“I am tired of being nagged about my smoking. I have tried to quit several times and I fall back into my habit whenever things go wrong. Some people swear and I smoke. It relaxes me and I feel calm with a cigarette in my hand. So just leave me alone, it is not going to happen, I can’t quit Read more
Did you know that when you stop smoking , the health benefits begin immediately? They start as early as a few minutes from your last cigarette! Within 20 minutes your heart rate drops, and within 12 hours the levels of carbon monoxide in your blood are dramatically down. Within 72 hours you should find that your sense of smell and taste improve as well. Read more
A little bit of compassion will go a long way. Just like the steps we all take to break our addictions, whatever they may be. I am a super procrastinator and also a complainer. It does not matter what they are, because all bad habits hurt. That’s why they are called bad habits!
So this is how compassion can help: you can get through the ups and downs of life better. Read more
The Craving will pass… whether we choose to ride it out, or smoke, The Jonez Will Pass! When it comes to withdrawal symptoms, cigarette addicts actually have it pretty easy. The only substance whose withdrawal symptoms can actually be fatal is alcohol. The serious, heavy-maintenance drinker who suddenly stops can go into seizures and cardiac arrest. Heroin withdrawal is nasty; vomiting, diarrhea, chills, fever, insomnia. Read more
Starting Out: You Want to Want To Start “Not-Smoking”
I’ve encountered very few smokers who want to keep smoking. Most of us want to “quit” but are reluctant for some reason. Keep reading; we’re in this together and you’re not alone. We have yet to be completely sold on
the idea and the often painful process of “quitting”. Wow. That sounds like a break-up, like trying to leave an abusive partner; we know the relationship is killing us, but can’t see living without that partner who used to be a friend, but is now slowly killing us. We want to quit, but don’t even know how to start. First, we have to Want to Want the freedom. Maybe that person is You. Let’s start by changing a scary word into a pro-active phrase.
Smoke Free Life Step Program Step 3
For the first two weeks you kept a log on when you smoked. This showed the behavior habits that came naturally to you. The first cigarette of the day, the routine you performed, and the times during the day when you smoked. These habits came natural to you and you performed them each day. The second step was adjusting these habits and changing your way of thinking. Instead of waking up in the morning and lighting a cigarette you went directly to the kitchen to make coffee. You started to reduce the number of cigarettes you smoked each day. The next logs showed a new habit-forming. The subconscious mind starts changing and each time you reach for a cigarette you think. Why?
The next step is asking yourself do you enjoy a cigarette and why? Are not other events in life more enjoyable? Why do you have to have a cigarette and panic sets when you do not smoke? The next stage is changing your frame of mind. In the past when you tried to quit but the feelings were unbearable similar to mountain climbing and never reaching the top. Each day you would wake up craving a cigarette and envying others who smoked. The next stage will start you to realize why are you smoking?
In this step you will realize that giving up smoking is not the real problem. Each time you light a cigarette and put it out you have stopped smoking. You say to yourself "I do not want to smoke any more". Each person who smokes says this at least once a week not realizing the powerful images behind this message. This is not the real problem; you make it through day one. Now day two, day ten and you have made it now a year when one day you light one cigarette. You feel just one will not start you smoking again. You are wrong it only takes one cigarette to give you the rush and start smoking again.
At this stage we work on the brainwashing and sleeping partner. We start to work on why we started to smoke the first time. In this stage we will examine the powerful effects of the subconscious mind. Here we will realize that 99 percent of our make-up comes from society. Each person is a product of society; the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, and our basic life patterns.
Our subconscious minds formed from the beginning see advertising on how cigarettes relax us. Cigarettes give us confidence, courage, and cigarettes are the most precious item on earth. In cartoons or movies where a person is about to die what is their last wishes? It is a cigarette. We see this each day and no longer register these images in our conscious minds. The subconscious mind absorbs these messages and when we sleep passes on the messages to us. What the subconscious mind sends you is the message 'the most precious thing on earth and your last thoughts will be to smoke a cigarette.'
We're brainwashed by cigarette companies. Years ago cigarette advertisements no longer could air on public television. But seeing the facts they are still there in a different form. During peak viewing time or watching the Grand Prix you still see people playing pool and smoking a cigarette. Even the top race cars named after top cigarette brands. Even in Hollywood when a man is about to face death the soft music starts to play as he lights up a cigar. Remember Colombo the detective what do you always see him with? Yes a cigar in his mouth and he removes this when interrogating a suspect. The cigarette companies still advertise smoking only now in a different way. They cannot come out directly and advertise their product but their products still used in films and advertising on prime time television.
Now you have to realize once you have become addicted to nicotine the brainwashing increases. The monster inside your head feeds you to block everything else out. To give up smoking the brainwashing is the most difficult to change. In this step we speak of 'giving up' smoking. This is a classic example of brainwashing. Giving up smoking does not imply a genuine sacrifice. In truth there is nothing to give up. You are not giving up anything but in fact freeing yourself from a terrible disease and achieving marvelous positive gain. This stage removes the brainwashing programmed into our subconscious. Step 3 changes our brainwashing to stop thinking about; giving up, quitting or escaping from smoking.
