In possession of the formula: "Every day, in every respect . . .", etc., I recited it with a faith which, although it had come suddenly, was none the less capable of removing mountains, and throwing down shawls and scarves, bareheaded, I went into the garden in the rain and wind repeating gently "I am going to be cured, I shall have no more neuritis, it is going away, it will not come back, etc. . . ." The next day I was cured and never any more since have I suffered from this abominable complaint, which did not allow me to take a step out of doors and made life unbearable. It was an immense joy. The incredulous will say: "It was all nervous." Obviously, and I give them this first point. But, delighted with the result, I tried the Coué Method for an oedema of the left ankle, resulting from an affection of the kidneys reputed incurable. In two days the oedema had disappeared. I then treated fatigue and mental depression, etc., and extraordinary improvement was produced, and I had but one idea: to go to Nancy to thank my benefactor.
I went there and found the excellent man, attractive by his goodness and simplicity, who has become my friend.
It was indispensable to see him in his field of action. He invited me to a popular "séance." I heard a concert of gratitude. Lesions in the lungs, displaced organs, asthma, Pott's disease (!), paralysis, the whole deadly horde of diseases were being put to flight. I saw a paralytic, who sat contorted and twisted in his chair, get up and walk. M. Coué had spoken, he demanded confidence, great, immense confidence in oneself. He said: "Learn to cure yourselves, you can do so; I have never cured anyone. The power is within you yourselves, call upon your spirit, make it act for your physical and mental good, and it will come, it will cure you, you will be strong and happy". Having spoken, Coué approached the paralytic: "You heard what I said, do you believe that you will walk?" "Yes."--"Very well then, get up!" The woman got up, she walked, and went round the garden. The miracle was accomplished.
A young girl with Pott's disease, whose vertebral column became straight again after three visits, told me what an intense happiness it was to feel herself coming back to life after having thought herself a hopeless case.
Three women, cured of lesions in the lungs, expressed their delight at going back to work and to a normal life. Coué in the midst of those people whom he loves, seemed to me a being apart, for this man ignores money, all his work is gratuitous, and his extraordinary disinterestedness forbids his taking a farthing for it. "I owe you something", I said to him, "I simply owe you everything. . . ." "No, only the pleasure I shall have from your continuing to keep well. . . ."
An irresistible sympathy attracts one to this simple-minded philanthropist; arm in arm we walked round the kitchen garden which he cultivates himself, getting up early to do so. Practically a vegetarian, he considers with satisfaction the results of his work. And then the serious conversation goes on: "In your mind you possess an unlimited power. It acts on matter if we know how to domesticate it. The imagination is like a horse without a bridle; if such a horse is pulling the carriage in which you are, he may do all sorts of foolish things and take you to your death. But harness him properly, drive him with a sure hand, and he will go wherever you like. Thus it is with the mind, the imagination. They must be directed for our own good. Autosuggestion, formulated with the lips, is an order which the unconscious receives, it carries it out unknown to ourselves and above all at night, so that the evening autosuggestion is the most important. It gives marvelous results."
When you feel a physical pain, add the formula "It is going away . . .", very quickly repeated, in a kind of droning voice, placing your hand on the part where you feel the pain, or on the forehead, if it is a mental distress.
For the method acts very efficaciously on the mind. After having called in the help of the soul for the body, one can ask it again for all the circumstances and difficulties of life.
There also I know from experience that events can be singularly modified by this process.
You know it to-day, and you will know it better still by reading M. Baudouin's book, and then his pamphlet: "Culture de la force morale", and then, lastly, the little succinct treatise written by M. Coué himself: "Self Mastery." All these works may be found at M. Coué's.