I can't get along with my wife. I can't stop overeating. I can't draw very well. I can't make any money.
However, most of the time the word can't may be easily be substituted for won't.
I won't get along with my wife. I won't stop overeating. I won't draw that well. I won't make any money.
Disinclined
I have been praying for respite from specific maladies for years which, in my estimation, have never been answered, and I owe it to my disinclination to do what I must do to have them resolved. The power to change is within me. The Lord has, in effect, already answered my prayer years ago. I've always had it.
The Pygmalion Effect
There is a character in Greek mythology, Pygmalion, who carved an ivory sculpture of his ideal woman. Pygmalion was so enamored that he fell in love with the statue and eventually willed her to life.
In relation to that myth, the Pygmalion effect is the self-fulfilling prophecy, the psychology of expectations. The book The Wizard of Oz and the movie My Fair Lady are modern examples of the Pygmalion effect. The scarecrow wanted a brain but he always had one. The same with the lion’s courage, and the tin man's heart. In My Fair Lady the professor was inspired to transform a street girl into a lady, but she always was.
You can see a lot by looking
Team leaders from athletics to shop foremen, sometimes unknowingly, commute the self-fulfilling prophecy to his/her team but often, we do it to ourselves with our own self-beliefs. We nearly always rise to our own level of expectation.
The dark side of it is when Dr. Joyce Brothers said we can never act in a way inconsistent with the way we view ourselves. The answer to that is, of course is how to see ourselves.
Speaking for myself, do I see myself as a victor or a victim? Do I see myself as someone who can't do something or won't do something?
If I want to work as a full-time artist and writer, then it's critical I earn the correct mindset to see it come to fruition. If I see myself as someone who struggles from day to day, then that will be my realization.
The correct mindset and answers to my prayers begins with my personal life. How’s my relationship with my wife and the rest of my family? Do I get plenty of sleep, exercise and drink plenty of water? Do I have a good diet? Do I drink alcohol or eat highly processed junk food? Do I read quality material, or do I watch too much TV and You Tube videos?
The answer to prayers is already inside us.
