Why can't the Universe understand NOT?

In all the writings about the Law of Attraction, they constantly say how amazingly powerful the Universe is and it understands everything we put out there. It was always a contradiction to me to also read that the the universe interprets "I don't want it to rain." to mean "I want it to rain." If the Universe is so powerful and intelligent, why wouldn't it understand that I didn't want it to rain?

This weekend, while reading "Ask and It Is Given," a lightbulb went on in my head. Two thoughts connected in a new way to make this Universal Law understandable. Let's see if this works for you, too.

Don't think about an elephant. 

What just happened? You immediately saw an elephant, right?

Let's try this in another way. What do you see if you think, "I don't want it to rain"? I don't know about you, but I see torrents of rain.

I started looking at the negative statements I make, like "I want to lose weight" and started paying attention to what naturally comes to my mind when I'm not trying to force a specific image. The image that comes is of me being overweight.

So, it's not that the Universe doesn't understand negative statements, it's that our brain naturally visualizes the negative situation that we don't want. And that visualization and the feeling connected to it is what is transmitted to the Universe.

This week I intend to watch what I say. Anytime I say something negative, I'll switch it around to the positive and see how my week changes.