The Practice of Autosuggestion Part 8

It sometimes happens that a patient is so prostrated by pain or misery that he has not the energy to undertake even the repet.i.tion of the word "going." The pain-thought so obsesses the mind that the state of painlessness seems too remote even to contemplate. Under these circ.u.mstances it seems best to employ this strategy. Lie down on a bed, sofa, or arm-chair and relax both mind and body. Cease from all effort--which can only make things worse--and let the pain-thought have its way. After a time your energies will begin to collect themselves, your mind to rea.s.sert its control. Now make a firm suggestion of success and apply the method. Get another person to help you, as Coue helps his patients, by performing the pa.s.ses with the hand and repeating the phrase with you. By this means you can make quite sure of success. This seemingly contradictory proceeding is a.n.a.logous to that of the angler "playing" a fish. He waits till it has run its course before bringing his positive resources into play.

Baudouin recommends an a.n.a.logous proceeding as a weapon against insomnia. The patient, he says, should rapidly repeat the phrase, "I am going to sleep," letting his mind be swept away by a torrent of words. Once more the objection arises that the phrase "I am going to sleep" is not such as we can rapidly repeat. But even if we subst.i.tute for it some simple phrase which can be easily articulated it is doubtful whether it will succeed in more than a small percentage of cases. Success is more likely to attend us if we avail ourselves of the method of reflective repet.i.tion mentioned in the last chapter. We should take up the position most favourable to slumber and then repeat slowly and contemplatively the word "Sleep." The more impersonal our att.i.tude towards the idea the more rapidly it will be realised in our own slumbers.

CHAPTER X

AUTOSUGGESTION AND THE CHILD

In treating children it should be remembered that autosuggestion is primarily not a remedy but a means of insuring healthy growth. It should not be reserved for times when the child is sick, but provided daily, with the same regularity as meals.

Children grow up weakly not from lack of energy, but because of a waste and misapplication of it. The inner conflict, necessitated by the continual process of adaptation which we call growth, is often of quite unnecessary violence, not only making a great temporary demand on the child's vital energy, but even locking it up in the Unconscious in the form of "complexes," so that its future life is deprived of a portion of its due vitality. A wise use of autosuggestion will preclude these disasters. Growth will be ordered and controlled. The necessary conflicts will be brought to a successful issue, the unnecessary ones avoided.

Autosuggestion may very well begin before the child is born. It is a matter of common knowledge that a mother must be shielded during pregnancy from any experience involving shock or fright, since these exert a harmful effect on the developing embryo, and may in extreme cases result in abortion, or in physical deformity or mental weakness in the child. Instances of this ill-effect are comparatively common, and the link between cause and effect is often unmistakable. There is no need to point out that these cases are nothing more than spontaneous autosuggestions operating in the maternal Unconscious; since during pregnancy the mother moulds her little one not only by the food she eats but also by the thoughts she thinks. The heightened emotionality characteristic of this state bespeaks an increased tendency to outcropping, and so an increased suggestibility. Thus spontaneous autosuggestions are far more potent than in the normal course of life.

But, happily, induced autosuggestions are aided by the same conditions, so that the mother awake to her powers and duties can do as much good as the ignorant may do harm.

Without going into debatable questions, such as the possibility of predetermining the s.e.x of the child to be born, one can find many helpful ways of aiding and benefiting the growing life by autosuggestive means. The mother should avoid with more than ordinary care all subjects, whether in reading or conversation, which bear on evil in any form, and she should seek whatever uplifts the mind and furnishes it with beautiful and joyous thought. But the technical methods of autosuggestion can also be brought into action.

The mother should suggest to herself that her organism is furnishing the growing life with all it needs, and that the child will be strong and healthy in mind, in body, and in character.

These suggestions should be in general terms bearing on qualities of undoubted good, for obviously it is not desirable to define an independent life too narrowly. They need consist only of a few sentences, and should be formulated night and morning immediately before or after the general formula. Furthermore, when the mother's thoughts during the day stray to the subject of her child, she can take this opportunity to repeat the whole or some part of the particular suggestion she has chosen. These few simple measures will amply suffice. Any undue tendency of the mind to dwell on the thought of the child, even in the form of good suggestions, should not be encouraged.

A normal mental life is in itself the best of conditions for the welfare of both mother and child. For her own sake however the mother might well suggest that the delivery will be painless and easy.

