EP 147 Human Design in Motherhood with Erin Claire Jones: A Journey to Authentic Parenting

Understanding my human design in motherhood has been so influential in showing up in a way that feels authentic and life-giving.

In this episode, I'm joined by human design expert and mentor, Erin Claire Jones.

In this episode, we're sharing:

• How to discover your human design type and why it matters.
• The strengths each type brings to parenting and how they can be optimized.
• Practical ways to plan your parenting style around your design type.
• Erin and Maranda's personal experiences with authentic parenting through understanding human design.

Use discount code: MARANDA for 10% off your personal Human Design Blueprint that will guide you on your parenting journey.

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Chapters

• 0:02 Understanding Human Design and Motherhood
• 10:58 Parenting Styles and Human Design
• 15:09 Exploring Human Design for Parenting

Transcript

Depression, anxiety, and autoimmune symptoms after birth is not how it's supposed to be. There is a much better way, and I'm here to show you how to do just that. Hey, my friend, I'm Maranda Bower, a mother to four kids and a biology student turned scientist obsessed with changing the world through postpartum care. Join us as we talk to mothers and the providers who serve them and getting evidence-based information that actually supports the mind, body, and soul in the years after birth.

Hello everyone, welcome to the Postpartum University Podcast, Maranda Bower here, and I am absolutely thrilled to bring to you Erin Claire Jones.

I've had the privilege of getting to know Erin over the last several months now and I am just always so, so impressed with everything she does.

So she uses human design to help thousands of individuals and companies step into their work, their lives, their truest selves, and their highest potential.

Her work has guided me, guided coaches. She's a speaker. She's attracted to a growing community of 250,000, which I think is more now.

You are just a powerhouse. You've been featured in Forbes, Mind, Body, Green, Well and Good.

I can go on and on with all of the incredible works that you have done and how highly sought after you are for your human design, mainly because I feel like you are so pragmatic and tangible, it's accessible and it's so immediately applicable to everyday life, and I'm just over the moon to have you, so thank you for being here.

Erin Claire Jones: 1:53

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Maranda Bower: 1:56

Can you tell us, for those of us who might not be aware of human design, what is human design?

Erin Claire Jones: 2:05

Of course.

So human design is a system based on your time, date, and place of birth that reveals your energetic blueprint, and what I mean by that is how you are uniquely wired to thrive in every area of your life, whether it's as a mom or a business owner, or working in a team or in a relationship.

But it really gives us each our own unique roadmap to finding our flow, and I think it also reminds us that we are all so different, and the more we really take the time to discover how we are wired to operate, the more flow of success we can find.

Maranda Bower: 2:36

So beautiful and you have this thing called the blueprint and you can input in your information and you get like this very personal, in-depth guide and I have one.

It is absolutely life-changing, which is why Erin is here with us today, because I feel like it was just so relatable and I finally understood.

It was like I was able to give myself permission for being who I already am and I saw it play out significantly in my role as a mother and I would love to have your understanding of how human design impacts our roles as moms.

Erin Claire Jones: 3:23

Yeah, I mean, I think in so many areas of our life we can get a little bit stuck when we try to do things in the way that we think we should or the way that others have done.

I think human design is such a gigantic permission slip to be like, "This is how you're meant to do it."

I know for me as a mother, I have a one-year old, it's just been so wonderful having this information from the beginning.

Because you know and I'm curious to your experience we both are a similar type in human design. We have different designs, of course, but we have some similarities, and I would say so much of being a projector for you and I is that our energy is meant to ebb and flow.

We don't really have this like consistent doing energy, and so we're really having time alone as parents.

To kind of rest and recharge is so, so essential, and so it hasn't been easy, but I know from the very beginning, just carving out these little moments where I can be in my own flow and do my own thing and also just allow in a lot of support I would say paid, and otherwise, it's like I call my neighbors and I'm like I need help, and so it's just been really good to know that and not feel bad about that.

But I would also say so much of being a projector you have more kids and they're older is around the value of really spending one-on-one time with people, because you've got such a gift for making people feel so seen and so recognized, and so I can imagine for me I would love to have more children but the importance of really kind of having that time as they get older.

How have you found that in your journey as a mother, both in the one-on-one piece and also in the ebbing and flowing of your energy?

Maranda Bower: 4:49

Yeah, I love this so much and I appreciate the question. 

This is where I have given myself the most permission to just step back and just be. 

