@evan This inspires me to take a perspective from Yvonne Agazarian. I think the correct word would be self-centeredness. And then, to not only take things personally (which is dysfunctional self-centeredness), we need a connection to our various memberships in communities (friends, neighbors, colleagues, topics). The life force comes from the body and is at the center (self), but development of that energy happens when we go out and take a membership in community with others.