The only direct means of autosuggestion applicable to the child for some months after birth is that of the caress, though it must be remembered that the mental states of mother and nurse are already stamping themselves on the little mind, forming it inevitably for better or worse. Should any specific trouble arise, the method of Mlle. Kauffmant should be applied by the mother. Taking the child on her knee she should gently caress the affected part, thinking the while of its reinstatement in perfect health. It seems generally advisable to express these thoughts in words. Obviously, the words themselves will mean nothing to an infant of two or three months, but they will hold the mother's thought in the right channel, and this thought, by the tone of her voice, the touch of her hand, will be communicated to the child. Whether telepathy plays any part in this process we need not inquire, but the baby is psychically as well as physically so dependent on the mother that her mental states are communicated by means quite ineffective with adults. Love in itself exerts a suggestive power of the highest order.

When the child shows signs of understanding what is said to it, before it begins itself to speak, the following method should be applied.

After the little one has fallen asleep at night the mother enters the room, taking care not to awaken it, and stands about a yard from the head of the cot. She proceeds then to formulate in a whisper such suggestions as seem necessary. If the child is ailing the suggestion might take the form of the phrase "You are getting better" repeated twenty times. If it is in health the general formula will suffice.

Particular suggestions may also be formulated bearing on the child's health, character, intellectual development, etc. These of course should be in accordance with the instructions given in the chapter devoted to particular suggestions. On withdrawing, the mother should again be careful not to awaken the little one. Should it show signs of waking, the whispered command "sleep," repeated several times, will lull it again to rest. Baudouin recommends that during these suggestions the mother should lay her hand on the child's forehead.

The above, however, is the method preferred by Coue.

This nightly practice is the most effective means of conveying autosuggestions to the child-mind. It should be made a regular habit which nothing is allowed to interrupt. If for any reason the mother is unable to perform it, her place may be taken by the father, the nurse, or some relative. But for obvious reasons the duty belongs by right to the mother, and, when a few weeks' practice has revealed its beneficent power, few mothers will be willing to delegate it to a less suitable agent.

This practice, as stated above, may well begin before the child has actually learned to speak, for its Unconscious will already be forming a scheme more or less distinct of the significance of the sounds that reach it, and will not fail to gather the general tenor of the words spoken. The date at which it should be discontinued is less easy to specify. Growth, to be healthy, must carry with it a gradual increase in independence and self-sufficiency. There seems to be some slight danger that the practice of nightly suggestions, if continued too long, might prolong unduly the state of dependence upon parental support.

Reliable indications on this point are furnished, however, by the child itself. As soon as it is able to face its daily problems for itself, when it no longer runs to the parent for help and advice in every little difficulty, the time will have arrived for the parental suggestions to cease.

As soon as a child is able to speak it should be taught to repeat the general formula night and morning in the same way as an adult. Thus when the time comes to discontinue the parent's suggestions their effect will be carried on by those the child formulates itself. There is one thing more to add: in the case of boys it would seem better at the age of seven or eight for the father to replace the mother in the role of suggester, while the mother, of course, performs the office throughout for her girls. Should any signs appear that the period of p.u.b.erty is bringing with it undue difficulties or perils, the nightly practice might be resumed in the form of particular suggestions bearing on the specific difficulties. It must be remembered, however, that the child's s.e.xual problem is essentially different from that of the adult, and the suggestions must therefore be in the most general terms. Here as elsewhere the end alone should be suggested, the Unconscious being left free to choose its own means.

As soon as the child has learnt to speak it should not be allowed to suffer pain. The best method to adopt is that practised by Coue in his consultations. Let the child close its eyes and repeat with the parent, "It's going, going ... gone!" while the latter gently strokes the affected part. But as soon as possible the child should be encouraged to overcome smaller difficulties for itself, until the parent's help is eventually almost dispensed with. This is a powerful means of developing self-reliance and fostering the sense of superiority to difficulties which will be invaluable in later life.

That children readily take to the practice is shown by these examples, which are again quoted from letters received by Coue.

"Your youngest disciple is our little David. The poor little chap had an accident to-day. Going up in the lift with his father, when quite four feet up, he fell out on his head and on to a hard stone floor. He was badly bruised and shocked, and when put to bed lay still and kept saying: 'ca pa.s.se, ca pa.s.se,' over and over again, and then looked up and said, 'no, not gone away.' To-night he said again 'ca pa.s.se' and then added, 'nearly gone.' So he is better."

