Section V
MODULE FOUR
Here's a simple
thought to start off today's seminar: In order to do something, you first need
to know what it is you want to do. Sounds pretty obvious, doesn't it?
Henry David
Thoreau summed it up nicely when he said, “In the
long run, men hit only what they aim at.”
Simple, yet
important.
New, honest
information allows us to see the whole picture - a necessary component when
aiming at a target or goal. Misinformation
and personal limitations often get in the way of reality, making it impossible
to see the real target. It is only with a clear objective that we
can hit our mark.
With a
combination of your positive attitude and the new information you are
gathering, your target or objective will become crystal clear. And with that out in plain view, it will now
be possible for you to hit it.
Your new
information will definitely increase your chance of hitting the bull’s
eye. For instance, golfers will use
important information like distance and wind velocity to increase their chances
for hitting the green.
Here's an
effective method to improve your chances for success and to turn your dreams
into reality: Write them down.
That's it - just
put them down on paper and it changes everything. When you write out your wishes and desires they gain a new
perspective. Now you can see them. You can touch them. They become tangible. They become real. When you put it down on paper, your wish becomes your goal.
An important
proverb reads: “Before you can score, you
must first have a goal.”
So let’s write it
out. On a 3x5 card, or other
"nice" piece of paper about that size, and in your best printing, put
down the following:
That's all there
is to it. You've written out your goal and now it is that much closer to
becoming your reality. Now you can see
it.
Read it in the
morning when you first get up and look at it every time you think about it –
several times a day, if possible.
The repetition
will assure an easier transition while achieving your goal. Being able to see your goal brings another
sense into play, easing the way, as well. This is a great method to get your subconscious working on your
side.
"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal…" -
Albert Einstein
And what a goal
this is! “I want to be a
non-smoker.” With your subconscious on
the team, your game plan can be executed with precision and accuracy. But much of it boils down to
perception.
Many people believe they need tobacco to help them manage stress in their lives. While it’s true, that in low enough doses, nicotine can boost alertness and ability to concentrate, higher doses have an opposite effect, relaxing you and acting like a sedative.
If you smoke to relieve stress, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that the methods described in detail throughout this book, will allow you to be more at ease, without the nicotine.
The average smoker begins to crave a cigarette about 30 minutes after butting out. The longer it takes to satisfy that craving, the higher the stress level.
As smoking becomes less and less socially acceptable, your lifestyle as a smoker is filled with more stressful situations. Changing your lifestyle will greatly reduce that stress.
Also, having the ability to control the craving with the powerful craving-handling strategies presented in this program, can act as a tremendous stress-reliever. As you apply it, the power you’ll feel is exhilarating, while the craving itself becomes weaker and returns with less frequency and impact. One result of that is less stress.
Smoking also speeds up the heart, causing it to beat and pump an extra 30,000 times a day, on average. It also constricts the blood vessels and replaces much of the oxygen in the blood with carbon monoxide, a deadly gas. This causes a big spike in blood pressure, often closely associated with stress.
Maintaining focus on the positive aspects of smoking cessation will further add to your overall stress reduction. We’ll cover that in detail throughout the program, so that by the time you reach your scheduled “stop day”, you will be equipped to maintain a manageable level of stress.
Let’s talk about
the image of smoking in general terms.
Where did we get
the information for our beliefs surrounding smoking? Basically 2 sources: Our personal experiences with the product
and from the media as directed by the people who manufacture and sell us the
drug.
We know the
tobacco companies are in it for the money but what is smoking really all about,
for us? What do we get out of it? It takes the craving away and provides a
little buzz. Isn’t that about it? There are many areas of association such as
camaraderie, but for most people, that’s the bottom line: The craving and the
buzz.
The glamour is
false. The coolness is false. The sexiness is false. They’re all just part of a cleverly manufactured illusion.
No one in their
right mind would purposely, continually suck smoke into their lungs without the
nicotine. The cigarette is an extremely
efficient drug delivery device - nothing more.
The first step
toward changing our old beliefs is to become aware of them.
We’re basically
stuck with the attributes that we are born with and can’t change them. The attributes we have acquired over the
years also stay the same, as change is slow and requires study and work.
What we can control and change, easily and quickly, are beliefs and attitudes. We
can change those immediately and drastically.
Our subconscious
uses the thoughts we feed it, to direct how we respond. For instance, when we
say, "I am a smoker" over and over, eventually our brains will do
everything possible to help ensure that it remains true.
