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Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Good Advice of Emil Coue


Emil Coue’s work in the 1920’s is incredible simply and yet I have found it extremely important in my life. Many others have picked up these ideas in the human motivation field. In fact I would say that Coue’s simple formula is the basis for all the modern day practices of emotional healing.The idea is so simple we tend to dismiss it as simplistic. It is not simplistic, it is profound. And it is powerful.

Here is his basic idea. If we constantly think of happiness, we will become happy; if we think of good health rather than dwelling on our health problem, we will become healthy, if we think loving thoughts we will become more loving. Whatever we constantly think about, as long as it is a reasonable thing, says Coue, tends to become an actual condition in our life. So when we think despairing thoughts, or anxious thoughts about our health challenges, or fearful thoughts, we bring about the situations in life that we want to avoid—ill health, anxiety and fear.

No, we can’t order happiness or good health like a hamburger, but our mind becomes fixed on an idea by our constantly repeating it in our minds. By thinking it over and over. Good thinking, positive thinking becomes a habit and easier to do as we do it. 

We don’t have to fight bad thoughts. We just have to pick up good ones and the bad ones will not be able to sustain themselves at our expense. The mind is powerful. We can get it to think what we want. It is not easy, and when we are panicked and anxious, it seems impossible to help ourselves.

However, we CAN begin to persevere and start building good thinking habits. So what if it take a lot of effort. It is effort that will pay huge dividends in health and happiness. Believe me, after my back problems which are still not quite over with, I am following all this advice everyday myself.
Sometimes I use the phrase, I’m sorry I can’t credit who first coined it, but the phrase it “fake it until you make it.” Basically meaning keep pretending to be healthy, pretending to be cheerful and it will be become a self-fullfilling prophecy. Just as, if you let your mind wander into destructive thinking, that too will start to effect your life.

And  I use Coue’s famous repetition all during the day.: "Every day in every way I’m getting better and better and better." Since I’m having trouble now with anxiety over my back problem, I am constantly reminding myself to RELAX. We can’t remain tense and purposefull relax at the same time. Whenever I think about it, I check to see if my “back is up” and make like a rag doll, relaxing my whole body. I constantly tell myself that every step in the right direction is a step in the right direction. I persevere always to turn myself from the wrong direction of anxiety and fear.  A. B. Curtiss

2 comments:

Blueyedane said...

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments here. I will tell you however that physical pain adds an entirely new component to depression and can make things harder. A lot harder. With my back pain that has been chronic for years I wonder if I'll ever have relief. On days when the pain is just gnawing at me I worry that it's destroying my body and then I feel helpless and horrible and bad. It is much easier in the long run to bypass the worry thoughts in the long run but it isn't easier in the moment. In the moment I want to fall into my wallowing and self pity and sometimes bitterness and anger at my lot in life. It's interesting to me how you have dealt with the pain. I truly hope this ends soon for you so that you can go on with your daily life but I think now you have a better understanding of what it takes to make it through the pain and can share that with others. Thanks for writing about this!

Lisa E said...

Thank you for your wisdom. I'm reading Brain Switch now and my depression is about 80% better after just one week of practicing. Lifesaving to get relief from the pain of depression. THANK YOU!!!!