Day of Rest

You might not know this about me, but the one thing I love as much as books is music. It has been a constant in my life. My childhood home, church, and school were filled with music. That infusion carried into my adult life. As a highly sensitive person and introvert, I value quiet, but music feeds me. I listen to it in the car, when I exercise at the gym and then after when I take a shower, when I work and when I do chores around the house. Sometimes, I do nothing else, just listen to the music. I never go a full day without it.

Yesterday, listening to the Chill station on satellite radio, I heard a new song by an artist I didn’t know. I was loving the lyrics and completely grooving on her voice, so I wrote down the title and artist, logged in to my Rhapsody account and listened to the whole album…over and over and over. It is amazing fantastic heartbreaking beautiful precious holy wow holy crap I am in love with this woman good.

Yunalis Zarai (aka Yuna) is a 25 year old singer, born in Malaysia. Her biography on her website says:

Music is one of the most powerful forces of unification. It has the power to heal, the power to help, the power to inspire, and the power to change. [Yes! Yes! It does.]

Yuna understands the importance of music and has the ability to write songs that transcend any and all boundaries. With her soft vocals and warm acoustic guitar, this singer-songwriter crafts intriguing and infectious ruminations on life, love, and so much more.

The song that captured my attention yesterday is “Live Your Life.” Beautiful voice, melody, and message.

Find your light
Don’t hide from what you are
And rise before you fall
And hope for something more
Live if you really want to

All my life I’ve been looking for something amazing
It’s almost like I’ve been stargazing
The sky is right above me
We were meant for something bigger than this
Don’t ever try to dismiss yourself cause you don’t have to

Find your light
Don’t hide from what you are
And rise before you fall
And hope for something more
Live if you really want to

All my life my dreams just seemed so far away
And now it’s like they’re here to stay
I hold it close to me
We were meant for something bigger than this
Don’t ever try to dismiss yourself cause you don’t have to

Find your light
Don’t hide from what you are
And rise before you fall
And hope for something more
Live if you really want to

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised I love Yuna’s music so much, since another of my most favorite singers is also from Malaysia.

I didn’t post yesterday because I was in Boulder attending the first day of a two day workshop with Brene’ Brown, The Power of Vulnerability. Brene’ is recording it to be made into a six cd set that will be released later in the year, and videos to be used in an upcoming class, but she wanted a live audience to talk to, rather than sitting in a sound booth talking to a microphone. It has been an amazing experience to be in the same room with her and other like-hearted people, interested in learning how to be vulnerable, in living and loving wholeheartedly. Brene’ is the best storyteller–wise, grounded, authentic, and so funny.

Just in case you haven’t seen her TED talks, I’m going to include them here. They are worth the time. The first one, along with her book The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are, changed my life.

Brene’ talked yesterday about how we live in a culture of scarcity, constantly feeling “not ___________ enough” (fill in the blank: not good enough, not rich enough, not safe enough, etc.), and that our first thought in the morning is “I didn’t get enough sleep” and our last thought before falling asleep is “I didn’t get enough done.”

She also said that after a decade that included 9/11, war, and a troubled economy, “I think we’re tired of being afraid, of thinking and worrying about what we should fear and who we should blame.” This reminded me of a quote Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche shared last week that I’ve been contemplating:

Perhaps when we are finally fed up with torturing ourselves and others, out of our exhaustion will arise a pause in which we will collectively reflect upon our goodness.

sakyong mipham in tibet

I don’t know about you, kind and gentle reader, but I am certainly fed up with smashing myself to bits, tired of judging and blaming others, sick and tired of the whole thing. And even though Brene’ warned us yesterday that “those of us willing to show up and be seen will get our asses kicked,” I think I’ll take that alternative to being stuck, seemingly safe in my armor, disengaged and numb in my cocoon, and miserable.

Go ahead, life–kick my ass. I’m going to do what Susan Piver suggests, open my heart and show up with confidence, “the willingness to be as ridiculous, luminous, intelligent, and kind as you really are, without embarrassment.”