My grandmother passed away over 10 years ago, and I wonder at the memory that is beginning to fade. We have family photos. My uncle has recordings somewhere on an old video camera. I’ve crafted stories about her, and I can see her face every time that I describe her. There is a deep connection …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Feels Like Family
We’re back together again. It’s summer, family vacation with the cousins. My cousin, Alicia, is my age. We’re in those pre-teen years, and we’ve been together almost every summer for as long as we can remember. Including the year that she refused to eat the green macaroni. We see each other across the parking lot. …Read More
By the road to the contagious hospital ~ William Carlos Williams
Spring and All [By the road to the contagious hospital] by William Carlos Williams (1883 – 1963) I By the road to the contagious hospital under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast-a cold wind. Beyond, the waste of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen patches of …Read More
The Fisherman: A Tale of Passion, Loss, and Hope ~ Jan Blake
“Stories are templates… maps to what it means to be a human being,” says Jan Blake in her TEDx Talk. Regret is one of the many stories that we must all learn to live with. Perhaps you are looking towards more modern stories, blockbuster or art house movies, to guide you on what it means …Read More
Pig Butchering Scams
It is a well-known fact that you should “fatten the pig” before slaughter. If you raise livestock, you need to feed the livestock (and feed them well) if you intend to harvest them for meat. If this offends your sensibilities, you might want to think twice about eating bacon. The facts behind how food gets …Read More
Story: Persephone and the Seasons ~ Joel Ying
Why did Persephone eat that pomegranate seed? As seasons shift and the Spring Equinox approaches, science gives us an explanation. The earth rotates on its axis, and the side that faces the sun has daylight and the other side is in the darkness of night. However, the Earth also revolves around the sun with a …Read More
Positive Aging ~ Carl Honore
This semester, I’m teaching a course called “Storytelling for Positive Aging.” Studies show that a positive attitude, a growth mindset, towards the process of aging leads to longer and happier lives. In this course, I explore the questions: How can we tell ourselves better stories of aging? How can we respond to cultural attitudes of …Read More
Love, no matter what ~ Andrew Solomon
When I was working in the hospital in the pediatric ward as a resident doctor-in-training, one of the patients that was admitted frequently was a Down’s Syndrome child with a cleft palate. The cleft palate is an incomplete closure of the roof of the mouth that separates it from the nasal area above. Functionally, this …Read More
Story: Truth and Story ~ Joel Ying
“Stop making up stories!” I overhear an exasperated mom talking to her 4-year-old. In this context, the word “story” has become synonymous with lying, making up fiction, not telling the truth. However, in the context of the art of storytelling, making up fiction does not mean that a story does not contain a deeper truth, …Read More
Mastering Life’s Transitions ~ Bruce Feiler
Life is the story that we tell ourselves. What happens when we get stuck in a story? How do we get unstuck? Bruce Feiler has 5 tips for mastering life’s transitions: Take control of the story that you tell about yourself. I once believed that I had no stories to tell, but then I realized …Read More