Narrative Medicine fortifies clinical practice with the narrative competence to recognize, absorb, metabolize, interpret, and be moved by the stories of illness. ~ Dr. Rita Charon With the age of science and objectivity applied to modern medicine, little space is left for empathy and emotions. “Just the facts” has become the litany that creates a …Read More
Category: TED talk
Tim Brown, Serious Play Conference
Creativity is stifled by the fear of judgment. We must go back to childhood playfulness in order to stimulate creativity. We need an environment of trust where we can play with ideas and feel free to make mistakes. In his TED talk at the Serious Play Conference (Yes, there is such a thing!), Tim Brown …Read More
Anne Lamott – 12 things I learned from life and writing
All truth is paradox. Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes – including you. There’s nothing outside of you that will help in any kind of lasting way… Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy and scared, even the people who seem to have it most together. Chocolate with 75% …Read More
The danger of single story
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” ~ Chimamanada Ngozi Adichie Born in Nigeria, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells her story of facing the “single story” stereotype of Africa when she came to the …Read More
What do you do when creativity stops?
“And then one day, the songs stopped coming, and while you’ve suffered from periods of writer’s block before, albeit briefly, this is something chronic. Day after day, you face a blank page, and nothing’s coming.” ~ Sting, Sing-Songwriter What do you do when creativity stops? Even a famous prolific singer-songwriter can run out of ideas. …Read More
Do you want to succeed? Get Gritty
As her life was nearing the end with a terminal diagnosis, a mother shared about her adult children. She did not worry about the “hard workers.” She was worried about “the smart one.” Her daughter got by in school without having to work hard, and seemed to float through life in the same way. Now …Read More
Silly Things – The Importance of Play
“Friends don’t let friends do silly things alone.” ~ from BlueMountain e-card To all my friends out there that get silly with me, you know who you are. Thank you! I’m looking forward to a New Year of more fun, more silliness, more play. As a child, I remember the day that I decided to grow …Read More
Connecting to God through Nature
As I hiked up the Sacred Valley of the Incas to Machu Picchu, the backpack full of snacks and clothes got heavier and heavier. My shoulders ached. I started to eat the snacks, just to lighten the load. Oranges seemed like a good idea at the start of this trip, but now they just felt …Read More
David Steindl-Rast: 3 Steps to Gratitude
“It is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy.” ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine Monk According to David Steindl-Rast, gratitude can be found in 3 easy steps — the same steps to crossing a street. Earlier this year, I created 3 Simple Steps to Balance. (Check out my prior post.) …Read More
Donald Davis: Tell me a story
“Tell me a story about when you were young.” If you’ve ever asked this question (or been asked), then you know the confused look that can follow. The question is way too general. Unless you have a catalog of stories already in your head, the mind goes blank. No memories are triggered. The secret is …Read More