cannot

cannot [ˈkænɒt kæˈnɒt]

vb

an auxiliary verb expressing incapacity, inability, withholding permission, etc.; can not

 

"Cannot" is a terribly powerful feeling, oppressive and smothering. Running up against the wall of fear and resistance, fenced in by what we will not, can not, or should not do, the world becomes a smaller place.

I cannot lose weight

I cannot get a job

I cannot decide

I cannot help

We have a tendency to preclude the things that we want to do with the word cannot. If it even slightly seems unattainable we simply dismiss it with a small vocabulary term. But what if we decided that we could?

What if, instead of dismissing the things that we want, we took hold of them and ran. The one thing that we cannot do is rely on hope, luck, or faith alone. We have a lot more control over our destiny than what most people believe. We make choices and take actions that effect the end result. Hope alone is not enough. The word HOPE is similar to the word TRY. When a person says they are going to TRY and do something it sets them up for failure. You don't try and do something. You either do it or you don't. The same goes for hope. You either HOPE something will happen, or you make it happen.

In my own life, I can keep hoping that I will get a job, I can have faith that one morning I will wake up skinny, and I can believe that my luck will change and I will win the lottery. Through all of this hope, faith, and luck, though, I am sitting on my behind being idle, gaining weight, not looking for a job and waisting money. Instead, I spend each day looking for a job, spend hours reading through want ads, writing cover letters and making phone calls. I still hold on to hope, hope that one of these leads will turn into gainful employment. I have started eating better and exercising more, working towards waking up skinny. I have begun putting money away and paying closer attention to what I spend it on, and still budget buying a lottery ticket now and again.

I guess what I am saying is that a life without action leads to nothing. If you are not doing the things that need to be done to get what you want you are doing nothing. Doing nothing leads to nothing, if you keep it up that is what you will get.