Episode 433:


Hello and welcome to Unshakeable with Human Design, everybody. I’m your host, Nicole Laino, and. And I am so happy to be here with you today, as always, although you can hear I’m still sick, so I’ve got a little bit of that sexy voice thing happening. Bear with me if you will. I hope you don’t mind we’re closing out this year with just weeks long of a cold. It is what it is. We’re dealing over here. But in this episode, what I wanted to break down for you and I always bring you what I’m doing, this is part of what this show is. It’s very much what I’m going through. It’s very much what I am practicing in my life and my work and bringing to my clients Inside business by design, of course. 

And then, you know what I want to bring to you here. I pull up the things where I’m like, I really think this could benefit the audience. And right now, you know, we’re closing out 2025, as you all know. And while we won’t close out the Chinese New Year until February, given theme of this year, I think it’s really important to look at 2025’s Year of the Wood Snake. That’s what were in all year, to look at this so that you can close it out properly. These are five practices that I am going to be engaging in for the next two months and really diligently going through this process. 

Now, you have probably already been engaging in this because what happens, what we’ve learned with these energetic themes for years, whether it be something like the 2027 change that’s coming for human design or the year of the Wood Snake and us going into the year of the horse, is that these energies, even if you don’t follow this stuff, you’re talking about these energies, we can’t scientifically prove any of this stuff because correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation. So just because things have happened in past years of the snake that correlate with these themes doesn’t necessarily mean they’re caused by the energy. Of course, we can’t prove that, but we’re humans. And to me, what validates this type of conversation and this type of prediction, so to speak, is the fact that, like, I know these themes are here when I’m not thinking about it. 

And before I knew about any of this stuff, I battled or rode the energies that were present. And that’s what I notice. You know, I know so many people listen to the transit episode that I do with Christina Luna every month on this show, and that’s really what we’re trying to point out is the cosmic weather. You might not know it’s raining, you might not know that we call it rain, but you’re getting wet, and you know you’re wet. That’s what we’re talking about here. So whether you followed this or not, the Year of the Wood Snake is. Wood is naturally known as creative energy. It’s nature. And then the snake. When we put these two things together, what we got was we got a year of shedding. Snake is a yin year. 

So yin meaning more feminine, more passive, introspective versus outward and outgoing, like what we’re going to be going into. So we have this yin year that we are closing out this year of really deep. I know. I heard a lot of people use the term dark night of the soul this year, and I think that’s what it could be for a lot of people. I know people have gone through some really difficult things this year, and what I want to talk about is the way that you work with these energies is you honor them. If you do the work when it’s presented to you, if you meet the challenge as it’s presented to you will change, you will be transformed. And this is a highly transformative year. 

So what I’m going to do is break down a little bit about the Year of the Snake. I’ll talk about the Year of the Fire Horse, but we’re going to do a separate episode on that. I just want this one to be about closing out your Year of the Snake properly so that you can go into 2026 guns a blazing, because it’s going to be a ride. We’re going to talk a little bit about what the two of those things mean, and then I am going to break down five practices that I am currently engaging in and will be until we ring in the new year with the Chinese new year on February 17th. Okay, so before I start, if you have not gotten our secret podcast already aligned and profitable. Oh, my God. 

That is so much like what we’re going to be talking about. This alignment with profitability, the masculine and feminine. If you want to know how to Build a business with your human design, how you want to build it in alignment. What it really takes to be a CEO and an entrepreneur with longevity. Who actually makes it, you know, who can make it past the times that are difficult. Who knows exactly what strategies to employ in order to have success. To put money in your pocket, but also to have an expanded nervous system so that you can enjoy your life, but also so you can hold more when you ask for it and it comes, you actually can take that in and receive it. If that interests you, please DM me the word secret podcast on Instagram. I’m icoleanofficial. 

To download the Secret Podcast on how to Build & Scale Your Business with Human Design click here: nicolelaino.com/secretpodcast

You can download it there or go to nicolelaino.com secretpodcast and you can get it over there on the website. All right, without further ado, let’s get into it. So the year of the woodsnake. Just think about the symbolism of a snake. Snakes are very smart. They are super strategic. So that’s part of what this year was about. Wisdom, gaining wisdom. Snakes don’t really. They’re not like partiers, they’re not like hanging out. You see like big groups of snakes hanging out and, you know, like being super outgoing and stuff. They’re not a herd of snakes. No, they’re more introverted, they’re more introspective as a symbol. So what we got with the year of the wood snake was we got themes of shedding. Think about a snake shedding its skin in order to evolve. It’s a theme of shedding, wisdom, introspection. 

