I am not a smoker but volunteer at the Veterans hospital near my home. One program the hospital offers wounded veterans is the change to quit smoking. Recovery is hard and the pressure of losing a limb is harder. Working with and helping young veterans recover is rewarding seeing them stop smoking and learn to walk again. The hospital I volunteer at has a unique approach to help veterans stop smoking and overcome their handicaps. I have worked with some of these young men and seen the success the hospital has carried out. I would like to share the steps to recovery with you.

Quitting smoking is a personal goal that one reaches at some point in their life. Deciding to kick the habit is for personal reasons. If you decide to quit it has to be your idea to achieve your goal. Looking back what started you smoking, why did you light the first cigarette? Like so many smokers peer pressures in school. To fit in with the "in crowd" you needed to be like them.

Quitting smoking is not going to be easy we know this. This is a habit and habits are hard to break. Habits form overtime nobody's born with them. For some reason you developed this habit and other ones as you grew older. Now your minds programmed and the first step is changing this program. Like a computer the program carries out commands to run the program. The programmer writes machine language code that tells the CPU what to do. You write your own code telling your brain what to do.

The first step in reprogramming behavior habits identifies the habits. Before anyone can reprogram old habits you have to identify them. Habits come natural to you and performed daily. Identifying these habits and reprogramming them is the first step to achieving your goal. Have you ever stopped smoking only to start again? If you answered yes you did not identify your behavior habits first.

Step 1 identifying your behavior habits

The first step in achieving your goals deals with understanding automatic behavior habits. Each day the routine starts when you wake up. What do you do first? This routine is automatic and comes natural to you. Your pack of cigarettes sites on the nightstand table next to your bed. Wake up and reach for a cigarette, light your cigarette, find the ashtray, go to the kitchen, make coffee, and wake up the children. You have performed this routine for the last fifteen years. The routine is automatic and needs no thinking on your part.

Identifying your behavior habits is the first step in changing them. Each day keep a log of habits performed as a routine. Start with waking up in the morning, coffee, breakfast, work, lunch, and evening routines. Keep the logs for two weeks noting down the time of day and what you did. Note each time you light up a cigarette and what you were doing that caused you to smoke. Be attentive to what you doing during the day. By the end of the week you can start to see a routine forming. By the end of the second week the routine is the same.

The routine programmed into your brain like a set of instructions programmed into a computer. You no longer think about your routine it becomes natural to do this each day. Behavior change is hard and breaking the old routines is harder. To achieve your goals of stop smoking you have to break the pattern. You have to reprogram your way of thinking and redesign your routine.

When writing a program or designing a house the plan is the first stage. Gathering information to form your ideas and thoughts is the first stage. You have thought about quitting for years but each time you try you fail. The addiction and the preprogrammed daily routine stop you from reaching your goals. Programs that aid in helping smokers quit suggest that you write a list of reasons you want to quit. Personally this is good but will not help to solve the problem. To succeed changing the routine that comes natural to you is the first step.

Tonight before going to bed put a notebook and pen beside your bed next to your cigarettes. When you wake up and light your cigarette note down the date and time in the notebook. Continue your log during the day noting down each time you light up a cigarette. Before going to bed create a spreadsheet and enter this information. This can help in tracking and seeing a pattern. As the days follow and the information gathered look at the times you smoked a cigarette. You should start to see patters forming and see that you have to have a cigarette with coffee.

Stage one is the fact gathering stage. Gather facts and analyzed the facts to see the patters they form. Once we understand the patters formed and identified only then change happens. It is hard to change habits programmed into your brain that you have been doing for years. To move to stage two identifying your behavioral habits is first.

The second stage will follow. Each new entry will add one step to the program. I am composing a series of posts in stages to help people stop smoking.

I’ve met fearless smokers who are fully aware of the long term effects of smoking, which include death.

Even that fatal result doesn’t persuade them to quit. But when you consider figuratively dying, remaining quite alive and losing the physical processes that make your heart beat, --your mind may change. After all, we cherish our five senses. We are dependent on them for so much, but (more…)

When I heard there are organically grown tobaccos, I wondered if there is anything good about that. I don't smoke, but I am a proponent of organically grown crops for multiple reasons: because they do not use human-made chemicals such as synthetic pesticides, they are better for me and my children; they also pose fewer health risks to workers who grow and handle them since workers would not be exposed to many of the substances that are used on conventional (more…)

Everyone knows that cigarettes are dangerous. But few people are aware of how damaging they really are. If you ask a smoker about the substances contained in cigarettes, most of them will tell you about nicotine. Maybe they don't know about the rest 598 allowed substances in cigarettes. Or they don't even care. (more…)