Your subconscious
will also work for you, when you turn the focus around in your
favor. Just by exchanging old, false
beliefs with new, truthful ones, along with the methods, techniques and
exercises provided in this program, you will soon have your subconscious
working in your favor.
It is not enough
to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.” - Rene Descartes, French Mathematician and Philosopher
We’ve already
established the fact that the giant tobacco conglomerates are nothing more than
drug dealers and they’re the ones who have painted our smoking picture for
us. They are the ones responsible for
most of our beliefs about smoking.
Many of these
beliefs are false. They are lies. And,
as it turns out, these lies are at the very foundation of our addiction.
That’s great
news, because with a corrupt foundation, everything it supports can easily
come tumbling down. Lies fueled our
experimentation in the first place and lies play a major role in our continued
smoking, today.
Now is the time
to start building-up a strong foundation of truth, replacing old, false
beliefs, with new truthful ones.
Let’s paint our
own picture. This time it’s going to be the real thing, not some phony and
distorted one, dreamed-up by the very drug dealers who have been supplying you
all these years.
No more
lies. That’s it. Be finished with
them, once and for all. Agreed?
To begin building
our new foundation, let’s write out a short list of some of the truths that we
now insist become our new beliefs:
#1. Giving up
smoking is not a major sacrifice. There’s more “bad” to smoking than “good”.
#2. I don’t need
to use cigarettes as an “identity prop” any longer.
#3. It’s not cool
to smoke.
#4. Smoking does
not help me think. Thirty minutes after
I butt one out, I start thinking about nothing else.
#5. I don’t need
cigarettes to relax. “Nic-fitting” is not relaxing.
#6. Cigarettes
aren’t really my friend. Every puff
hurts.
#7. I’ll feel
better when I don’t smoke.
#8. Tobacco
companies aren’t on my side.
#9. Only about 1
in 5 adults smoke. It’s far more common
to be a non-smoker.
#10. There are
more ex-smokers than smokers. If they
can do it – I can do it.
Can you think of
a few more truths you would like to believe in from now on? Just add them
to the list. This can be a very
worthwhile exercise to participate in and this list makes a powerful visual
aid, to use in the future.
When you refuse
to believe the lies associated with smoking and only choose to believe the
truth, you are giving up negative and replacing it with positive.
From now on,
substitute smoking lies for truth. Start right now – no more tobacco lies.
As you fill
yourself with positive thoughts, there will be less room for negative
ones. We can’t feel both at the same
time.
Nothing has more
power than truth. Remember, truth eats
at the habit’s foundation of lies, until it crumbles away.
So when and where
did the lies start? Let’s go back to the beginning.
Before any of us
started smoking, we got along just fine without cigarettes, right?
We now know there
is nothing magical about cigarettes, but do you remember when you smoked for
the first time? Most of us were
expecting something special to happen - and all we got was a bad taste, some
gagging, coughing, choking and maybe a little dizzy along with a headache.
Does that sound familiar?
Then we tried
again and it got a little easier to handle with each attempt. But apart from believing we looked pretty
cool, there really wasn’t too much special about it, aside from the nausea, that
is. Do you remember?
Eventually, you
were able to smoke without choking and gasping and turning green. Soon lighting-up would even provide a
short-lived buzz and smoking became a time to relax and be problem-free.
We’ve conditioned
ourselves to believe that the pleasurable feelings of peacefulness, awareness,
and security are directly linked to smoking. But that’s really not the case at all. It takes the craving away and provides a little buzz. That’s it. Everything else associated with the habit is
only there to support it.
We still make an
effort to “enjoy’ the smoke by putting aside all worries and concerns and make
it our special time, when we feel happy, safe and secure.
Most smokers
smoke because they believe they must - but emotionally, it becomes much more
than that. We end up looking for the
feelings and sensations it triggers in our minds, more than the actual smoke
itself. The truth is, the habit revolves around making the craving go away and
indulging in a short-lived, artificial, pleasurable sensation.
And as we absorb
this new information, our beliefs are beginning to change. Isn’t stopping
smoking sounding like a better idea all the time? The new beliefs you are forming right now surrounding tobacco
use, can play a significant role in how you react to craving in the future.
So while smoking
provides a quick feeling of pleasure, we now know it takes away far, far more
than it gives. It’s a negative
dependence with no healthy redeeming qualities. Nothing more.