In this step the brainwashing is powerful and you must be aware of the effects. Each night when we go to sleep we need to concentrate on health, energy, wealth, peace of mind, confidence, courage, self-respect, happiness, and freedom. The brain needs reprogramming with the images of you getting back your life, peace of mind, tranquility, and confidence. Each night before sleeping read the list:
Keep this list with you at all-times. Each time you reach for a cigarette have the list next to your pack of cigarettes. Read this list. You are brainwashing your thought now from smoking. You are considering what life is and how beautiful life can be. You can give up cigarettes and live a healthy life full of energy. Each day you can wake up with peace of mind and confidences knowing you have the courage to give up smoking. You know you can gain back your self-respect, happiness and freedom and there is no need to smoke cigarettes.
Quitting smoking isn't hard. You've done it lots of times! Isn't that the unrelenting challenge that faces so many smokers? Well, never fear. Here's a new method that will help you snuff out those butts and put away those lighters. This is something positive that will stiffen your resolve like starching a shirt.
The most essential element of successfully quitting smoking is not thinking of it as quitting. That's right. Not quitting smoking, but starting something new. The feeling of loss, restraint, restriction, or absence is what makes it so hard to give up. But, transferring those feelings to acquiring, gaining, obtaining, finding, and maintaining something new is what will close that old door and open a new one.
This is really just a matter of substituting something positive for something negative. It is not giving something up, it’s gaining something new. So, when you decide that you want to quit smoking – that you really want to quit smoking, not just say that you do for the benefit of getting others to be sympathetic to you – it becomes a matter of substituting gains for what you would otherwise perceive as losses.
A very helpful way to do this is with a behavioral displacement strategy. Use your previous smoking behavior to motivate you to accomplish your new goal. For instance, if you normally smoke at certain times of the day or with a predictable frequency, those are the occasions when you need to fill that time completely with reinforcing behaviors.
When you have that first cup of coffee in the morning, if you also visualize yourself lighting up a cigarette, that's when you must overwhelm yourself with other behaviors. Drink tea instead, or blend yourself some delicious juice concoction, and feed yourself a banana or a sliced orange, or even some favorite jelly on a piece of toast or a muffin. If you smoke in the car on the way to work, take a different route and nibble on a granola bar or drink a bottle of fresh juice or filtered water. Don't think of it as going without smoking, think of it as becoming a new you moving in a new direction.
Sometimes the desire to smoke is so strong and so persistent that you can barely think of anything else. In that case, make yourself a small, pocket-sized chart to keep handy and give yourself reinforcing checkmarks on it. Line off every hour of the day so that everytime you don't smoke, you give yourself a checkmark. As you see those checkmarks accumulate, you'll feel the power of positive reinforcement overcoming the habits of negative conditioning. This is not only an empowering feeling, but a healthy one as well.
Then, channel your positive energies into these new areas. Replace each cigarette that you would have smoked with something that you now do instead; eating some fruit, drinking some juice, having a refreshing glass of filtered water, even flossing or brushing your teeth. Sometimes an even more powerful inducement is to pay yourself for each pack of cigarettes you don't smoke. Pay yourself the equivalent of what you would have spent on cigarettes that you didn't smoke. Commit yourself to spending that money on something that you really want. It could be a new outfit, some new shoes, or even something for the house that you want. In any event, it will be something positive and tangible to replace something negative and vanishing.
And remember that there is always someone to help you on line to set up a replacement strategy or to encourage you when you need it. Asking for help is not a weakness, it's a strategy for success!
We all smoke or have smoked for various reasons: boredom, peer pressure from friends and even parents, social rewards, addictive personality, general self-medication purposes and the most popular culprit: stress. While our reasons to smoke may seem temporary, addictions can last a lifetime.
Taking a deep introspective look inside, identifying our motivations for smoking can be half the battle. Whatever our reasoning may be, it is not worth the long-term effects of tobacco on our lungs. We've only got one pair!
I would like to share some natural remedies I have found to assist me on my quest for longevity. Bearing in mind my desire to both keep costs low and avoid over the counter drugs, I have found several ways to help stay on track.
Lobelia Herb: A powerful relaxant with similar properties of nicotine, Lobeline is the active ingredient found in numerous stop-smoking formulas. Simply a cup of tea using Lobelia herb can also be good for respiratory problems, increased blood flow and general relaxation.
Ginseng:This agent is known to reduce the body's reaction to stressful visual and auditory stimuli. Ginseng helps the brain adapt to stressful situations, thus, lowering the amount of smoking triggers. Try starting with a ginseng root, nibbling and swallowing 1-2 grams when the urge strikes.
Milk Thistle (active ingredient silymarin): Assist your liver in protecting itself from harmful toxins introduced by cigarettes. Suggested dose of 420 milligrams for 6-8 weeks for results.
St. John's Wort (most active ingredient hypericin): Improving your mood during mild to moderate depression, or simply to improve overall unstable emotions, St. John's Wort can get you over the first hump faced by smokers looking to quit. Standardized extracts of St. John's wort are taken in a dose of 300 milligrams three times daily.
In addition to observing good health habits, try to identify your triggers for smoking. For some, this may include switching from coffee to tea, lowering alcohol consumption, eating smaller meals and most imporant, lowering stressful activities and thought patterns.
I wish you the best of luck!
-Happy Lungs