Identity is seen here as developed from narratives we assimilate as script for the roles we play in real life, thus shaping our destiny - for better or worse, for good or evil. Do we choose to passively, obliviously, allow our "selves" to be formed by whatever story lines "get through" to our consciousness? Or do we take an active role in deciding which story lines influence the "con"struction or "de"struction of the person we become or fail to become? Do we choose to exercise our free will to screen out narratives most likely to have a toxic, dehumanizing, disabling impact on us in favor of story lines most likely to have a creative, humanizing, strengthening impact on our ability to fulfill the best of our human potential? Which of our inner wolves shall we feed? The good, moral one who" helps" us become and do all the best we can be and do? Or shall we feed the evil inner wolf who not only undermines but destroys our creative potential? The waste of human potential due to playing out of toxically narratized, dehumanized roles, seems to be cumulative; once a downward spiral is initiated, it takes on the momentum of a self-perpetuating process. But once initiated, the growth and actualization of potential due to playing out a creatively inspired, humanizing self-script, "also" seems to be cumulative and self-perpetuating. Given the unprecedented challenges confronting humans in this 21st century, these daily messages are designed to encourage assimilation of life-oriented, creative identity-defining narrative themes as protection against death-oriented, toxic ones. Ideally, such efforts will become conjoined with an international grass roots movement to revise toxically divisive individual and group identities, by promoting a sense of humans' interconnectedness to each other as part of a Global Life System. rjp

Explore the tensions and tenderness between fathers and sons in this masterpiece of narrative psychology "We live in a story-shaped world," as the editors say, and Between Fathers and Sons: Critical Incident Narratives in the Development of Men's Lives shows how the stories we construct come to shape our perceptions of the world and of ourselves. The incidents recounted here are more than just moving, funny, or painful stories of fathers and sons. Each is a myth that helped form the authors'social and moral identity. This blend of feeling and intellect, story and analysis makes Between Fathers and Sons a work of art as well as a work of psychology. The contributors--many of them pioneers of narrative therapy--bring unique insight to bear on their own stories. Using a broad array of narrative forms, from the soliliquy to the multiple narrator, they explore and analyze themes of silence, mystery, respect, sports, self-reliance, and longing for continuity. In the stories you will find in Between Fathers and Sons: a father's disappointed silence is transformed as it resonates through four generations a Korean immigrant faces the differences between his ideals of fatherhood and his son's American view a father-son fishing trip ends with the biggest fish ever--or no fish at all betrayed by his stepfather, a boy seeks guidance from stories of his dead father a Baptist preacher helps his son make an agonizing choice a grown man's memory of a childhood event gives him new insight into his father's identity and their relationship Between Fathers and Sons is a landmark volume in father-son relationships and in narrative therapy. It is destined to become a classic in the field.

Explore the tensions and tenderness between fathers and sons in this masterpiece of narrative psychology "We live in a story-shaped world," as the editors say, and Between Fathers and Sons: Critical Incident Narratives in the Development of Men's Lives shows how the stories we construct come to shape our perceptions of the world and of ourselves. The incidents recounted here are more than just moving, funny, or painful stories of fathers and sons. Each is a myth that helped form the authors'social and moral identity. This blend of feeling and intellect, story and analysis makes Between Fathers and Sons a work of art as well as a work of psychology. The contributors--many of them pioneers of narrative therapy--bring unique insight to bear on their own stories. Using a broad array of narrative forms, from the soliliquy to the multiple narrator, they explore and analyze themes of silence, mystery, respect, sports, self-reliance, and longing for continuity. In the stories you will find in Between Fathers and Sons: a father's disappointed silence is transformed as it resonates through four generations a Korean immigrant faces the differences between his ideals of fatherhood and his son's American view a father-son fishing trip ends with the biggest fish ever--or no fish at all betrayed by his stepfather, a boy seeks guidance from stories of his dead father a Baptist preacher helps his son make an agonizing choice a grown man's memory of a childhood event gives him new insight into his father's identity and their relationship Between Fathers and Sons is a landmark volume in father-son relationships and in narrative therapy. It is destined to become a classic in the field.

