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This personal story is dedicated to my mom, Vivienne Ying.
This is the current working version of a story that is evolving. I like to think of it as version 2.
At some points along the journey, a story feels like it is ready to be shared. Enjoy! -
This story began with an exercise to uncover a memory that would make a good story. As my attention narrowed to a particular moment, I had the feeling that there is a story in here somewhere that I want to tell. This moment with my dad held significance for me. I began to unpack the scenes and emotions of my eight-year-old self from the vaults of memory. Bringing this past moment into the present, I began to reflect on it and ask myself the question: "How did this moment change my life?" I began to unpack related memories, although not all of them made it into the story. Then, I asked myself, "What does this moment mean to my life today?"
Crafting personal stories requires these steps: (1) find a memorable moment, (2) unpack the moment from memory, (3) reflect on the impact that this moment had on your life which might require unpacking more moments, and (4) reflect on the significance it has in the context of your life today. After all this unpacking, the final step is to add creativity to the telling of the story.
If you had asked me why I wanted to become a doctor before I wrote this story, my answer would be very different.
Listen to the podcast, The First Doctor, by Dr. Joel Ying, MD -
Eksik bölüm mü var?
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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 tilt in the axis, and this gives us the seasons. When the tilt brings more direct sunlight to the Northern hemisphere for more hours of the day, it brings summer to the Northern hemisphere. The sometimes complicated stories of science allow us to understand the seasons and make sense of the world.
Myths and legends also allow us to understand and make sense of the world. These stories hold knowledge and wisdom in a different way. The Greek myth of Persephone is an origin story that explains why we have seasons. If you remember the Greek story, you do not need science to tell you that the world has seasons. You will remember Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
You might dismiss the Greek myth in favor of the scientific explanation, but you would lose the rest of the wisdom captured in the story.
Enjoy my original version of this Greek myth. I've reimagined the story of Persephone and Hades... and the origin of the seasons.
Listen to the Podcast: "Persephone and the Seasons" re-imagined by Dr. Joel Ying, MD -
"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, a universal truth, a deeper meaning.
What is Truth? What is Story?
Listen to the podcast. -
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 the cultures that they meet. The wisdom is distilled and often poured into another container. I first heard this as a Jewish story, and it took me some time to track down the original Korean version. I read and listened to several versions, took it down to the bare bones, dreamed on it, combined the elements that spoke to me, and created my own version.
Listen to the podcast
The Spring of Youth ... a Korean folk tale, told by Dr. Joel Ying, MD -
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 have heard. My parents left Jamaica to escape political violence and a failing economy to find a place with a better future for their children.
In June 2016, on my way to a storytelling open mic with the theme "Fathers," I stopped at my parents house for lunch. The Moth is a non-profit that promotes "true stories told live," but I could not think of a story to tell that evening. I had a sudden epiphany that I should talk to my father to get a story idea.
I sat with my a parents in the family room with the TV off (something strange for them), and I began to ask a few questions. The seed for this story began as they opened up and told me the story for the first time in their own words. On one level, I had known the story, but I did not understand the emotional truth of the story until after that conversation.
I can still see my father thoughtfully searching for the words to answer my questions and my mom sitting on the other side of the living room interjecting her own words with a humorous smile.
I still did not have a story ready to tell for that June 2016 event. However, the seed for this story had already started to grow. Several months later, the open mic theme was "Money." With the realization that money was a theme in this story, I crafted the initial version. I put my name in the basket for The Moth StorySlam, but I was not one of the lucky ones chosen that night.
Fortunately, I have made my own luck. As a producer of events, I have found many other venues and audiences to tell this story. As a living entity, this story continues to grow--expanding, changing, flowering, and often getting pruned.
Listen to the current version. -
"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 Night in Jamaica and celebrate the life of my Uncle Charlie.
It was a gift to be able to perform this story at a family reunion in 2019. In the audience were Uncle Charlie's grandchildren who had never met their grandfather. The entire family was moved by the experience. It was a moment of healing, and I often return to the story when I need healing.
It has also been a gift to hear the many stories that others share about their families, cultures, and traditions after hearing this story.
Perhaps you will share yours. -
"Don't go into the graveyard after dark!"
Perhaps like my friend, Janis McCall, you grew up with this warning. But really... is there anything to fear in graveyards?
"Personally I have no bone to pick with graveyards," said Samuel Beckett.
However, every story has a reason to be told. This story comes to me from Scotland, part family story, part history, part cautionary tale... and all parts spooky because it's completely true. -
Unsure of how to proceed, the young soldier prayed silently while he continued to pace. As if summoned by some invisible force, he homed in on one of the flag-swathed caskets. "I know this man," he thought. His arms seemed to move of their own accord, placing the roses he held atop the coffin.
