Autosuggestion

Self-direction through suggestion may strike newcomers as almost too plain to matter. Yet once a method is explained to ordinary people and its workings are understood, nearly every breakthrough looks obvious in hindsight. The author is careful to say he did not invent autosuggestion. In his view it is an ancient practice that people simply stopped using, so it had to be relearned from the beginning.

He draws a comparison with the natural world. Humanity had always been surrounded by powerful forces, yet it took centuries before anyone uncovered how they worked and learned to put them to use. The mind, he argues, holds similar powers of great value, and most of us either know nothing of them or sense them only faintly.

Written by Émile Coué, a French pharmacist who became known for teaching suggestion as a daily practice, the book introduces readers to the idea of mastering the self through conscious autosuggestion.