“I want to be able to do that” I still remember the moment that I first heard someone perform a story. I was expecting an ordinary speech where I could learn something about public speaking. Instead, I was immediately captivated, pulled into the vivid images that story created in my mind. The storyteller transformed herself …Read More
Author: Dr. Joel Ying, MD
Physician-Educator-Storyteller. Integrating the power of story into medicine, healing sessions, workshops, speaking and performance.
Honoring Sacrifice
Sacrifice, verb Last week, I toured a local health center run by a non-profit. They offer healthcare to underserved populations on a sliding scale basis. There are many ways to give, including the monetary donations of the many names that cover the walls to make the mission of greater healthcare access possible. While many at …Read More
Story: Spring of Youth
Storytellers in my tradition look for stories that hold some sort of “magic.” We tell stories that we love–sometimes for reasons that we know and sometimes we just keep telling them until we figure out why. This story has held me since I first heard it. Folk stories travel across the world and adapt to …Read More
Budgie ~ gifts don’t last
One holiday gift-giving season, I got a budgie. I was perhaps eleven years old. I had asked for one of those tiny little birds when I saw them at the pet store. Blue and white, he (or she, I’m not sure) was so cute. I had wanted my own pet bird ever since I had …Read More
A Blessing ~ James Wright
Suddenly I realizeThat if I stepped out of my body I would breakInto blossom. ~ James Wright, “A Blessing” from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose. A Blessing ~ by James Wright Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota, Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian …Read More
Story: Love or Money ~ Joel Ying
There are some stories that you do not really know until you’ve heard it directly from the people that have lived it. Growing up, I knew my parents story of immigration from bits and pieces of overheard conversation, stories gathered second hand told by other relatives, and gaps filled in from similar stories that I …Read More
One Today ~ Richard Blanco
One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,peeking over the Smokies, greeting the facesof the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truthacross the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a storytold by our silent gestures moving behind windows. ~ first stanza from One Today by Richard …Read More
Poem: Lost in Summer ~ Joel Ying
Lost in Summer ~ by Dr. Joel Ying, MD Atlantic waves crashing on the white sand Mid-morning sun already heavy in the sky Fractured shards of light glimmer atop the waves Sea foam like lace hems the shoreline. My nine year old self running into the water Trampling over the delicate froth Leaving the already …Read More
Story: Ninth Night
“Show me the manner in which a Nation or community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.” ~ William Ewart Gladstone In this podcast story, I explore the tradition of Ninth …Read More
Transforming Your Life Story
At some point while working full time as a hospitalist doctor nearly two decades ago, I began to feel thin. I remember standing outside leaving a meeting at the home of one of the other doctors. The day was sunny and warm, just before the start of the really hot summer in Florida. The heat …Read More