Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-09
POWER OF SUGGESTION
By H. Addington Bruce

BY II. AQQlIlguOn DIuCG
DIGESTION, as you have often heard, is
one of the most potent of all forces de-
~ termining human conduct. 1t is so potent
that, through the energy it impartS to ideas it
lodges in the mind it may influence not only
conduct but also the character and even the
health.
In this belief you have endeavored at various
times to make very definite use of suggestion
in your own behalf You have perhaps desired
to overcome some bad habit through sugges-
toms aid, or perhaps to escape from the para
Lying thral of diffidence and timidity.
Again and again you have reiterated to your
self the suggestion that the habit or trait in
question will no longer handicap you. Yet it
continues to handicap YOU So that you begin
to doubt whether suggestion is, after all, SO
potent as it has been described to you.
Quite possibly, as a matter of fact, this doubt
has been in the back of your mind all along.
In which case the doubt would itself be Sug-
gestion preventing you from accepting and act
ing on the better ideas you have been trying to
suggest to yourself.
Or it may be that you have not been using
suggestion Systematically enough, or not using
it under conditions sufficiently favorable to the
dynamic acceptance by your mind of the self
suggested ideas.
1t does not suffice, for example, simply to say
to yourself from time to time. 81 am no longer
timid," or the more positive assertion, 81 will
be brave under all circumstances" In order
that the suggested idea of courage may stake, "
the reiteration of the idea should be made at
specially prescribed periods daily.
In particular it is helpful to choose as Sug
geStion periods the first few minutes after
awakening, and the minutes when one grows
drowsy Just before falling asleep at night. This
because one is then most closely in touch with
the SubconSciouS regin of the mind
And, as emphasized by all authorities on sug-
gestion-emphasized perhaps most strongly of
all in the latest work on the subject, Charles
Baudouin's unusual book, Suggestion and Auto
SuggeStion'-it is only when suggested ideas
take root in the subconscious that they become
determinants of conduct, character, and health.
For this same reason all who would profit
from self-Suggestion will the more surely do so
if, whenever during the day they wish to Sug-
gest this or that idea to themselves, they begin
by assuming an attitude conducive to subcon-
scouS rather than conscious mental activity.
Let them, that is to say, lie down or seat
themselves comfortably with their eyes closed,
There should be as complete bodily and mental
relaxation as possible. Darkenng the room,
listening to the monotonouS ticking OF clock,
will promote the necessary relaxation.
Then, when body and mind are relaxed, there
should be medtative contemplation of the
idea to be suggested In the worlds of Bau-
douin:
"Cal up as wildly as possible the image of
the desired bodily and mental ameliora!ons."
Which, you may protest, means much practice
and much patience. Perhaps not so much as
you imagine. In any event the tax in practice
and patience should certainly not seem Excess
siye in view of the important end you wish to
gain.
copyright, 1922, by The Associated Newspa-
pefS.)