Examples of psychological projections
1. Envy
Envying and under (or over) estimating someone is basically the same thing. In both cases, you don’t see people for who they’re.
Either you raise them above you – envy – or you place their worth below yours – underestimating.
When you envy someone their success, lifestyle, or looks, not just that you focus on superficial things while ignoring the hard work behind the scenes, but you also secretly want the same for yourself.
But because you don’t own your desires and don’t give yourself the green light to go after them, instead, you envy others who live what you want.
On the other hand, when you underestimate someone by saying, “It’s just Tim, he is useless” (I apologize to any Tim reading this, it’s not personal), you verbalize out loud your own insecurities. By psychologically projecting your own insecurity on Tim, you judge him.
2. Blame
Behind blame is an unconscious belief of guilt. Perhaps, you’ve done something that you haven’t forgiven yourself (yet), and thus you project your hidden burden on others.
Sometimes, it’s easier to blame someone else than to find peace with our past. But, remember that whenever you blame someone, not just that you miss the opportunity to heal your wounds, but you also put yourself in a self-imposed prison.
Other people mirror us what we think about ourselves.
3. Judgment
Judgment is similar to blame. When you judge someone, you must believe the same things to be true about you as well.
Otherwise, you wouldn’t have noticed them!
If you’re happy with your body, you don’t judge and think of the bodies of other people. These thoughts don’t enter your mind. And if they do, you may have picked up the judgments of the other person that they have of themselves. (Picking up other’s opinions about themselves is something that empaths do.)
A little experiment:
Write down 5 judgments you have about your family or friends. After you write them down, reread them and think whether you actually believe the same things to be true about you. If you’re honest, you’ll find out that you hold the same beliefs about yourself, but you don’t want to admit it. Thus you project them onto others.
4. Lack of trust
Another example of psychological projections is a lack of trust in someone or something. Let’s assume that you don’t trust your partner fully, but at the same time, you know that there is no reason for that.
The lack of trust is a sign that you don’t trust yourself completely.
Perhaps, you let yourself down when you needed your support the most. Or you often sabotage yourself and don’t choose what you’d wanted to.
5. Someone special
The last example of psychological projection is when you make someone special in your mind. It may be a romantic crush, friend, family member, or even a public person.
When you catch yourself thinking that whatever they do is the best (and, of course, much better than what you do) or that you need someone specific to complete you, you’ve just entered the territory of specialness.
In this case, you project your longing to become this kind of person on the other person. Making others special is one of the favorite tricks of the ego. When you put them on a pedestal, you create a separation between you two, and your mind will offer you all kinds of illusionary thoughts. Thus the ego keeps you slave to its belief systems and doesn’t allow you to step into your power.
Do you want to learn more about projections?
If you want to learn more about how we create reality through projections. And how the mind’s illusions and fears work and how to change them – you may read more in my book Become the CEO of Your Mind.