Many of my new students ask about displacement. I want to address it in a blog, because displacement can be a problem, regardless of whether you are remote viewing or doing another type of psychic work.
What is “Psychic Displacement”?
A few years ago, I attended a workshop led by a well-known medium. She divided us into 10 groups; seven people in each group were blindfolded and instructed to read for each other. No one was allowed to speak, other than the person doing the reading.
Instantly, a woman in our group protested: “I can’t do this! You see, I am so psychic, I will end up reading for everyone in our circle at once! If I am supposed to be reading you,” she said (pointing to me), “I may end up reading for you!” (pointing to the woman sitting next to me).
What she is describing is known as displacement, and it occurs frequently, especially to those to who are just beginning the intuitive path.
Missing the Mark
As an instructor in the skill known as Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV), I teach my students to be tough, disciplined and versatile. No prima donnas allowed! If someone is supposed to conduct a psychic reading for Person A, but instead accidentally reads for Person B, that does not demonstrate superior psychic ability. It simply indicates a lack of discipline and training.
“But what if the reading for Person B is really accurate?” you ask.
It doesn’t matter, and here’s why:
In archery, if you don’t hit the intended target, you are missing the mark! Consider an archer whose arrow perfectly spears an apple. No points will be awarded if the correct target was the bull’s-eye on a board.
The same applies here: If you are supposed to provide accurate information for Person A, and instead you provide accurate information for Person B, you have missed the intended target completely. Being right about the wrong target helps no one.
As a remote viewer, you may notice that a target viewed a few days ago possesses a lot of correct elements about today’s target. The ego wants to be right so very badly that you may compare the results gained a few days ago to the target viewed today, especially if you totally missed the assigned target a few days ago! In other words, a few days ago, rather than accurately viewing the target in the envelope assigned for that day, your subconscious (which is not limited by time or space) jumped ahead to view today’s assigned target, instead.
Emotions: Candy for the Subconscious
Regardless of the type of psychic work you do, being right is exciting. The thrill of nailing it or getting it right may be compared to the rush a gambler gets the first time he wins at the blackjack table. There is a lot of emotion associated with the concepts of “winning” or “losing.”
Additionally, we are a very accomplishment-oriented society. As children, we may have been rewarded or punished based on report card scores. Sales staff are rewarded or penalized based on how they achieve or miss a monthly sales quota.
It is normal for you to get excited when you realize you were right about something, even if that something is the wrong target.
The key is to remember that emotions are a reward to the subconscious mind. So when you get excited about having viewed the wrong target – whether you are mad, sad or glad – you are rewarding the subconscious mind for having misbehaved.
Think of the subconscious mind as a child, wanting attention. Some children misbehave, because even a scolding is a form of attention. A neglected child would rather receive a spanking than be ignored.
Let’s use an example: On Monday, you do a remote viewing session on a picture in an envelope and describe the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. Excited to get your feedback, you pull the photo out of the envelope and see a group of puppies drinking from a stream. Keenly disappointed, you wonder, “What happened?” You may even feel a sense of strong discouragement and think about quitting!
Two days later, on Wednesday, you decide to give it another try. You do a session. When you pull out the feedback photo, lo and behold, the photo is of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt! You jump up and down, hollering, because you KNOW this is what you viewed on Monday! You run and grab the session summary you did on the Cheops pyramid to compare, so you can see how accurate you were.
Big mistake. Don’t do this!
Again, while it is human nature to get excited about being right about something, the way to discipline the subconscious mind is to simply ignore the connection between the session you did on Monday and the feedback from Wednesday. Just ignore it.
Remember, the emotional reward to the subconscious doesn’t have to be happy excitement. Some viewers fiercely berate themselves: “Darn it! It happened again! What the heck is wrong with me? Why can’t I do this right?” etc.
Either way, you are rewarding the subconscious mind, and you only want to reward the subconscious for describing the correct target accurately.
