Identities for Life and Death: Forever Daily Message Calendar

By Dr. Robert J. Pellegrini

Identity is seen here as developed from narratives we assimilate as scripts 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 construction or destruction of the person we become or fail to become?

Do we choose to exercise our God-given free will to screen out narratives most likely to have a toxic, dehumanizing impact on us in favor of story lines most likely to have a creative, 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 the evil, immoral one -- who strangles our creativity?

There is a cumulative, self-perpetuating momentum to human development, whether toward growth through creatively-inspired, humanizing roles, or toward deterioration through toxically narratized, dehumanizing roles. This calendar provides brief, thought-provoking ideas to help make every day a creatively-inspired day.

These daily messages are designed to encourage assimilation of life-oriented, creative identity-defining narrative themes as protection against death-oriented, toxic ones. Inspired by the life of Jesus Christ, the objective here is to energize and promote continuity in the experience of success and fulfillment in critical aspects of life such as the health, image, and appearance of our body, our relationships with the people in our lives, the material abundance we manage to achieve, and the recognition we get for the work we do, all integrated by a profoundly humanizing spirituality.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452092171

Dr. Robert J. Pellegrini

Professor Emeritus of Psychology at San Jose State University, Bob Pellegrini served as SJSU’s Associate Dean for Research, Director of Sponsored Programs, and Psychology Department Chair. He received his B. A. degree from Clark University Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors in Psychology. Supported by National Institute for Mental Health fellowships, he earned his M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Denver, with predoctoral internships at The University of Colorado School of Medicine, Children’s Asthmatic Research Institute and National Jewish Hospitals in Denver, followed by National Science Foundation-sponsored post-doctoral studies at Stanford University. Bob’s auditorium sections of Introductory Psychology enrolled thousands of students over his 42-year career at SJSU, where he also mentored hundreds of students in a minority outreach programs including a B. A. degree program he co-founded for inmates at the California Department of Corrections Soledad facility. He has been honored with national (Psi Chi, the national honor society for Psychology majors), regional (Western Psychological Association), and local (SJSU) outstanding teacher of the year awards, and been an invited speaker at dozens of venues, including the prestigious Lewis M. Terman Master Lecture Series. A Past-President of the Western Psychological Association, he has authored and co-authored over 120 presentations at annual meetings of professional associations, been a keynote speaker at dozens of public and private organization meetings, published more than 100 articles in professional journals, seven chapters in edited books, 12 manuals and study guides, and four books. A unifying theme throughout Bob’s scholarly work is a search to understand social psychological processes that inhibit or promote actualization of human potential in all sorts of contexts. He enjoys giving talks and workshops entitled, “Self 101: The Stories of Our Lives.”

Book preview

Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT IDENTITIES FOR LIFE AND DEATH

ABOUT THIS CALENDAR

IDENTITY AS THE KEY TO PERSONAL GROWTH AND A GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF UNITY

ON THE RECIPROCITY OF OUR STORIED SELF-EXPRESSION

ON SPIRITUALITY AND THE STORYING OF IDENTITY

HOW TO USE THIS FOREVER CALENDAR

AND THEN THERE’S THIS

EPILOG

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Emeritus of Psychology at San Jose State University, Bob Pellegrini served as SJSU’s Associate Dean For Research, Director of Sponsored Programs, and Psychology Department Chair. He received his B. A. degree from Clark University Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors in Psychology. Supported by National Institute for Mental Health Fellowships, he earned his M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Denver, with predoctoral internships at The University of Colorado School of Medicine, Children’s Asthmatic Research Institute and National Jewish Hospitals in Denver, followed by National Science Foundation-sponsored post-doctoral studies at Stanford University.

Bob’s auditorium sections of Introductory Psychology enrolled thousands of students over his 42-year career at SJSU, where he also mentored hundreds of students in minority outreach programs including a B. A. degree program he co-founded for inmates at the California Department of Corrections’ Soledad facility. He has been honored with national (Psi Chi, the national honor society for Psychology majors), regional (Western Psychological Association), and local (SJSU) outstanding teacher of the year awards, and been an invited speaker at dozens of venues, including the prestigious Lewis M. Terman Master Lecture Series.

A Past-President of the Western Psychological Association, he has authored and co-authored over 120 presentations at annual meetings of professional associations, been a keynote speaker at dozens of public and private organization meetings, published more than 100 articles in professional journals, seven chapters in edited books, 12 manuals and study guides, and this is his fourth book.

A unifying theme throughout Bob’s scholarly work is a search to understand social psychological processes that inhibit or promote actualization of human potential in all sorts of contexts. He enjoys giving talks and workshops entitled, Self 101: The Stories of Our Lives.

