Breathing Happy Author

Health-Enjoyment-Ego-Money

We all have our individual reasons for doing things. We do them our way and that makes us happy

People smoke because they like to. Usually they start smoking early in their lives. When enjoyment and the ego are more in play. Before they have families and responsibilities that might move up on their priority list. Self extravagance moves down.

So now they are in mid life or older. They have smoked for twenty-thirty years. Their health is starting to eb because of the smoking. Perhaps their doctors have even told them they have the beginning stages of COPD or other body organs are involved.

Nine out of ten cases of lung cancer is caused by smoking. 500,000 people are dying each year from enphazema and cancer. Second hand smoke is a killer.

Those are stark realities. Smoking breaks down the elastin in the skin and causes wrinkles.

So now we have serious illness coming our way and looking old on the outside. In ten years years a person will spend $15,000.00 or more depending on how many packs you smoke a week. Ouch!

Are you thinking of a strategy that might help you to quit for good? Think about it. There are many positive opportunities. Exercise, yoga, swimming, chewing on gum, reaching for a good book. The list goes on and on. But if you can find a positive and helpful alternative to smoking then you are half way there. Each time you eleminate one cigarette from your day you are sucessful.

And stop stuffing away feelings. Many people who smoke are either lonely, angry, hungry or tired. The cigarette helps to curb the appetite and gives us a boost too. But it doesn't last. It is not realistic to utilize a cigaretter instead of staring these issues in the face at some point.

So these are the things you need to give serious thought. We only go through this life ONE time and we want to make it last, and in as healthy a condition as we possibly can. So why let the propaganda of sellers of poison get in the way of a happy, healthy life? Let's not.

Be More than Just their Old Man, Be a Good Father

“Meet my old man”, is a phrase I only hear in Hollywood movies. Translated word for word into Filipino, it should sound like, “Eto, matandang lalaki ko.” – which has a weird meaning, is quite awkward and disrespectful in our culture. That’s why the appropriate translation is “Eto po ang aking ama.” Read more

Smoking – Suicide for Cowards?

Share your personal stories

Arsenic kills if you swallow it. Tobacco kills if you inhale it.

Cough! Cough! Are you inhaling your last breath

Remember, if you're smoking, you can pack up your health.  If you're not smoking, you are backing up your health. Smokers are now funneled into a zoo-like partition from the rest of society. But still, they continue with it. People get addicted to tobacco products because they contain nicotine, which is again an addictive substance.

Smoking is one of the worst things that you can do to your body. When you started smoking for the first time, (often just to look cool), you likely went into coughing it. You know why? Because your body was warning you to stop now, because you were feeding it with poisons. The lucky ones, who understood the warning, stopped it there and then. But others continued with it. They are not getting the point that they are forcing their body to inhale poison. They don’t even realize the harm they are causing to their bodies.

Nicotine resembles a catalyst. It keeps your mind confused on the real problem here: brainwashing. The chemical addiction of cigarettes can be easy to cope with. But brainwashing is tough to cope with. You are brainwashed to an extent when you are addicted to big tobacco. You find yourself attracted to the colorful advertisements to some degree, but you are not able to see that each and every packet of cigarettes has a little quote always written on it’s packet: “Smoking is harmful for your health.”

Cigarette are a most harmful substance, and inhaling that substance could lead directly to your last breath. Why begin the countdown to the end of your precious life? Why didn't you follow the "Be smart. Don't start," advice?

A bunch of words can’t always change young minds.  Its tough to achieve it all alone. You may need different types of supports, may be through counseling or a prescribing medication. “Please keep smoking, our planet is overcrowded.” Don’t let such sayings come true. It’s all in your hands. 

To stop smoking:

  1. DELAY the FIRST
  2. DEFER the SECOND
  3. DESIST the THIRD
  4. AVOID the FOURTH
  5. PAUSE the FIFTH
  6. SKIP the SIXTH
  7. POSTPONE the SEVENTH
  8. FLING-AWAY the EIGHTH
  9. EVADE the NINTH. (And now put a big stop before the tenth.)
  10. Say Goodbye to smoking and tobacco.

” Smoking Kills”: Another Platitude

Do smokers really take our warnings seriously given the plethora of platitudes flooding our daily language, the media, or our Facebook! It seems that there is always someone out there seeking to make a smart remark, but very few people care! Read more

Quitting Cold Turkey

I smoked as a teen. It was more an act of rebellion than anything else, but I liked it as a social device, as well. If you saw a cute guy, you could always ask him for a light to break the tension. You could smoke with your friends, too.

When my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer, I decided to quit. He was a pack a day smoker for most of his 80 years and I knew I could easily end up just like him. And so I dropped the cigarettes.

The problem is that I have a very addictive personality. If you give me one smoke, I’ll take the pack. It’s one of the issues that has also led to weight problems for me. So, when I decided to give up smoking, I knew there was no way I was going to make it if I tried to gradually work down to zero. Going cold turkey was the only way to go for me. It was certainly not easy, but it was necessary.

At the age of 21, I tossed my last pack in the garbage, fought my desire to pull it right back out and finish it up, and I walked away. The first few days were the worst. I was jittery and constantly reaching for the smokes that weren’t there anymore.

I stayed far away from my smoking friends and I basically holed up in my room when I wasn’t at work. It wasn’t fun, but in the end, I got through it. The desire to smoke didn’t go away though, for a long time. Even now, nearly 20 years later, I still want to smoke sometimes! The trick is to make the decision each minute of each day. “I’m not going to smoke.”

Distraction helped a lot, too. I spent a lot of time reading or watching TV to keep my mind off things. However, since I quit cold turkey, I’ve had one cigarette in nearly all those 20 years. Not too bad, I think! I can proudly say that my children will not be subjected to second hand smoke and that makes it all very worth it.