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How much omphaloskepsis is healthy?

I've often been told by people (including therapists) that I think too much. Anything I create, I look at over and over again, making little corrections or just imagining how someone who doesn't know me might see it. I think this might put me on the narcissism spectrum, which I'm okay with, I think I still have "relatively" healthy relations with others... but I do find it easy to spiral into a pit of self-involvement which kinda removes some dimension from my experience.

By and large... I find this group to be weighted towards those with a tendency toward cerebral activities. Are you able to keep things in balance? Or do you have to make a serious effort to come out of your hermit crab shell to make sure the world is still "out there" from time to time? I've noticed, the longer you've "been away" the harder it is to jump back in.

This self absorbed state has a real way of feeding back on itself. It's not so much that social skills fade away, more that an "inertia" sets in creating this psychological quality similar to walking up a steep hill... with the "external world" at the top of the hill. Once I'm at the top of the hill as the social/gregarious version of myself, I don't see why I was making all the fuss. It all seems very silly... but just the first step of "getting going" seems unreachable sometimes. Honestly, I think it's one of the reasons I teach a few classes a week... just to force some "real" interaction in to my life... (it sure ain't the money).

Anemynous 7 Apr 16
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10 comments

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3

Somehow, someway your first paragraph reminds me of this:
[ideapod.com]

The rest reminds me of a classic introvert.

Thanks for the article! It's certainly a flattering way to look at some of my predispositions.
By default, I'm most comfortable as an introvert. My extroverted "self" was cultivated through practice and experimentation... but the fact it exists at all belies the desire to "surmount" my perceived default state for the purpose of fostering rapport with others... so I wouldn't say that I'm a "pure" introvert.... More of a "shy" extrovert... in some settings, no one would think for a moment that I tend towards introversion. I can be loquacious, given the occasion and company.

1

Good word "omphaloskepsis" Had to look it up. Word I was thinking of was Ouroboros a different thing entirely. Or maybe not entirely if your see what I mean... You can't feast solely on yourself.

Isn't that interesting? I always found the image of the ouroboros to be disturbing... and yet, it's supposed to be a symbol of rebirth? I don't know... I think your interpretation is more consistent with what the image actually displays... a living dead end. In some depictions ouroboros is only holding or chasing it's tail with it's mouth... in those instances, the 're-newel' interpretation makes a little more sense.... just took a glance at wikipedia.. basically it said "all of the above"... it actually specifically denotes introversion as one of the interpretations. So you ain't wrong! 😉

2

It isn't only a trait of narcissism - You can be Very self absorbed through say Autism but wouldn't really be classed as narcissist. You have to actively be gaslighting people / probably devaluing them / slowly eroding their confidence / Making people question who they are on a fundatmental level / lying to people a lot / treating them as literal objects in a chessboard ... !!

Please do not go thinking you are narcissist unless you display most of what I mentioned above as that could be confusing for you .. (it is a specific personality disorder alone as well as a component of some other states) !!

Unless you display a few of these traits you are likely not.

You can be very withdrawn and still not self absorbed focussing externally ! 🙂

Overthinking is a very unhelpful word for you I feel ... look at mindfulness if you haven't

Possibly look at CBT .. possibly look at therpay .. if you haven't already... much love.

You are such a good & wonderful egg @Nick (((( hugs ))))

1

I fall into that quite a bit, but I'm enough of an extravert that every so often I have to get out and be with other people. Every few days? Once a week? It depends. I tend to be solsipsistic as well, but I try to fight it.

1

Me too. I try to put myself in positions where I can be less self-aware and just feel something. Of course you have to be careful and make sure you are in the appropriate physical and mental place to turn off those higher cognitive powers. One can be addicted to consciousness too.

2

I have extreme radical ideas I keep in my head and to my self because most people can't follow the logic to them anyway.

4

What's the word for doesn't think it through closely enough... I might be that.

2

I was going to answer this but we have the best weather this year and I`m off to the pub.

1

Holy bleep I relate to this too much, have just never seen it put into words.

0

You are not alone in your experience. You sound "stuck". I've been there, suffered from depression for a while and went through some of that in a big way.

However, I believe your self-diagnosis of narcissism is off the mark. My experience with narcissists - and I have known several - has been that they are self centered, although not necessarily in the same way.

I know one person who is always doing things for other people and giving money and things away - food, furniture, rides, whatever anyone might need. You might think this person is a saint. Not true. Someone who is constantly talking about all they do for others and how much they themselves suffer and asks why no one does any thing for them and needs constant validation from everyone around them... totally self absorbed.

Another person uses drugs (not narcotics, but is constantly high) and is an older man, set in his ways, 'stuck' in everything in his life; always broke, so self-concerned and egocentric that he looks in a mirror and sees himself as he was 25 years ago and doesn't understand why 30-yr-old women don't find him attractive.

If any therapists have mentioned narcissism to you, and I doubt they would, then ask them why.

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