ABSTRACT
Positive identity. It sounds like an easy term to define. “Positive” suggests a value connotation, where something is good, desirable, and beneficial. “Identity” suggests how an actor is defined (Who am I? Who are we?). So pairing “positive” with “identity” suggests a good, desirable, and beneficial self-definition. But what does that really mean? After some false starts at answering this question, it struck me that perhaps this definitional issue is not something that we should try to address at the start of our conversation—which is, after all, what this book represents—but something that should be allowed to emerge naturally from the conversation; something the conversation should play with and savor. When the destination is only roughly known, the journey has license to meander, and our conversation will be richer for it.
