practice
Jason Mraz
musician. songwriter. joy sharer.
Singer and songwriter Jason Mraz uses his voice to raise our spirits and his fame to raise awareness for charities, including the Free the Slaves organization. www.JasonMraz.com
My most meaningful moments are when I cruise down the street smiling for no reason other than joy. I’m always trying to get myself back to joy. How can I find my next joy? How can I share this joy so somebody else can experience the laughter, too?
In my shows and in my music in general, I want there to be a nice balance of sacred and silly so people feel comforted and joyous but also like they don’t have to take life too seriously. We can laugh at life. I can laugh at my painful experiences and know they were miracles that got me here.
From a very young age, the sacred and the silly were always there. In high school and college, my parlor trick was to make up songs about anything and make my parents and friends laugh. At some point, I realized there was more to it and I started making up songs about my emotions and experiences, my relationship to the sacred, ways I was healing myself, and things I was discovering. Then the parlor trick began to be of service in a way that called me into more power and into taking a greater leap of faith. Now, the minute I have a breakthrough or realization, I want to put that in a song and deliver it.
My current work has been just trusting and letting go, being grateful. Gratitude is usually what shifts my attention back to joy. Two practices get me out of a lot of situations. One is that I like to say – no matter what the situation, but particularly in traffic, “I choose traffic.” By choosing, I get my freedom. My other gratitude practice is to go straight for my senses. If there’s an annoyance, like a disturbing noise, I say, “You know, I’m grateful for my hearing.”
My greatest goal is to be able to see everyone and everything as God, and, in that, to be in awe constantly. Like, “Whoa, look at that. God just cut me off in traffic.” It’s been a new practice to solidify that and also to generate my own inner peace and radiate it outward so other people are affected. These tools I learn get me back faster to that place of peace and joy. It’s definitely a practice. We practice something because it isn’t easily mastered.
Charlie Bird Parker, sax player and co-founder of bebop music, said, “Practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” In this I am moved.
- Jason Mraz
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Today's Poll
When was the last time you sat down with someone and listened to their stories?
Our Take
practice • The idea that life is good. And the courage to choose from that idea, again and again, every moment of every day.
Your Turn
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