{"id":7176,"date":"2014-11-21T20:40:05","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T01:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=7176"},"modified":"2014-11-21T20:40:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T01:40:05","slug":"the-only-life-you-can-save","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html","title":{"rendered":"The Only Life You Can Save"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite wise woman poets is Mary Oliver<\/a> whose words touch my heart in ways that few others can; as if they could have come through me as well; so personal they are. Today, while visiting my former place of employment, one of my co-workers pulled out an anthology consisting of the works of various wordsmiths. He opened to a particular page and said that this one was for me. I have read it many times over the years, but today it rang with a loud and true clarion call that shook me to my core.<\/p>\n

The Journey<\/p>\n

One day you finally knew
\nwhat you had to do, and began,
\nthough the voices around you
\nkept shouting
\ntheir bad advice —
\nthough the whole house
\nbegan to tremble
\nand you felt the old tug
\nat your ankles.
\n“Mend my life!”
\neach voice cried.
\nBut you didn’t stop.
\nYou knew what you had to do,
\nthough the wind pried
\nwith its stiff fingers
\nat the very foundations,
\nthough their melancholy
\nwas terrible.
\nIt was already late
\nenough, and a wild night,
\nand the road full of fallen
\nbranches and stones.
\nBut little by little,
\nas you left their voices behind,
\nthe stars began to burn
\nthrough the sheets of clouds,
\nand there was a new voice
\nwhich you slowly
\nrecognized as your own,
\nthat kept you company
\nas you strode deeper and deeper
\ninto the world,
\ndetermined to do
\nthe only thing you could do —
\ndetermined to save
\nthe only life you could save.\u201d
\n\u2015 Mary Oliver<\/a><\/p>\n

After Ted read it to me, I thought about all the times I spent majorly over-extending myself, because I thought I had to. I contemplated how I\u00a0invested more into my clients’ recovery than they did,\u00a0 like I had last New Years Day when I told them that if they cared enough about their sobriety to show up for group, I would be there for them. and when I arrived, I discovered that two out of\u00a0 seven were there. How I worked for free, for ‘exposure’, rather than either\u00a0getting compensated or turning\u00a0down speaking gigs, out of fear that they wouldn’t bring me on board otherwise. \u00a0I\u00a0recall how\u00a0several years ago, a coach I was working with advised me to\u00a0“Ask for\u00a0what your services are worth, without stuttering.”\u00a0 I do that now and most of the time, I receive it.\u00a0It is about valuing myself, rather than allowing someone else to place a\u00a0value on me. We teach people how to treat us. What we accept, we reinforce. Making these choices has literally saved my life. Thank you, Mary, for that reminder and thank you, Ted for the gift you shared today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite wise woman poets is Mary Oliver whose words touch my heart in ways that few others can; as if they could have come through me as well; so personal they are. Today, while visiting my former place of employment, one of my co-workers pulled out an anthology consisting of the works…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,1,2,13,3532,19,3,14,4,16,20,37],"tags":[2722,4897,2157,4118,4845,2782],"class_list":["post-7176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abundance","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-edie-weinstein","category-empowerment","category-gratitude","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-poetry","category-writing","tag-coaching","tag-edie-weinstein","tag-mary-oliver","tag-new-years-day","tag-poetry","tag-the-journey"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Only Life You Can Save - 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\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Only Life You Can Save - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my favorite wise woman poets is Mary Oliver whose words touch my heart in ways that few others can; as if they could have come through me as well; so personal they are. Today, while visiting my former place of employment, one of my co-workers pulled out an anthology consisting of the works…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.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=\"2014-11-22T01:40:05+00:00\" \/>\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":"The Only Life You Can Save - 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\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Only Life You Can Save - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"One of my favorite wise woman poets is Mary Oliver whose words touch my heart in ways that few others can; as if they could have come through me as well; so personal they are. Today, while visiting my former place of employment, one of my co-workers pulled out an anthology consisting of the works…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2014-11-22T01:40:05+00:00","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\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html","name":"The Only Life You Can Save - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-22T01:40:05+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-22T01:40:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/11\/the-only-life-you-can-save.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Only Life You Can Save"}]},{"@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. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7177,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7176\/revisions\/7177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}