Auto-suggestion

 

Instead, therefore, of bowing to every pressure without exercising any discernment or

control, instead of allowing your imagination to run riot, you will ask your imagination

to supply your subconscious with words and images that will gradually influence and

re-shape it.
So how should you go about this in practical terms? What steps should you take?

First and foremost, you must be calm and learn to control your thoughts as well as

your actions, because without a calm and sober attitude there will be no mastery, no

inner tranquillity, no order or concentration, no clear and considered thoughts, no

single-minded action.

If you can reduce tension and agitation, this will enable you to control the impulses

engendered by your senses and emotions, to govern your thoughts and to enhance

your magnetic potential.

Every evening, practice a session of auto-suggestion. Shut yourself in a dark or dimly

lit room. Lie on your bed or find a comfortable position that allows you to completely

relax. Sense the heaviness in each of your limbs and keep perfectly still - it’s much

easier than people generally think - quietly close your eyes, don’t think about

anything, or rather concentrate on your breathing, feel yourself breathe.

As you gradually train yourself, you will be able to attain this relaxed and mentally

isolated state more and more quickly.

After winding down like this for a few minutes, you can begin the actual autosuggestion

process using phrases like: “I feel calm; I feel calmer every day; I am in

perfect control of myself; my movements are steady, my voice is firm, my behaviour

is relaxed ...”

Then replace these phrases with images or better still a “film” which re-runs the day

that has just gone by. Re-live it, and replay in your mind the moments when you were

dissatisfied with the way you reacted or behaved, when you were too agitated, hasty

or timid. Re-live all these moments, but replacing your actual behaviour with the

behaviour you wish you had displayed and will display in the future.

Soon (the session doesn’t have to last long - ten or twelve minutes will be enough),

you can allow yourself to drift to sleep. But the impression made by these images will

remain in your subconscious, and the proof of this will be the gradual progress you

see, right from the first few days.

There is one important point that must be emphasised: stick to positive phrases like:

“I am ... I can ... I am becoming ...” rather than “I am not ...” or “I am no longer ...”

and don’t use formulae that express wishes, such as “I want ...” or worse “I don’t

want ...”