Negative suggestions are similar to conversational postulates in that they ask for one thing but really expect a different behavior. The Milton Model works because the unconscious mind does not deal with negatives well, and tends to ignore the words ‘don’t and not’ and instead focuses on the object of the sentence.
The sentence ‘Don’t think of a kangaroo’ must bring out a memory of a kangaroo before it can be not thought of, so negative questions can be used to give positive commands.
| ‘and I don’t want you to feel that you are going into trance now’. | |
| ‘you should not be too curious about how you feel yourself going into trance. ‘ | |
| ‘You don’t have to think about a really relaxing experience to call it to mind again’. |