That was huge for me because I have always been in this go, go, go kind of world and I think all of us are in some sort of respect, especially in motherhood, like it can feel never-ending constant, and when I recognize my design type, my projector and a little bit more about who I am as a person and this need for this ebb and the flow and the rest, I think just seeing how much rest that I truly do need throughout the day, it was like mind blowing and then implementing that and recognizing, wow, I actually get so much more done and I feel more accomplished when I rest.

Like, what is this?

It was a whole new game for me and for my children too.

So everybody, I have four kids and my husband are all generators. They are all of them. Go, go, go, like always into things. They just love being a part of the world's.

They love that and I'm like it's finally okay for me to say you guys go, do your thing, and stay back.

Amazing. It's okay for me not to be included here because I'm going to show up in this way instead and like those one-on-one relationships.

Erin Claire Jones: 6:26

Totally. It's funny because I grew up in a family.

My father was a projector and he was so good at this when I grew up he would just I remember even we were like Hawaii ones and we like we're going on like a late night, I don't know some voting thing, and my dad was like I'm going to stay back and I was so mad.

I was like you have to come and he was like I really want to rest and I'm not going to come. Thank you so much.

And it's just so funny because I was so upset with him when he was, when I was, you know, young.

But looking back, I'm like he's been so good at being a projector my entire life because he's just really known it.

He's known exactly when he needs space and he just like takes it guilt free and then he shows up fully when he comes on.

And so I think now, looking back, I'm like this is actually very inspirational for me, because when I try to keep showing up and I don't have the energy, nobody gets the best of me, but when I really allow and support, I really rest, what I need. It's like then my daughter gets the best of me and my husband gets the best of me and like it's just worth it.

And I want to say for those projector listening, this is never about not having energy, it's just about energy ebbing and flowing and really kind of trusting that natural current rather than fighting against it.

Maranda Bower: 7:33

I think, too, it's like my kids recognize my need for rest as well, and that has been a very beautiful thing.

First I had to recognize it in myself and then claim it and say, hey, this is really important to me.

And even my four year old will be like Mommy, I think you need to rest. Like maybe you should go lay down or maybe you should go read and I'll come back later.

And they're so good at recognizing these periods of time that mommy needs and that when I return, like I'm going to be 110% for them because I can and it's so. It's such a beautiful thing.

And I think, too, recognizing their human design and being like not trying to I'm a projector, not trying to project my own.

Erin Claire Jones: 8:25

No, you need to rest, you need to stay back, you need to like you're doing too much right, which is not true, I might be but not my children, not my husband, yeah, and like and just for people and for those who want to look up their design you can look up your type.

But to see if you're a projector but also you know what you're sharing about is, you know, generators and manifesting generators like they need to use up their energy.

They often cannot sleep well at night if they've kind of fully expended their energy. So if you're like rest or they don't want to rest, it's really not useful.

And I similarly have a husband who's a generator, a daughter who's a manifesting generator.

So I just feel so lucky right now to be like these people are not like me and they don't need the same things as me, and like I can't try to keep up with them and like I just have to like let them do their thing and like let them use their energy in all the ways that they want.

And I remember once sitting with a father whose daughter was a manifesting generator and he was talking to me and he was like Erin, like she's doing way too much.

She's playing lacrosse, she's playing soccer, she's playing softball, she won't choose.

And I was like she's meant to do it all you know, like she's meant to be so multi-passionate, she's meant to try all the things, like she's doing this so perfectly.

And he was just like, oh my God, like I'm frustrated because I want her to be like me, not because I'm taking the time to understand how she works best.

And so I think it's just such an amazing tool, both as a parent and also as a child, to just really understand, like, how to support people that are really different than us and how to really take account and really kind of honor our needs, even if they're different than our kids.

Maranda Bower: 9:54

Oh, I love this so much.

Can you share in your experience what are some of the common challenges that maybe some parents have faced and helped?

You know human design has really helped them address. I mean, you just mentioned that story. I would love to hear more if you have any.

Erin Claire Jones: 10:10

Yeah, I think for generators and manifesting generators.

You know, for this, these types, you know, your kids and your husband these people have such amazing, powerful energy, and the more lit up they are, the more energy they have, and they have this very kind of magnetic charisma, passion around them, but it comes from them doing things that light them up.

So I have talked to so many parents that have put all their passions and all their excitement on the side.

They're like I am gonna be the best parent, but then they feel so burnt out and so it's often just such a gigantic permission so to be like you, creating a little bit more space to do the things you love, and they're actually gonna give you so much more energy to show up as a parent, you know, and so I've seen so much change there because they felt guilty around it when actually it's like it's better for everybody.

You know, for them to be like them. Being lit up really is. So it has such a ripple effect.

