Meditation and auto-suggestion

When one thinks of one thought and keeps on repeating that thought continuously, it can be termed as auto-suggestion. Many self-help courses advocate this technique in order to change or alter one's perception of oneself. Hence, a girl or a young woman may say while looking at the mirror,"I am good. I am pretty". Repeating this process regularly will create an effect in the mind where one begins to see how one is good and pretty. This can also work in the opposite direction, when one thinks of not being good enough or of not being pretty enough. External suggestions can become seeds of self-induced feelings like, when one is told that one is pretty or being told that one is stupid pretty soon one begins to believe that suggestion.

The power of repetition has been known to propagandists and advertisers for a long time such that a saying has been coined: "a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth". Such is the power of repetition. Rumours work they same way: a suggestion is made and is accepted by the mind as true and then passed on to another without verifying its truth and is passed on again and again until it begins to sound like gospel truth.

When a child is constantly berated and called "a bad boy", the thought that he is a bad boy will be implanted in his mind and it will serve as a powerful suggestion that he is indeed a bad boy. This will create a low self-image will be dificult for him to overcome. The power of suggestion is therefore something which is not to be taken lightly and should be used only to create a good feeling in people. While corporal punishment has been discredited as an effective way of raising children, verbal abuse has not been widely disseminated as a more insidious form of punishment. Constant verbal abuse will debase a person's sense of self-worth and cause mental anguish and emotional stress.

In order to counter such feelings of worthlessness, very often a person will need the help of psychiatrists or psychoanalysts to uncover the deeply-rooted feelings of resentment and hopelessness. It is a sign that in this day and age, we have not yet learned to promote mental health and peace of mind. We have mastered the art of hurting other people in ways that cannot be seen. The ancients have recognized the principle of non-hurting but this principle has largely been forgotten owing to the rush for fame and fortune and power, to succeed politically and economically. One can help oneself by using meditation and techniques of auto-suggestion to reinforce feelings of innate worth.

Meditation can help develop a sense of self-worth and reinforce the feeling of being important in the universe. This brings peace of mind and mental health. Meditation relies on the power of positive auto-suggestion to work its magic.