navel-gazing

American  

[ney-vuhl-gey-zing] / ˈneɪ vəlˌgeɪ zɪŋ /

noun

Slang.

1. excessive absorption in self-analysis or focus on a single issue.

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navel-gazing British  

noun

1. informal self-absorbed behaviour

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Etymology

Origin of navel-gazing

First recorded in 1955–60; navel ( def. ) + gaz(e) ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ); perhaps from Hours With the Mystics (1856) by Robert Alfred Vaughan, English Congregationalist minister and author (1823–57), “...if a man shut himself up… turning his thoughts inward, gazing towards his navel..., he would at length behold a divine glory….”