How much of your emotional baggage do you project onto others?

I don’t project it onto others, however, I recognize more of the signs of it happening.. to use your specific example.

I do indeed use a lot of projection to define people and get comfortable with my own perceptions, based on stuff I know about myself, as well as experiences which pertain to this question. However, I usually keep it to myself. It’s sad and disgusting, but it’s the way it is. I try not to, but it usually fails.

A coach purse, plus, a fanny pack.

That is all.

a little bit.

I wear my heart on my sleeve and have a very hard time hiding my moods and emotions, and I can be intense. It’s pretty odd because my mother was most uncomfortable with emotions and intolerant of them—I should’ve gone the other way but apparently it’s not in my nature to be a poker face. If anything’s projected on others, it’s very unintentional.

I can relate very much to @linguaphile.

I don’t think I do that. I tend to take people at their word. Sometimes I’m caught off guard when what I was told turns not to be true.

I also wear emotions on my sleeve, but I don’t put baggage on people. I deal with my stuff, and no one else wants to deal with my shit for me.

Your example. Assuming I did it I can’t really tell if they are lying or telling the truth so I have to believe them.

As for “sharing” I don’t really do it that much with the rest. I keep it to myself.

Well, I was stood up by a guy I liked at the time at Valentine’s Day, though we did carry on dating for a year, but since then, I always have this phobia that guys would abandon me or stand me up…

I still work on this kind of phobia and once I get the trust and know the person, I feel ok, but only the beginning when someone I really like and they don’t reply my texts or calls, I start to panic.

I’m like @Sunny2 for the most part. I take people at face value, until I see a reason to do otherwise. That’s not to say I don’t recognize signs of, say, dealing with past sexual abuse or anxiety or something else I have experience with. But I wouldn’t assume I was right. I’d just wonder about it, you know?

I’ve often wondered about this as well. Are habitual liars more likely to assume that others aren’t telling the truth until they prove that it is true? Do relationship cheaters assume that two people who become close are in some sort of romantic relationship?

In thinking about it, It’s not just about emotional baggage. I once worked with a man who had never seen snow before. Having dealt with it every year of my life, it surprised me, although it shouldn’t have. We left him playing out in the snow and covered his work. Another time, I was in South Carolina traveling with a co-worker when 9/11 took place. We were told by the office to stop working and head home until further notice. The co-worker asked me if he could drive over to the coast instead, as he had never seen the ocean. An American who hasn’t seen the ocean?? I’ve seen enough of them on both coasts that this took me by surprise. He was granted permission to head east instead of homeward, as long as he had permission from his wife. :)

So yes, I’ve done it, although not baggage-related. I’ve also experienced people making assumptions about me based upon their standard operating procedures.

Sometimes I get paranoid and assume a woman interested in me has a motive, therefore hesitating to show vulnerability. It’s not that bad, and it’s unfounded, so I usually just forget about it quickly.

I’m very very honest, so I tend to relate to others as if they are. Sort of a backwards version of this projection.

However, my personal experience and research in some areas leads me to not trust people in those professions in our culture.

73% on Wdnesdays and Thurdsays. only 56% the rest of the week. Don’t ask me why it varies so.

I really like venting my feeling to other people, so a lot. But not to a point where I can’t control it.

I probably project all of it onto others, but I don’t think I have very much so I take people pretty much at face value.

Like some others have written, it’s been in my nature to mostly assume the best about people as far as what they share with me and I get very let down and sometimes angry if I find untruths regarding particulars of what I’ve admired or that’s made me secure around those people.

Only in the past few years have I become more discerning, more speculative and a lot less trusting due to baggage. It’s not a terrible thing because I can sense right off when I’m mentally “going there” and I can detour myself by breaking it down and reasoning out before I act or speak on it. Most of the time.