Page 57 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

Auto-Suggestion: The Medium for Influencing the

Subconscious Mind

The Third Step toward Riches

AUTO-SUGGESTION is a term which applies to all suggestions and all self-ad-
ministered stimuli which reach one's mind through the five senses. Stated in
another way, auto-suggestion is self-suggestion. It is the agency of communica-
tion between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place, and that
which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind. Through the domi-
nating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind, (whether
these thoughts be negative or positive, is immaterial), the principle of auto-sug-
gestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these
thoughts.

NO THOUGHT, whether it be negative or positive, CAN ENTER THE SUBCON-
SCIOUS MIND WITHOUT THE AID OF THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTO-SUGGES-
TION, with the exception of thoughts picked up from the ether. Stated differently,
all sense impressions which are perceived through the five senses, are stopped by
the CONSCIOUS thinking mind, and maybe either passed on to the subconscious
mind, or rejected, at will. The conscious faculty serves, therefore, as an outer-
guard to the approach of the subconscious.

Nature has so built man that he has ABSOLUTE CONTROL over the material
which reaches his subconscious mind, through his five senses, although this is not
meant to be construed as a statement that man always EXERCISES this control.
In the great majority of instances, he does NOT exercise it, which explains why so
many people go through life in poverty.

Recall what has been said about the subconscious mind resembling a fertile gar-
den spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance, if the seeds of more desirable
crops are not sown therein. AUTOSUGGESTION is the agency of control through
which an individual may voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts
of a creative nature, or, by neglect, permit thoughts of a destructive nature to
find their way into this rich garden of the mind. You were instructed, in the last
of the six steps described in the chapter on Desire, to read ALOUD twice daily
the WRITTEN statement of your DESIRE FOR MONEY, and to SEE AND FEEL

58

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

yourself ALREADY in possession of the money! By following these instructions,