Customer Reviews

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Upon first reading, I believe what impressed me most about this text was the constant reminder that it is our imagination, not our will, that dictates the direction of our actions. With the latest barrage of psychological doctrines focused on finding the person(s) responsible for the rash of killing sprees and murders; this book was a refreshing reminder that it is indeed within us to determine what we do, how we do it, and even why. Emile Coue allows us the chance to enhance a function that we are born with and utilize unwittingly everyday, only not usually to our advantage. He gives us the simplest of all principles: conscious use of our own innate awareness, and proves to us that pure autosuggestion really can work to drastically change our lives for the better. Once the premise of conscious autosuggestion is mastered through practice, using it to aid students or clients is shared as a simple and effective means of effective and long term treatment.

Emile Coué was a French druggist who pioneered the method of self-hypnosis called autosuggestion. It was popular during the 1920's; but the combination of Coué's death and the fact that he was out of then-mainstream psychology led to its being eclipsed.

Poor Coué was a little too far ahead of the Zeitgeist. It would have fit in better today with the development of cognitive psychology and the development of cognitive therapies.

Esstentially, Coué in this work emphasizes the role of positive thinking in self-improvement. In this way he implicitly proposed bridging the gap between behavior and cognition, a concept offered over 250 years earlier by Blaise Pascal. But can reciting a mantra involving positive thoughts improve one's outlook? There is some evidence that it can.

Emile Coué offers a number of practical suggestions for cognitive self-improvement in this very readable work. It is equally recommended for both the scholar in the history of psychology as well as the everyday reader seeking practical suggestions in management of thoughts.

So: "Each day, and in every way, I am getting better and better." Putting a different cognitive spin on things can improve one's life.

Emile Coue explains the value of repeated self-talk, like repeating the same self-talk forty times a day, twenty times in the morning and twenty times in the evening. Emile Coue is very honest in explaining why hypnotism works for a few people and why hypnotism does not work for others. Apparently scores of people have been helped by Coue's method.

This book gives specific guidelines to follow to indeed "turn your dreams into a reality". The book, "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen goes hand in hand with these writings Emile Coue has provided. I enjoyed this reading because he basically grabs you by the hand and walks with you. He tells you how you can direct your thoughts in order to achieve that which you desire through repetition. When you imagine specific things as happening or coming true and begin to visualize these things; it is then that they will begin to materialize in your life. Once again, the responsibilty is entirely dependent on me!

I found this a fascinating addition to my study of hypnosis and dealing with the aspect of my "shadow" self. It's really amazing how many of us sabotage ourselves with negative thought patterns. Although it may seem simplistic in nature...our thoughts really are our reality. And Coue takes us right to the heart of the issue. A remarkable book.

I happened upon the author by chance. I read he was pretty big in Europe in his time and his material was held back in the United States at the turn of the 20th Century. So i was curious. I have to say that the critical portions of the book are only about 20 pages, the rest is very interesting case study of the successes he's seen and additional correspondence. Of course, there's no way to verify the validity of his studies, but they seem very genuine- not contrived. But from my own personal experience, i had a non-critical lump in my lower eyelid for several months. i put into practice some of the auto-suggestions around my health, and I have to say, i have seen a significant difference in only 2 weeks of continuous practice what had been lingering for several months. SO i've expanded these auto-suggestions to other areas of my life... waiting to see what shows up! Can't lose on this book if you're consistent. If you're not open to stuff like this or know you won't practice it, then don't waste the money.

This is a simple, clear and interesting book of instruction on improving our lives through the powerful practice of visualization. We alone have the power to change our lives.

Emile Coue, author of "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion," a contemporary of William James and Sigmund Freud, might rightfully be called the father of the positive confession movement. Believing that physical and emotional ailments are rooted wrong thinking caused by destructive experiences in past, Coue taught that these conditions could be reversed by conscious autosuggestions, particularly twenty verbal repetitions each morning and evening of the phrase, "Every day and in every way, I am getting better and better." This affirmation of hope became a mantra for the masses of followers during the first two decades of the twentieth century. This interesting volume contains scores of case histories of those who found relief from pain and healing from illness large and small. Any person who wishes to understand the psychology behind the present-day positive confession movement and wants to know why Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller and Joel Osteen have captured the public's imagination for more than a half century should read "Self Mastery . . . ." You will not be disappointed. It is an amazing book and a good read. written by the man who started it all.

R. Alan Streett

I would rate the book very good. The subject matter and the conclusions drawn from it are excellent.

However, the book is poorly proofed. It has numerous typos -- words that are missing, with a question mark in their place. I wrote to the publisher about this but received no answer, so I can only assume that they aren't bothered by the typos and have no intention of correcting them or answering my letter.

I will look for the book from another publisher in the meantime, and will avoid publications from Cosimo Classics in the future.

Émile Coué




was a French psychologist and pharmacist who introduced a method of psychotherapy, healing, and self-improvement, based on autosuggestion or self-hypnosis.




He has been called the Father of Applied Conditioning.




Coué, who came from old noble Breton stock, learned hypnosis from Ambroise-Auguste Liébault, the founder of Nancy School, and in 1913 Coué founded the Lorraine Society of Applied Psychology.



His book Self-mastery through conscious autosuggestion caused a sensation on its publication in England (1920) and in the United States (1922).




Coué introduced a new method, the self-starting of conscious autosuggestion. He modified the theory of Abbé Faria by proposing that for autosuggestion to flow from the mind, one has to feed it first.




By repeating words or images as self-suggestion to the subconscious mind, one can condition the mind, and then the conditioned mind will produce an autogenic command when required.

His familiar mantra, "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better" (Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux), is sometimes known as Couéism, or the Coué method. The method depended in part on routine repetition of the formula.

Afterwards Johannes Schultz developed this theory as Autogenic training


Quote




Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better. - Emile Coue


References



Émile Coué, La maîtrise de soi-même par l'autosuggestion consciente (Autrefois: De la suggestion et de ses applications), Société Lorraine de psychologie appliquée