The Suggestion

The suggestion is what you use to communicate your goal to your subconscious. It is where you tell yourself what you want yourself to do. In this section we describe what a suggestion is, discuss the elements of a good suggestion, and tell how to deliver it. In the section on sample scripts, we give examples of suggestions for various common self-hypnosis goals. A good suggestion is the key to successful goal-oriented self-hypnosis. You can, as we have mentioned, do self-hypnosis without the suggestion and still get the benefits of stress reduction and enhanced ability to concentrate. If you want to get more specific results, you have to use a suggestion. If you have been practicing the self-hypnosis procedure and can hypnotize yourself, you're ready to add the suggestion. (Remember, you don't need a deep trance.) Insert the suggestion in your routine after the deepening. The visualization goes along with, and right after, the suggestion. You will probably want to add both together. The suggestion should be at least a few sentences but can be as long as you want. When you have experience, you may want to experiment with brief suggestions. Keep your suggestion to one topic, and work on one goal at a time.