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Day of Rest

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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.

Something Good

6 Replies

1.This quote: I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burroughs

2. The Conversation: Transformation episode. This is a really great show. On this episode, Amanda de Cadenet talks with Melissa McCarthy, one of my favorite actresses. She also interviews Diane von Furstenberg, Glenda Bailey, and Miley Cyrus. Here’s a short clip (go here to view the full episode, Melissa McCarthy’s interview starts at minute 10:23).

3. The day I lost everything & how you can lose everything too on Writing Our Way Home. A good reminder from Fiona Robyn.

4. I am the one, on Painted Path. Another good reminder from the always wonderful and inspiring Julia Fehrenbacher.

5. The Little Guide to Contentedness on ZenHabits. And yet another good reminder from the kind and gentle Leo Babauta. Also from Leo, but on his other site, mnmlist, Living for Everyone Else, in which he says:

When it comes to others, be helpful, compassionate, grateful. But don’t live up to their expectations. You’ll be freed of the shackles of meaningless customs, so that you can live as you want.

6. Radio Time Machine. This is fun. I first heard about it in an interview with the creator on NPR this weekend. I am listening to 1986 (the year I graduated from high school) as I write this, and Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love is playing while I have flashbacks.

7. Sense and Sensitivity on Psychology Today, an article about Highly Sensitive People. You know at least one of them, (hint: me).

8. Thing Finding Thursday with Michelle Ward from Tanya Geisler. This whole series is really great, but this one is especially good, and there’s singing!

9. Create your own writing retreat from Jennifer Louden. More and more, I’m thinking that retreat is super important, and I also know that “retreat” doesn’t mean you have to go somewhere private and/or exotic for a long period of time. Small retreats at home are perfectly workable and beneficial, and you don’t have to be a writer or a meditation practitioner to go on a retreat.

10. You: A Love Letter by Sunni on The Daily Breadcrumb.

11. Being here: starting the work of letting go by Jenn on Roots of She. I shared the link to the first part of this exploration in my Something Good list last week. This is the follow-up, which asks the important question: What is stopping you from letting your stuff go?

12. How to Listen by Bindu Wiles. I really liked this, since just this week I’ve been thinking so much about Right Speech.

13. When You Have a Bad Day on Be More with Less. I don’t need it today, but I’m going to save the link for when I do need this reminder from Courtney Carver.

14. And on the day I need the above link, this might help too: 75 Day-Brightening Stories of Generosity on Marc and Angel Hack Life.

15. Droopy, wilting, fully bloomed roses from my garden. I love them as much when they are almost dead as when they are new.