Next let’s look at how this all works out on the VIVID Chart, so that it makes sense how we came to adapt away from our original creation and purpose.  In effect this is what happened when sin entered into the world and continues to do all it can to create in us a false self that we project out and protect mostly to our peril.  The main vehicle to do this is child abuse.  That topic is for another presentation all by itself but for now suffice it to define it as anything that is done to us or failed to do for us in childhood that diminishes any or all of the five natural characteristics we are studying here.

On the worksheet you have you'll notice that it is a grid. The top left column is the Authenticity-the Real Self under which that characteristics of VIVID are spelled out in each row. The next column shows the Adaptation-Loss of Self that is generated by child abuse.  The following row is Adult Codependency-Primary Symptoms that begin to form the foundation for the mask(s) we wear that becomes the false self.  The next column shows the Related Problems-Secondary Symptoms that we exhibit and become the object of the behaviors we try to change unsuccessfully in ourselves or others.  The last column on the right has to do with Recovery.  How do we recover our natural state of authenticity?  I will share several specific suggestions that can help restore one’s authentic self but by no means is it intended to be an exhaustive list, just a starting place.  You get to determine which in which area(s) to begin.