clear outcomes can be affirmed through your inner certainty, or as a matter of fixed discipline. You have the possibility of seeing outcomes that other people can’t see. But there are two ways of going about getting to these outcomes. The fixed discipline way: You plant your feet firmly on the ground and go about things in a practical, methodical manner. Or the inner certainty way: You just get the sense that this is how things are going to happen. You just see it. You see the future. You see what’s coming down the road and you’re going to pick up the mantle and lead us all to it.

Power comes through recognizing your own stance in influencing or being influenced. What’s the difference between being influential and being influenced? There have been periods where humanity has been completely hypnotized to believe in all kinds of things, only to find out later that these things are absolute nonsense. So, it’s about sorting out for yourself: What’s the reality? Am I allowing myself to be influenced, or am I following my own Type and Authority?

Sixth Line: Being Diligent

The sixth line is called “Being Diligent: Relating your influence in the world from your own depth.” Intellectual comments rarely have much effect. A sixth line can come across as a head on legs, constantly thinking things over, weighing all the potentials. But your influence comes from a deeper place. So, as much as possible, try to bring it out of the conceptual level, the intellectual level, and into something deeper, more experiential.

Your experience makes you a living example. When you’re clear in your own life, you influence others by living according to your own vision. The bottom line with the 31 is that the reason you have the ability to influence other people’s lives is because you’re not just talking the talk. You’re walking the walk.

Beware of a tendency to guide others dogmatically rather than trusting your own innate intelligence. Your influence has to come from you, authentically. If you’re subscribing to a party, or a belief system, and issuing dictates based on a fixed, ready-made set of rules and guidelines, rather than being grounded in your own clarity and understanding, you’re going to lead people astray.

We’re all being called to think about these things at this particular moment in time. Are we being led along by the nose, or are we clear and open in how we play within this realm of influence? With the 31, we’re looking for the bright future, we’re looking for great outcomes. Are we on that track? We shall see.

That’s 31 in the Human Design System. We’ll check in again soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how your Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.