A suggestion is an idea that reaches the mind through the five physical senses and/or the basic perceptions.
When you read a book, you discover many ideas but they can become suggestions only when they begin to move into your internal mental system. When you begin to classify and identify and filter them as “Now, that’s a good idea, I think I’ll start doing that tomorrow” or “That’s a good thought, I think I’m going to just write that down on a card and keep it in my wallet” that idea becomes a suggestion.
In hypnosis we use the power of suggestion as a separate tool within the framework of trance. Hypnosis is the development and maintenance of a trance and a suggestion is an idea that reaches the deeper mind because of trance.
The next word is: “Suggestibility.” This word has very negative connotations. We say, “Oh, you are so suggestible. Anyone can sell you anything – you read some advertising about a new product and you rush off to buy it.”