Temporal Attractors
Another reason that extreme emotions (whether happy or unhappy) about viewing the wrong target will cause psychic displacement to occur are due to what we refer to as temporal attractors. A temporal attractor is anything that attracts the subconscious through time.
Remote viewers and psychics often look across the horizon of time to view a target that is removed from them in time and space. The subconscious wants to look at the most interesting thing it can find, especially in the beginning when it is untrained and undisciplined. Thus, if you are asked to view an aerial photo of current day Hiroshima, your subconscious mind might instead be drawn to the nuclear bomb exploded there on August 6th, 1945.
Why?
Because the brilliance, noise, and extreme emotions caused by the bomb are much easier to view than a boring aerial photo of the same site. The flashy bombing attracts the subconscious through time, which is why it is called a temporal attractor.
What does this have to do with psychic displacement?
When you express strong emotion, such as jumping up and down, whooping and hollering in joy--
or muttering, “I am such an idiot! What made me think I could do this?!!!” --you are creating a temporal attractor.
A few days ago, when you worked the target, your subconscious could have been drawn forward through time to the moment today when you opened the feedback for today’s target and saw that it was the target you viewed, and you started whooping it up, or crying, or whatever. Those very emotions are what attracted the subconscious mind’s attention in the first place, and are most likely causing the psychic displacement problem.
On the upside, when you describe the assigned target accurately, that is when you really want to make a lot of noise! Pat yourself on the back! Yell and congratulate yourself! Be sure to reward yourself in some physical way, doing something you really enjoy. By doing this, you are creating a temporal attractor that will help your subconscious mind to be drawn to the assigned target! You are making the temporal attractor phenomenon work for you!
Six Tips on How to Avoid Displacement
1. Ignore it. As I frequently tell students, the best way to avoid displacement is to ignore it. You are essentially training the subconscious mind to stop jumping target!
2. Remain emotionally detached. The key to reducing incidents of displacement in your remote viewing or psychic work is to remain calm and neutral when displacement occurs, or you think it has occurred.
3. Today’s target is today’s target. Remind yourself continually, “Yesterday’s target was yesterday’s target. Today’s target is today’s target.”
4. Stop thinking about it. Even if you feel that displacement is occurring more frequently than you would like, don’t give it much thought. Wondering, questioning, and continually looking for links between targets done in the past and the current target only creates an emotional reward.
5. Watch your thoughts! In my training as a hypnotherapist, I was taught that every single thought is tied to an emotion. So when you continually wonder if the elements of yesterday’s session will show up in today’s feedback photo, there is an emotional component to that thought. As a result, you can be increasing the incidents of displacement without meaning to do so.
6. Reward yourself! And lastly, when you are right about the intended target, GET EXCITED! This is the time to reward the subconscious! Jump up and down! Whoop it up! And remember that the physical body is the link between the conscious and subconscious minds. If you reward yourself with a physical reward as well as an emotional reward, it is doubly effective. Some examples of physical rewards include: chocolate, bubble baths, a walk in nature, a massage, etc.
Some examples of physical rewards include: chocolate, bubble baths, a walk in nature, a massage, etc.
Final Words of Advice:
Let it all go… Just have fun! Make your intuitive work FUN. The more playful you can be with this, the better the subconscious mind performs. And when it doesn’t feel fun anymore, find ways to hold your interest. Change the way you practice. Try other types of targets.
Keep an eye on upcoming blogs, as we will be talking about ways to increase your intuition and your viewing accuracy, how to keep things interesting, and using your abilities safely and constructively right now!
Thank you Lori. I do remember you talking about displacement but I didn't fully understand it until it happened to me. Thank you for writing this blog and explaining it so well.
Thank you , best advice ever--- every single thought is tied to an emotion
I had no idea. Sure makes sense. Its like the president is trying to distract us from the main goal.
Thank you Lori. I really needed to see this.
Thank you Lori!
