“Perhaps we should love ourselves so fiercely that when others see us they know exactly how it should be done.” — Rudy Francisco There are special people in the world who teach us what love is. One of those people came into my life in middle school as a very special teacher and mentor. Mrs. Chennault …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
The Invitation —by Oriah Mountain Dreamer It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool …Read More
Hole in the Sidewalk
Hole in the Sidewalk ~ by Portia Nelson I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the …Read More
Poetry Month – April 2017
April is NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) in the United States and Canada; or for my international friends, GloPoWriMo (Global Poetry Writing Month). In this annual project, participants take on the challenge to write a poem a day for the month of April: 30 poems in 30 days. Maureen Thorson began a personal challenge in …Read More
Love in the Moment – Poetry of Rumi
Rumi is celebrated for his poems on ecstatic Love. As a Persian poet and Sufi mystic writing in the 13th century, it is surprising that his words can still speak to us nearly 800 years later. However, he is one of the most popular poets in the English-speaking world today partly because of the beautiful …Read More
Life Purpose in 5 minutes?
A secret to happiness is … knowing your life purpose. What is your life purpose? Adam Leipzig says that we can figure it out in 5 minutes. (His questions are so simple and yet so profound that I’m re-posting this to my new blog to start off the new year.) Ask yourself these 5 questions. Who …Read More
The Right Honorable Dr. Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou)
The Right Honorable Dr. Louise Bennett-Coverley was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on September 7, 1919. She died in Ontario, Canada, on July 26, 2006. Her body was flown back to Jamaica to lie in state in the National Arena, and then buried in National Hero’s Park, next to other great heroes and leaders of Jamaica. This …Read More
The Elephant: Stories You’ll Never Forget, 2017
“I haven’t laughed so hard in years…. It was captivating.” After a standing ovation, last year’s sold-out audience raved over the first StorySLAM to come to the Sugden Theatre. Ten local storytellers each gave spellbinding performances. On Monday, April 3rd, 2017, at 7pm the oral tradition of storytelling returns to Sugden Theatre in Naples, Florida, with “The …Read More
Finger Pointing at the Moon
“It’s like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.” ― Bruce Lee In the movie “Enter the Dragon” (1973), Bruce Lee encounters a young student walking around the temple. They begin to spar, practicing their martial arts training. After sparing, Bruce …Read More
The Power in Vocal Communities
Last summer, I spent a week with my friend Ysaye Barnwell in her annual workshop “Building a Vocal Community” at the Omega Institute. In this workshop singers and non-singers (like I used to be) learn to sing in the oral tradition. (No music to read. No words to read. We learn by listening and repeating.) …Read More