Words of Wisdom

Lyrics have always mostly been my poetry. I thought today I'd put up some lyrics that I have found particularly wise and resonant: words to live by.

***

Now with the wisdom of years
I try to reason things out
And the only people I fear
Are those who never have doubts
    - Billy Joel, "Shades of Grey" (from River of Dreams, 1993)

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons
Wise men never try
    - Oscar Hammerstein II, "Some Enchanted Evening" (from South Pacific, 1949)

And I thought if I could just be twelve again
Or was it ten?
Well, anyway
It seems to me I knew the secret then
It's so simple, twelve
It's so simple, ten
It was simpler then
    - Fred Ebb, "Colored Lights" (from The Rink, 1984)

Trouble is, Charley
That's what everyone does
Blames the way it is
On the way it was
On the way it never ever was.
    - Stephen Sondheim, "Like It Was" (from Merrily We Roll Along, 1981)

One must accommodate the times
As one lives them
    - Stephen Sondheim, "A Bowler Hat" (from Pacific Overtures, 1976)

I am what I am.
I am my own special creation.
    - Jerry Herman, "I Am What I Am" (from La Cage aux Folles, 1983)

You take your road,
The decades fly,
The yearnings fade. the longings die
    - Stephen Sondheim, "The Road You Didn't Take" (from Follies, 1971)

Move on
Stop worrying where you're going
Move on....
I chose and my world was shaken
So what?
The choice may have been mistaken
The choosing was not.
    -Stephen Sondheim, "Move On" (Sunday in the Park with George, 1984)

But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don't believe in sensible rules
And won't believe what sensible people say
And because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes
Impossible
Things are happening every day.
    - Oscar Hammerstein II, "Impossible" (from Cinderella, 1957)

A hundred million miracles
Are happening every day.
    - Oscar Hammerstein II, "A Hundred Million Miracles" (from Flower Drum Song, 1958)

I insist on miracles
If you do them
Miracles
Nothing to them!
    - Stephen Sondheim, "Everybody Says Don't" (from Anyone Can Whistle, 1964)

Let the moment go
Don't forget it for a moment though
Just remembering you've had an "and"
When you're back to "or"
Makes the "or" mean more
Than it did before
    - Stephen Sondheim, "Moments in the Woods" (from Into the Woods, 1987)

I believe if I refuse to grow old
I can stay young 'til I die
    - Stephen Schwartz, "No Time at All" (from Pippin, 1972)

My feet want to dance in the sun
My head wants to rest in the shade
The Lord says go out and have fun
But the landlord says:
Your rent ain't paid!
    - E.Y. Harburg, "Necessity" (from Finian's Rainbow, 1947)

Myers-Briggs

My sister mentioned the Myers-Briggs Inventory on a phone call recently, which made me remember what I ultimately found most useful and interesting about it. (The Wikipedia article about Myers-Briggs is pretty thorough if you're not acquainted with this topic. There's been some controversy around Myers-Briggs and that's discussed in the linked article.)

So officially it's called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBI) and it's been around for nearly 80 years. The explanation that follows is entirely my own, based on my own understanding and experience of the MBI. 

Basically, it's a test that consists of dozens of questions about your personality and your preferences. When your personal test has been scored, you are assigned a "Type" which indicates your preferred approach to four different aspects of life:

1. Where you get your energy: Extroverts derive their energy from the outside world and other people; Introverts get energy from within themselves. I test as a strong Introvert and I find this to be absolutely accurate, along with the converse, which is that whenever I am required to be "extroverted" (i.e., to address a large roomful of people), it takes a good deal out of me, physically and emotionally. It's not that I can't be good at "extroversion," just that it drains me. 
2. How you acquire data: Sensing means you prefer actual recorded/observed facts. Intuition means you rely on hunches and bigger-picture estimations/evaluations about the world. I'm strongly intuitive, which means not that I can't do research properly but rather that I can get impatient when I'm feeling bogged down in a bunch of trees--I am more interested in figuring out the whole forest.
3. How you make decisions: The short version is Thinkers rely on the brain while Feelers rely on the heart. When I first took the MBI test I was a strong Thinker; later I became more borderline, which suggests that I like to balance hard facts and evidence with "softer" considerations of the human impact and cost when I make a decision.
4. How you see the world: People who prefer Judging like to see problems in black and white, open or closed. People who prefer Perception like shades of grey. I am right on the border of these two when I am tested, sometimes coming out a little bit Judge-y, other times, a little but Perceptive-y.

Your "Type" is expressed as a four-letter acronym combining the above preferences. INTJ means Introverted-Intuitive-Thinker-Judge. ESFP means Extroverted-Sensor-Feeler-Perceptive.

It is fun and illuminating to take the test and review and understand your results. But for me, the real value of MBI is that it teaches (or reminds) that there are many different personality preference types and, within each type, infinite shadings and varieties.

The strength of learning this framework is that you gain appreciation of the diversity around you. And, more important, that you not just tolerate or accept but actually celebrate that diversity. Because all of the different types are valid, and true, and worthwhile, and necessary. We need all the different kinds of people to make this world work properly.

So reveling in the specialness of your own Myers-Briggs type is not, for me, the point. Being an INTJ or an INFP (as noted, I've tested as both) doesn't define me or inhibit me; rather, it's a thing that I try to transcend. Indeed, the compliment I most appreciated when I was working at Marriott International back in the '90s (where I was first introduced to MBI) was when Fred Weis, the head of the Systems Development team that supported my department in Corporate Finance, told me that he knew I must be an ISTJ because he and I worked together so well (he was a strong ISTJ). 

I didn't know it at the time, but my Myers-Briggs exposure pointed the way toward Mindfulness Practice, which is so much about taking people and situations as they are and finding constructive ways for change and progress. (For example, learning how to act like an ISTJ was an important way for me to be successful in my job 30 years ago.) I expect to explore Mindfulness here on the blog soon...