B. K. (London).

8 _January_, 1922.

Another lady writes:

"Our cook's little niece, aged 23 months--the one we cured of bronchitis--gave herself a horrid blow on the head yesterday. Instead of crying she began to smile, pa.s.sed her hand over the place and said sweetly, 'ca pa.s.se.' Hasn't she been well brought up?"

All these methods are extremely simple and involve little expenditure of time and none of money. They have proved their efficacy over and over again in Nancy, and there is no reason why a mother of average intelligence and conscientiousness should not obtain equally good results. Naturally, first attempts will be a little awkward, but there is no need for discouragement on that account. Even supposing that through the introduction of effort some slight harm were done--and the chance is comparatively remote--this need cause no alarm. The right autosuggestion will soon counteract it and produce positive good in its place. But any mother who has practised autosuggestion for herself will be able correctly to apply it to her child.

At first glance the procedure may seem revolutionary, but think it over for a moment and you will see that it is as old as the hills. It is merely a systematisation on a scientific basis of the method mothers have intuitively practised since the world began. "Sleep, baby, sleep.

Angels are watching o'er thee,"--what is this but a particular suggestion? How does a wise mother proceed when her little one falls and grazes its hand? She says something of this kind: "Let me kiss it and then it will be well." She kisses it, and with her a.s.surance that the pain has gone the child runs happily back to its play. This is only a charming variation of the method of the caress.

CHAPTER XI

CONCLUSION

Induced Autosuggestion is not a subst.i.tute for medical practice. It will not make us live for ever, neither will it free us completely from the common ills of life. What it may do in the future, when all its implications have been realised, all its resources exploited, we cannot say. There is no doubt that a generation brought up by its canons would differ profoundly from the disease-ridden population of to-day.

But our immediate interest is with the present.

The adult of to-day carries in his Unconscious a memory clogged with a ma.s.s of adverse suggestions which have been acc.u.mulating since childhood. The first task of Induced Autosuggestion will be to clear away this ma.s.s of mental lumber. Not until this has been accomplished can the real man appear and the creative powers of autosuggestion begin to manifest themselves.

By the use of this method each one of us should be able to look forward to a life in which disease is a diminishing factor. But how great a part it will play depends upon the conditions we start from and the regularity and correctness of our practice. Should disease befall us we possess within a potent means of expelling it, but this does not invalidate the complementary method of destroying it from without.

Autosuggestion and the usual medical practice should go hand in hand, each supplementing the other. If you are ill, call in your doctor as before, but enlist the resources of Induced Autosuggestion to reinforce and extend his treatment.

In this connection it must be insisted on that autosuggestion should be utilised for every ailment, whatever its nature, and whether its inroads be grave or slight. Every disease is either strengthened or weakened by the action of the mind. We cannot take up an att.i.tude of neutrality. Either we must aid the disease to destroy us by allowing our minds to dwell on it, or we must oppose it and destroy it by a stream of healthful dynamic thought. Too frequently we spontaneously adopt the former course.

The general opinion that functional and nervous diseases alone are susceptible to suggestive treatment is at variance with the facts.

During Coue's thirty years of practice, in which many thousands of cases have been treated, he has found that organic troubles yield as easily as functional, that bodily derangements are even easier to cure than nervous and mental. He makes no such distinctions; an illness is an illness whatever its nature. As such Coue attacks it, and in 98 per cent. of cases he attains in greater or less degree a positive result.

Apart from the permanently insane, in whose minds the machinery of autosuggestion is itself deranged, there are only two cla.s.ses of patient with whom Induced Autosuggestion seems to fail. One consists of persons whose intelligence is so low that the directions given are never comprehended; the other of those who lack the power of voluntary attention and cannot devote their minds to an idea even for a few consecutive seconds. These two cla.s.ses, however, are numerically insignificant, together making up not much more than 2 per cent. of the population.

Autosuggestion is equally valuable as an aid to surgical practice. A broken bone--the sceptic's last resource--cannot of course be treated by autosuggestion alone. A surgeon must be called in to mend it. But when the limb has been rightly set and the necessary mechanical precautions have been taken, autosuggestion will provide the best possible conditions for recovery. It can prevent lameness, stiffness, unsightly deformity and the other evils which a broken limb is apt to entail, and it will shorten considerably the normal period of convalescence.