~ Excerpt from Patrick O'Donnell's The Unknowns
I have this odd practice in public libraries. When I feel the calling, I will walk randomly through the shelves and listen for the book that is calling me. I love to walk to sections that I have not been to before. I will wait to feel the pull. A cover, a title, a picture, an interesting spine, a word, something about the book draws my attention. I open the book to a random page and begin to read... sometimes, I keep reading.... sometimes, I take it home.
On one of those escapades through the public library, I encountered The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home by Patrick O'Donnell. The black and white hardcover stood out at the end of a shelf. I flipped to the middle, and the origin story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier came to life in vivid detail. I flipped back a few chapters, and the personal accounts of WWI brought me into the trenches to see the war from a perspective that I had not experienced. I knew of the grand scale of "the war to end all wars," but now I was faced with the personal stories through the eyes of the pallbearers that were chosen to bring the Unknown Soldier back home to America. The personal sacrifices of these decorated war heroes and the atrocities that they witnessed became even more real.
When I'm not called to these random adventures through the public library, I'm the kind of person that usually reads from cover to cover. It's the obsessive-compulsive personality trait lodged inside my brain. I took the book home. I went into a deeper dive into the history of WWI, the aftermath, and a nation in mourning for her fallen heroes. I reviewed other sources. I felt the calling to tell the story of this National Monument. As I told people about the story, I realized that this was a forgotten story. I prepared the story for a live event on Veterans Day 2022. There are some things that we should NEVER FORGET.
References
Listen to my podcast, "Never Forget"
Check out the book, The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home by Patrick O'Donnell -
This spooky Halloween season, I got a chance to perform at Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida, with the cast of "Haunting Tales," formerly called "Ghosts in the Garden." Last Friday, the morning was beautiful, but the afternoon brought torrential rains. Will people still come? The organizers talked about cancelling the show. Ninety minutes before the performance, the rain slowed and stopped. Ticket holders started coming in with their lawn chairs and picnic baskets of food, beer, and wine. In the middle of downtown Orlando, this 50-acre botanical gardens opens its gates for an evening show every Halloween season. The historic Leu House on the property is covered with spooky decorations, stage and sound system are brought in, and this year 500 ticket holders spread out over the lawn to see the show!
Mitchell O'Rear has produced this Halloween show at Leu Gardens for 29 years! He is a master performer of the scary story, but sometimes adds a little fun. (He will also be performing at the Florida Storytelling Festival in January 2023.) Mitchell opened our "Haunting Tales" event with this children's song from the early 20th century. The topic is heavy, the images funny, and he adds a different twist to the ending that had people jumping out of their seats. The exact origin of the song is unknown. A version of the song was popular among the British and American soldiers in WWI, and you can find it in many WWI song book collections.
Most people know that the hearse is the large vehicle that carries the coffin to the funeral. Strangely, this song carries the theme of death into a children's song. After hearing it once, the words got stuck in my head. Be careful! Listen at your own risk.
The Hearse Song
Don't ever laugh as a hearse goes byFor you may be the next to dieThey wrap you up in a big white sheetFrom your head down to your feet
They put you in a big black boxAnd cover you up with dirt and rocksAnd all goes well for about a weekAnd then your coffin begins to leak
And the worms crawl in, the worms crawl outThe worms play pinochle on your snoutThey eat your eyes, they eat your noseThey eat the jelly between your toes
A big green worm with rolling eyesCrawls in your stomach and out your eyesYour stomach turns a slimy greenAnd pus pours out like whipping creamYou spread it on a slice of breadAnd that's what you eat when you're dead
And the worms crawl out, the worms crawl inThe worms that crawl in are lean and thinThe ones that crawl out are fat and stoutYour eyes fall in and your hair falls outYour brain comes tumbling down your snout
And the worms crawl in, the worms crawl outThey crawl all over your dirty snoutYour chest caves in and your eyes pop outAnd your brain turns to sauerkraut
They invite their friends, and their friends tooThey all come down to chew on youAnd this is what it is to dieI hope you had a nice goodbye
Did you ever think as a hearse goes byThat you may be the next to die?And your eyes fall out and your teeth decayAnd that is the end of a perfect day -
Don't think of a purple elephant!
What do you do? ... You think of a purple elephant.
Let's use the science of the mind in our favor. What you focus on is what persists. Let's practice shifting our focus onto space. If your mind goes to the tightness and dense spots, just shift your focus back to space.
Meditation is training the mind. As we focus on space, we also focus on possibility, openness, and ultimately healing.
Listen to today's meditation by Dr. Joel Ying, MD. -
What if you could hit the pause button?
If your inner storyteller is moving down from one worst case scenario to the next, the stress and tension are building up. The body does not distinguish between real stress and imagined stress, so when the mind (and the news) is playing the same story over and over again. It might be time to hit the pause button.
