y the idea of success.

Thus, even in our dealings with the outside world, Thought is always
master of the will. How much more so when our action is turned inward!
When practising autosuggestion we are living in the mind, where
thoughts are the only realities. We can meet with no obstacle other
than that of Thought itself. Obviously then, the frontal attack, the
exertion of effort, can never be admissible, for it sets the will and
the thought at once in opposition. The turning of our thoughts from
the mere recognition of an obstacle to the idea of the means to
overcome it, is no longer a preliminary, as in the case of outward
action. In itself it clears away the obstacle. By procuring the right
idea our end is already attained.

In applying effort during the practice of Induced Autosuggestion, we
use in the world of mind an instrument fashioned for use in the world
of matter. It is as if we tried to solve a mathematical problem by
mauling the book with a tin-opener.

For two reasons then, effort must never be allowed to intrude during
the practice of autosuggestion: first because it wakes us up and so
suppresses the tide of the Unconscious, secondly because it causes
conflict between Thought and the will.

One other interesting fact emerges from an examination of the foregoing
examples. In each case we find that the idea which occupied the mind
was of a final state, an accomplished fact. The golfer was thinking of
his ball dropping into the bunker, the tennis-player of his defeat, the
examinee of his failure. In each case the Unconscious realised the
thought in its own way, chose inevitably the means best suited to
arrive at its end--the realisation of the idea. In the case of the
golfer the most delicate physical adjustments were necessary. Stance,
grip and swing all contributed their quota, but these physical
adjustments were performed unconsciously, the conscious mind being
unaware of them. From this we see that we need not suggest the way in
which our aim is to be accomplished. If we fill our minds with the
thought of the desired end, provided that end is possible, the
Unconscious will lead us to it by the easiest, most direct path.

Here we catch a glimpse of the truth behind what is called "luck." We
are told that everything comes to him who waits, and this is literally
true, provided he waits in the right frame of mind. Some men are
notoriously lucky in business; whatever they touch seems to