I think with manifestor parents. You know, manifestor parents, just like, are here to kind of do their thing and do it their way, and so they're not really here to follow other people's rules, and so I think that that has freed a lot of manifestors I've talked to who are feeling very confined by, like, what they think they're supposed to do and they're like you know what? I wanna do it my way.

Thanks so much everybody for all the advice and I'm going down my path.

And also so much of being a manifestor is actually having space to be in their own flow uninterrupted.

You know that's not always feasible as a parent there are nap times and things like that but still, I think them being of the kind of carve out space to be in their flow and close the door and let their kids know like I'm gonna be in my own space right now and I'll be available soon, is actually really amazing, because so much of being a manifestor is just like letting people know, like keeping them in the loop, and that can create so much more trust and ease in the communication.

And then I would say finally for reflector parents my gosh reflectors are so sensitive to everybody they're around and the spaces they're in and most especially their children, and so I think a big pattern I've noticed with reflector parents is kind of feeling a need to like, fix and resolve everything they feel in their children and so also really understanding their kids' designs, to be like I'm gonna feel it all and it doesn't mean it all has to be fixed.

Like they're just gonna move through things and do things and I can just sit here and like be a witness and step in what I need, but like I don't have to be like in there fixing all the time and then reflectors similar to projectors.

Like you and I, they need lots of space and time to kind of be in their own energy, so that's often a really key piece for them as well.

Maranda Bower: 12:27

I feel like you just touched on all of these different parenting styles. Yeah, really yeah.

Yeah, like you know, you have so many different parenting styles and it just like kind of showed up in all of the pieces that you are sharing here, which I think is such a beautiful thing, because oftentimes and I know for myself, I was a preschool teacher for 10, no, it was more than that.

It was about 10 to 14 years. Some of it was like office work, but I was a preschool teacher forever and I had all of these ideas about what it meant to be a mom, what it meant to like. Here's how I'm gonna raise my kids.

And we were given so much training about learning styles and education styles and parenting styles, and human design was not one of them, and I wish it was, because it would have helped so immensely with how I connected in with children and parents and everything in between and, of course, having kids was very, very different than taking care of other people's children.

And it's like a whole my world of what I was going to do like completely shifted right.

Everything that I said I was gonna do as a mom did not happen, did not, you know, occur, led down a completely different path.

That I feel is really reflected in me as a projector.

Erin Claire Jones: 13:56

Yeah, I love that, and it's just again, it's like there's so many ideas of how we think we should be doing things and then, when we arrive, we might want something totally different. And that's been such a big lesson for me as a mother.

It's so many ideas of what I thought I was supposed to be like, and then I arrived and I was like I want something different than I thought I would, I want to approach this differently, and so again, I think human design, it's such a cool tool to just give us permission to know how to make decisions and kind of approach it all in a way that really works for us.

Maranda Bower: 14:24

Yeah, and there's so much more than just our types. What are some other things within human design that might impact who we are as parents?

Erin Claire Jones: 14:37

Well, there's a big piece of our design that speaks to how we make decisions.

So whether you and I both need to sleep on things and give ourselves a beat so not being rash, that's been a big lesson for me.

I'd be like we should do this and I was like, let me give it a beat, see if I still feel excited the next day, whereas some people are meant to be very fast.

My partner, he's a very fast decision maker and I love that for him, but we're making a lot of collective decisions, so it's been really important to honor how different our processes are, so that's really useful.

There's a piece called definition, which is our best process information, which I also think is quite relevant to parenting.

You, for example, might feel a little bit trapped or confined if you're in the same environment all the time with the same people, which I imagine you are often, and so there's just like a need in your design for freedom to move your energy, to go for walks, to be in a new space, around different people, and like to just kind of get activated in different ways.

Have you noticed that at all?

Maranda Bower: 15:28

Okay, this is so crazy.

But very, very recently, like I've read that in my amazing blueprint from your and I was like I don't know. I don't really know.

I love my home and I have built my home as my sanctuary. I have worked so hard in my home.

I'm a Virgo.

My home is like a focal point for me and I do a lot to stay here. I joke all the time it's my place like my kids will ask me hey, mom, do you wanna go do this or do you wanna stay home? I know the answer.

And it's so cute, but like it's a running joke in my family.

But then recently I started recognizing like when I'm out and about and I'm like I got to go run an errand at Target or I got to go hang out at gymnastics practice or whatever they were, go on a walk I have so much more energy.

I have so much more energy than when I am at home in my own little bubble and so I think that my internal dialogue is telling me wait a second, you love this, because that's the story that I've been telling myself forever. Yeah when really I do thrive in other spaces.