Now that we are
equipped with this new, honest information, we’ll just naturally begin to
replace our old beliefs with new ones – which may be easier than you think.
For most people,
honesty comes naturally. It’s easier to
be honest than the alternative. You
might even say that when we were born, we were all equipped with an honesty
default.
Scientists now
know that when a person tells a lie, it registers by flooding that particular
area of the brain with blood. Lie detectors pick up the increased brain activity
and it’s also clearly visible at work on a MRI.
Lower brain
activity means less energy is required to perform the function. It’s easier. It
comes more naturally. When you refuse to accept the lies around all aspects of
smoking, your honesty default will kick in and your subconscious will begin to
work in your favor.
Through
consistent, personal honesty about everything to do with smoking, you will
naturally feel more at ease with yourself. You will feel more in control and
are guaranteed to live a more harmonious, cohesive life.
Once you make up
your mind to always act according to your new, truth-based beliefs - and refuse
to believe the lies any longer - your subconscious will begin working for you.
Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. - Thomas
Jefferson
Our subconscious
is our “CPU” (Central Processing Unit), responsible for information storage and
reflexes. Once it becomes programmed,
through repetition, to react a certain way, we can reprogram it the same way.
For instance,
right now we habitually make the little decision, often unconsciously, to light
up. For pack-a-day smokers, that’s 16 -
20 “little decisions” a day. It’s
usually a, "Want a smoke / Light a smoke" type of situation for
us.
As we know, there
is rarely much more effort put into the decision to light up than that. Your mind is triggered that it wants
nicotine. Your subconscious decides
that it’s time for you to act. And
you’ve already decided you are a “smoker” and smokers only act one way when they crave a cigarette.
The action your
mind demands that you take is to light a smoke. Up until now, there has been no other choice for you -
you’ve just lit the cigarette.
You don’t have to
react that way anymore.
Starting now,
whenever you crave a cigarette, how you consciously decide to react, is
entirely up to you. Isn’t that great
news?
Until now, your only choice has been to light a cigarette when you crave. But now, you’ll have another choice.
Not lighting that
smoke is the most positive, possible, single change any smoker can make in
their lives.
Everyone’s quality
of life goes up when they no longer smoke. Think of it – it’s better than getting a raise at work, winning the
lottery or buying yourself a brand new sports car.
Nothing is more
important than your health, freedom and happiness. You can’t enjoy your Porsche from your sickbed and your health’s
worth a lot more than a $150,000 Porsche. A lot more!
What would
somebody be willing to pay to be able to breathe easy again, once they’ve lived
with emphysema for a year or two?
How much would
you be willing to pay to have your doctor tell you that he was mistaken after
you received a diagnosis of lung cancer?
This shouldn’t be
too tough of a decision for anybody who has come this far in the program. When the time comes, we urge you to continue
to maintain your positive attitude and remember that from now on, you’ve got
more than one choice.
Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your
choice. - Wayne Dyer
Every time we
feel we need help, we reach for a smoke. It “helps” us through tough times, we
believe. After all, isn’t that what
friends do?
We can get to the
point where we believe that living without “our friend” is out of the
question. But does it really help? We certainly "believe" it does.
Truthfully, every time you suck in smoke, it sucks the life right out of you. It doesn’t calm you. It takes the craving away and gives you a
little buzz.
By not acting on
the brain's demands that you smoke when you crave, but rather choosing another
reaction to the craving, you begin to assume control.
As we know, after
the physical withdrawal, our attraction to smoking is entirely controlled by
our brains. In the case of craving,
we’re dealing with a feeling, a short-lived, empty, lonely feeling.
Don’t try to
change it. Be an unbiased observer
experiencing it for what it truly is – just a feeling, an empty, lonely
feeling.
Simple, isn’t
it? We no longer must cling to the old
beliefs that craving is horribly bad and unbearably painful and that we must
get rid of it by lighting a cigarette. Don’t try to make it go away.
There’s nothing
to it, once you’ve done it a couple of times. We now know that much of the pain comes from worrying and trying to
resist. The more we try to fight the
feeling, the harder it becomes to endure. Fighting it makes it much more powerful, longer lasting and harder to
handle. When you fight the craving you are feeding it.
You might want to
get used to the idea of just, "going with the flow". Before you light up, practice staying relaxed. Expect and accept what’s coming. Try just letting it happen and feel it wash
over you. We’ll cover more on using this method to your advantage, in Module
5.
