If you attribute a suggestion to someone else this can avoid a lot of resistance from the client. By using one or more levels of quotation you can say almost anything to the client, and will probably confuse the unconscious mind in the process, making the suggestion more likely to be accepted.
| Milton Erickson once told the story about how he told a man ‘you can learn to relax instantly‘ and the man found he could relax immediately and said “you know ‘Everyone can relax faster than they think.‘”. | |
| I met a man from Bombay who said the secret of confidence is ‘Fake it till you make it’. | |
| And as you circulate around that party you overhear someone saying ‘I am so proud of her. She is best daughter I could ever have wished for. She has become everything hoped for.’ And the other person replies ‘Yes, maybe we didn’t say it often enough, maybe we thought she would just know it’. |