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What are Projections?

Projections are a defense mechanism the ego uses to stay in an illusion of power. The ego has an important role in keeping us from feeling our vulnerabilities and our wounded states of mind. We project onto our reality all the time. The key to understanding projections is to discern the quality of our relationship to that projection.

For example, you might become more and more irritated at your partner because he or she is not listening to you. You might feel ignored. Because a strong reactivity exists with this projection, it may be one you want to explore more deeply. You should first ask yourself at what points in your life you do not listen or pay attention to someone. You may recognize that this is an activity you do quite often, and you may want to make an effort to listen to others or to your own self more.

Another layer can be a fear you have of being ignored. When you begin to go into the experience of not being listened to, a fear may arise of someone not attending to you, and that may bring you close to feeling unsafe in the world. This feeling could possibly stem from a wounded past where you felt a parent did not attend to your needs and you felt anxious about being alone.

Once you take responsibility for the projection, then you can begin to withdraw the projection from your partner. You can start to address the situation or communication issue you have with your partner, but without your reactive pattern clouding your perceptions.

To summarize, we project onto people, situations, and objects all the time, because we are not able to carry the vulnerability within our own self. To determine where we are with the projection, it is important to look at the relationship we have with the projection, in order to catch when we are reacting to people, situations, and objects. The last step is to allow ourselves the experience of the vulnerability underlying the projection and to be present with that fear. This practice will begin to inform our ego that we have the strength to be present with our fear, to carry our fear in our awareness so that we do not have to project out onto another.

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