“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right.” - Mary Kay Ash
All cravings have
an Achilles heel, a “glass jaw”, or a “soft spot”. These are specific major
weaknesses or vulnerabilities that you can exploit and capitalize upon to
your full advantage.
Weakness number
one: All cravings have a beginning and
an end. When you are in control of
them, they last about 20 to 45 seconds, on average.
Weakness number
two: All cravings are exactly the same
every time. Well, actually that’s not entirely accurate – they do become
shorter and weaker the more you use the method described in Module 5.
Capitalizing on
the craving’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities is the surest way to take control
of them.
As all cravings
are the exactly the same, if our strategy works perfectly one time, we are
absolutely, 100% positive it will work perfectly every time we apply it.
When you can control the craving once - you can control the craving every
time.
The key is just
to treat each one of them exactly the same way and you cannot fail.
Repetition guarantees your success.
We all learned to
smoke through repetition and this is just learning in reverse. It really works! Cravings are all the same every single time. You’ll beat them the same way every single
time.
It makes sense,
doesn’t it?
Get the “test of
time” working for you. Once you start,
each craving gets easier and easier to control. Guaranteed!
Acceptance of
craving is integral to success. When we
don’t attempt to resist - but just accept the craving, and feel it as an
observer - the power of the craving is at it’s weakest.
What we don’t
resist will go away. Accept the
cravings. They’re here to stay but when
you don’t feed them, they’ll get weaker and weaker.
Remember:
cravings are nothing but a temporary feeling of emptiness or loneliness.
With this
newfound knowledge, you can beat them easily every time and successfully deal
with your cravings for cigarettes in any possible situation. Isn’t this great news?
Just think…all
this time you’ve been pushed around by your addiction to nicotine - and it’s
almost over. Can you feel it?
You’re taking control. Pretty exciting,
isn’t it?
“Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous
impatience.” - Hyman Rickover, Admiral, US Navy
The actual
decision of whether you want to be a smoker or not isn't technically a big
one. It’s just a very important one to
make. With training and new
information, we can make the right decision every time.
Here’s an example
of new information: When you think
about it, for a long-time smoker, a single cigarette is no big deal,
really. Remember breaking it up? There wasn’t much to that, was there? No magic; certainly nothing special.
And stop and
think about how many cigarettes the average smoker consumes: At a 20-pack a day, 365 days a year, it’s
73,000 cigarettes in 10 years.
So suppose we
back a big dump truck in here and dump 73,000 cigarettes into the middle of the
room. You reach into this huge mountain
and pluck out one …one cigarette out of that mountain of 73,000 cigarettes. That’s what we are going to be dealing with
- that one single cigarette.
Out of that
mountain, what’s one smoke, right? Who
cares? What's “one” to somebody who's
already had 73,000 “anythings”? Not much. None of us would put
much value on one cigarette, plucked from the mountain. It’s very insignificant, isn’t it?
What also works
in our favor, here, is that you smoked each one - one at a time. The longer
you’ve been smoking, the less significant one smoke becomes. It’s actually easier for the long-time
smoker to grasp the insignificance of a single cigarette, than it is for
“newbies”.
So, when you
isolate it to a single cigarette, the “big” decision isn’t so big, after all,
is it? What’s one smoke, right?
Once you really
look at it carefully for the first time, you can see that the costs are too
high for that one smoke. With a cost
this high and the balance way out of whack, it becomes an easier decision to
make.
As adults, we’ve
often been faced with major decisions. When planning a large purchase, we first gather together all the
information at our disposal. Then we
put the cost of the potential buying decision up against our perceived value
(all features and benefits) of that item.
As soon as the
cost equals the value that we have educated ourselves to believe the item is
worth, the purchase is made.
Through intelligent
use of the information gathered so far in this program, we should now have
enough to make an "informed, rational decision". Agreed?
We just make the
decision for each smoke - one at a time. We’ll show you how. It’s easy!
Mental
energy is the energy required to make positive, constructive decisions.
Each day we are supplied with a certain amount of this energy. Negative emotions, like anger, burn it up at
an alarming rate. To preserve your
decision-making, mental energy, remain calm and positive throughout each
day.
They say there’s
no such thing as a free lunch.
In other words, everything has a cost. For instance, the cost of that spectacular
view from the top of the big hill is the climb up. The cost of the
addition on the house is $10,645. The cost of not smoking is experiencing an
occasional pang of craving. Period.