It is sometimes stated that the results obtained by autosuggestion are not permanent. This objection is really artificial, arising from the fact that we ignore the true nature of autosuggestion and regard it merely as a remedy. When we employ autosuggestion to heal a malady our aim is so to leaven the Unconscious with healthful thoughts, that not only will that specific malady be excluded, but all others with it.

Autosuggestion should not only remove a particular form of disease, but the tendency to all disease.

If after an ailment has been removed we allow our mind to revert to unhealthy thoughts, they will tend to realise themselves in the same way as any others, and we may again fall a victim to ill-health. Our sickness may take the same form as on the preceding occasion, or it may not. That will depend on the nature of our thought. But by the regular employment of the general formula we can prevent any such recurrence. Instead of reverting to unhealthy states of mind we shall progressively strengthen the healthy and creative thought that has already given us health, so that with each succeeding day our defence will be more impenetrable. Not only do we thus avoid a relapse into former ailments but we clear out of our path those which lie in wait for us in the future.

We saw that in the Nancy clinic some of the cures effected are almost instantaneous. It would be a mistake, however, to embark on the practice of Induced Autosuggestion with the impression that we are going to be miraculously healed in the s.p.a.ce of a few days. Granted sufficient faith, such a result would undoubtedly ensue; nay, more, we have records of quite a number of such cases, even where the help of a second person has not been called in. Here is an example. A friend of mine, M. Albert P., of Bordeaux, had suffered for more than ten years with neuralgia of the face. Hearing of Coue, he wrote to him, and received instructions to repeat the general formula. He did so, and on the second day the neuralgia had vanished and has never since returned.

But such faith is not common. Immediate cures are the exception, and it will be safer for us to look forward to a gradual and progressive improvement. In this way we shall guard against disappointment. It may be added that Coue prefers the gradual cure, finding it more stable and less likely to be disturbed by adverse conditions.

We should approach autosuggestion in the same reasonable manner as we approach any other scientific discovery. There is no hocus-pocus about it, nor are any statements made here which experience cannot verify.

But the att.i.tude we should beware most of is that of the intellectual amateur, who makes the vital things of life small coin to exchange with his neighbour of the dinner-table. Like religion, autosuggestion is a thing to practise. A man may be conversant with all the creeds in Christendom and be none the better for it; while some simple soul, loving G.o.d and his fellows, may combine the high principles of Christianity in his life without any acquaintance with theology. So it is with autosuggestion.

Autosuggestion is just as effective in the treatment of moral delinquencies as in that of physical ills. Drunkenness, kleptomania, the drug habit, uncontrolled or perverted s.e.xual desires, as well as minor failings of character, are all susceptible to its action. It is as powerful in small things as in great. By particular suggestions we can modify our tastes. We can acquire a relish for the dishes we naturally dislike, and make disagreeable medicine taste pleasant. So encouraging has been its application to the field of morals that Coue is trying to gain admittance to the French state reformatories. So far, the official dislike for innovations has proved a barrier, but there is good reason to hope that in the near future the application of this method to the treatment of the criminal will be greatly extended.

By way of antic.i.p.ating an objection it may be stated that the Coue method of Induced Autosuggestion is in no sense inferior to hypnotic suggestion. Coue himself began his career as a hypnotist, but being dissatisfied with the results, set out in quest of a method more simple and universal. Conscious autosuggestion, apart from its convenience, can boast one great advantage over its rival. The effects of hypnotic suggestion are often lost within a few hours of the treatment. Whereas by the use of the general formula the results of Induced Autosuggestion go on progressively augmenting.

Here we touch again the question of the suggester. We have already seen that a suggester is not needed, that autosuggestion can yield its fullest fruits to those who practise it unaided. But some persons cannot be prevailed on to accept this fact. They feel a sense of insufficiency; the ma.s.s of old wrong suggestions has risen so mountain-high that they imagine themselves incapable of removing it.

With such the presence of a suggester is an undoubted help. They have nothing to do but lie pa.s.sive and receive the ideas he evokes. Even so, however, they will get little good unless they consent to repeat the general formula.