This simple advice is given to help you use your mind the way it developed.

Please Note: Positive and Negative in this article relate to the logical mathematical idea. ie: as in Venn Diagrams. In this case, positive means in our reality, negative means outside our reality, ie: unreal.

Evolution created the mental structure (your brain) that is used to deal with the world around you. Abstract ideas, in this case the idea of 'NOT' or the negative, require a conscious effort to understand. Put simply, you have evolved to think positive constructs...

In order to understand and use negative constructs, it is necessary to process the positive and then negate it consciously.

Every thought requires a neural pattern to exist in the brain and each time this pattern is reinforced, it becomes more dominant, eg: why remembering how to ride a bicycle is so easy. This is fine when we are dealing with conscious thought, the problem develops when we are reacting sub-consciously. The more dominant pathway becomes the path of least resistance and becomes prevailing.

The upshot from this is...

• Every time you think about a negative construct you reinforce the positive opposite
  • We are designed to think in positive constructs
    • as opposed to positive thinking, which is also very good
• Every time you tell someone else about a negative construct, you reinforce the positive opposite in them
  • Why do you think children instantly ignore orders of "Don't touch that..."
    • negative orders back-fire
• Negative constructs are only available consciously
  • At the sub-conscious decision moment, you will always follow the positive construct
    • We normally react sub-consciously when in highly emotional situations
      • Laws and rules that use "Don't" are a waste of time

It is very easy to test these:

• Ask yourself what is the first thing that happens when you shout "Don't Look Down..."
• Try thinking of NOT an elephant
  • Now ask yourself how anyone else can understand the negative constructs you use everyday
    • I am not going to the market / school / etc...
• Try this one: [Note] Read it through straight through once (avoid skipping back) and answer the question...
  • You stop to ask a passer by directions to the cinema, he answers...
    • "Well now, If you do down the road, you'll come to a turning on the left, don't go down that, after that is a turning on the right, don't take that either, the same with the next two turnings on the left. Then you'll come to a turning on the left, which you go down. At the traffic lights, don't stop and don't turn right, you come to a small fork in the road, don't take the right fork, next is a little bridge, go over it and you can see the cinema."
    • Could you now explain the route to the cinema?

Now if you accept these very simple axioms...

You will realize that much of our communication needs to be reorganized. Every time we talk to each other, we randomly use negative constructs, these distort the meaning of our words. This is a serious problem in a world where communication is the key to our society.

In the education of our children, we strife to give them greater chances in life than the ones we had ourselves, yet we pass on our fears through the habitual use of negative constructs, eg: "It won't bite", you have just introduced the idea of it biting. Is it really so hard to stop and think for a second, when the benefits over the child's lifetime can be so great?

Our laws and contracts are usually always negative constructs, these need to be both re-worked and re-worded. The only truly positive major legal documents I can think of are the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, both landmark documents in setting out the rights of the individual. Almost every other legal document sets out to reduce these rights. Is it any wonder that you need a lawyer to understand law?

Politicians need to be reprimanded for using negative statements to prepare us for their outcomes. If you look around politics, you will notice that whenever a politician says "..and we will never do...", they almost always do it, about 3 to 6 months later. They repeat the negative enough times that when they actually do it, we have been so effectively subconsciously prepped for their actions that we ignore the event they have promised will "never" happen.

How does this relate to reading and writing...

If you have followed these points, you will have realized that negative constructs can only be understood when you are conscious and have sufficient time to re-work the idea in your head. This instantly reduces the speed at which you can follow ideas being proposed or discussed, or worse, simply confuses the issue. This has a huge impact on both reading speed and comprehension.

The use of negative constructs in written text is lazy and indicates that the author may be avoiding stating the ideas in a positive manner. This raises a question, 'Does the author understand the subject sufficiently to be writing about it...? '

If you find yourself using negative constructs, I suggest you try re-writing or re-stating your words using positive constructs:

1. It forces you to think about exactly what you are saying
2. It forces you to say exactly what you mean
3. It is much easier for others to understand

It took me nearly two years to make this fully automatic, but I guarantee it is worth the effort...
...and you will start to notice the results almost instantly.

Good Luck.

This article has been produced with the permission of Ross Illingworth as a synopsis of a small part of an upcoming book on how the brain functions and the way this impacts real life