Book Report: Self Mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion by Emile Coué (c)1922

Self Mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion by Emile Coué (c)1922

 "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better."
                            --Coué's famous, all-purpose affirmation

Background Information: Emil Coué was the pioneer of positive affirmations, a practice that his been very popular with self-help folks for ages. He was an avid student of psychology and human nature and a pharmacist in the days when pharmacists not only dispensed drugs, but treated patients as well. He was a follower of the Nancy school of hypnosis in the 19th. century, and his practice became extremely popular and claimed many successes. His practice of autosuggestion did not require hypnosis or trance and was very flexible.
Despite his international popularity, he never charged for his services.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Cou%C3%A9

This is a small booklet, but dense with information. If you're interested in using affirmations for your own benefit, or you're a practitioner who wants to add autosuggestion to your box of tricks, this booklet will give you the basics, both for the practice and of the logic and psychology behind it. 

Before describing his practice, he explains the psychology behind his practice, and the importance of the imagination in affecting a person. His favorite example is how a person can fearlessly imagine walking along a 30 foot long plank on the ground, but when they imagine walking along the same plank placed between the tops of two tall buildings, they often experience fear and even vertigo. For Coué, there is no greater power than the imagination, and his method seeks to harness that power.

When he was practicing, "rational thought" was a hallmark of the modern age, and in the pop-psychology of the day, it was believed you could simply will yourself to change the things you don't do. Can't sleep? You must will yourself to sleep. Drink too much? You lack will-power! Will power was the solution to all man's problems.
Coué observed that will power was no match for the imagination, and that you couldn't will yourself to sleep or to drink less, but if you could imagine it, you could make it happen. He discusses this the psychology behind this in sensible and employable ways, and includes his famous "Four Laws" of how "In the battle between the will and the imagination, the imagination will always win." 

He includes ways that his principles can be applied covertly, and apparently he often did do that as a pharmacist, including positive suggestions and note with the medicines. 

The booklet also includes a few case-histories, testimonial letters from happy customers, and essays about his practice from experts of the day. 

Nowadays, people who follow the Law-of-Attraction, who believe that they can actually influence changes in their environment, like to use affirmations to reinforce their beliefs. Coué did not discuss anything of that nature, but for those people who do use affirmations in their LOA practice, I imagine that Coué's principles would be a powerful tool.