Cultivating Self Love

[Livnlearn]

This is what Sam Vaknin, someone diagnosed with NPD, has to say about the long term prognosis of the condition -

"Narcissism is a dynamic. Its outcomes can be either socially acceptable or condemnable—but the underlying corrosive phenomenon is the same. One cannot heal merely by cognitively accepting that one is diseased. The assimilation of such an insight requires an emotional complement, an investment of feelings and humility. I lack these.

I once wrote in The Malignant Optimism of the Abused:

I often come across sad examples of the powers of self-delusion that the narcissist provokes in his victims. It is what I call "malignant optimism." People refuse to believe that some questions are unsolvable, some diseases incurable, some disasters inevitable. They see a sign of hope in every fluctuation. They read meaning and patterns into every random occurrence, utterance, or slip. They are deceived by their own pressing need to believe in the ultimate victory of good over evil, health over sickness, order over disorder. Life appears otherwise so meaningless, so unjust and so arbitrary... So, they impose upon it a design, progress, aims, and paths. This is magical thinking. "

Food for thought.

H rang around 9.30 last night to tell me that D would be staying overnight till the Sunday. He apologised for not ringing earlier, said he had been out having fun at a Cuban evening somewhere and had forgotten.

I also forgot to send up his ingredient.

Livnlearn