Do you love yourself ?Does it mean narcissism/self-centredness?

I have pondered over the concept of narcissism. Nsrcissism , love on oneself. I often tend to have a biological evolution angle to my conclusions. I dont think human beings or other living beings for that matter are capable of loving themselves.We are simply not capable of that emotion. Think of the time when you fell in love,the emotions you were going through, and the emotion you were feeling for the person you were in love with, or even the kind of love you feel for your children,such feeling you simply cannot feel for yourself. Love of oneself does not enhance our survival,hence we did not evolve to feel it. Nevertheless, we are inherently selfish,and do what it takes to make our own lives better.These ofcourse are legitimate traits.

I don't think so, Narcisssm may occur through ecessive self centeredness. Pampering yourself doesn't mean that you are self-centered. And I believe that before you can take care of other people you should know how to treat and love yourself first.

Loving yourself is not a problem unless you almost worship yourself. There's nothing wrong if you are full of concerns regarding what and who you are. As long as you don't harm any people, then you're just doing fine.

When I try to observe myself detaching myself from me ,I like myself.Yes, there are times when I am annoyed or embarrassed with myself ,but that I guess is just being part of me.No,I am not self-obsessed ( ThankGod for that ) If I was I'd sure have lost many friends,and that doesn't quite happen with me.So,I guess I could use that as a proof to substantiate my claim to myself.I daresay I am confident being myself, whatever be the reason.It could be my upbringing,my family,friends or just the fact that I can analyse things and consider myself open minded. Yes, it could be a dangerous character to possess.I can't say I have seen someone so obsessed with himself or herself that it hurts others , but I can't deny having come across individuals who could be much better humans shifting their focus away from themselves. I feel there's a possibility that some actors could end up being narcissists given the fact that people around them hardly ever stand up and voice their opinion if it goes against their's.Moreover,with the fan following they have they could easily fall prey to a sense of ''false superiority''. Before suggesting a solution I should perhaps add how (I think ) such people feel.They are reactionaries and can't take the slightest opposition because they aren't used to it.( this is my opinion and I could well be wrong,but if I am right then )That being the case ,they can't experience inner tranquility.The only suggestion that comes to my mind to move out of such a narcissist mind state is by taking the focus off them.If we focus on problems other than our own,then it's easy to forget ourselves and with consistent conscious effort they will feel happier with the little things in life.Once they experience that world,I don't think they will like to come back to the narcissist world.Gosh sorry for the length.

melody you are really making us think here! I think there is a huge difference between loving and respecting yourself and being narcissistic and self-centred! Self love and respect is about learning to accept that you are not perfect and forgiving yourself for your flaws whereas if you are narcissistic you can not believe that you are not perfect in the eyes of the whole world! does that make sense? I hope so! xxx

aha This is an interesting question.in everyday life,we can see varities of people,including happy man,kind-hearted man,bad man,sad man and so on. especially,the self-confidence people is not special. i think everyone must have right opinion about ownsself. as an old saying:we cannot see us high,and we cannot see us low.only by this,we can have right situation and can play the right role in the life.not only we are rich,poor,or handsome,bad=looking,we must remember:everyone is equal in the world.maybe today you are in good situation,but tomorrow you may fall down. it is not a good example.but we can find right one in the live. so we must have right self-reproch,then we can make myself happy and give others happy.

Loving yourself makes you better able to love others. In proper proportions it is not a problem. When it goes too far then the head of vanity and narcissism rears the head. As in all of life it is a matter of balance and no extremes. Cure it with the finding of the self, center...to become balanced. For each it will take something different.

I feel like narcissists are controlling people