“Don’t go into the graveyard after dark!” Perhaps like my friend, Janis McCall, you grew up with this warning. But really… is there anything to fear in graveyards? “Personally I have no bone to pick with graveyards,” said Samuel Beckett. However, every story has a reason to be told. This story comes to me from …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Embodied Wisdom
“The head comes up with options, the heart knows what it loves, and the gut makes decisions.” I was at a workshop in Big Sur, California, when I heard these words of distilled wisdom from another student. The magnificent cliffs above the Pacific Ocean punctuated the sentence with the crashing waves. Relaxed from the morning …Read More
How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century ~ Steven Johnson
One hundred years ago, life expectancy in most countries was less than 45 years. But if you are born today, the amount of life years that you can expect is over 70 years. How did we nearly double life expectancy in a century? One answer might be the advances in science: antibiotics, medications, sanitation, and …Read More
Kindness ~ Orly Wahba
Orly Wahba developed Acts of Kindness Cards for her middle school students. The students were instructed to perform the act and pass the card on. Her students began to feel empowered as they saw the ripple effect of their actions. Simple acts of kindness: Read the book, Kindness Boomerang by Orly Wahba
The Day That Broke Me
Admit or send home. The emergency room doctors have one basic decision. Is this person sick enough that they need to be admitted to the hospital? Or can they be treated and sent home to follow-up in the clinic? If you need hospital care, you are admitted under the care of your doctor. But if …Read More
Mondays and Holy Thursdays
I wish I could say that I was less confused. The garbage collection people sent me a notice to change the dates of collection from Wednesday and Saturday to Monday and Thursday. I’d like to set the record straight. In the age of euphemism starting sometime in the 1980’s, I understand that I might refer …Read More
Slip Sliding Away ~ Down the Grand Canyon
“you know the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip sliding away.” Paul Simon was slip sliding away in my head as I made my way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Shorts, T-shirt, hiking boots, sunglasses, hat, suntan lotion… backpack with water, trail mix, snack bars. The group of four of us …Read More
AI generated images
Open AI’s DALL-E is a major upheaval in the world of photography. If you’ve been hiding in a cave, you might not know that AI stands for “Artificial Intelligence.” You also might not know that major advances have been happening and the world of AI is now in beta testing by different companies releasing the …Read More
When Breath Becomes Air ~ Paul Kalanithi
“In that first year, I would glimpse my share of death. I sometimes saw it while peeking around corners, other times while feeling embarrassed to be caught in the same room.” ~ excerpt from Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air In his last year of training to become a neurosurgeon, Dr. Paul Kalanithi is diagnosed …Read More
Story: Never Forget – Unknown Soldier
Unsure of how to proceed, the young soldier prayed silently while he continued to pace. As if summoned by some invisible force, he homed in on one of the flag-swathed caskets. “I know this man,” he thought. His arms seemed to move of their own accord, placing the roses he held atop the coffin. ~ …Read More