Summary
Like the book The Road Back to You that I reviewed here, this book is about the personality system, the Enneagram.
In this book, the author explores in detail the idea of an Authentic Self vs. an Adapted Self. The Authentic Self is the person God created you to be. The Adapted Self is who you have become over time as you have made choices and reacted to circumstances in ways designed to protect yourself.
The Enneagram then, shows you both sides of your type – the ways your type reflects who God made you to be as well as the ways it has been twisted in misguided ways.
The book includes this introductory material, descriptions of the nine types, descriptions of variations and nuances in the types, and a system to help readers recognize Adapted behaviors and reactions in order to get in touch with Authentic patterns instead.
Review
I really enjoyed the tone of this book. It’s not as funny as I found parts of The Road Back to You to be. But it’s easy to understand.
The metaphor the author uses for the Adapted and Authentic selves is well-described. This information really clicked for me. I enjoyed the type descriptions, too – different enough from The Road Back to You to be an enhancement. I am glad I read both.
I liked the author’s OWN UP system of recognizing and releasing Adapted behavior. The Road Back to You work book has a system that serves a similar purpose, but I liked this one better. The author used a personal example and her journal entries of her process to explain it. Those descriptions were helpful to me imagining how to apply the system in my life.
This is a great second resource for me as I try to learn more about the Enneagram