I used a voice recorder to see if it would give me clarity. I talked aloud for nearly 10 minutes and, at first, didn’t feel it helped. However, everything in the post below came after. It was as if talking aloud cleared the debris that was hanging around and muddling things up. So, in that way, it did bring about clarity, just not as I had expected!
From an HD group I’m in:
“…..here’s my current perspective on why Projectors can be mistakenly diagnosed as bipolar [or other mental illness]:
1) Focused & absorbing aura (sensitive to the Other), leads to heightened open center conditioning.
2) Open sacral amplifies Generator energy (70% of population), causing cycles of mania & exhaustion.
3) Not knowing when enough is enough (Open Sacral Not-Self) expresses itself as addiction.
4) Mechanical reliance on being invited (and uninvited) to relationships and circumstances means we can’t correctly initiate our way out of a difficult situation.
5) Bitterness and resentment builds up like layers of oil in a dirty engine, until we finally break down on the side of the road, doomed to a life of jump starts and tow trucks.”
In the last week, I’ve been repeatedly running into the part in bold about Projectors. Firstly, I’m not seeking out this information consciously. In my boredom, I’m looking through my FB groups for things that catch my eye and have now found this particular tidbit of info three time in two days. The time between seeing the info is enough that I forget about it only to rediscover it in a new moment.
This tiny nugget – or seed – of info has been repeating. Each time it resurfaces it feels to have grown a little more.
I’m left with questions. If we (Projectors) can’t correctly initiate our way out of a difficult situation, then how then do we break free? Are we reliant on another invitation to free us? What can we do if we can’t initiate our way out?
My guess is the answer is: Strategy and Authority.
It doesn’t feel like strategy (wait for the invitation) is part of this decision as much as Authority here. My HS will let me know. She has in the past. It isn’t always obvious, though, and easy to overlook or doubt. My mind gets in the way, that is for sure. There are always a list of very logical reasons not to take action.
The poster of the above quote also does videos. In one he gives an analogy that feels correct to me. He says that a Projector gets stuck in situations (work, relationships) because we go so deeply into the “mud” of the Other that when we come away from it we can’t get it off. We can take a shower and scrub ourselves raw and it still lingers on us.
I was immediately reminded of how last night I couldn’t sleep after visiting my mom because I kept thinking about her current problems. I thought of what I said to her and how I tried to counsel her and her husband. It was hours before I could finally settle and sleep. THIS is the mud he’s talking about. My guidance would say, “It doesn’t matter.” And I finally accepted that it isn’t MY stuff and let it go. I don’t want nor need to take on and/or solve her problems.
The FB Projector group also answered a question: Why do Projectors need an invitation? To protect us. To keep us from the energetic backlash and resulting “harm” it causes (self-doubt, conditioning, negative self-talk, etc).
This also brings me to my interaction with my mom and strep-dad yesterday. I tried the counseling method of saying back to them what I was hearing – summarizing. I also pointed out what I was seeing without being overly blunt about it and communicated with short, simple statements. I listened more and said less. I didn’t give them more than they could handle (I tend to say too much, Generators can only digest small amounts of truth – remember, it’s hard to confront what you don’t want to know/see). The statements I made put their feelings first.
My mom got emotional and I let her cry and be upset. When she said she needed to be on anti-depressants because of her emotionality I told her that it is normal to be emotional and okay to feel. She needs to hear that her emotion is OK (she is an emotional MG after all!). Because of how I handled it, I was able to come away form the conversation without feeling bitter or rejected. At one point I sensed they were tiring of a particular topic. My mom was avoidant in order to not hurt her husband’s feelings and to not be emotional. So, I changed the topic to something they could both handle. I know my mom preferred to be one-on-one with me but when we were alone I didn’t push the uncomfortable topics with her.
So, even though I received an invitation from both of them, I was able to gauge it correctly so as to not end up with a withdrawal of that invitation.
It is easier when I can distance myself from the situation, remain detached and take things less personally. I tend to take my mom’s “side”, take on her perspective, her emotion, her – everything. If I can be objective it is much easier. I allow myself to feel through all of it without taking ownership of it (consciously or unconsciously). It is very much easier if I remain objective. The statement, “It doesn’t matter” is true because if I remind myself of this then I remain objective and can better navigate the situation.
This is the solution to my life situation, too. I need to look at everything and distinguish between what is mine and what isn’t. Release ownership for that which isn’t mine; those things don’t matter. Yet at the same time I need to be compassionate to the problems of the Other. It is a “sticky” situation and so necessitates that I be selective, pulling the sticky stuff off little by little so as to not overwhelm the Other which in turn will overwhelm me.
The most difficult part of remaining objective, for me, is that my children are so much a part of me and my definition of Self. This isn’t an issue with my relationship, really, as I feel very much separate from my husband and able to hold my own in many ways. I’ve been working on maintaining firm boundaries with him for a long time and feel like I’m doing really well. Yet my children feel part of me and so to distance myself from their wants/needs is difficult.
I think what is most odd for me is that, when I am able to disconnect from all the entanglement with the Other, I am left with very little. I am really so….simple. So simple, so “boring” that I immediately reject it and replace it with what I have been conditioned to believe is ideal. But the scene I pursue is not mine. It is a scene of constant movement and doingness – having a job, money, friends, projects. But my simple – True – Self says I need none of that to be happy. Sure I may need some to survive but aspiring for more than I need is not necessary. Having more is icing on the cake.
In Costa Rica I was face to face with the simplicity of myself and it made me very uncomfortable. For as long as I can remember I’ve been in near constant motion. Doing and doing until the day is gone. I don’t get tired, not physically, unless I really exert myself. The tiredness that other Projectors speak of, for me, isn’t physical, it’s mental and/or energetic. I lose the ability to tolerate life – people, motion, activity, etc. So it is clear that I’ve been conditioned to accept more doingness than is natural for me.
Since I live and work in places filled with Generators, the motion I find myself in is an attempt to release all the energy I acquire from those Generators. As long as I live in this house with my Generator family I will have this extra energy. If I don’t move my body to release the energy I feel agitated, grumpy, and cannot tolerate very much. Life feels heavy and burdensome when this pattern goes on for too long. Thus, I find myself seeking a reprieve via a vacation or just extended alone time.
I am reminded of advice I wanted to give my mom yesterday, but didn’t (because she didn’t ask). The advice was to take one thing and focus on that rather than be overwhelmed by the seemingly endless list of things that need to be done. For her, I wanted to ask her to pick the thing she felt was most important or that needed priority over the others. So, for myself, if I do that, the priority SHOULD be me, but what I tend to do is prioritize Others – my children specifically and then my husband after them.
So, my focus before anything else should be to prioritize myself. Listen to myself, learn to love being the simple version I seem to want to run away from. Stop putting conditions on myself. There is no need to do anything except what feels right in the moment.
Flow.