That’s it. That is the only cost: a short-lived,
temporary lonely feeling, with a beginning and an end.
That is the only
cost. (If you aren't smoking you're
craving - and vice versa.)
Before you're
willing to put up the cost, you must be convinced it's worth it. Let’s focus on 2 things:
1. What is the cost?
2. What do you get for the cost?
As a general rule
in life, the “really-good-stuff” has a higher cost than the “not-so-good
stuff”. For example, a car costs more
than a bicycle.
Stopping smoking
does not follow this general rule. Look at all the benefits you receive
when you stop smoking – and at such a low cost.
It’s so lopsided
in our favor that it almost seems impossible, or too easy. There’s one small cost to not smoking
– occasional 20 to 45 second, identical cravings, that you can control every
time. What would you sell your health
and happiness for?
Responsibility =
Freedom
As you are
introduced to these new ideas and concepts you will notice you are beginning to
feel different.
The first step to
getting over the new physical and emotional feelings associated with your
choice is to understand them. We now
know that smoking is around a 10% physical and 90% psychological
addiction.
We are also aware
of the need to take responsibility for our own health and happiness. We can’t be happy when we don’t have control
and we can’t be healthy with carbon monoxide and 400 other poisons and
carcinogens coursing through our bloodstream.
We understand the
importance of being honest with ourselves, that our physical and mental well
being depends on it.
We also know that
life is not always easy and pleasant. It’s full of little things that bother us, which we’d really much rather
not have to deal with.
Here’s an
example: Throughout our lives, the way we will find most spills on the floor or
carpet, is through the sock on our foot. This is an inevitability that we’d prefer to avoid, but that we just
might as well accept. It’s going to happen. Life is full of stubbing our toes and bumping our elbows and pebbles in
the shoe.
There are often a
number of ways to react when faced with these little discomforts. In the case of the wet sock, we can walk
around like that until it dries on its own; we can take it off and walk around
barefoot; we can put on a slipper; we can put on a clean dry sock.
The only action
we have ever taken when we feel the discomfort of craving, is to light a
cigarette. We will learn a better,
positive action using repetition to effectively reduce the frequency and
duration of these inevitable feelings. This action is covered in detail in our next and final Module.
“Responsibility is the price of greatness.” - Winston
Churchill
Let’s expand on
this new, simple concept: You have never really lived through a feeling of
craving without acting on it - either by fighting it or by eventually lighting
a cigarette to make it stop.
You’ve never just
experienced a bout of craving as an unbiased observer. Isn’t that interesting?
We know the
actual craving itself is just a feeling. It’s just an empty, lonely feeling - and nothing more. There’s no pain. Think about that.
We can act on
feelings any way we choose, can't we? So because craving is just a
feeling, we don’t have to act on it exactly as we have in the past, do we?
You see, we
really do have a choice. The importance of this "choice" is revealed tomorrow, when we
put it to work in practical application.
Please realize
that accepting the challenge this time will be totally different than ever
before. This time failure isn't an
option because this time you’re going in with bigger guns than you’ve ever used
before. And you'll be going in
“a-blastin’”.
The first wealth
is health.” -
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Let’s take a look
at what’s going to happen in the hours and months after stopping smoking:
Within 48 hours,
your sense of smell and taste will increase, as nerve endings begin
re-growth.
After 72 hours,
your breathing will become easier after your bronchial tubes relax and your
lung capacity increases.
After 2 to 3
months, your lung ability will increase by as much as 30% while your
circulation improves and walking becomes easier.
After 1 to 9
months, your body’s energy level will have increased. Your lungs will be able to absorb more oxygen and will have
increased their ability to handle mucus, reduce infection and clean themselves.
Sinus congestion,
coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath will all have decreased by then.
You can also expect
to feel pretty good about your new lifestyle choice. You’re going to feel a
great sense of accomplishment, by this time as well.
Let’s finish off
this session with a short re-cap on some of the health issues surrounding
smoking.
While this
program is all about focusing on the positive benefits we receive through not
smoking, some of the serious health problems caused by smoking need to be
highlighted. We’ll try not to be too
repetitive, but this is very important to ensure you eliminate any feelings of
friendliness you may still have for smoking. Here’s a partial list of
some of the major health issues:
Smoking causes
lung cancer and other lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic
bronchitis. It causes cancer of the
throat, mouth, larynx, lungs, esophagus, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, cervix,
and stomach.
