Classic Lyrics

The highway's jammed with broken heroes 

On a last chance power drive 

Everybody's out on the run tonight 

But there's no place left to hide 

Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness 

I'll love you with all the madness in my soul 

Oh, someday girl, I don't know when 

We're gonna get to that place 

Where we really want to go, and we'll walk in the sun 

But 'til then, tramps like us Baby, we were born to run

~ Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run, verse 3

An oldie, but a goodie

An old, blind Marine accidentally stumbles into an all-girl biker bar, completely unaware of his surroundings. After feeling his way to the bar, he takes a seat and orders a shot of Jack Daniels. 

As he settles in, he suddenly yells out, "Hey, anyone here wanna hear a blonde joke?" 

The room goes dead silent. From beside him, a deep, authoritative voice calmly responds, "Before you go any further, I think you should know a few things." 

The voice continues: 

"First, the bartender is a blonde woman with a baseball bat.

Second, the bouncer is also a blonde woman.

Third, I'm a blonde, 6-foot-tall, 175-pound black belt in karate.

Fourth, the woman sitting next to me is a blonde professional weightlifter.

Finally, the lady on your other side is a blonde professional wrestler."

The room stays silent as the Marine pauses to process what he just heard. 

After a moment, he chuckles softly and says, "You know what? Forget it. I don't feel like explaining the joke five times."

Woah!

Depression is rage turned inward.

~ Dr. Melfi, in The Sopranos

Personal Accountability - focusing on the "Question Behind the Question" - QBQ

What are IQs and QBQs? 

We’ve discovered there are certain questions people ask that are unproductive, maybe even a bit dangerous! 

We call them "Incorrect Questions" or "IQs."

IQs tend to begin with the outwardly focused words “Why,” “When,” and “Who”:

• “Why is this happening to me?” and “Why don’t I ever get a break?” cause us to fall into the trap of Victim/Entitlement Thinking. 
• “When will they handle this?” and “When will I get more support?” lead people to Procrastination. 
• “Who made the mistake?” and “Who dropped the ball?” take a person straight to Blame. 

The best way to avoid costly IQs is to ask The Question Behind the Question—or the “QBQ.” 

Here is our definition of the QBQ: 

QBQ! is a tool enabling people to practice PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY by making better choices in the moment. 

So, looking at the IQs above, how much better it is to choose to ask QBQs such as these: 

• “How can I be my best today?” 
• “What can I do now to make a difference?” 
• “How can I help solve the problem?” 

 Note that all QBQs have a certain structure to them. Each and every QBQ: 

1. Begins with “What” or “How.” 
2. Contains the personal pronoun “I.” 
3. Focuses on action!

~ from the book by John A. Miller, QBQ

Some things are hard to understand

You know what I don't understand, Tony?

What does she have that I don't have?

~ Carmela, to Tony, after learning of yet another of Tony's affairs, the Sopranos

A man who is clearly smitten!

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair. 

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets. 

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day 

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps. 

I hunger for your sleek laugh, 

your hands the color of a savage harvest, 

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails, 

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond. 

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body, 

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face, 

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes, 

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight, 

hunting for you, for your hot heart, 

Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

~ Pablo Neruda

But then what?

You can only push a man only so far.

~  Rosalie Aprile to Carmela, in The Sopranos

I know the feeling

Goodbye, Love.

You will always be my best of times.

~ Greta (spy) to Luke (also a spy and Greta's former lover, played by Arnold Swartzenegger), in FUBAR

Ask me how I know...

I promise you there is something worse out there than being sad, and that's being alone and being sad.

~ Ted Lasso, in Ted Lasso

We've all known a few scorpions

A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. 

The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. 

The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. 

Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. 

The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: 

"I am sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character."

One of the saddest songs ever written

Turn down the lights, turn down the bed 

Turn down these voices inside my head 

Lay down with me, tell me no lies 

Just hold me close, don't patronize 

Don't patronize me 

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't 

You can't make your heart feel somethin' it won't 

Here in the dark, in these final hours 

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power 

But you won't, no you won't 

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't 

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see 

The love you don't feel when you're holdin' me 

Mornin' will come, and I'll do what's right 

Just give me till then to give up this fight 

And I will give up this fight 

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't 

You can't make your heart feel somethin' it won't 

Here in the dark, in these final hours 

I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power 

But you won't, no you won't 

'Cause I can't make you love me, if you don't 

Try, baby 

Ain't no use in you tryin', baby

~ sung by Bonnie Raitt

Caged by frail and fragile bars

The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars 

Restless by day and by night rants and rages at the stars 

God help the beast in me.

The beast in me has had to learn to live with pain 

And how to shelter from the rain 

And in the twinkling of an eye, might have to be restrained 

God help the beast in me. 

Sometimes it tries to kid me 

That it's just a teddy bear 

And even somehow manage to vanish in the air 

And that is when I must beware of the beast in me.

 That everybody knows 

They've seen him out dressed in my clothes 

Patently unclear if it's New York or New Year 

God help the beast in me.

~ Sung by Johnny Cash

Spicy

It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves

~ Franz Kafka, Czech novelist and writer

 

The final lines of King Lear

The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. 

The oldest hath borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much nor live so long.

~ Edgar, King Lear, Shakespeare