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
Category: Journal
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
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
For a New Beginning ~ John O’Donohue
“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
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
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
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
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
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