When I was little, one of the most fun things I remember with Dad was standing on his feet while he walked around pretending to look for me. Also when I was growing up, my dad smoked a pipe. Most of the time he would go outside or in the garage, so it didn't seem like it impacted us kids much. He was a high school teacher, and back then (the olden days!), teachers could smoke in their offices! Hard to imagine, now, isn't it! (more…)

Several years back I had the pleasure of visiting Japan and China. Japan is one culture that respects the rights of others. As you stroll down the street you will not see people with a cigarette in hand. The first day I was in Japan I noticed how quiet everyone was on the street. You did not hear people talking with each other. What you saw instead was everyone had a cell phone in hand and was reading and sending text messages. (more…)

Maybe you've been smoking for 20, 30 years. You wake up one day and think to yourself that surely life is better than this. You no longer want to be held captive by this addiction--You need to make a change.

The psychology of smoking is easy. Life has many stressful moments in it. Traffic, family, work, relationships and personal stressers such as weight, personality, and self-esteem. Some of us are able to learn how to cope and others need something to help get themselves through these times. These times are called triggers. And holding that cigarette, sucking on it, and breathing in that nicotine helps relieve that insecurity or stress. So the psychology of smoking is finding the triggers, learning how to over coming them and to put the nicotine addiction away forever.

NEWS FLASH!! You have the power within yourself to stop this chain of events. Make the decision to quit and either do it cold turkey and/or use one of these options to help in your triggering a life change:

Cold Turkey-This is common but studies show that in 97% of cases people fail and go back to cigarettes within six months.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy-NRT(gum, lozenges, patches, etc.)If you choose to stop smoking cold turkey one of these products coupled with that assurance that you can quit and an awareness of your triggers and how to overcome them can lead you to being smoke free.

Prescription Medications-Chantix was released onto the market in 2006. It helps the brain to produce a hormone named dopamine which helps to relieve the craving to smoke. It seems to make smoking less pleasureable. Has side effects of appetite changes, nausea, headaches and insomnia. Be sure your doctor knows of any mental illness in your history as the medication can cause suicidal thoughts. Zyban is a medication that is marketed with two brandnames Wellibutrin for depression and Zyban for cigarette cessation. It is available in generic form, Bupropion. Reports on drugs.com say that Chantix is more affective. Side effects include headaches, insomnia, dry mouth, irritability, anxiety, and in rare cases seizures.

E-cigarettes-These are designed to be like smoking and advertised to let the smoker still smoke without the smoke. Reports show that they have other chemicals in them that are not healthy. So you are getting the nicotine with no tobacco and different chemicals to take into consideration. They have not been approved by the FDA.

Inhalers-several products available. There are many good reports from users in their experience with these. In one review a smoker used an inhaler for several weeks, then just used one last nicotine cartridge until it ran out, threw it away and was done with smoking.

Support Groups-Check with your local community hospital or ask your medical doctor. Call Quit now line(1-800-QUITNOW) or go to www.smokefree.gov.

Herbal Therapy- Chewing on Licorice, or taking Oat Straw or Lobelia can be a stimulant substitue and a nicotine replacement. If lack of sleep or stress is the reason for the cigarettes Valeria or St. John's Wort can help to calm you down and help you sleep.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy(CBT)-Helps a smoker to look at the action and overall result of smoking in a different light. Perhaps seeing the long term consequences of smoking.

Aversion Therapy-Is a type of conditioning where the therapist couples the act of smoking with something such as an electrical shock, horrible smell or a medication that induces nausea. In the past this type of therapy has gotten negative press but recently it is being shown as an affective way to stop the addictive habit of smoking.

Acupuncture, Laser, Hypnosis-to help produce endorphins which decrease the cravings. There is no evidence that these are of any real help.

Let's face it, one (of the many) hard things about quitting smoking, besides the addictive substances, is that it's a habit. It's a real challenge to change any of the bad habits we have. Usually, the only way to kick a bad habit is to replace those undesirable behaviors with new behaviors, in other words--to develop new good habits. (more…)

I meet my husband not long after his return from Korea. He was working with his Father in the family business. His Father owned a garage that repaired cars and build stock cars for racing. My husband was standing next to a stock car puffing on a pipe. He was wearing a white tee-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had on blue jeans that had the cuffs rolled up. I guess you could have said he looked like Fonzie on Happy Days. I was on my way back to the dorm after spending the afternoon studying with my girlfriend.

He saw me pass and turned around crossing his arms over his massive chest and holding onto his pipe in one hand. He strolled over to where I was walking and asked my name. I was very shy and was raised by my Mother alone after my Father died when I was 12. She sent me away to College and warned me about meeting strange men on the street. I was not sure if I wanted to answer him or just hurry on my way. I finally decided to stop and give him my name. I told him my name was Julie Miller. He had the biggest smile on his face which made me blush. I could feel my cheeks turning red.