Smoking causes
leukemia, or cancer of the blood, and aortic aneurysms.
It causes
pneumonia and bronchitis far more often in smokers than in nonsmokers. Smoking causes gum disease and raises the
risk for cataracts, which cause blindness.
It causes ulcers
in smokers who have the H. Pylori bacteria and arteriosclerosis or hardening
and narrowing of the arteries.
Smoking greatly
raises a woman's risk of heart disease and stroke. It also increases her risk
of dying from chronic obstructive lung disease, triggers early menopause, and
makes it harder to become pregnant.
It raises the
risk of hip fracture, increases the body's tendency to form blood clots and
increases wound infections after surgery.
Now is this a
habit to get rid of, or what?
More women die
from lung cancer than breast cancer.
In North America
today, a woman has about a one in three chance of developing cancer - but as
many as 65% of all cancers in women may be prevented by not smoking and by
following a healthy lifestyle.
The risk of
cervical cancer is substantially lower among former smokers than in current
smokers, even in the first few years immediately following cessation.
Women, who stop
smoking before becoming pregnant, or in the first three to four months of
pregnancy, have babies with the same birth-weight as those born to women who
have never smoked.
Even women who
stop smoking any time up to the 30th week of pregnancy have babies with higher
birth-weight than those who smoke throughout pregnancy. Cutting down, rather than quitting
completely, does not appear to benefit birth-weight of the fetus.
Smoking causes
women to reach menopause one to two years early, but former smokers have an age
at natural menopause similar to women who have never smoked.
Breast cancer is yet another
disease to add to the long list of serious health issues related to smoking.
A recent study involving nearly 2,000 older women 65-79
years of age, found a 30 to 40 percent increased risk of breast cancer among
long-term or current smokers, those who started smoking at a younger age and
also women who started smoking before their first full-term birth. Combined
hormone therapy (estrogen plus progestin) further increases the odds of
contracting breast cancer, by a staggering 110 percent.
A woman in North America has about a one in three chance of
developing cancer. Here's a more reassuring statistic: As many as 65 percent of
all cancers may be prevented by not smoking and following a healthy lifestyle.
The more prevention strategies you practice, the more you can reduce your
overall risk of cancer.
Consistent with U.S. study findings, a recent study
involving 500,000 adults in “Australasia” (the region's largest ever study of
non-communicable disease) has concluded that women smokers are twice as likely to die from lung cancer than
men smokers. Although researchers were
not certain why, they suggested it might be for bio-chemical
reasons or it might be that women
may actually absorb more of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes than men.
The connection between smoking and food is a powerful one. Having a smoke after a good meal is quite common among smokers and the “hand to mouth” connection is also strong.
It’s not uncommon to use tobacco products to control appetite. A smoke takes the edge off, wires you up a little and is a common substitute for food.
Generally speaking, people that smoke regularly, weigh a little bit less than their non-smoking counterparts. Smoking speeds up the heart and metabolism rates, burning abnormally high amounts of calories as a result.
The good news is that
weight gain needs to be of little concern when you apply the techniques
offered, in detail, in the final Module of this program. There are several healthy alternatives to
burning calories, which we’ll discuss in detail later in the program. Maintaining your focus and a positive mental
attitude will help make the necessary adjustments required to keep the weight
off much easier for you, when the time comes.
There are many
other wonderful benefits that you will receive when you stop smoking. Stopping
smoking decreases the risk of developing duodenal and gastric ulcers. Ulcer
disease is less severe, less likely to recur and more likely to heal in
ex-smokers. Affected smokers, who stop
smoking, do far better than those who continue.
Regardless of
age, smoking cessation carries benefits for any smoker, reducing the risk of
major disease and improving the quality of life. Smoking in later years has also been associated with higher rates
of physical disability, poorer self-perceived health status, higher levels of
depressive symptoms, and lower levels of physical function, bone mineral density,
pulmonary function, and muscle strength.
Cessation is
responsible for improvement in general health and well-being for everyone who
takes advantage of it.
Believe in the
truth and you will not fail.
You've never been
as prepared as you are right now – and we haven’t even got to the real
good part yet.
This time around
you’ll be in control - and when the time comes, the fear will dissolve into a
non-issue.
Absorb the
information and enjoy the process.
