st of all at
securing due warning of the approaching attack. We should employ such
terms as these: "In future I shall always know well in advance when a
fit is coming on. I shall be amply warned of its approach. When these
warnings occur I shall feel no fear or anxiety. I shall be quite
confident of my power to avert it." As soon as the warning comes--as
it will come, quite unmistakably--the sufferer should isolate himself
and use a particular suggestion to prevent the fit from developing. He
should first suggest calm and self-control, then affirm repeatedly, but
of course without effort, that the normal state of health is
reasserting itself, that the mind is fully under control, and that
nothing can disturb its balance. All sudden paroxysms, liable to take
us unexpectedly, should be treated by the same method, which in Coue's
experience has amply justified itself.

Nervous troubles and violent emotions, such as fear and anger, often
express themselves by physical movements. Fear may cause trembling,
palpitation, chattering of the teeth; anger a violent clenching of the
fists. Baudouin advises that particular suggestions in these cases
should be directed rather against the motor expression than against the
psychic cause, that our aim should be to cultivate a state of physical
impassibility. But since a positive suggestion possesses greater force
than a negative, it would seem better to attack simultaneously both the
cause and the effect. Instead of anger, suggest that you will feel
sympathy, patience, good-humour, and consequently that your bodily
state will be easy and unconstrained.

A form of particular suggestion which possesses distinct advantages of
its own is the quiet repetition of a single word. If your mind is
distracted and confused, sit down, close your eyes, and murmur slowly
and reflectively the single word "Calm." Say it reverently, drawing it
out to its full length and pausing after each repetition. Gradually
your mind will be stilled and quietened, and you will be filled with a
sense of harmony and peace. This method seems most applicable to the
attainment of moral qualities. An evil passion can be quelled by the
use of the word denoting the contrary virtue. The power of the word
depends largely upon its aesthetic and moral associations. Words like
joy, strength, love, purity, denoting the highest ideals of the human
mind, possess great potency and are capable, thus used, of dispellin