Erin Claire Jones: 16:51

It just activates a lot of new energy within you. You know, it's just like you might have all these ideas and then you're out of the world and they just become clear.

You feel able to communicate them in new ways like there's just like all these new kinds of sparks and light bulbs, and so, again, this is not about you being around people all the time.

I can imagine that would not be enjoyable for you.

But when you're stuck, being around others can give you so much energy and so much new inspiration.

Maranda Bower: 17:14

It's so true, it's so true. And the crazy thing is I feel like that's a part of me that I have denied for so long, until recently taking this blueprint and recognizing it. Wait a second, that's maybe not how it is for me totally it's my life.

Erin Claire Jones: 17:33

It is my mind, and again, it's often stuff that we can't know deep down but don't necessarily trust, so can take some time to step into it.

I love that awareness of like I don't see it and I was like oh, I really see it, because now I'm paying attention.

I think there's so much more.

But I would say one other piece that I would say is probably really useful when it comes to parenting and truly everything is the profile piece.

So you're, for example, a 3-5 profile, I'm a 6-2, and so it's just useful to like for you.

There's a very experimental nature to your design. So my guess is, when it comes to parenting, you got to just try things.

You gotta be like I'm gonna try this and I'm gonna try this and I see what works and what doesn't. I'm gonna like it's gonna change and evolve with each kid, so you're somebody who really learns by doing.

So. Somebody might be like, hey, this is the way, and you're like I am not gonna trust you until I try for myself, and so kind of giving yourself permission to kind of approach parenting in a more hands-on messy. You know freedom to make mistakes, kind of way.

Maranda Bower: 18:25

It's so true, it's my entire life is like. I joke all the time. I have to fail first. It's so true, I have to try it. I'm still here because I have failed so many times, so what? What about you, though? How is, how is yours different?

Erin Claire Jones: 18:42

I'm a 6-2 profile.

The two for me is really around my need to be alone and my need to kind of be pretty hermetic.

Not all the time, of course, but sometimes, and so and the way that I really understand that it's time to be alone but also time to be in my flow, and so that's been really important kind of early on, I just carving out these little flows or I'm like I'm gonna go to Pilates, I'm Thursday mornings and I'm gonna go do the same with a friend and then I'll come back.

You know, like it's just having like these little moments to just be in my space and do my own thing and not have interruption, and then the six is so much around, you know needing to kind of step back from it all and kind of gain a higher perspective and then share what I see, and so I think that's been a big lesson for me, and parenting as well.

It was like you know, I can have lots of ideas, but until I give myself a moment to just like step back and really reflect and Just, yeah, just take, take a look at things from a different vantage point, it's hard for me to actually see clearly.

So it's been really useful, but I would say I think that feels most relevant and parenting at this stage is for sure the hermit piece. As much as I can, yeah.

Maranda Bower: 19:45

I feel like in this journey, for me and a lot of other moms that I've talked to who are into human design, there's this release of mom guilt.

There's this release of, sometimes, the shame that we carry and this is a big deal mom guilt, mom shame we talk about all the time like it's it's got a whole language of its own.

It's a really big topic and I feel like this.

Especially in our day and age, when we have access to Instagram and this huge world of information overload just being able to sift through all of that.

You don't have to when you know your human design and you can release that guilt and that shame of who you're not showing up to be and who you are showing up to be.

I just feel like this is such an incredible piece to the puzzle of our experiences as moms, as parents.

If you're listening to this, this is the next step.

If you don't know your human design, if you don't have a blueprint from Erin, I highly recommend it.

Erin, you're offering a discount for us today for those who are listening and we have a discount so you can get your blueprint and we have all of that.

Erin Claire Jones: 21:09

Yeah.

So if you want to get your blueprint which you know you share a little bit about already, but it is a, basically it's a book all about you.

It's a 55-plus page guide that's hyper-personalized, all about your unique design and how to work with it, and it's a great tool for you as a parent, as an adult In your life, but also for kids.

You know so many parents get them for their kids to better understand how they work. You can get that at humandesignblueprint.com/guide and the discount code is Maranda.

Maranda Bower: 21:35

Thank you so much for that, and of course, we have all of that in the show notes, and where can people find you?

Of course, we're gonna have that in the show notes too, but where can people find you?

Erin Claire Jones: 21:45

Of course. So on Instagram, I'm @ErinClaireJones and @humandesignblueprint, and then our website is humandesignblueprint.com.

Maranda Bower: 21:52

Thank you so much for being here, Erin, and having this amazing conversation.