And then there’s a strategic aspect to a snake that this year it really was about. We got slowed down. Did you take the time in that slowdown to start? In a perfect world, what would have happened is you would have been going about your business this year and then things might have been different, things might have changed, things might not have worked as well. You. Different things were probably brought to the surface this year than in any other year and you noticed them. Again, perfect world. You have the wisdom to see these things and not panic and not freak out and not make a knee jerk reaction, but to go, okay, let’s assess this. Let me take this in, let me see what’s here. And then you decided what needed to go, what needed to stay, how you needed to show up, what. 

What internally needed to be worked through, released and let go of, or what externally needed to be shift, transmuted or changed in some way. Right. Was it a strategic thing or was it an internal thing? You probably had a fair share of both. But you had the wisdom to see what needed to be preserved. You had the courage to let go and face your demons and face the things honestly that were holding you back or that served you once, which is what usually is happening. You know, these are things that. Most of the things that we carry are things that served us at one time in one way or another, and we no longer can hold them. They’re no longer serving us. Even the things that we don’t look at as serving us at all probably served you at some time. 

If you have a bad habit, that habit probably got you through some bad time or something in your past that it allowed you to. Maybe not in the most healthy way, but in some way it allows you to cope. But now if you’re in a different place, you may not no longer need that coping mechanism. You might have the wisdom to see that’s not the way to get past it. That’s not the correct path. And I’m going to shift from that to something healthier. Like that’s the wisdom of this year that I hope you’re walking away with. Now I’m going to briefly just go through a little bit about what, you know, what the Year of the Horse will be like or what themes of it are. 

Like I said, we’re going to have our own episode for the Year of the Fire Horse, because it’s a thing. But I want to talk a little bit about it just in the sense of where you get to understand where we’re going, which I think will sort of make it clearer why closing out the Year of the Snake properly is so crucial, it’s so important. So 2026 is not just the Year of the Horse, it’s the year of the Fire Horse. It is a year of passion. These are themes of the horse here. Passion, speed, dynamism. There’s a sense of freedom. Like, if you think of horses, there’s this sense of horse, of freedom, unbridled freedom, you know, like, they are the ultimate, like, beautiful, majestic animal. And the phrase, you know, wild horses run free. 

It comes into my mind whenever I. I think of what I want to see horses as, right? So we’re going to experience these things. It’s going to move fast because it’s not just a horse here, it is a Fire Horse year. We have a lot of energy that is going to move quickly. You do not want to be still shedding and working through stuff, because what you’re going to do is you’re going to carry old, sticky, negative patterns. You’re Just going to amplify them in 2026. That’s not meant to scare you. It’s meant to prepare you so that you take this work seriously. This is why, like, sometimes we say we’re gonna do things, especially like the introspective work and, you know, really digging into some of the practices that I’m gonna lay out for you. 

Like, I’m doing this on, like, a daily basis. I’m gonna be excavating all of this. And I’m someone who does this work all the time. It’s not like the first time I’m doing this where I could definitely be one of those people who’s like, oh, I’ve done that already. No, we’re always doing it. We are always works in progress. There’s stuff today that I have to let go of that had nothing. You know, maybe I had no idea it was even there five years ago when I started doing this work. Well, seven years ago, I guess I started doing it. But do you see what I’m talking about? What you’re probably already experiencing is right now, you’re already feeling the energy is picking up. 

If you’re a sensitive person, sensitive to energy, sensitive to some of these more cosmic kind of energies at work, what you’re probably feeling is that the energy is starting to pick up, but it’s not there. So part of your mind might get caught up in that and wants to move fast and wants to sprint into next year and wants to go right, please don’t do that. It’s the worst thing that you could do is to try to jump on a horse that is running and nowhere near you. We’re not there yet. And if your tail is still stuck in the skin, it has not fully shed yet. You are not ready. You’re still a snake. You are not a horse yet. So we have to honor where we are at. So, like I said, Chinese new year is February 17th. They have until then. 

Now, I’m going to break down these five practices that I’m going through that’s going to help you to clean up any mess that you don’t want to amplify in 2026. And again, I say that not to scare you. I say that to prepare you and to help you understand what these shifts are. Like I said, this is a yin year. 2025, yin year, introspective feminine energy. More leaned back. 2026 is so not that it is yang and is fire. It’s going to move and it’s going to move quickly. So we Battled things this year, and I know some people are very happy to close the book on 25. I know it was challenging for so many people. I’m proud to say that we had our best year in 2025. 