During the next several weeks I saw him in the garage when I went by to my girlfriend's house. I had the impression that he knew what time I would pass and was always outside the garage with his pipe in his mouth pretending to work on a car engine. He would make sure he had a red grease rag in his back pocket so he could clean his hands and walk across the street to meet me. He started to walk with me to my girlfriend's house and leave me to study. We finally started to date and were married a year later.

I knew he smoked a pipe when we meet and even after we were married. He was very courteous and never smoked in the house or around our two children when they were very small. He would go out in the garage to work on his car and smoke his pipe. He enjoyed the pipe and a few times I made a comment on why he did not quit. He said that it was enjoyable and he liked the order. When his parents came for the holidays he and his Father would go in the garage to smoke cigars. Now this was one order I cannot stand and the smell would stay with him for days. I did complain about his cigar smoking and told him how bad it smelled. He would laugh and say I only smoke a cigar on special occasions and why should I stop now.

As the years pass he kept smoking his pipe. The children were growing up and my daughter would love to spend time with her father in the garage. She would say to me the garage smells so much like Dad. I had no idea what she was talking about. Then one time I found out what she was talking about. My husband had been gone for several months on deployment and my daughter kept asking when he would be home. One day I was looking for her we needed to leave. I could not find her so I went out in the garage where I knew she would be. She was there sitting on the floor next to the car she was working on with her father. She had taken one of his pipes and had it in her mouth with a piece of sand paper in her hand. Thank God she did not try to light this and smoke it. Now this is funny but when it happened I did not think so. She looked up at me and said "Mom look I am just like Dad". She adored the order of his pipe and the smell it left behind in the garage. When my husband returned, I made him lock all of his pipes and supplies in a cabinet in the garage. I did not want our daughter smoking on this pipe one day.

Several years pass and he continued to smoke his pipe. On one of his deployments he had forgotten to purchase his pipe tobacco before leaving. On his return he stopped at a remote store out in the middle of nowhere and bought a bag of pipe tobacco. He was driving home and light up his pipe to smoke it. He said that the pipe tobacco he had purchased must have been sitting in this store for 10 years. After taking a few puffs of his pipe he was so angry he threw the pipe, lighter, and tobacco out the window of the car.

On his arrival at home my daughter had a present she had prepared waiting for him. She would not tell me what it was. She handed him this present and he opened it. She had purchased him a new pipe with money she had earned collecting coke bottle and taking them back for the deposit. He was so touched and surprised. He swore when he threw his favorite pipe out the window on the drive home he would never smoke again. The pipe our daughter gave to him was never lit and he kept it all of his life. He said he could not get rid of the pipe and put it with the other ones that people had given him.

After this day my husband never smoked a pipe or a cigar again. I have never been a smoker but from what I heard it normally is not that hard to quit. For my husband he smoked a pipe and this was something he said he enjoyed. For him to quite like he did was amazing to me. I had been after him for years to give up this pipe. His clothes smelled of the order when he smoked and I did not think it was good for our children to be around him when he smoked. The day he stopped smoking was once to celebrate. I decided that we would all go out to eat this evening to celebrate his return and the decision he made to stop smoking a pipe or cigars again.

We had many happy years of marriage and he lived a long life. He was 81 when he died and it was not from cancer smoking his pipe. I am thankful that he gave up his pipe so many years back and never smoked again. After my husband stopped smoking he was out in the garage one day and found a package of pipe tobacco he had forgotten was there. He opened the bag and started to laugh. I had no idea what was so funny. He said look Julie this is why I quit smoking. He brought the sack of tobacco over to show me. He said to smell this. When I did you could smell the stale order it had. He then explained to me this was the same smell as the tobacco he purchased so many years back. This tobacco was more than 15 years old. Now looking back I can say that I am happy he forgot to purchase his tobacco before leaving. If he had of purchased it I think he would never of given up smoking his pipe.

The top answer to “why do you smoke?” is “stress.” It is crucial to attempt to take care of your problems as well as practicing smoking alternatives. You cannot do just one of them. Focusing on taking care of the stress is something I understand is hard and very important so I’ve compiled messages that you may find helpful to tell yourself. If you are strong in the aspect of stress management, then I know you’ll be strong enough to put the cigarettes down and away forever.

I have stress awareness.

I will relax and take control when I feel discouraged.

I will re-visit good feelings to handle the situation wisely.

I will ponder good thoughts to stay peaceful. I can manage stress.

I am comfortable in my own skin.

I can live worriless by changing my perspective.

I understand things do not go as planned. I will find a substitute reaction to negativity.

I will monitor my stress level.

I will schedule things to do that bring me joy. I will manage stress.

I will quit smoking.