In this meditation, we reclaim the story that is running and tune into moments of inspiration, peace, and beauty. The body takes a break from the real (and imagined stories) running through our heads. We harness the power of our inner storyteller to imagine another scene and allow the tension of the body to release. -
Learn the technique of Square Breathing to balance the nervous system. When we are stuck in an anxiety state of chronic sympathetic overdrive, breathing meditation can activate the parasympathetic relaxation and down-regulate the nervous system. The breath is always in the present moment. As we slow down to meet the breath, the nervous system will find balance.
Square Breathing
Imagine a SquareInhale (as you travel up the left side in your mind's eye)Hold (as you move across the top from left to right)Exhale (as you travel down the right side in your mind's eye)Hold (as you move across the bottom from right to left)Repeat -
“Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.”– Ajahn Brahm
In this time when everyone is struggling with mental balance, I have decided to use this podcast/blog to create a series exploring the types of meditation and offering audio online.
We live in uncertain times. While that is perhaps always true, many of the things that I was certain about just a couple months ago have changed and continue to change. The world is full of 24 hour news updates, but sometimes I need to take a break from the worry and anxiety. The brain needs time to relax.
Guided Imagery Meditation
Today we'll explore a type of meditation that does just that. I laughingly call it ... "Go to your happy place." Guided imagery meditation uses the imagination to travel to your favorite relaxing place. Whether self-guided or guided by someone else, guided imagery as meditation can decrease the stress levels and bring us back to balance.
This type of meditation calms your nervous system from the fight-flight-freeze of anxiety and panic. It allows you to enter the rest-digest-relax state of being. This "mini-vacation" helps the nervous system get unstuck from the chronic anxiety state and find balance.
Meditation: Imagine Your Favorite Place
Silence all the media, devices, and distractions. The world and the news updates will be there when you return.Find a comfortable position and space where you won't be interrupted. (If you share space with others, consider doing this as a group.)Optional: Use a timer. Start with 5 - 10 minutes.Decide if you will do this in silence or with music. If you decide on music, find something that is calming without words that will blend into the background.Here is the important step. Activate your imagination. Imagine going to your favorite place. Arrive there and activate all of your senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, maybe even taste. What does your skin feel like? Is there sunshine or wind? As you look around, what do you see? What sounds do you hear? Let your self experience this place. Explore and walk around if that feels right.If your thoughts intrude and take you somewhere else, just bring yourself back to your favorite place and start again. Meditation is a practice that trains the mind.When the timer goes off (if you choose to use one), allow yourself to come back slowly to your present moment with the renewed sense of this small vacation from the "real world."
Guided Imagery Meditation
If you have trouble "going to your favorite place" on your own, then guided imagery might be for you.
I've included a guided imagery meditation that will take you to one of my favorite places--the beach. Try it out and see if this type of meditation is for you. Enjoy! -
"Storytelling is not a lost art, but a found art!"
Mary Lou Williams moved to South Florida to retire from a career in teaching and decided to take up a second career as a professional storyteller.
In this interview …
How and why someone would become a professional storyteller?
What is storytelling anyway?
Where do you get stories to tell?
Learn the history of the National Storytelling Festival.
Find a local storytelling group in Florida at flstory.com.
Living the Present Moment – Podcast Interview Series
“People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment”
Recorded: Fri Feb 21, 2020, Music: Happy African Village by John Bartmann -
"What we are hungry for in the Western world is a reanimation of spirit."
~ Prof. Stephen Cavitt
The shaman enters the dream-like state to bring back wisdom, guidance, and healing. There are many ways to navigate the multiple layers of reality. One of those ways is the drum. Many shamanic traditions use the hypnotic beat of the drum to induce a shamanic journey into altered states of consciousness.
Stephen Cavitt was called to explore the shamanic teachings while in university also studying creative writing and poetry. What do these two very different areas of study have in common? For him, both shamanic healing and creative writing bring closer contact with the sacred in this world. The shamans believe that everything has a spirit with which we can connect and communicate, everything is alive, everything is sacred. For poetry, the whole goal is to express that which is beyond this physical world.
In his academic life, he now teaches English at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in Fort Myers, Florida. As a healer in the shamanic tradition, he performs individual sessions and group workshops.
Join Dr. Joel Ying and Prof. Stephen Cavitt as they explore the shamanic teachings, the spirit of the drum, and the ceremony of drum-making workshops.
Interested in a drum-making workshop?
Contact Stephen Cavitt at [email protected].
In this interview …
What is a shaman?
Learn how the drum can induce the dream-state of the shamanic journey.
Discover the spirit of the drum.
