Kay:

Hey, there, Questers hope you’re having a terrific Tuesday. It’s June 22nd and this is episode 382. Today’s quote is from someone you probably know pretty freaking well, the king of rock and roll himself, the one and only Elvis Presley.

Shi:

Elvis tells us, “If you let your head get too big, it’ll break your neck.” We probably don’t need to tell you who Elvis Presley was, but he was one of the most iconic American singers in history and is regarded as the most significant cultural icon of the 20th century, the king of rock and roll as he is often dubbed. So, with titles and accolades like that, it can be pretty easy to see how someone’s head could get really big and how they could know this lesson from experience.

Kay:

Well, I can almost hear him say [speaks like Elvis] “If you let your head get too big, it’ll break your neck.”

Shi:

That was a good Elvis.

Kay:

Thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. Well, I think he probably got to see this up close from many people around him. Being in the Hollywood arena and in stardom of any kind, you get exposed to a lot of other people who are in the limelight, and what we know about the limelight is that oftentimes it can get people to be a little bit egocentric, maybe think that they’re larger than life or not respect other people’s humanity by self-aggrandizing or thinking that they’re too important. What Elvis is saying here is that, when someone allows their head to get that big and their ego to get that large, that it’ll break their neck. In this case, if you think about what happens if you break your neck. It’s a funny saying but if you were to break your neck, that’s either death or like a paraplegic life. So, that’s not like nice things don’t happen when you break your neck. Bad things happen. Really, really bad life-altering things happen when you break your neck and if you let your ego get out of control, it might just break your life.

Shi:

Nobody wants that. We don’t want to break our lives and Elvis definitely had experience with this. I mean, his life is pretty famously known to have been ended by quite the cocktail of drugs and drinking and overindulgence that resulted in not the most graceful death. So, unfortunately sometimes growth can only happen in one direction. So, re-learning those lessons, or maybe bringing yourself back down to a place can be a lot harder than it sounds which is why I think someone like Elvis takes care for us to know don’t let it get to that place where it does break your neck because healing from something like that is a long, arduous process.

Kay:

One of our very favorite shared bands, Incubus has a fantastic song that talks a lot about the ego, but in the music video for that song it’s called “Dig.” It’s a fantastic song, “Dig” by Incubus. I highly recommend checking out the music video, but this exact thing happens. The person is so encompassed in their ego, and they have such a big head that they’re barely even able to walk upright without the support of others. So, it’s a nice way of thinking about it and imagining it. But when we really take this to heart and find ways in our own life oftentimes our ego is at play when we’re digging in our heels, because we think that our way is right, or our ego might be in play when we’re fighting against something that is even though we think it should be another way. Maybe your ego is at play if you feel personally offended by something that might not be an offensive action. So really examining where these things are because this is a nice physical way to look at it, but the emotional and energetic reality of ego can be a little bit trickier. And when we hear something like this, we think about someone, a big personality, like Elvis, or talk about celebrities. It’d be like, well, I don’t have a big ego. I’m not a celebrity. I’m not like that, but there are more subtle ways that our heads can get big. When we get comfortable with the way things are. When we start to expect things to happen a certain way, or we feel entitled to a certain result we use the word should. It should be like this, or it shouldn’t have gone that way, or my food should have come out faster. This is getting at that expectation piece and what we expect of those around us and of our circumstances, we can sometimes make that head grow into something that we’re not necessarily aware of though they are indicative of and reflective of that ego piece.

Shi:

I can definitely raise my hand, (Shila here), and say there have been times where that head has gotten too big, and I’ve said something, or I’ve expected something and that metaphorical neck break has happened and it has hurt. It’s hurt bad. I can think of one instance in particular where I boasted something back when we were drinking probably seven or eight years ago at this point but boasted something like I’m an expert communicator to three fellows that I was out having a beer with after work. Turns out two of those fellows ended up leaving our company on bad terms and it’s come back around to bite me that boy, the expert communicator couldn’t even communicate and navigate out of something like that or save a relationship. That was one of those moments where a metaphorical neck was broken for me that I realized that I shouldn’t have said something like that, and I certainly shouldn’t have let myself get to the place where it got to that point. So, to remind you of what Elvis Presley tells us in today’s quote, “If you let your head get too big, it’ll break your neck.”

Kay:

Oh, come on now momma with that vulnerability. Thank you, Shi, I love it. Today we’ve got a Tuesday Tip Quest for you. We want you to check in on the happiness of your head. How’s it feeling up there? We want you to identify one area for improvement or growth that you may have been overlooking. Get in there and set the intention to humble your head through the lens of learning and be a constant work in progress. Are you ready? Say it with us now.

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!