3 Tips to Work With Outer Vision Cognition – According to Human Design
The way we experience and interact with the world is unique. Plain and simple. The sensations, feelings, information, and vibes that filter through each and every one of us are as vast and diverse as we all are. I don’t know about you, but understanding the reasons why I instantly love some places and detest others is incredibly affirming. The cognition layer of your Human Design is designed to do just that.
Located in the “tonal” aspect of the Human Design Environment, cognition speaks to your senses. This provides insights into how you can utilize and amplify your sensory experiences to guide your decisions around what is correct for you. Since this is a deeper layer of Human Design, I wouldn’t recommend digging into cognition as your FIRST move – essentially the point of environment, cognition, and all the other variables is to help you dial up the voice of your strategy and authority. If you’re interested in learning more about cognition, check out this post.
Once you’re familiar with your cognition, I find it helpful to have some practical examples of how you can apply this knowledge to your everyday life. Outer Vision, also known as External Vision, is all about being in tune with the visual aspects of your surroundings. If you’re curious to understand more about how this all plays out, keep on reading!
1.Consider Your Environment
Understanding the aspects of your environment that feel most supportive lays the baseline for how Outer Vision cognition will show up for you. Based on the 3rd Tone, this is about having an environment that is stimulating. Consider your overarching environment theme and get creative with how you can apply your visual aesthetic to it. If you have a Mountains environment this could look like creating a lovely garden that you can view from your window. A Markets environment might bring in decorations from different cultures and showcase all their travels and exchanges. Blend your interpretation of the two and have some fun.
2. Experiment with Your Style
There’s a good chance your aesthetic preferences will change – and that is wonderful! Notice what sorts of colors, textures, or designs you feel called to and allow your creativity to lead you. What sort of art makes you feel inspired or what bedspread makes you excited to wake up in the morning. Freshening up the paint in a room or adding a new plant or pillow can shift the energy around you. Swap out candles, get curious about the significance of colors. This is all about being in tune with the energy of your space and noting how visual differences influence your experience of them.
I once was picking out AirBnB’s with my mother (who is outer vision) and the place I thought was incredible was a hard NO from her because the orange color of the chairs in the place gave her a bad vibe. And not in an abstract way, she recounted the era it reminded her of and the emotional connotation associated with them. The same way a person with feelings cognition can tell if the vibes of a space are off just by standing in it, the outer vision cognition does this with aesthetics.
3. Note the Sensory Quality
Circling back to the idea that your environment needs to be stimulating, this can work on a variety of sensory levels. Surround yourself with nice smells, play with textures, and experiment with sound. Having the radio on in certain areas or adding extra insulation to make certain rooms quieter can be supportive. Lean into the unique qualities of your tastes and give yourself permission to curate, edit, and repeat. The more your honor and acknowledge the importance of your space – and stop writing it off as a silly thing – the more you can create a place that allows you to relax, which helps to dial up your ability to listen to and trust your authority and strategy.
Bonus Tip/Work Hack
If you have Outer Vision cognition, it is going to be very important that the platforms you work on are aesthetically pleasing. This will help to keep you inspired and engaged with tasks that otherwise feel stale AF. If you have to do some accounting work, find a platform that is more visually engaging than Excel – experiment with Notion and making your own templates and designs. Rather than using Adobe Photoshop (sorry NOT sorry), go for Canva and customize your visual experience. Create a colorful zoom background – or if you need to keep things “professional,” add subtle colored lighting in your room to build in an etheric glow. If you work with tools, get a nice-looking case for them or play with decorating your materials. It might seem silly but if you don’t like the way something looks you are going to avoid it, plain and simple.
It’s all an experiment
Your cognition is meant to illustrate just how unique your experience and expression is, so these are not hard and fast rules. Use your strategy and authority to guide you and remember this is all about self-knoweldge and exploration. Take what works and feel free to leave anything that doesn’t – or at least doesn’t for right now.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Variables in Human Design, click here.