🕯️ IFS and Projection

Projection, in IFS, is what happens when one part sees its own pain, fear, or longing reflected in someone else. It’s not deception—it’s displacement, a way the system tries to understand itself safely from a distance.

• A judging part may accuse others of being controlling while secretly fearing its own intensity.

• A fearful part may sense rejection everywhere because it still lives in the memory of abandonment.

• A longing part may idealize others, hoping they’ll carry what it cannot yet hold.

IFS doesn’t shame projection. It invites reflection:

• “What might this person be showing me about my own system?”

• “Which part of me feels this most strongly?”

When Self turns inward, projection softens into recognition. The energy that once reached outward for resolution begins to move inward for understanding.

In IFS, projection isn’t a flaw—it’s the psyche pointing a gentle finger back home.