Projection is an involuntary transfer of our own unconscious behavior, whether positive or negative, onto others so it appears to us that these qualities actually exist in other people.

That person is your mirror. If you admire greatness in another person, it is your own greatness you are seeing.

Everyone sees other people differently because each person is projecting different qualities of themselves onto that person.

We see in others what we like and don’t like about ourselves.

Meeting Yourself

Observe your judgments of others. Write down any opinion you have of people, include friends, relatives, co-workers, or acquaintances. Reflect on what you see. Do you see someone as a racist, selfish, or an idiot? Maybe they are someone you admire, someone you see as honest, successful or creative.

Examine these traits starting with the negative qualities that offend you. Find a time in your life where you’ve displayed this trait or where someone else has perceived you as displaying this trait. People mirror back what is within us because subconsciously we are calling it forth from them. That’s why certain kinds of people and situations keep showing up in our lives.

Once you recognize that the negative traits you see in others as a reflection of yourself, you’ll become more whole and at some point this person will stop acting out the behavior or you can choose not to have this person in your life. You’ll naturally gravitate to those who reflect your wholeness.

Stop Hiding from Yourself.

We possess every trait and its polar opposite. We have to uncover and embrace all of who we are; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Are you someone who:

• Wears a layer of toughness that hides sensitivity?

• Wears a mask of humor to cover up sadness?

• acts arrogantly to hide insecurity?

• a know-it-all to cover up feelings of stupidity?

Think for a moment about the mask you are wearing that hides your true feelings. If you believe you are weak, then you must seek out its opposite, and find your strength. If you are ruled by fear you must go within and find your courage. It is your birthright to be whole: to have it all. Every aspect of our selves has a gift. Every emotion and every trait we possess help show us the way to enlightenment, to oneness.

Transformation itself only takes seconds. It is a shift in perception, a change in the lenses we look through. Our perceptions are always colored by how we see ourselves, and the decisions we make about what is good and bad, right and wrong, what we like and what we don’t like. Change the lenses you look through, and you change your world.