I’m really proud of that because so many people I hear are down, are struggling, and I’m not. And it’s not that I’m special, but I’ve done the work and I’ve committed and I have a strategy and I know how to profit even in a tough market, even in a tough climate. But now the energy is going to pick up. I have to take care of some things because I want to make sure that I enter that clean because the gun is going to go off and the horse is going to run, and I don’t want to be caught not holding the reins at that point and get thrown off. Okay, so let’s start. 

The first practice that I want you to do in order to let go properly and prepare properly to close out 2025 and the year of the Snake is to celebrate the shedding you’ve already done. You know, what have you already released? Can you look back at this year and just look at it through the lens of shedding, letting go, shifting? What changes did you make that were difficult that you need to celebrate? We can forget to do this, especially with, like, the internal shifts that we make. Unless it turned into some sort of radical, tangible result, we tend to overlook it and just like, yeah, yeah, next. Don’t do that. If you let go of something that was difficult, if you quit a habit that was holding you back, if you stopped drinking alcohol, celebrate it. 

If you went three months without drinking alcohol, celebrate that. Celebrate whatever it is that you did that you know is going to propel you forward next year. Really dig into that and really celebrate it. Be grateful. Be grateful for the work you’ve done. Now, the second practice that’s going to help you close out 2025 properly and enter into the Year of the Fire Horse with all of the power and dynamism and passion that you’re meant to is to be honest and write down any areas where you are still holding on when you need to let go. 2025. The snake gave you wisdom to see clearly what no longer serves you. And we all have them. We have things that we know we need to let go, we know we need to release, and we’re just not doing it. Now’s the time to do it. 

Journal. Have conversations if you need to, but journal out. What is it that I need to let go of. You can meditate on this, you can do a visualization for it, but really dig into what you need to let go of. What’s still there? Where is there residue? I think about, like, you know when you put like a sticky tag on something and you peel it off, but there’s still like the paper from the sticker and some of the, like adhesive is still on the thing that you bought. It’s like, go get some oil and break that shit down. Like, I don’t want that on my vase. I don’t want that on my. On my iPad. I want it to be clean, right? So go clean off. Where do you have residue? 

Where do you still have some of that paper stuck to the thing that you just bought to the shiny new thing that you want to use and show off to the world, but it’s like ugly little stickery thing on it. Where do you need to let go? So really take the time to do that. I am making this kind of a daily exercise of just what do I need to let go of? Asking myself that question very deliberately. And sometimes I write about it and sometimes I just sit with it and see what comes up. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk and I’ll say, what do I need to let go of? And I will just let that be theme of the walk. And I’m not thinking about it actively the whole time. I’m not like ruining my walk with, like thinking hard. 

I am just allowing what needs to come up. So that’s another way that you can approach this same exercise, just from a different way. The third practice that I have for you, and I love this one, the third practice that I have for you in properly closing out the Year of the Snake is clear. Your physical space. Clean a closet, throw things out, shed, let them go. If it doesn’t bring you joy, let it go. If you haven’t worn it in two years, let it go. Look at all of your expired food. Go through your pantries. I just did this. I’m going through, like cupboard by cupboard and I’m just going through all of these things, taking out, like, is anything expired? Is there anything in here we’re never going touch? 

Just stuff that is taking up space and soaking up energy, just in a dead sort of way. Stagnant, it’s not moving. Get rid of it, Let it go. You don’t need it. The fourth practice that I have for you to close out the Year of the Snake properly is to set up your energy management system. This is kind of looking forward at 20, understanding that the fire horse year is going to be fast. Recognizing that you need systems in place now for how you’ll manage your energy, how you’ll make decisions, whatever it is there. You know, you can look at the different areas of your life and business. Like I look at it and I say communication, sales, client interaction, there are different categories. My, you know, and then of course there’s my life with my family, my home. Where are systems needed? 

Where are things not working? Recognize it. Now is the time to clean that up and to start looking at it like we’re looking at next year. And that’s why the last episode I did on planning for your 2026 crucial. When we’re planning, looking at just from a strictly business perspective, I’m looking at the sales processes for next year and I’m saying where do I feel like there is friction already? Where am I afraid that something won’t work? I’m cleaning up my energy around these things. And I’m also saying where do I know there’s a problem already? Because we’ve something that we have existing in our company. Like for me, one of the things that I know I have to clean up, I have to figure out a way. We’ve tried so many and I, I wonder if anything can save me here. 

But I have to clean up. Email. My inbox is such a war zone and I get so emotionally overwhelmed by the amount of correspondence that comes through my inbox between pitches for this show, most of which are garbage, some are decent. Very few pitches for this show, pitches for brand deals, a lot of things that I wish they were all wonderful because then it would be a great problem of spoils of riches. But it’s not. And I know that’s something I need to clean up. We’ve tried doing AI filters and my OBM created like this whole AI sorting system and everything. It doesn’t work. I feel like I just need to hire somebody to go in and manage my inbox. And that’s sort of what I’m looking for. And I’m looking for it now. 