Thank you Lori I think I needed that. I’ve been emotional this week and have been having a tough go. I think this email will really help give me a kick in the ass
I don't think I understand. Is displacement not viewing the correct target, then viewing it sometime later? Or, is displacement viewing the target correctly with more info than usual about the target?
I've been through a lot in my life. So I know that before I do a reading or healing on anyone, I let go and let God/SPIRIT. I set aside my ego (edging God out) and take 3 long-slow deep breaths, to ground and center me. Lori, you may have heard of the Clements Unit maximum security prison in Amarillo. I was a guard there, in the pschyatric unit.?
Amazing post! So many questions answered that I didn’t realize I needed to ask. 🙂
That happened with the first group video you did with us too. Every question asked, I benefited.
March 10...health & healing...this is the 1 I will attend.
Thank you Lori..?
Thanks for your tips on displacement. When i worked two and a half years with Marty viewing and judging for a small mutual fund doing ARV, displacement became an increasing issue. Marty was big on the idea of ignoring in, to the extent we were not allowed to use the word, it became only referred to as the D word. Ignoring it in that way i guess was more of a hindrance that a help.
i agree not to reward ones self for viewing the wrong target. Stating one's intention to view only the target clearly, even writing it down several times can help. And setting down and objectifying AVs advanced visuals can help me also. It helps in being neutral towards any emotional and temporal at attractors, any personal residue that may need acknowledging and setting aside.
It's never quite worked for me the concept of my subconscious aka sub as a child or childlike. She does take conscious intellectual part quite literally, so when i direct he in my intention to communicate clearly not symbolically as dreams may, to work as a partner who has abilities different but not inferior to the analytical mind. A working partnership The intellectual mind and the sub learning to communicate by acknowledging the quite grand abilities and functions they both play in daily life and psi. The acknowledge the role the conscious mind plays in maneuvering the physical world where it umping in interpreting and making educated guesses that make that possible. When doing rv or psi i ask it to hold off on that function when it may be a hindrance in getting accurate information. By respecting and acknowledging it's value and the same with the sub they both are more willing to work together and cooperate.
The thrill of nailing it, pushing ones personal best even if no one else knows about it, i hope i never become too jaded to enjoy and marvel at it. My intellectual mind will say "holy shit how did we do that?" When doing work in ARV 5 days a week for a couple years you can imagine how bored the sub can get looking at purposely boring pictures, i do think that's a factor in displacement and decline of effect. My intellectual mind likes to solve problems and logically figure shit out, but my sub likes to stretch itself and i remain always a student of all manner of woo and spiritual esoteric other dimensional and guidance and matters, also poetry, art drumming and dancing so i reward it's efforts in communicating clearly by participating in it's favorite expressive talents.
In some ways i also think there enters a type of displacement when it comes to target "pools" and paired targets in arv. Asking my sub what the heck with that? As well as i can grok it is the sub seems to look at targets in a pool or paired as units, why it sometimes combines elements from other parts of the unit. So the intention statement has to be even more clearly stated
Wow! I will re read your post many times as there is so much to take in! Thank you!
Thank you Sharon!
Love this explanation, in that you describe the subconscious as a little child - it's so true! But for #6 You've only mentioned the physical reward - 2 times lol. What do you recommend for the 'emotional' reward?
Hi, Renee! Emotional rewards are often closely tied to physical rewards. For example, you hand a child an ice cream cone, and the child jumps with glee and claps her hands. There is the emotional reward! Emotions ARE the reward to the subconscious. So jumping up and down, clapping, congratulating yourself -- these are all examples of emotional rewards. Just feeling GOOD about yourself and your accomplishments is an emotional reward.
Thank you for the review!!
Glad to see this shared...
Brilliant advice, Lori! II'm sure this is something we have all experienced at some point or another.
This is a great reminder, Lori. I remember learning about that in class and I'm glad to have a refresher! Thank you! 🙂