I think the Humans who tend to narcissism would not recognize themselves at all in this piece. And if they did have that level of self awareness — they would want to break free of those samskaras — the grooves of behavior we repeat & repeat.

I feel — in my experience as a Human, a nurse, a woman, a mother & a grandmother — we do more damage to our psyches by not applying the same ‘benefit of the doubt’ to our own actions that we freely give to those around us. Most of us have a ‘we are not worthy’ tape running in our heads — the inner critic. Sliding a bit more towards self-care and boundary setting to preserve our mental, spiritual, & emotional health is only seen as narcissism by those who seek to breach our boundaries.

For me — there are missteps I’ve made that I can never make amends for. Water under the bridge — long gone. Do I allow myself the grace to have been Human in those instances? Or do I spend the whole of my life carrying guilt and struggling to undo what can’t be undone?

For most of us — those missteps were not criminal, and even if we acted out of anger or fear — those are Human emotions as well. I believe the true danger is we carry this guilt and allow it to drive our future behaviors which just compound the pain — within and flowing out from ourselves — from our actions.

Forgive yourself. Because in the end — whatever it was you did was exactly what you wanted to do at the time. Even if it wasn’t in your best interest or the interest of those around you. Extend to yourself the same courtesy you give a stranger. The benefit of the doubt — that you were doing the best you could with what you had at the time.

But — that’s just me. ;)