ENTHUSIASM 465Before we get away from this incident, I wish to make an admission.
When she drew me into conversation, she did it in such a way that I
talked with Enthusiasm, and I am sure I caught the spirit of Enthusiasm
from this clever saleswoman when she made that opening remark as
she came into my study. I am just as sure that her Enthusiasm was not
a matter of accident. She had trained herself to look for something in
her prospective purchaser's office, or their work, or their conversation,
over which she could express Enthusiasm.
Remember, suggestion and Enthusiasm go hand in hand!
I can remember, as though it were yesterday, the feeling that came
over me when that other would-be salesman pushed that Saturday Evening
Post in front of me, as he remarked, "You wouldn't subscribe for the Post
to help me out, would you?"
His words were chilled, they were lifeless; they lacked Enthusiasm.
They registered an impression in my mind, but that impression was
one of coldness. I wanted to see the man go out the door at which he
had come in. Mind you, I am not naturally unsympathetic, but the
tone of his voice, the look on his face, his general bearing suggested that
he was there to ask a favor and not to offer one.
Suggestion is one of the most subtle and powerful principles of
psychology. You are making use of it in all that you do and say and
think. But, unless you understand the difference between negative
suggestion and positive suggestion, you may be using it in such a way
that it is bringing you defeat instead of success.
Science has established the fact that through the negative use of
suggestion, life may be extinguished. In the little town where I was
raised, there lived an old lady who constantly complained that she
feared death from cancer. During her childhood she had seen a woman
who had cancer and the sight had so impressed itself upon her mind
that she began to look for symptoms in her own body. She was sure
that every little ache and pain was the beginning of her long-Iooked-
for symptom of cancer. I have seen her place her hand on her breast