“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” ~ Emily Dickinson Every now and then, a poem captures my attention. This poem came to me from a friend at the start of 2017. So commanding is the poem, that I have committed it to …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
India Arie – I Am Light
“My mission in life is to spread love, healing, peace, and joy through the power of words and music.” ~ India Arie I am always inspired by those that live their mission. Grammy Award winning, India Arie, lives her mission, lives her dream, and inspires us with her songs. On this start of the year, …Read More
Tai Chi and Mindfulness
I started Tai Chi in 2001 after completing my Internship year of Medical Residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Instead of 80 hours a week, it would now be 60. (I’m sort of kidding. I’ve blocked that memory so I made up the numbers.) Still, I thought I’d have more free time, and I …Read More
Minimalism – less stuff is more
“What did we do before we knew we needed all this stuff?“ My seventy-year-old friend suddenly paused in the middle of a story of her childhood and then asked me this question. While it was definitely a question, it seemed more like a statement. I was speechless. Simple things are profound. Life was much simpler …Read More
Silly Things – The Importance of Play
“Friends don’t let friends do silly things alone.” ~ from BlueMountain e-card To all my friends out there that get silly with me, you know who you are. Thank you! I’m looking forward to a New Year of more fun, more silliness, more play. As a child, I remember the day that I decided to grow …Read More
New Year’s Intention – What the world needs
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman. What makes you come alive? What inspires you? What fills you with spirit? To come alive is to live a spiritual life. To come alive is …Read More
Connecting to God through Nature
As I hiked up the Sacred Valley of the Incas to Machu Picchu, the backpack full of snacks and clothes got heavier and heavier. My shoulders ached. I started to eat the snacks, just to lighten the load. Oranges seemed like a good idea at the start of this trip, but now they just felt …Read More
David Steindl-Rast: 3 Steps to Gratitude
“It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy.” ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine Monk According to David Steindl-Rast, gratitude can be found in 3 easy steps — the same steps to crossing a street. Earlier this year, I created 3 Simple Steps to Balance. (Check out my prior post.) …Read More
The Gift of the Magi
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all.” This is the famous first line to The Gift of the Magi, published by O. Henry in 1905. Imagine that you only had $1.87 to spend for Christmas. Even in 1905, Della struggles to buy a gift for her husband, Jim. However, despite the challenges, love survives …Read More
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
One last chance to recite this poem for the year before Santa Claus goes to rest. He’s out there and very busy. You can track him on the Official NORAD website. Yes, the North American Aerospace Defense Command actually tracks Santa. (There’s a whole other story of how the U.S. military got involved in Santa …Read More