Back in 2009 when I started seeing amazing results in my business through the power of auto-suggestion (repetition of statements or affirmations), I became quite a believer in the power of language and suggestion.
Suggestion is defined as any source or stimuli that has an affect on the mind (language being one of the most common and powerful examples).
If mind is cause, and condition affect – part of our task seems to be to create thoughts that act as fertile soil for our dreams to take root and grow.
A simple thing we can to in an effort to support this process is to strive to use words that support the direction we wish ourselves and others to move.
Understanding ‘Negative quantifiers’ and ‘positive suggestions’, I believe, can help us improve the way we speak to ourselves and other to foster mind states that move in positive directions.
Negative quantifier : Words like not and don’t. Any word or phrase that suggests not to do something and then immediately then describes the thing not to be done.
The classic example is ‘don’t think of a big blue elephant’ – and then of course most of us realize that’s exactly what we just imagined in our minds.
In my first few years of building my home business, I would always close out with ‘never give up on your dreams!’
As I reflected on that phrase, I realized it was possible that every time I said ‘never give up on your dreams’ I was possibly suggesting that people imagine doing the exact thing, I wished them not to do.
I changed my language to ‘Always go for your dreams.’
And that leads us to ‘positive suggestions’.
Positive suggestions are simply words that support the positive actions you wish for yourself and others to take.
Here’s an example.
When describing your refund policy, you could say something like.. ‘if you decide to cancel….’.
Now your prospect has just imagined themselves canceling your product or service.
How about swapping out that cancel with a positive suggestion and then using a negative quantifier to your favor?
‘If you decide not to continue using our product or service…’
Now your prospect has imagined continued using your product or service even though you just theoretically described the opposite.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
The bottom line is this.
Do the words you use, create positive pictures and encourage the actions that you wish yourself and others to take?
If not, consider making some slight changes in your communication using negative quantifiers and positive suggestions in new and powerful ways.
And please remember to always go for your dreams. 😉
PS – If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy these other 2 posts on communication, influential communication and possibility words.