(Continued from Part 3)

So how do you determine the upper limit -- the latitude of acceptability -- that your subconscious will accept? The best way is with autoquestioning. By using one of the methods of autoquestioning you can set the maximum acceptable limits, for this as for other areas of application.

Always determine your latitude of acceptance for any suggestion you want to use.

Functions of the Subconscious

The basic functions of the subconscious are preservation, protection and procreation. If you use suggestions that violate the way the subconscious interprets its purpose in any of these areas, you will not get anywhere with the suggestions.

Sometimes you can start out okay, but as soon as your suggestions kick in and you begin to get results the subconscious becomes alarmed and puts resistive forces in place. If you have an experience like this -- early success followed by reversal of the gains -- it is probably caused by subconsciously perceived threat. Because the subconscious mind is exceptionally devious and mysterious, you may find that your suggestions' failure is masked to look natural.

Subconscious Needs

Many of our more subtle needs reside at the subconscious level. We are usually aware of obvious needs, such as the needs for air, water, food, warmth, etc. But some of the "softer" needs may not be so obvious. Some of these vary across individuals and can include such subconscious requirements as the needs to be an adult, to always have a nurturing adult figure in our lives, to be healthy and, in short, to be anything upon which we might have imprinted when young.

Subtler, unknown subconscious needs can create a lot of problems if they are not dealt with properly in suggestion formulation. Suggestions to quit smoking would, for example, run afoul of the subconscious needs to be an adult. This would be a problem in a case in which the subconscious mind has made a connection between smoking and being an adult. In subconscious terms, no smoking, no adulthood. Goofy, but that is the way subconscious logic works.

Suggestion Verification and Validation

You need to find out how to most effectively formulate suggestions for a particular purpose. It is also a good idea to determine that the suggestions you formulate will indeed do what you want them to do, and that they will not cause new or substitute problems. These objectives can be met with autoquestioning.

Autoquestioning is the questioning of oneself. More specifically, it is the interrogation of the subconscious mind. You consciously come up with questions which you can ask the subconscious mind. The purpose of autoquestioning is to learn as much as you can about why you do or don't do something you want or don't want to do. The formulation of suggestion is much easier and more likely to produce effective suggestions if you know the position of your subconscious mind vis-à-vis the relevant issues.

(What you consciously know or think, or think you know or think, may be totally unrelated to what you subconsciously know or think. Effective bouts of autoquestioning almost always yield surprising results.)

The subconscious mind does not like giving up its secrets, so autoquestioning requires a lot of thought and careful adherence to proven procedure.

There are many ways to engage in autoquestioning. The major methods are automatic writing; the use of prompted and directed dreams (a slow but fascinating process); the finger response method; the Ouija Board, but without the spirits; and the Chevreul pendulum. Of these, the Chevreul pendulum has become the most popular, probably because it is fascinating in itself, and it is easy to use. Anyone can do it with just a little practice. Please see the Autoquestioning section below on how to make and use the Chevreul pendulum.

Rules of Suggestion Formulation

• Be specific.

Emile Coué (1857-1926) was the inventor of the highly generalized, one-size-fits all approach to autosuggestion. At one point in his career he had almost everyone in Europe and America going around saying, "Every day, and in every way, I am getting better and better."

The fact that some of those people really did report getting "better and better" attests to the power of suggestion. They got better in spite of the fact that, as we now know, specificity in suggestions is much more powerful than generality. Specificity, that is, as it applies to outcomes. DO NOT get SO specific as to suggest to your subconscious mind all of the steps (physiological and otherwise) it should take to, say, reduce your interest in food. To do that you would end up with suggestions about glandular processes, pheromones, brain opiates, and a whole host of other things that none of us consciously know nearly as much about as your subconscious mind does. So don't get crazy with specificity. Just stick to specific outcomes that make sense to you.

Sometimes it is helpful to use numbers in your suggestions if they are appropriate. However, this can also backfire, so be sure to clear the suggestions through autoquestioning and continue to monitor effectiveness during the period you are using any quantified suggestions.

• Be literal.

Click here to go to Part 5, Suggestion Formulation and Application.

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