When we’re young, we project whom we want to become—and whom we don’t want to become—onto our parental figures. We may see qualities in them that we have in ourselves that we like or don’t like. We may also see qualities in them that aren’t even there, because we want to actualize them in self, or are afraid of actualizing them in self.  This process of projection continues through our relationships with teachers, peers, partners, and beyond. While projection functions on a subconscious level at a young age, the process reveals itself to us over time as we are faced with the knowledge that what we project onto others doesn’t always represent their true qualities or faults. By midlife, we’ve usually figured out most of the true qualities and faults in our parents and peers, while our mates often serve as a primary source of projection throughout life. What we need to see in self, we often see in others. Awakening to the Ideal Idealistic projections begin when the call to self-actualize becomes stronger and deeper, usually starting right before or during midlife. This type of projectio …