ABOUT IDENTITIES FOR LIFE AND DEATH

In the book on which this calendar is based, the lives of individuals and groups are regarded as storied in two ways: (a) as an evolving series of episodes like chapters in a book; and (b) by the way individual and group identity is scripted out of stories which structure each episode and ultimately the entire book, in either dehumanizingly toxic or humanizingly creative directions. Depending upon how we exercise our choices as to the stories we assimilate as our self-script, our destinies are shaped – for better or worse, for good or evil.

ABOUT THIS CALENDAR

To Whom It May Concern

What difference could such knowledge make in how we live and what we do with our lives? Why do we need to know how our identity develops? Because our identity has a profound influence on all our thoughts, our perceptions of the world and thus our personal construction of our own reality, as well as our feelings about everything in our lives and everything we say and do.

The argument advanced here is that (a) the person we do or do not become is powerfully determined by the story lines that shape our sense of self, and (b) insofar as we are aware of how our identity develops, we can take an active role in making conscious choices to direct our personal growth along paths which enhance the quality of our own lives, the lives of others, and quite possibly not just the quality but the very sustainability of life on this planet.

For whom has this calendar been written? Anyone who cares about what they do with their life, and what others about whom they care do with their lives. What’s in this is a set of conceptual tools designed to help all the world’s people assimilate a creatively storied sense of identity whereby they see themselves as interconnected to each other and all other life forms on earth. An intensified awareness of that interconnection, mediated by a connection to God as the creative energy Source in a Global Life System, is advocated here as the key to personal growth, self-perpetuating spirituality, and an essential consideration for rationally humanizing public policy in the 21st century.

The Two Guiding Metaphors

As William Shakespeare put it, All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Following Shakespeare’s metaphor, a major premise here is that how we play out our roles on the stage in the theater of real life depends upon the story lines we assimilate from various sources as our self-script. As the story lines are assimilated our identity is defined, thus impacting everything we think, feel, perceive and do. When those story lines are what I refer to as creative or life-oriented, they help us develop our potential to become and do all the very best we can be and do for ourselves and others. When the story lines are toxic, the best of us is inhibited from expression and the very worst of our potential is realized.

The other guiding metaphor here is the native American folklore parable of two wolves, one good and one evil, who are constantly fighting each other inside us. Which wolf wins? The one we feed. This calendar provides daily messages to help us as we work at taking an active role in developing a creative identity-defining story line, to guide each of us through every day of day of every year of our lives. It has been designed as a weapon we can use to defend our selves against the toxic energy which feeds our evil inner wolf, who is thereby strengthened to ravage our minds, our bodies, and our souls. Consider these messages as inspirational nutrition for our moral inner wolf, who is thereby strengthened to help us surmount the challenges of life and actualize the very best of our intellectual, physical, and spiritual potential while our evil inner wolf is left to starve.

Creative vs. Toxic Energies

I define creative energy as exemplified by (a) the awe-inspiring aesthetics of natural environments, (b) lovingly constructive, encouraging, supportive, or otherwise joyfully nurturant, acceptant, empowering actions of and interactions with the people or our lives, (c) the sense of self-efficacy and confidence born of the strength that comes from a history of disciplined, goal-directed effort, and (d) media productions the content of which is humanizing. Such experiences are presumed here to derive from, convey, and generate creative energy which is assimilated into the identity-defining narratives of those so exposed. Exposure to creative energy in our functioning environments is regarded here as life-oriented since it augments our capacity to become and do all the very best we can be and do – thereby feeding our good, moral inner wolf.

I define toxic energy as exemplified by (a) the unaesthetic repulsiveness of squalid environments, (b) hatefully destructive, discouraging, demeaning, or otherwise mean-spirited, abusively degrading, rejecting actions of and interactions with the people of our lives, (c) the self-pity and even self-loathing developed out of a history of learned helplessness, and (d) media productions the content of which is dehumanizing. Such experiences are presumed here to derive from, convey, and generate toxic energy which infuses the narratives defining identities of those so exposed, thereby inhibiting actualization of human potential. Exposure to toxic energy in our functioning environments is regarded here as dehumanizing or death-oriented insofar as it inhibits our capacity to fulfill the very best of our potential – thereby feeding our evil, immoral inner wolf.

IDENTITY AS THE KEY TO PERSONAL GROWTH AND A GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF UNITY

Identity is seen here as developed from narratives we assimilate as scripts 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 choose instead to take an active role in deciding which story lines influence the construction or destruction of the person we become or fail to become?

Do we choose to exercise our God-given free will to screen out narratives most likely to have a toxic, dehumanizing, disabling impact on us in favor of story lines more likely to have a creative, humanizing, strengthening impact