{"id":1158,"date":"2011-08-07T21:35:39","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T01:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=1158"},"modified":"2011-08-07T21:35:39","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T01:35:39","slug":"before-i-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html","title":{"rendered":"Before I Die"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"482\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is a subject that\u00a0some find challenging to speak of and still others avoid totally, and\u00a0yet taking our last breath is as natural as taking our first; the cycle of life in completion. I have never witnessed a birth in person, but have been what I consider a mid-wife at the passing of\u00a0 patients, friends and loved ones, including my husband and father. My mother chose to make her exit only in the presence of a hospice caregiver, so I wasn&#8217;t there as I had hoped to be. Each time, there was a blending of sadness and serenity; a sense of surrender to what is. Each time too, I knew that these deaths would come to be. Had I experienced sudden deaths, it would have had a different feel to it, I&#8217;m sure. And yet, the truth is, none of us knows which day we will be called to make that transition.<\/p>\n<p>Enter the &#8220;Before I Die Project&#8221;. \u00a0 I discovered it in Friday&#8217;s email from DailyGood:\u00a0 News That Inspires. It offers an alternative to the &#8216;if it bleeds, it leads&#8217; mentality that permeates some forms of journalism, with an &#8216;if it feeds (the heart and soul:), it leads&#8217; sensibility.<\/p>\n<p>Candy Chang; the designer of the project is, according to her website:\u00a0\u00a0&#8220;a public installation artist, designer, urban planner, TED Fellow, and co-founder of Civic Center in New Orleans.&#8221;\u00a0 She has taken an abandoned building in Katrina-ravished New Orleans and made it into a magnificent canvas for the hopes, dreams, wishes, desires and visions of passersby who, with rainbow colored chalk in hand, leave a city sanctioned graffiti legend.<\/p>\n<p>People of all ages have written entries such as:<\/p>\n<p>Before I die, I want to:<\/p>\n<p>Raise my children.<\/p>\n<p>Evaporate into the light.<\/p>\n<p>Tell my mother I love her.<\/p>\n<p>Travel the world.<\/p>\n<p>Find my mythical creature.<\/p>\n<p>Live in another country.<\/p>\n<p>Be someone&#8217;s cavalry.<\/p>\n<p>If you had that wall before you, what would you write on it?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There is a marvelous piece by one of my favorite singer songwriters named David Roth that speaks to this idea.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">BEFORE I DIE<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">\u00a0 \u00a9 1991 David Roth<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Before I die I want to be<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">The richest man in history<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">I want to have a wealth of friends<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Abundant love that never ends<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Before I die I want to find<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">A lover who is soft and kind<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">And one last piece of cherry pie<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">That&#8217;s what I want before I die<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Before I die I want to choose<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Some different roads and avenues<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">I want to walk each one in peace<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">And all my obstacles release<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Before I die I want to know<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">I&#8217;ve told you that I love you so<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">I love you so, I love you so<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">That&#8217;s what I want you to know<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">Before I die I want to be<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">The\u00a0 richest man in history<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">And one last piece of cherry pie<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;font-size: small\">That&#8217;s what I want before I die<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.candychang.com\/\">www.candychang.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailygood.org\/morephp?n=4695\">www.dailygood.org\/morephp?n=4695<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.davidrothmusic.com\">www.davidrothmusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; This is a subject that\u00a0some find challenging to speak of and still others avoid totally, and\u00a0yet taking our last breath is as natural as taking our first; the cycle of life in completion. I have never witnessed a birth in person, but have been what I consider a mid-wife at the passing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,1,11,70,41,19,4,38],"tags":[658,657,664,661,4861,660,662,659,663],"class_list":["post-1158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss-bites","category-community","category-death","category-empowerment","category-inspiration","category-transformation","tag-before-i-die-project","tag-candy-chang","tag-daily-good","tag-david-roth","tag-death","tag-hurricane-katrina","tag-legacy","tag-new-orleans","tag-ted"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Before I Die - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Before I Die - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; This is a subject that\u00a0some find challenging to speak of and still others avoid totally, and\u00a0yet taking our last breath is as natural as taking our first; the cycle of life in completion. I have never witnessed a birth in person, but have been what I consider a mid-wife at the passing&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-08T01:35:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Before I Die - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Before I Die - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; This is a subject that\u00a0some find challenging to speak of and still others avoid totally, and\u00a0yet taking our last breath is as natural as taking our first; the cycle of life in completion. I have never witnessed a birth in person, but have been what I consider a mid-wife at the passing&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2011-08-08T01:35:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html","name":"Before I Die - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-08T01:35:39+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-08T01:35:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/candychang.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Before-I-Die-06-responses1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/08\/before-i-die.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Before I Die"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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