Living The Present Moment

In this story, I explore the memories of a doctor-in-training as a resident in the hospital. My memories of the intensive care unit (ICU) are filled with the intense emotion that colors the space between life and death. With these critically ill patients, we sit with them on the brink of death and the edge of life, and we hope that they can make it back over the precipice into healing. I studied the volumes of information to understand ventilators, infusion pumps, and the many life support machines. I practiced procedures to intubate patients, place feeding tubes, and insert large central lines. I learned to speak with families and deliver news--both good and bad. And I got closer to the unseen force that supports us all and the thing that we call prayer. Listen to the story: The Intensive Care Unit by Dr. Joel Ying, MD (18 minutes)

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

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 f

"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 o

"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

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 Fe

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

"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

“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

"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. "I

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