I’m not doing that in March, I’m doing it now because I know once things pick up, I’m not going to have time to do it. Now would be the time. Okay, so identify what practices keep you centered. How are you going to manage your energy when things pick up? If you don’t have energetic practices, nervous system regulation practices, if you don’t have that kind of down now, it will be harder when you’re flying on the back of a burning horse to nail these things down, stability is created now. So what are the practices that keep you centered? What keeps you grounded? Do you have a list of them so that if shit hits the fan, you’re able to pull that list out and you’re like, this is what I’m gonna do. Do you have mentorship? Do you have someone or something? 

Like, I look at the people who I’m so grateful for, the people that joined Business by Design this last round in November, or. They’re amazing. They are just these incredible people that I’m so grateful to be working with, and I’m so happy they chose me. And I’m, you know, not just because it’s great for my business and I love working with them, but I’m so happy they chose themselves, because I am looking at where do I need support? The landscape is changing. Things are changing. I need to have sources that I trust where I can ask questions and I can be plugged into people who are actively navigating these choppy waters so that I have a better chance of my boat not just surviving, but getting there first? Right. That’s what we’re talking about. 

So what are the systems that you need to have in place both energetically and strategically? What support do you need to call in and tie it up now? And now is the time to do it, too. Get the tax write off for 2025, get it on the books. You know, lower your tax burden for 2025, sign up for that program, sign up for that mentorship, get the support that you need, and lower your tax burden for this taxable year. I’m doing that literally right now. I’ve already invested in some things, but I’m looking at some others going forward because I know that there’s such great potential in the Year of the Fire Horse. But it’s going to move fast, and the people who are going to succeed and excel are the ones that were prepared for it before it started. 

All right, and the last piece, the fifth and final practice that I have for you to help you close out the Year of the Snake properly and set you up for success and amplifying all the good things in 2026 is clean up your relationships. Is there anybody you need to apologize to? Is there any place where there’s, like, weirdness that you need to resolve? Who do you need to be honest with? You know, can you have those honest conversations where you’re not bringing in, you know, tense or negative energy in any Place where you feel like. And it doesn’t mean that you’re, like, talking to every single person that you ever knew and telling them you’re sorry or whatever. But if you sat down and you asked yourself, where do I have to clean up a relationship? 

Where is there something in a relationship that I value or something that’s holding me back? You know, where there’s a cord between us and I need to cut that cord, that might be something that you need to do. Or there might be a relationship that you value where there is some sort of tension or unspoken truths there that need to be voiced. If you ask yourself the question of what relationships need to be cleared up, if you sat with that, if you went for a walk with that question, the right people would come to your mind. They might not right away, but if you sat with it, which is why we’re doing this work now and not, you know, February 15th. 

February 15th is probably too late to do this in a meaningful way because there’s going to be stuff that comes up over time. Keep revisiting it, keep at it, keep coming back to this. And if you have somebody, so say somebody is not available to you, they’re not speaking to you, they passed away. Which is really common where we have energetic problems with people who are no longer on this physical plane. Well, do a burning ritual. Write them a letter, read it out loud as if they can hear it, and then burn it and release the relationship. Release the animosity. Who do you need to forgive? Forgiveness is such a powerful energy. The energy of forgiveness is the energy of release because you’re not holding on to anything anymore. 

Because even if you might say, like, I release this, if you haven’t forgiven, you really haven’t truly surrendered the relationship, if you’ve forgiven them, then there’s peace. If you haven’t, then there’s not. So I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I hope that you take this to heart, that you take these practices and you really give them the time and energy that they deserve. I know I will, and I am. Right now. If you’d like to get the Secret Podcast, where you want to hear about how you build. The Secret Podcast will honestly outline exactly my process for creating strategies in your business that deliver profit. 

And then energetic practices and human design for how you differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace so that you’re able to have an aligned and profitable business, one that delivers for you financially, but also fulfills you on a purpose level where you feel like you’re living your purpose every day. It’s really awesome. People love it. Check it out. Go to nicolelaino.com secret podcast to download it on the website or just DM me the word secret podcast on Instagram. I’m icoleno official and we will send it to you right there in the DMs. Thanks so much for being here. I appreciate you. And remember, in order to have an unshakable business, you must first become an unshakable human. So thanks for letting us help you become unshakeable with human design. We’ll see you next time. 

To download the Secret Podcast on how to Build & Scale Your Business with Human Design click here: nicolelaino.com/secretpodcast