Self?

What is a self anyway? Is it an individual human being that is solely responsible for his/her own actions, beliefs, well-being, and life direction? What is it like to be a self? Can you describe it? I don’t think I can. I find that there may be weak boundaries between selves. Psychology and neuroscience suggest that humans co-regulate each other’s nervous systems (i.e. mental and emotional lives) to a certain extent. I wonder if dogs also co-regulate our mental lives. Maybe other animals too? (That’s why there are emotional support animals, ha!) We’ve all probably felt this to some degree: someone else’s mood affects ours or someone else’s pain becomes ours. Maybe it is because of our mirror neurons. Isn’t that why yawns are contagious?

What does that all mean for us psychologically? Does it raise questions about our self-hood?