Four years ago I was passing by Los Angeles on my way to Hawaii and my Lyft driver gave me his CD ‘It’s All in You’. It was Chappa Jan.

It took me a while to really deeply understand some of the lyrics of his songs. While I was writing my book I reconnected especially with the title song ‘It’s All in You’. Let me quote this eternal truth here: ‘It’s All in You / Only You can save yourself / It’s All in You / Don’t depend on no one else / It’s All in You / Only you can make the change / Right here tight now / It’s All in You.’ It accompanied me during the time when I started to do my inner work and motivated me to make the change.

The first song of the album though is about not giving up. It’s titled ‘On the move again’ and talks about believing in ourselves and following our dreams, just like Chappa Jan did, recording his album and giving it away to his Lyft clients, hoping that one day one of them will promote him. Now you can listen to his music on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon and Deezer.

He was right when he was singing in that song: ‘On the move again / Nothing can stop me now / Never, never / On the move again / Gotta know who you are.’ And then: ‘Gotta pick myself of the ground / I gotta make my way around / Can’t sit and wonder what’s coming my way / Today or tomorrow.’ Then in his song ‘Survivor’ we hear him singing: ‘I’m getting stronger / Living longer / Working harder / I’m a survivor / Life is what you make it / Chance, you have to take it.’ Just like he took every chance to reach his listeners, as he did with me. He had no idea if I will even ever listen to his CD.

In another song, ‘Time & Patience’ Chappa Jan says: ‘Something good can happen in my life / I know / Something great can happen / For me today or tomorrow / Something good can happen in my life / I’m confident / Something great can happen / It’s just time and patience’. And as he explains: ‘Better future is coming / I can see the brighter day / Good things are gonna come our way / All I do is meditate and pray’. Then later: ‘I plant the tree and reap the fruit.’ You do your part and then wait for the results. That’s how it works with the universe. And as he explains: ‘What I give is coming back to me / Why must I worry now? / Never will, never will / I’m moving up the hill now / No time to stand still.’

Chappa Jan never stopped believing in himself or following his passion. He recorded his album and started giving it away. Be like Chappa Jan. I know I will.