When does one know that one's introspection is bordering on self-absorption?

Answer 1

When thought inhibits, rather than facilitates, decision and action.

Answer 2

Excessive introspection, self-absorption, or concentration on a single issue: “The optimistic trend masks a looming problem, which has sent the travel industry into a renewed bout of navel-gazing” (Financial Times).




Our Antidote

To Introspection.

Throw a Pot of Clay

At the Melancholy of Meditation.



Dateline: Tuesday, August 1, 2000, at 1900 hours CDT.

Conway, Arkansas, USA



By D. Ebenezer Baldwin Bowles

CornDancer & Company



There comes a point where we stop to consider: What am I going to do with this life that is given to me?



Stalled in the sargasso self, I become the island no one can be.



I waver, alone in a crowd. I am isolated in an existential gloom. I am fallen to mawkish introspection.



Some of us stop here to watch self-reflections on the eddies at the end of a bend in the river. Some of us. I don't presume to speak for all of you. The smug, universal We is a trait of post-modern American political liberalism I won't embrace.



All the same, I know I'm not alone. There is a We -- a We that, in this instance, stands accused of not knowing where next to go. It is a pensive state inspired by too little vigor. Those of you others, the incessant doers, who are prone to busy days and constant nights, who thrive on activity and physical movement: Seldom do you come here. You are not of this particular We. Nonetheless, you are welcome to pause here and see how the other half lives.



I do fight against the tendency toward introspection. It can consume too many precious hours, misdirect my limited store of raw energy into fuzzy blocks of lost time. I'd just as soon take some kind of action and be done with the private examination.

Answer 3

Your question is flawed.

the word introspection is the examination of ones mental and emotional state of mind. It is the act of looking in to ones self. It is a process, not an actual state of mind.

So the answer to your question is that introspection is a process that cannot have self absorption, unless you are regularly checking out your sanity and being rude to others while you do so.

Maybe you would like to know:

-When do you know that your mind is bordering self-absorption?

Then my answer would be:

-When you ask yourself if you are bordering Self-absorption.

Answer 4

To look into oneself is not necessarily self-absorption. Yet, when this act extends to the point that when the role of the thoughts directed at the exterior become lesser than the ones directed at the self, that might be that moment...
Reason follows that self awareness should be prevalent with very few exceptions. However, self awareness can be in terms of relation to external issues without self inclusion. When all this introspective has ideas which come from and are about the self in terms of direction and source(perspective), then the line has definitely been crossed!
But, for practical terms, as long as you can participate on others' existence without the precedent of this portion of their existence relating directly to you to socially acceptable scales... you are not self-absorbed.
So, if someone else's story, can be about them, without you in it, and still interests you exempt of a should/must/could have happened to me clause, then you are fine!!!

Note: sorry about apparent redundancy! It is not very easy to explain without differently angled examples...

Answer 5

when you find you are spending most of your time with yourself, rather then others. when you havent shared any of your insights or thoughts with someone else.
also when you are focusing on one subject rather then letting new subjects in, such as spending all your time with your thoughts rather then watching the news, finding out what is going on today,
so make a list of what you do each day, activities, interaction with others, keeping up with current events etc, or look at it from a weekly perspective.
as long as you are staying well-rounded, you will still have plenty of time for introspection! there are also times when we go threw phases, and may spend more time on a certain thing, this is fine, perhaps we need to sort something out or make progress in that area , so its ok to even be self-absorbed for periods of time, just recognize that you are doing it.

Answer 6

when one asks if one's introspection is bordering on self-absorption

Answer 7

you are talking of destructive levels aren't you - one KNOWS it when one uses their objective capacity to check - all the introspective are intelligent, they just need to employ some of it on objectivity instead of all of it on subjectivity.

Answer 8

When you think of nothing else i spose. Great question, starred for you.

Answer 9

when you barely think of other things or other people i guess but good question