This book is all about stories. The stories that shape our identities and how those identities shape our destinies for better or worse, for good or evil, in humanizing or dehumanizing ways.

Working from the Shakespearian metaphor, All the world s a stage and all the men and women merely players, Pellegrini argues that only by understanding how our storied selves develop can we acquire the tools to modify the roles they dictate for us to play on the stage in the theater of real life. The author deconstructs a wide variety of what he calls toxic, dehumanizing, death-oriented self-scripts as well as creative, humanizing, life-oriented narratives of groups as well as individuals.

Following the Native American parable of two wolves engaged in mortal combat within us, one good the other evil, the fundamental premise here is that our identity determines which of our inner wolves we feed and thus, which of them will prevail. Pellegrini maintains that what s at stake in this battle between humanity s collective inner wolves, is not just the quality but the very survival of life on earth. From this perspective, as individual and group selves are humanizingly or dehumanizingly narratizedby the way we exercise our God-given free will in the choices we make, so shall life be impacted throughout the world. To advance the cause of detoxifying identities in our global society, the author presents a rationale and program for an international grass roots social movement aimed at achieving a universal sense of belongingness to a global life system.

You can watch and listen to a video in which Dr. Bob Pellegrini talks about this book, and why he wrote it, by entering Identities for Life and Death in the search bar at youtube.com.]

Identity is seen here as developed from narratives we assimilate as script for the roles we play in real life, thus shaping our destiny - for better or worse, for good or evil. Do we choose to passively, obliviously, allow our "selves" to be formed by whatever story lines "get through" to our consciousness? Or do we take an active role in deciding which story lines influence the "con"struction or "de"struction of the person we become or fail to become? Do we choose to exercise our free will to screen out narratives most likely to have a toxic, dehumanizing, disabling impact on us in favor of story lines most likely to have a creative, humanizing, strengthening impact on our ability to fulfill the best of our human potential? Which of our inner wolves shall we feed? The good, moral one who" helps" us become and do all the best we can be and do? Or shall we feed the evil inner wolf who not only undermines but destroys our creative potential? The waste of human potential due to playing out of toxically narratized, dehumanized roles, seems to be cumulative; once a downward spiral is initiated, it takes on the momentum of a self-perpetuating process. But once initiated, the growth and actualization of potential due to playing out a creatively inspired, humanizing self-script, "also" seems to be cumulative and self-perpetuating. Given the unprecedented challenges confronting humans in this 21st century, these daily messages are designed to encourage assimilation of life-oriented, creative identity-defining narrative themes as protection against death-oriented, toxic ones. Ideally, such efforts will become conjoined with an international grass roots movement to revise toxically divisive individual and group identities, by promoting a sense of humans' interconnectedness to each other as part of a Global Life System. rjp

This book is all about stories. The stories that shape our identities and how those identities shape our destinies for better or worse, for good or evil, in humanizing or dehumanizing ways.

Working from the Shakespearian metaphor, All the world s a stage and all the men and women merely players, Pellegrini argues that only by understanding how our storied selves develop can we acquire the tools to modify the roles they dictate for us to play on the stage in the theater of real life. The author deconstructs a wide variety of what he calls toxic, dehumanizing, death-oriented self-scripts as well as creative, humanizing, life-oriented narratives of groups as well as individuals.

Following the Native American parable of two wolves engaged in mortal combat within us, one good the other evil, the fundamental premise here is that our identity determines which of our inner wolves we feed and thus, which of them will prevail. Pellegrini maintains that what s at stake in this battle between humanity s collective inner wolves, is not just the quality but the very survival of life on earth. From this perspective, as individual and group selves are humanizingly or dehumanizingly narratizedby the way we exercise our God-given free will in the choices we make, so shall life be impacted throughout the world. To advance the cause of detoxifying identities in our global society, the author presents a rationale and program for an international grass roots social movement aimed at achieving a universal sense of belongingness to a global life system.

You can watch and listen to a video in which Dr. Bob Pellegrini talks about this book, and why he wrote it, by entering Identities for Life and Death in the search bar at youtube.com.]