Sacred Storytelling EventSunday, April 5, 20201 – 4 pm (EDT; New York) Sacred Stories are stories that inspire us, remind us we are not alone, and connect us in our universality of emotion and experience. We will have live and pre-recorded stories. Our pre-recorded stories will be from those storytellers who are no longer with us in body, …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Conserve Toilet Paper
“One of the most jolting days of adulthood comes the first time you run out of toilet paper. Toilet paper, up until this point, always just existed. And now it’s a finite resource, constantly in danger of extinction, that must be carefully tracked and monitored, like pandas?”~ Kelly Williams Brown, Adulting: How to Become a …Read More
Meditation: Favorite Place
“Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.”– Ajahn Brahm In this time when everyone is struggling with mental balance, I have decided to use this podcast/blog to create a series exploring the types of meditation and offering audio online. We live in uncertain times. While …Read More
COVID-19 changing our habits
I am now acutely aware of how many times that I touch my face, rub my eyes, itch my nose. Argh! These unconscious habits are hard to stop. I seem to only notice only after it is done. This is the first aggravating step of changing any behavior: noticing it (even if you can’t change …Read More
The Taoist Multi-Verse, Elon Musk, and The Matrix ~ Gaofei Yan
Zhuangzi Dreams of a Butterfly One day, Zhuangzi is taking a nap and begins to dream. In his dream, he is a butterfly. What is the butterfly doing in the dream? The butterfly is also taking a nap and dreaming. The butterfly dreams that he is Zhuangzi. And what is Zhuangzi doing in that dream? …Read More
World Storytelling Day 2020
“No story lives unless someone wants to listen.” ~ J. K. Rowling World Storytelling Day celebrates the art of oral storytelling. People around the world tell and listen to stories in as many languages and as many places as possible on this one day, the March equinox. This day also marks the beginning of Spring …Read More
On Crafting a Story ~ Ward Rubrecht
“At the most basic level there are three steps to crafting a story,” says Ward Rubrecht. The essence of creating art is in the crafting. While art needs creative play for inspiration, it is the work of perspiration that separates the amateur from the master. As a performance art, the storyteller makes the difficult look …Read More
The Why Engine ~ Ridgely Goldsborough
“WHAT do you do?”“HOW do you do it?”“WHY?” At any networking event, it’s the “WHY” question that stumps most people, including me. There are many reasons to do what you do: fame, fortune, family, fun…. I’d like a dose of all of them, but instead I struggle to come up with a “socially acceptable” reason. …Read More
Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Peppermint
“It cured my abdominal pain,” my patient announced, “You should recommend this to everyone.” In fact, I had been recommending the essential oil peppermint to patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but this personal testimonial made me even more of a believer. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a constellation of symptoms that include abdominal pain …Read More
Why is that funny?
My friend Celia and I were roaring with laughter. Side-splitting gut-wrenching, every time we locked eyes the laughter started again. Jerry came over and asked, “What’s so funny?” Celia and I looked at each other and laughed even harder. We both knew that if we tried to explain, it wasn’t going to be funny. Her brother had …Read More