Be sure to keep
it positive and personal and get used to the idea of it as being a “done deal”
and a “that’s that”. Know that this
time, it’s “final”. Believe that you
have made up your mind.
Everything you’ve
learned in this course will be put to use, when it all comes together,
tomorrow.
And tomorrow is
truly going to be a great day in your life!
“The two most
powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Tolstoy
Be sure to
schedule a time and place for tomorrow’s seminar and if tomorrow is your
scheduled “stop day”, now’s the time to remind friends and family.
If you are using
the pack wrappers, go over your smoking activity from today’s filled-in log and
plan to not smoke the same times and places tomorrow.
You’ve worked
hard to absorb the information so far and it’s time to put it to good use. Take
some time to review your pack wrappers from the last three days. This “log”
will provide the times throughout your day when you’re most likely to be
triggered to smoke. It will also tell
you what’s pushing your buttons to light up. For the first while, it’s advisable to avoid those danger situations,
replacing them with an alternative where you can. Look over each instance and imagine it without the
cigarette. If that’s not too likely at
first, plan to avoid the situation altogether, if possible.
Plan ahead so
that you’ll know what to do during stressful times and tempting
situations. During your first week,
schedule as many fun activities into each day as possible and try to avoid the
stressful ones.
Continue to
interrupt your smoking habits and patterns tomorrow, including putting off that
first smoke for another 15 minutes – at least. This little inconvenience is about to pay off for you.
Recite this
phrase in front of a mirror for 3 to 5 minutes before going to bed tonight and
repeat it throughout the day, tomorrow. Be sure to substitute this phrase for any negative thoughts that may
creep into your head tomorrow. “I am
becoming an ex-smoker - and I love it!" You can’t repeat this phrase too many times.
Today’s
visualization exercise is almost the same as yesterdays except at the
conclusion we are going to put ourselves into several daily smoking situations.
We’ll just imagine them without the cigarette. Picture yourself as a non-smoker in everyday situations and you
will find it much easier to become a non-smoker.
So just like yesterday, once you are in your super-relaxed state, imagine
yourself in a favorite setting.
Again, imagine
feeling your lungs fill with the beautiful, pure, clean oxygen and appreciate
it as one of life’s true joys.
Spend time just
enjoying yourself in your favorite imaginary place, as each wonderful breath
you take becomes part of you, saturating every part of you with goodness.
Each breath that
comes in fills you with energizing strength and each breath that leaves, washes
away any negative energy. Imagine you can feel it wash over you as each breath
you take makes you feel stronger and stronger (spend 5 minutes enjoying
yourself)
Put yourself into
the most comfortable or lavish settings that you can imagine. Use your imagination and have fun for a few
minutes, aware of the fact that you are not smoking. Keep enjoying your imagination holiday and as you do, apply
gentle pressure between your middle finger and thumb. Maintain the pressure for about 30 seconds.
Imagine yourself
completely content to be smoke-free in the nicest environment you can conjure
up. After you have enjoyed this
beautiful picture for a while, relax your finger and thumb and let your
thoughts drift off to a common smoking time for you, such as the first one in
the morning.
Picture the
setting just as it always is, only you are happier and without the
cigarette. Do whatever it takes to be a
happy non-smoker in this fantasy. Remember – this is your fantasy and if you want to be comfortable as a
non-smoker, you can be. Now move on to
another common smoking situation you regularly experience and imagine being
there, without the smoke. Maybe you’ll
want to picture yourself in the car on the way to work or with your morning
coffee. Do whatever it takes to ensure
that you picture yourself in that very situation – happily
minus the smoke.
Fantasize about
being in one common smoking situation after another, always as a happy, healthy
non-smoker. Any variables necessary for
you to remain comfortably smoke-free in those situations are quickly and easily
supplied. Imagine yourself exactly the
same as you would normally be in these situations, only happier, healthier -
and without the cigarette.
Be sure to “see”
yourself as a non-smoker in these situations in a 100% positive way – as
someone who receives a multitude of positive benefits as a non-smoker. Picture
yourself in as many situations as you are comfortable with and be happy with
what you see. Be pleased with yourself for the lifestyle you have chosen.
Now, if you like,
you can drift off to sleep or just continue imagining. You’ve earned this break and the
visualization you’ve done will make the transition to ex-smoker much easier and
less awkward.
Well done. You’ve
never been more prepared for tomorrow’s seminar than you are right now! You’re almost there!
"Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is
certain." - Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Poet
This concludes
Module 4.