The banner of Creative Nonfiction defines the genre simply, succinctly, and accurately as “true stories, well told.” ~ CreativeNonfiction.org Stories can be told in many different media. In the literary tradition of the written word, we have books, short stories, essays, and more. As an oral storytelling performer, I craft stories that are meant to …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Dreams ~ Paul Laurence Dunbar
“I am the Dunbar Jupiter Library. I am neither walls nor shelves that stand in rows. I am the Wisdom of the Universe, Captured, and arranged for you. I am an open door. ‘ENTER.’” — Mary L. Rice (1933 – 2022), first librarian of the Dunbar-Jupiter Hammon Public Library Today, I had the opportunity to …Read More
The Doctor Heals ~ Dr. Joel Ying
Sometimes you need to have a little fun with the poetry and the spoken word. Here are some musings that worked their way into a poem. With the spoken word, it leaps off the page and leaves me thinking… what was I thinking? …. Enjoy the poem. Listen to the audio clip if you prefer …Read More
What is prayer? ~ Mary Oliver
As Mary Oliver says in her poem, “I do not know exactly what prayer is.” What I do know is that when we pray, we invoke something greater than our current selves; we drop into a deep sense of gratitude for all that we already have; and we ask for the support that we need …Read More
Joy and Grief ~ Raspberries and Bananas
We shake with joy, We shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body. ~ Mary Oliver There are some things that you can’t prepare for. Sheila walked into the supermarket. It was a weekly visit, a leisurely trip. She liked finding new things to try. She had …Read More
My Personal Prayer for 2022
On this second day of the new year, I step into the ritual of looking at the year ahead. I celebrate beginnings and endings in the same way that I marvel at the sunrise and the sunset, marking time with their beauty. Today, I sink into my intention for the year. From a place of …Read More
This changes everything…
During my training as a doctor, I spent several months in the Pediatric Emergency Room. Babies with fever, kids with diarrhea and dehydration, asthmatics with breathing attacks — the common problems were common. The Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department was a thin woman, blonde, and well-organized. She never missed a day of work. The …Read More
New Year Intentions ~ New Normal
In March of 2019, with a pandemic looming on the horizon in the United States, I decided this was a good time to take a break. (I was determined to make the most of a strange situation. How long could this last anyway?) I rested, then I watched video courses on Storytelling from home. Then, …Read More
Let Every Day Be Christmas
Let Every Day Be Christmas ~ by Norman Wesley Brooks Christmas is forever, not for just one day,for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put awaylike bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.The good you do for others is good you do yourself. Peace on Earth, good will to men,kind thoughts …Read More
Ode to My Socks ~ Pablo Neruda
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Maru Mori brought mea pairof sockswhich she knitted herselfwith her sheepherder’s hands,two socks as softas rabbits.I slipped my feetinto themas though intotwocasesknittedwith threads oftwilightand goatskin.Violent socks,my feet weretwo fish madeof wool,two long sharkssea-blue, shotthroughby one golden thread,two immense blackbirds,two cannons:my feetwere honoredin this waybytheseheavenlysocks.They wereso handsomefor the first …Read More