Not all narcissism is pathological. Sometimes it is a good thing to be around (uplifting, motivating, generous, exciting) and other times it’s a nightmare (possessive, coercive, secretive, blind to the need of others). This article puts it rather well:
A joke is always one step away from someone getting angry.
Secrets are a problem if fear makes them necessary.
Someone I know mentioned a piece of advice she used to give students when she was teaching: say something in a class and you’ll remember it better.
We tend to remember things better if we try to recall them as close as possible to where we committed them to memory. What my friend was suggesting was very important. It suggested a way of marking a moment of remembering; of how to remember that you’ve remembered something.
It’s easy for things to ‘wash over’ you. If you let that happen, even if you then go on to make a note of something later, the chances are you’ll remember it less well.