Émile Coué
Émile Coué | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | psychologist |
Émile Coué (February 26, 1857 – July 2, 1926) was a French psychologist and pharmacist who introduced a method of psychotherapy, healing, and self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion.
The application of his famous conscious autosuggestion, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" (Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux), is what is often called Couéism or the Coué method.
The Coué method depended on the routine repetition of such expressions, according to a specified ritual, at the beginning and the ending of each day.
Life and career
Coué was born in Troyes, France and came from old noble Breton stock. He learned hypnosis from Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, 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-application of conscious autosuggestion. By consciously repeating words or images as self-suggestion to the subconscious mind, according to Coué, one can order one's mind to obey them.
He died in Nancy, France in 1926.
Self Mastery using Autosuggestion
Using his so-called method ( which he called a trick) his patients of all sorts would get spectacular cures. In fact one English man, C. Harry Brooks who visited him claimed the success rate was around 93%. The remaining 7% people would include those who were in the first place skeptical of Coue's trick and would not like to understand it and people who could not understand Coue's words possibly because of being mentally retarded.
The cures achieved by Coue's patients seems to be unbelievable, however Coue always clearly explained to the visitors that he possessed no powers and the power lied within themselves.
As Coue puts it -- "Autosuggestion is a weapon that one must learn to use it. It's like a double-edged sword which when learned properly to use it, one can save one's life otherwise end up injuring or killing oneself."[citation needed]
His unique discovery that will-power is the biggest obstacle in any cure. The cures were result of use of imagination or positive autosuggestion to the exclusion of one's will-power.
Patients of all sorts would visit him. The list of malady included kidney problems, diabetes, memory loss, stammering, weakness, atrophy and all sorts of physical and mental illnesses.
Emile Coue's imprint on the modern world
 | The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
It might be surprising to find that the work of Emile Coue is often overlooked, even though it has been quiet influential. There is hardly any information available on the Internet which can enlighten a person looking for information related to this great person who devoted his life to curing people absolutely free of charge. Most of the information available regards his 'magic mantra', but fails to explain the magic behind the mantra or the results Coue found using his method. The heart of Coueism is his technique -- The hand-clasping experiment which he taught his subjects.
Patients would come to Coue for cure. Before coming they would have heard about his magical cures and most of the subjects came with receptive and open minds. Coue always spoke to his subjects in commanding tone, not giving them a chance to think about what they were told. Patients would wait and watch in queue while Coue continued with his experiments and explanations. Many patients would achieve immediate partial success. A person living in morbid fear of death was smiling, laughing. A person with severe weakness was now found running in the garden. These experiments proceeded from one patient to another while all watched in hope of the joy of being cured.
It required a receptive mind to be effected by Coue's techniques. Some people have tried to continue Coue's work after his death. However the aspect of offering free service would have been quite difficult to adhere to.
Basics of Coue's so called "trick"
The basis of Emile Coue's method is the following (scientific) principle: "Any idea exclusively occupying the mind turns into reality". Only if the idea is within the realms of possibility. If one person without a hand thinks that his hand will grow -- obviously this won't happen. If you think you that your Asthma is fast disappearing -- it happens, limited by how fast your body can cure it. If you think that you can't remember a name, then as long as you have this idea in your mind, it'd be just impossible remember the idea! Coue's trick is extremely simple. If you try to delve into the reality of Coue's trick soon you'd figure out that it's the simplest thing in the world! How simple is it to say "How I would like to taste delicious mango"? What idea does it create in your mind? If you instead think about tasting lemon what do you feel? Suppose a horse rider does not have the reigns in his or her hands what happens? It takes the rider where ever it wants. What happens if the horse runs away? Same thing happens with us. We have a Concious and an Unconcious or a body. The body is just like a horse. If we don't have reigns the body runs aways where ever it wants. To control it we must have control over the reigns. Then only we can make our Unconcious or body to do whatever we want.
In popular culture
- John Lennon included the Coué mantra in his lyrics for "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" on the album Double Fantasy.
- Artist Sandy Smith has used variations of the original Coué mantra in much of his work, most noticeably in the installation "All the time I was making this I was thinking if you"
References
- C. Harry Brooks, How to use Autosuggestion by the method of Emile Coue
- Emile Coue, How to Practice Suggestion and Autosuggestion
- Emile Coue, My Method: Including American Impressions
- Emile Coue, Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion
- Napolean Hill, Think and Grow Rich
- Émile Coué, La maîtrise de soi-même par l'autosuggestion consciente (Autrefois: De la suggestion et de ses applications), Société Lorraine de psychologie appliquée (1922) (full text in French from Wikisource)
External links
- [1] French text of speech: La Maîtrise de soi-même
- [2] Find-A-Grave profile for Émile Coué
- [3] English text of Coué's (1922) Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion
- Summary of the Laws of Suggestion
- IMDB entry