I just wasn’t curious. My dad passed away last year, and I realized the many things that I just never thought to ask. How do you make that special seasoning that you put on everything? What did you want to be when you were growing up? What were your school days like? What was it …Read More
Category: Journal
Storytelling Medicine: a new podcast
Every semester, I have the pleasure of teaching an undergraduate course called “Storytelling as Healing.” Twenty students enter the classroom as apprehensive strangers. They leave as a community. “I feel as if I am taking a piece of each of you with me from your stories,” said one of the students this semester. This is …Read More
New Technology, Simply Complicated
New technology? There was a time when I loved complicated machines and computer programs; learning to master them gave my pre-teen brain a hit of dopamine. Look what I can do! But then something switched; I’m trying to put my finger on the moment that it happened. Analog dials suddenly became so much more attractive …Read More
You know you’re my friend
“You know you’re my friend!” I first met Mr. Green in the Fall of 2018 at the information booth entering Florida Gulf Coast University. As you enter the main road to campus, you pull off to a building just big enough for one person. The miniature dark green metal roof and white walls match the …Read More
Gratitude: Uncovering Your Mission
The Thanksgiving Holiday in America is one of extended families coming together for dinner in the spirit of gratitude. Most families spread the table with the classic dishes of turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin pie. For many holiday celebrations in my childhood, we walked across the backyard canopy of mango and …Read More
Finding Your Sacred Mission
Companies have mission statements to inspire them. What’s your personal mission? The mission statement is short and powerful, like a north star that you can return to over and over to inspire and guide you. By holding a mission statement in your mind and heart, you can live fully in the present moment and create …Read More
After My Mother Died ~ Joel Ying
The year after my mother diedWas filled with angerSleepless nightsGetting upAnd walking through my dayWhere the best and worst thingThat I could do was forgetEven for a momentThe second year after my mother diedWas filled with angerAnd joyThinking ofThe way that she would laugh beforeHer own punchlinesCross her legs and say“I have to pee!”And laugh …Read More
Johari Window
In 1955, psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham created a technique to better understand ourselves and improve communication with others. They named the model the “Johari Window” as a combination of their names. The four quadrants represent the four parts of ourselves: When we start off in a new community (for example, a new job …Read More
Rum Cake ~ You Never Listen
My parents baked Jamaican Black Rum Cake every year as gifts for friends and family at Christmas. The fruits–raisins, currants, prunes, cherries, citrus, and more–were minced and soaked in rum and wine from the previous year. I helped out in the kitchen–assisting, watching, and learning. My mom would ask my dad how much of an …Read More
Aikido of Love ~ Terry Dobson
In July, I went to the 2025 National Storytelling Network Conference. Workshops spanned various topics of oral storytelling from crafting to coaching to applying storytelling principles. Elisa Pearmain gave a workshop on “Listening to Our Anger–Acting Out of Love.” Among the activities, she told an oral version of “Aikido of Love,” a story written by …Read More