Living the Present Moment – the Podcast Interview Series
“People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment”
Recorded: Wed Jun 12, 2019; Released: Mon Oct 28, 2019
Background Music: (public domain) Happy African Village by John Bartmann -
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
~Hippocrates
The term "plant medicine" is often appropriated today to mean the mind-altering substances like ayahuasca, mescaline, and psylisibin. These "plant medicine" ceremonies have become trendy as a quick route to escape the mundane ordinary world and have a "spiritual experience."
As a certified nutritionist, Ryin Cornett asks us to open our awareness to the fact that we use "plant medicine" everyday. We use caffeine to alter our mind, to wake us up. Others use tobacco to calm them down. We ingest sugar in power drinks to give us energy. These are all derived from plants.
From his own health struggles, Ryin Cornett has discovered his own path to healing with food as medicine. On his spiritual journey, he has also studied many paths including the "plant medicine" used in shamanic ceremony, even joining an Ayahuasca Church in Orlando.
Join Dr. Joel Ying and Ryin Cornett in this conversation as they dispel some of the myths and explore the topic of plant medicine.
In this interview …
What is plant medicine?
Discover the role of the shaman in ceremony.
What is an Ayahuasca Church?
Find Ryin Cornett online at dietorliveit.com.
Living the Present Moment – the Podcast Interview Series
“People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment”
Recorded: Wed Jun 12, 2019; Released: Fri Jun 14, 2019
Background Music: (public domain) Happy African Village by John Bartmann -
"That's not going to happen, it hurt too much just to tell this one, I would never be able to tell the rest of the story."
Jim Gregory began to unravel his painful stories with the support of the oral Storytelling community, and he did manage to tell the rest of the story. As a young white man during the 1960's, he traveled into the South with a team of eight in their teens and twenties to champion the cause of Freedom. Only two of them survived. The Race Wars would later come to be known as the Civil Rights Movement.
In his CD, The Hanging of Tom Brown, Jim Gregory gives a first-hand account of people who sacrificed for the cause of Freedom. With masterful storytelling, he brings those times alive and honors those that did not survive to tell their stories. Through the crafting of the stories, he has found healing and catharsis. As a storytelling performer, he often visits schools and communities to bring history back alive, to ensure that it is not forgotten, and bring us hope it will not be repeated.
"If you can take one or two logs out of a beaver dam, the dam collapses ... maybe you just need to reach one or two people," he says.
In this interview …
First-hand account of the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960's
Telling and healing from difficult stories
About his CD, The Hanging of Tom Brown
Find Jim Gregory online at JimGregoryStoryteller.com. Read more about his storytelling CD at HangingTomBrown.com. Contact him at [email protected].
Living the Present Moment – the Podcast Interview Series
“People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment”
Recorded: Fri Mar 29, 2019
Background Music: (public domain) Happy African Village by John Bartmann -
Legal Aid is a non-profit private law firm that protects the vulnerable by providing free legal representation to low income families for victims of domestic violence, children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, families who are at risk of homelessness, seniors and veterans who are denied access to health care or other benefits, and other groups of at-risk individuals.
Corey Huffman is an attorney with Legal Aid Service of Collier County with a passion for protecting the at-risk children in the community.
In this interview …
Corey Huffman describes Legal Aid of Collier County
How the legal system protects children
What is it really like in the courtroom
Find Collier Legal Aid online at www.collierlegalaid.org
Living the Present Moment - the Podcast Interview Series
"People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment"
Recorded: Fri Mar 15, 2019
Background Music: (public domain) Happy African Village by John Bartmann -
What does it take to build a dream? Maybe an architect.
Steven Jallad designs and oversees the building of homes in Naples, Florida. His path to architecture began with a love for drawing and working with his hands. He followed that passion as the thread in his life.
The craft of carpentry during the summers kept his hands working while earning a degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia. Traveling to West Africa with the Peace Corps, he built homes that fit a very different environment. This sparked an interest in green design that took him to Colorado for the next 10 years to build "off the grid" homes - designing in the winter, building in the summer. In 2008, he traded in mountain style for beach style and moved to Naples, Florida. Yet, he hangs on to the thread of passion, continuing to build a dream through architecture.
His personal journey inspires us to find the passion in life and continue to follow the thread. The thread from A to B is not always a straight line. Even as we make choices on how to weave our life, the loom of life takes us each on her own journey. Through ups and downs, sideways and detours, holding onto the thread is not always easy, but that is how to weave a life of passion and purpose.
Listen to our conversation as Steven Jallad takes us into the life of an architect.
In this interview …
What does an architect do?
How do you become an architect?
A personal journey finding passion in building homes
Find Steven Jallad at [email protected].
Living the Present Moment - the Podcast Interview Series
"People of Passion and Purpose, Doing Interesting Things, Living the Present Moment"
Recorded: Thu Feb 21, 2019; Released: Fri Mar 1, 2019
Background Music: (public domain) Happy African Village by John Bartmann - Daha fazla göster
