You Just Have to Listen

When things are not going your way – when it feels more like rapids than floating, more striving than succeeding – you just have to close your eyes and listen. ‘Cause the universe has seen it all. Whatever problem you face, whatever question ties you up in knots, whatever fear stops you cold, it’s been faced, answered, overcome before. You just have to close your eyes and hear.

I’ve only been halfway listening.

Last week, I got a cosmic telegram (in the form of a post on ZenHabits.com) that said, “Be yourself, loudly.”

Sure, sure, I thought. Got it.

And went right back to my business (which consisted primarily of fretting, sweating, and measuring/sautéeing food, with heavy emphasis on the fretting).

I believe the universe was frustrated with me but, sensing my general innate goodness, gave me another chance in the form of Jason Mraz.

A great concert is like going to church. There’s singing and preaching and a sense of community, and if it’s all going the way it should, the audience is lifted up and walks away with something new to think about.

Last night at the Jason Mraz show, I heard these lyrics like I hadn’t before:

Hold your own
Know your own name
Go your own way
And everything will be fine

They’re from the song “Details in the Fabric,” the last track on the CD We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. I’m sure the song has played in my headphones countless times at the corporate overlords’ office, but the din of typing drowned out the message.

Here’s the whole song so you can hear it, too.

And while we’re at it, here’s another favorite about how life’s contradictions are the things that define it. Good/bad, happy/sad, strong/weak, fed/hungry… can’t have one without the other.

Despite all of the above, it wasn’t a too-much-kumbaya kind of night. I mean, there were horns! And dancing! And a cover of Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long.” It was a big ol’, shake your fanny, clap your hands, smile at a stranger love-fest.

Check out the jazzy-goodness of “Make It Mine” to see what I mean. (And damn it, that little bastard J. Mraz embedded a feel-good message in this one, too!)

I don’t wanna wake before
The dream is over
I’m gonna make it mine
Yes I know it

I read that Jason Mraz spent, like, a year in Hawaii, just surfing and sleeping and doing yoga and writing a blog. Seems like it definitely did him some good.

And now, I’m listening.

Hold your own
Know your own name
Go your own way
And everything will be fine